WWE SmackDown Review - December 31, 2015

Kevin Owens takes control of Dean Ambrose.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kalisto and The Dudley Boyz def. WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day

As much as I like Kalisto, I must admit that his pre-match promo was pretty bad and sounded super scripted. He's very Rey Mysterio-esque, who also was never the greatest talker. But at least he's easy to understand, though, unlike Sin Cara. Speaking of whom, now that he's injured (albeit for an unknown amount of time), perhaps it's time WWE start branching Kalisto out on his own. At any rate, this was an enjoyable six-man tag team match and I liked how they got creative with Dudley Boyz teaming with Kalisto to take on New Day instead of having Kalisto face another member of New Day one-on-one.


Tyler Breeze def. Goldust

These two have had something of a feud brewing in recent weeks, but this may have been the end of it. Breeze cheated to win, as he should have like a good heel, and that was all we saw of Goldust. I want Breeze to find direction, but I don't think a feud with an undercard talent is the answer. But hey, at least he won. On the bright side, I'm ecstatic Breeze and Summer Rae are going their separate ways as we enter the new year. As I've said countless times in the past, Summer is damaged goods and Breeze's pairing with her was only bringing him down. Who will she "jump onto next" as Paige once said?

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Are Tyler Breeze and Summer Rae parting ways?

The Wyatt Family def. The Usos

If you were expecting a match from The Wyatt Family and The Usos on the level of their classic contests from the summer of 2014, you were probably disappointed. Braun Strowman was in action instead of Erick Rowan, though I don't think that would have made a huge difference considering Rowan isn't that much better of a worker than Strowman. Regardless, it was fun while it lasted, but I question the decision to have The Usos lose so decisively. Are they in the tag team title hunt or no? If not, why have them beat New Day in a Handicap match last week?


Dolph Ziggler def. Bo Dallas

This was pretty much a throwaway match, but I appreciated the effort to make it mean something by setting it up with a pre-match backstage segment featuring the two. It made the match feel a little less random as a result. Dallas is a glorified enhancement talent at this point, so while the ending outcome was never in doubt, it was a fine bout for what it was and it served its purpose in killing time before the main event.


WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns and Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose def. Sheamus and Kevin Owens by Disqualification

As expected, the four Superstars worked well together and delivered a pretty solid main event match that could have used more time to feel more special. I'm well-aware that WWE makes the rules up for their matches as they go along, but I would love for them to be more clear with what constitutes as a disqualification. Technically, Owens low-blowed Reigns by dragging his feet into the ring post, but we've seen that done on several occasions in the past and it never led to anyone getting disqualified. Maybe I'm over-analyzing it because the important thing is that the match didn't end in a pinfall or submission and everyone involved was protected. Then again, the heels were taken out with ease afterward by Reigns and Ambrose, so perhaps it didn't make a difference. Sheamus has been made to so weak since losing the title that it makes me wonder whether WWE is planning on putting the belt back on him Monday. I surely hope not.


Overall Show

Similar to Monday's Raw, half the roster was at a live event in Providence (which our own RJ Marceau attended and wrote a review of here), but WWE made due with what they had. You couldn't expect a must-see episode on a holiday, anyway, as if WWE would do anything of importance on SmackDown. On that note, this was SmackDown's final show on SyFy before they move to USA Network next week. It will be interesting to see if WWE starts to make it a bigger priority, but I'm not holding out hope. As for this edition, there wasn't anything worth going out of your way to see, but it's a decent two hours to kill if you're free on New Year's Eve. Happy New Year, folks! Thanks for a phenomenal 2015 and I look forward to an even better 2016.

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