Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: recaps, Smackdown, The Shovel, wrestling, wwe

Smackdown Recap: Roman Reigns Gets Personal with Kevin Owens

The Superstars of Smackdown — well, those of them who haven't been sent back to remedial wrestling class — continue to try to build toward their matches at TLC later this month by… probably having the same or similar matches tonight. WWE doesn't really have a lot of creative variation in these things. I'm Jude Terror, and this is The Shovel. I watch and recap. You click and read. Everyone profits. Well, really, just Bleeding Cool profits. You and I, dear reader, are mere pawns.

WWE Smackdown Recap for December 11th, 2020 Part 2

Kevin Owens sets up a table, a ladder, and two chairs in the ring. He calls out Roman and shows he may have lost it. He starts saying that the chairs and the table and ladder, inanimate objects, are his friends, and they're going to help min beat Roman at TLC.

Pretty good promo from Owens, actually. Unfortunately, Jey Uso interrupts to beat the shit out of him with a chair. He gets in some good shots, but Owens fights back, kicks Uso's ass, and puts him through the table. Reigns comes out, but Heyman convinces him not to get in the ring. "You call the shots. This is your island. That's your ring. You do things on your time." Roman takes Heyman's advice, sneers at Owens, and goes backstage. Owens grabs a chair and goes after him. He's still limping from the attack by Uso. This won't end well. Smackdown takes a commercial break.

After the break, Owens is limping around backstage. Kayla tries to interview him but Reigns attacks and beats the hell out of Owens. Then he turns to the camera and speaks directly to Owens' wife and kids about what he's gonna do to him.

The Riott Squad come to the ring. They have beef with Billie Kay that started on Talking Smack that neither you nor I care about. Kay comes out and reveals Natalya as her mystery partner for this match, which apparently has a mystery partner angle. They have a match. Initially, it seems like Billie and Natalya have some chemistry, but it ends with Kay tagging herself in at the wrong moment and losing the match. So the gimmick here is that Billie Kay is useless without Peyton Royce? Good idea. That'll get her over.

Shorty G does his best to train Otis at the remedial wrestling school he was sent to by Vince McMahon, along with Keith Lee and some others to. Shorty says he's gonna mold Otis from a lump of clay into Michelangelo's David. Otis is into it, but he has no choice: Vince threw a fit about how bad he wrestles. Cesaro and Nakamura arrive to make jokes about how Shorty G is like an elf in Santa's workshop. Missed opportunity if they don't book a Santa's Workshop match and make Shorty G dress like an elf in the next few weeks.

Mario Lopez, promoting a new Lifetime movie, predicts Sasha Banks will defeat Carmella tonight. Cesaro and Nakamura have a match with Otis and Shorty G. Shorty blows it by asking to tag in and then getting pinned, but afterward, he blames it all on Otis.

The Ratings King of Friday Nights is in the building. King Corbin says he's bringing back old school attitude with his new henchmen, those guys from Forgotten Sons. They're now called the Knights of the Lone Wolf, which is one of those unintentionally ironic games like the band in the movie Airheads: The Lone Rangers. Corbin talks some trash about the Mysterio family, and I guess they have a match at TLC or something.

Carmela comes out. She has a new entrance and theme song, but unlike some other recent changes, this one actually works for Carmella. Sasha comes out. How long before WWE makes her change her theme song now that Snoop Dogg is an AEW traitor? Smackdown takes a commercial break before the main event.

Time to put the new Carmella to the test. Can she make this new gimmick work in the ring? If I thought WWE booked anything more than two hours ahead of time, I'd say it's a mark of confidence to show us tonight instead of waiting until the PPV. But instead, they probably just didn't know what the main event was until fifteen minutes before the show started. Either way, Carmella pulls it off, wrestling competently enough under her new persona.

Banks survives an attempt at interference by Carmella's assistant but then starts beating the crap out of Carmella in the corner until the referee disqualifies her for breaking the rope break rules. Sasha hits the backstabber and Banks Statement on the assistant, but then Carmella kicks her ass after the match. She shouts, "You've lost it, Sasha!" while assaulting her at ringside with an ice bucket. Carmella breaks a champagne bottle over Sasha's back. Then she pours herself a glass from another bottle, drinks it, and then empties a bottle over Sasha. "Who's on who's level now, Sasha?" Carmella is declared the winner and left Sasha destroyed at the end of the match, so 50/50 booking says Sasha wins at the PPV.

Smackdown is actually doing a good job with its two big angles, the Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens feud and the Sasha vs. Carmella feud. Everything else is inoffensive enough to make Smackdown the best WWE show of the week once again.

More Click Opportunities to Come

Tonight will be Impact Wrestling's Final Resolution PPV. I'll be covering it, so lots of articles to click on. If you click on enough of them, maybe Ebeneezer Booth will let me have Christmas Day off.

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