WWE SmackDown Live Review - November 15, 2016

It's a Skull Crushing Finale for Dolph Ziggler.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Miz def. Dolph Ziggler to Win the Intercontinental Championship

Raw could really learn something from Raw in terms of how they start their shows with an exciting match as opposed to a long, drawn-out talking segment. Miz and Ziggler always work well together and deliver highly entertaining matchups and this was no exception. While I expected Ziggler to overcome the interference from Maryse and The Spirit Squad, it didn't happen. You would think he would have learned from No Mercy. The finish looked lame, but I'm actually happy Miz regained the gold. He is far more compelling in the role as champion than Ziggler and I really hope this leads to a Ladder match between them at TLC next month.


Kalisto def. Oney Lorcan

Well, seeing Lorcan pop up on SmackDown Live was a pleasant surprise. I don't at all expect him to be a regular on the main roster going forward, but he was the perfect person to go in there with Kalisto and make his offense look good. I've said before that he's an underutilized athlete in NXT, so I hope they do more with him down there in the future. The match lasted all of a minute, yet Kalisto still found a way to botch anyway. That has to be some sort of record, right?

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Carmella tears apart Nikki Bella.

Nikki Bella vs. Carmella Ended in a No Contest

The ladies were given a ton of time here and they more than made the most of it. It wasn't a standard singles match like their No Mercy outing, which is why I think it worked better. Carmella largely dominated Nikki and I liked how she relentlessly targeted the previously injured neck throughout. I didn't mind the non-finish at all because it sets up the need for a No Disqualification match of some sort at TLC, and the brand warfare stuff with the women was great. Nia Jax crashing through the barricade was especially impressive. By the way, Bayley joining in on a five-on-one attack was absolutely asinine. What a way to kill her character.


American Alpha, The Usos, The Hype Bros and Breezango def. The Headbangers, The Vaudevillians, The Ascension and The Spirit Squad

As soon as I saw this match, I assumed it wouldn't last more than a minute. I guess it was good that they dragged it out a bit to allow all the teams to get their signature spots in, but it didn't hold my interest, personally. I was happy American Alpha picked up the win for their team and I hope they are spotlighted properly at Survivor Series, but the vast amount of people in the match made it a mess.


Edge Hosted The Cutting Edge with Team SmackDown; The Undertaker Returned

It's always awesome whenever Edge comes back and he seems to love it as well. It was cool that he grew his hair back out and he had the same look he did at Survivor Series 2008 and Royal Rumble 2010. The segment felt rushed, though, and when Undertaker made his entrance with only seven minutes left in the show, I knew he wouldn't talk for long. SmackDown always gets cut off abruptly at the top of the hour, so they don't the same freedom Raw does despite also being live. At any rate, I was disappointed Undertaker didn't replace Shane McMahon on Team SmackDown, but him announcing that he's back (presumably full-time) was interesting. Matches with AJ Styles pretty much need to happen heading into WrestleMania season.


Overall Show

I had my hopes high for the historic 900th episode, and because of that, my lofty expectations weren't exactly met. It was definitely an enjoyable evening with the various returns, the Raw invasion, and the title change, but no match was all that memorable and the main event segment wasn't everything it could have been. More importantly, I'm not any more excited for Survivor Series than I was before, but it should be a solid show, nevertheless.

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