It’s just been a few days since WWE Survivor Series and the final day of a very long stretch of live WWE programming, so everyone’s got to be worn out. We can get through SmackDown, right? After all, it’s only two hours, so this is doable.
As we charge forward to the blue-brand only TLC PPV in less than two weeks, there was plenty of good from this episode. American Alpha finally got the chance to really show their stuff in a Tag Turmoil match and there was a solid non-title contest between Becky Lynch and Natalya, but this isn’t what this article is about.
This is where the more questionable stuff gets featured and there’s definitely a few items to call into question. For starters, Dean Ambrose decided to cosplay as everyone’s favourite Canadian officer from the New Generation era, Then, there’s the issue of Natalya losing her hair. Finally, where in the world is Baron Corbin?
Seriously, Kalisto is dying to know where that lone wolf is hiding.
Below, are five points to dissect and all are accompanied by a fancy GIF because everyone loves a moving picture. Keep on reading and see if anything tweaks your outrage.
#5 Missing Baron Corbin
Kalisto had an odd case of bird neck as he climbed up the turnbuckles to finish off The Miz in their Intercontinental Championship Match. He kept staring off into the crowd like he was anticipating someone who wasn’t showing up. The camera even panned in the direction he was looking only to reveal...nothing.
By the time he jumped off the top rope, with seemingly no intention of delivering any offensive manoeuvre, he made his way over to the apron to battle an invading Baron Corbin. Apparently, Baron missed a cue and showed up just a tad late to his own party.
As punishment for botching the ending to this match, Daniel Bryan punished both men on Talking Smack by announcing that they have to compete in the dreaded Chairs Match at TLC. Okay, the chairs match isn’t a punishment but it’s still one of the dumber stipulations in modern WWE.
#4 Bottom-barrel tag team
Remember when The Vaudevillains used to be great?
They were highly regarded in NXT, even carrying that brand’s Tag Team Championships for a while. Nowadays, they’re the resident turd sandwiches of SmackDown Live, losing to anybody and everybody in the most chumpish ways possible.
The above .gif is the entirety of their involvement in this Tag Team Turmoil Match and it’s kind of sorry. Aiden English slides into the ring gets flapjacked by Jason Jordan and then gets clotheslined off the top rope by Chad Gable. Then, all it took was a dropkick/bridging suplex combo for poor Simon Gotch to keep his shoulders down for the three count.
This duo has an entertaining gimmick and they’re very talented wrestlers, yet they never get to be competitive anymore. What gives?
#3 Mountie Ambrose
Dean Ambrose comedy isn’t always the best material on any given show, but he brought his A-game this Tuesday night. For attacking fellow SmackDown teammate AJ Styles during his match at Survivor Series, Shane McMahon wanted to punish Dean by kicking him out of the building.
Comically, Ambrose kept appearing back in the arena like he was Adam Sandler’s sneaky butler from Mr Deeds.
The funniest moment of the night came, when Dean Ambrose showed up backstage in full Mountie gear. He kept asking Shane if he wanted to know why he was dressed up that way and it was disappointing that Shane refused.
Thankfully, Daniel Bryan was curious why he was dressed like Jacques Rougeau from 1991 and he revealed that it was because he had a message for A.J. Styles: “The Mountie always gets his man.”
Seeing Bryan and Ambrose try their best not to crack up, while the latter delivered this line was very amusing.
#2 Nattie’s follicle folly
Oh, look! Nattie lost some of her hair extensions! Everybody look! Doesn’t she look silly?!
Okay, this one really isn’t a huge deal. It’s just that the extra hair is so common among the female wrestlers, yet this is one of the rare times that there’s been any sort of mishap. On the bright side, we got to hear Mauro Ranallo refer to this incident as a “Follicle Folly.” Mauro puns are the best!
#1 Too much Ellsworth?
Has James Ellsworth gotten to the point of being too much yet? WWE has a tendency of sometimes taking the things fans love and giving us so much, that we then have no choice but to get sick of it. Now that Ellsworth is 3-0 against WWE World Champion AJ Styles, there’s a risk that he has ventured into that realm of oversaturation.
Even so, James still gets big responses from the crowds – just look at that kid with his jaw dropped in the John Cena shirt. Ellsworth is still telling a great underdog story and even though it’s outrageous that he keeps winning against The Champ That Runs The Camp, he’s doing something right.
Maybe it’s now time to shuffle him away from the main event scene and move him into an odd couple tag team with Kane. There has to be a shelf life on being forever cast as Styles’ white whale.
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
