
Hello again everyone! We are just twenty four hours removed from Vince McMahon’s big announcement. While the announcement was made on RAW, it was not focused specifically on the red brand. SmackDown
commissioner and prodigal son Shane McMahon appeared as well, and the declaration was that the entire McMahon family-Shane, Stephanie, Vince and Hunter-would now be running things. So what does it mean for SmackDown? It means more changes are coming. More opportunities for Superstars to impress and improve their standing. Let the shakeup continue as we crack open this Nutshell!
Best Match of the night:
For me, this was easily the main event featuring Andrade “Cien” Almas and Daniel Bryan versus Mustafa Ali and AJ Styles. Ali and Styles took the victory, with Mustafa Ali really building off of a nice main roster debut last week. So impressive was his debut, that what had apparently been a one-off match, became a permanent addition to the main roster. Not a bad early Christmas gift.
Worst match of the night:
Miz and Mandy Rose versus R-Truth and Carmella. Match was only a few minutes long, but even that was too long. Only redeeming quality seems to be the dance off.
Star of the Night
I have to give it to Mustafa Ali. He looked as good-or even better-than last week. To top it off, he got the winning pinfall, on the current World Champion. I think that’s a big deal-I doubt Creative/Vince books Ali to cleanly pin the champion unless someone had bigger plans for the new addition to the main roster.
Spot of the Night:
The 054 from Ali is fun to watch. Lots of nice spots in the match, all things considered.
Jobber of the Night:
I don’t think I could put one in here
Upset of the Night:
Looking over the card, I really don’t think there was an upset this evening.
Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:
OK, this one I think absolutely deserves it.
The Good Brothers, Anderson and Gallows, had not been on SmackDown in four months? That is crazy to me (I am assuming it’s accurate). Gallows and Anderson are a legit good tag team, and if they’ve been healthy and off air for that long, someone writing the scripts needs to explain themselves.
Also, as mentioned elsewhere, huge deal moving Mustafa Ali to the main roster.
Botch of the night:
Nothing really to complain about
LOL Moment of the night:
Shane delivering that corny backstage hype piece.
Noteworthy Moment:
I was worried that the McMahons would mail in tonight’s appearance, but they did not. While there was no on screen presence for Hunter or his wife, both Shane and Vince McMahon did appear.
Overall lowlights:
Honestly, I have to be a little disappointed with the McMahon presence tonight. Sure, Shane and Vince were there, but that was it. And, they stayed mostly out of the way. Mind you, them being out of the way is probably a good thing. I have this as a lowlight, however, because the “huge announcement” only happened on RAW. It may have pertained to both brands, but it would have been nice for the blue brand to get it’s own specific set of news. This is where I think WWE dropped the ball with the rising NXT stars. I get it, they wanted fans to always tune in. But, by announcing on SmackDown what they already announced to us on RAW-no news was really new to the show. By only having half the family show face, it was a lesser response. Maybe I am reading too much into it, but how many times does SmackDown kind of feel like the lesser brand? I mean, no one is as hyped up for the SmackDown after a major PPV, right? The big surprises almost always seem to hit on Monday, not Tuesday.
By not having a blue brand specific announcement, with the same four in the ring, I do believe WWE missed on this one.
Overall highlights:
In spite of the whiff, some good stuff happened here. Loved seeing Sanity on the offensive. Loved seeing Gallows and Anderson back on TV. Love the opportunity that Mustafa Ali has earned.
After the final bell:
Truthfully, this show was in a bad spot. The big announcement happened Monday, and nothing was really hyped for SmackDown in terms of it’s own major news. Things carried over from Monday into Tuesday. On top of that, it’s basically the last show of the year to be done live-the Christmas and New Year’s editions are taped. Yes, the new era of leadership can and will carry through those taped episodes, but we all know that taped is not the same as live (and besides, there are already spoilers out for the Christmas shows).
That being said, I understand why McMahon didn’t wish to wait until basically a week into the new year before announcing any changes or additions or tweaks. If anything, the changes were overdue, but not much we can do about that now.