The Reigning, Defending, Undisputed…. – Smackdown Live Recap/Reactions – 11/14/2017

Smackdown Live is in Charlotte, North Carolina this evening…..The Queen City.  I was actually planning to sneak out of work early and drive out, but the idea of having to drive back and not getting home until 4:00 AM sounded terrible, plus I have to drive to Houston this weekend for what is shaping up to be a Survivor Series designed for the fanboy I try to hide.  And yes, I embarrassed myself in front of my lady when Triple H’s music hit last night at Philips Arena, and I don’t care.  But let’s see what my Team Blue has for me tonight……

The Advocate….for THE PHENOMENAL ONE AJ STYLES

The show kicks off with Shane in the back giving a Rah Rah speech to the Smackdown roster.  It’s fine.

But for the audience, we get things going with our General Manager, Daniel Bryan.  He’s happy to be able to be here tonight after eating a chokeslam trying to make peace on Raw.  But he’s really excited that team Smackdown will be sending the new WWE Champion to take on Brock Lesnar on Sunday night.  So let’s get him out here.

But that’s not all.  Brock Lesnar gets a mouthpiece, so AJ should get one too.  Daniel Bryan essentially does a Vegan Paul Heyman, and does a nice job.  This is just a show starting promo to hype a match that honestly doesn’t need any help.  If anyone on the WWE payroll is going to get the nod to defeat Brock Lesnar, it’s either going to be Roman Reigns or AJ Styles.  I don’t expect him to get the win, but I do expect that there will actually be a match here where Lesnar was just going to get to maul Jinder Mahal and that’s no fun for anybody, especially not the 1.3 billion fans watching in his home nation.

There Be Title Matches Tonight

Baron Corbin retains the United States Championship via the End of Days over Sin Cara.  They’ve done far too much good on Twitter building towards Corbin vs Miz, I’d have been disappointed if they’d have backed out of it.

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!  Charlotte is the new Smackdown Women’s Champion.  This leaves a question mark on the Women’s Survivor Series team, because it apparently wasn’t just them trading roles, so maybe we get a surprise on Sunday night, but we now get The Queen vs The Goddess in the Battle of Women’s Champions.  The Nature Boy appeared to congratulate his daughter, who is either the best actress in WWE or she had absolutely no idea he was there.  It was touching.  They both cried.

What Else We Got Squeezed in Here Tonight:

• One of the Usos def. Chad Gable.  I don’t know which one, does it matter either way?  I still don’t pay attention when they have singles matches.
• Another promo for The Bludgeon Brothers, who will debut next week.  That’ll be good.  Something fresh for the fallout.
• Shane and Daniel Bryan still aren’t on the same page, and they “need to talk” next week about cohesion according to DB.  Drama.
• The New Day plugged their match with The Shield for Survivor Series in traditional New Day fashion, but first, they’ll take on Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.
• #UnderSiegeTeamRed:  Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn tangled with Xavier and Big E of The New Day, but that match was interrupted after an awkward Santa Claus Dish Network commercial by a Shield Invasion of Smackdown.  Owens and Zayn appear to be holding down the fort with New Day, but abandon them quickly because it’s not their fight.  The Usos come to aid their Blue Brand compatriots, but Cesaro and Sheamus find their way through the crowd to level the odds.  The Women’s Division is then shown invading the Smackdown women’s locker room.  The rest of the Raw roster would join the fray in the ring.  Kurt Angle brought his Monster to feed, sending Strowman to the ring to clear house.  The Shield landed the Triple Powerbomb on Shane O’Mac while Strowman kept beating on his roster on the outside.  Angle would add insult to injury, dropping Shane with an Angle Slam.  Then The Shield would hit a second Triple Powerbomb before Team Red would stand tall at the top of the ramp to close out the night.

It was a fine episode, not the best ever, but it worked.  It was a nice moment with Charlotte and Ric.  Corbin is actually on a roll, I don’t know why his current feud is on Twitter with Miz while simultaneously with Sin Cara for inexplicable reasons.  The siege was decent, but seemed overkill.  Vengeful Shield would have been just as meaningful as a whole roster, but it worked, and I’ll get three days of Strowman in one week which is always good.

Turn on 205 Live.  It’s apparently Kalisto’s birthday, which is the only thing they’re advertising for tonight.  I don’t know either, but give it a chance, best case you get Drew Gulak’s Guide to a Better Birthday Celebration Powerpoint Presentation.

See you this weekend, as I come to you live from Texas (where I’ve been far too often in the past few years) for TakeOver: War Games and Survivor Series with occasional contributor Ryan in tow.  He’s a die hard for The New Day, and I’ve recently become a Roman Reigns mark just to prove that it’s ok to be one, so this could get ugly.