WrestleTalk Roundtable – WWE SmackDown Live – December 11, 2018

I’m just going to come out and say this up front. Last night’s SmackDown Live was everything I ever dreamed it would be. What was, on paper, anticipated to be one of the best shows of the year exceeded even those lofty expectations.

Consider what was served up on last night’s card. It was like something ripped straight from one of my better attempts at GM Mode on SmackDown vs Raw 2006. In fact, scratch that. It was way better, because the video game didn’t let me book rap battles!

Speaking of, let’s start with that rap battle which pitted The Usos against the somehow even whiter versions of Vanilla Ice, Sheamus and Cesaro. In just five minutes, SmackDown managed the impressive feat of merging humour, tension and narrative progression. Not sure what I’m talking about? It started off with The Bar reciting their version of Ice Ice Baby (Ice Ice Sheamy), transitioned to The Usos laying down some awesome verses insulting both the SmackDown tag team champions and the New Day, and ended with a mass brawl involving all three teams. This, of course, ahead of their clash for the belts this Sunday at TLC.

I. Loved. This. Segment.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrRNe1ul7jB/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

And honestly that was just one highlight. Daniel Bryan delivered another excellent promo about how we’re all responsible for the world rapidly careening towards total annihilation, plunging us into a void of eternal darkness where only the most savage manage to eke out an agonising existence.

That was fun.

Then it was followed by a surprise appearance by Mustafa Ali of all people, leading to a not-at-all surprisingly good match between the cruiserweight and the WWE Champion.

Yet, as great as that was, it still wasn’t the best part of the evening, as the night ended with a match between the two challengers to Becky Lynch’s Women’s Title at TLC. A WrestleMania rematch pitting Asuka against Charlotte; two of the best pure wrestlers in WWE today. This was a truly phenomenal back and forth contest, with both women exchanging submission holds and counters. There were flips, there dives, there was… a kendo stick for some reason? Seriously, why are those things just lying around ringside? Who’s responsibility is it to transport kendo sticks from arena to arena across the country? Cut that out of the budget and maybe we could get pyro back, Vince!

Look, normally these Roundtable introductions tend to be rather longwinded affairs, with me rambling about whatever show-breaking screwup Raw was guilty of this particular week. But honestly, there’s no reason to drone on here. This was simply a very, very enjoyable go-home edition of SmackDown Live.

But I know you’re not here for my opinion. Not when we’ve got the real experts to dish up their impressions. So let’s turn over to our educated WrestleTalk writing crew to find out what they thought about the blue brand’s efforts this week. Hopefully they were all as complimentary of the show as I was, or else I’ll look like a real chump, won’t I?

Anyway, on with the good!

• wrestletalk roundtable
• SmackDown Live
• Daniel Bryan
• wwe

Share this article with friends