This is the fallout episode for SmackDown Live side of things. As witnessed yesterday, a lot of things have transpired in the last 24 hours.
The Undertaker is scheduled to make a rare out of character appearance for a documentary on ESPN. He will be joined by Triple H, Ricky Steamboat, Sting, Jim Ross, Shawn Michaels, Eric Bischoff and three of Flair’s children.
The last time Taker was seen out of character on television was way back in the Attitude Era, where he was in the biker/American badass character. His most famous off character appearance was for TSN’s off the record with Michael Landsberg in Canada to promote WrestleMania.
There has been no official release date for the documentary, but is tentatively scheduled to be telecast during the spring/summer of 2017.
Randy Orton and his wife, Kim have been blessed with a baby daughter on Tuesday. She was named Brooklyn Rose and this is Orton’s fifth child. Congratulations to the Orton family.
On the RAW side of things, reports have surfaced earlier today about Brock Lesnar being added to the Royal Rumble card. However, it is not clear whether he would actually participate in the Rumble match.
As of now, it is expected that similar to the setup of the promo between him and Goldberg before WrestleMania XX, he will eventually build for a third match against Goldberg at WrestleMania 33.
We will post more about the story when we have confirmed news. Speaking of Goldberg, the ratings of RAW received a spike after his appearance. Regarding the deal Goldberg signed, Dave Meltzer noted that it appears that the WWE has an open-ended deal with Goldberg who is ready to wrestle as often as they want him to, as long as they are able to meet his pricing demands.
Cesaro posted a cryptic tweet almost immediately after his tag team match against the New Day saying he was tired of it. No reports have emerged as to what Cesaro tweeted about, but observers are expecting it to be a frustration with his current character booking.
As noted last week, next week’s RAW will have two title matches, with the New Day scheduled to defend their gold against The Club. Also, Charlotte would be defending her women’s title against Sasha Banks.
Tonight’s SmackDown Live episode comes in from the Canadian Tire Center, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. WWE is focusing on the following points for tonight’s show:
- After Survivor Series, who would be the new challengers to Rhyno and Slater’s titles?
- What will be the after effects from the SmackDown Live men’s victory at Survivor Series?
- Who will emerge as number one contenders in a tag team turmoil match?
- Did the Survivor series match alter the women’s division?
- What repercussions would Baron Corbin face for costing Kalisto the cruiserweight title and SmackDown Live the title and the cruiserweight division?
- What’s next for the intercontinental champion, The Miz?
We start things off with the commissioner of SmackDown Live, Shane McMahon. He is out to address the crowd and share his thoughts about the match from Sunday. Shane says he feels like he was in a car wreck after the match on Sunday.
He congratulates Team RAW for their efforts and gives credit to Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt for their contributions to the match and help keep the blue brand go strong. Shane talks about Ambrose and AJ Styles being unable to coexist even after he asked them to do so, which brings out Dean Ambrose. Shane chides Ambrose for teaming with Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns to attack his own team mate, AJ Styles.
Ambrose claims that Shane is focusing too much on the negatives. This brings out James Ellsworth who is out with a neck brace after the vicious attack from Strowman.
Shane and AJ say that they are officially going to hand out a SmackDown Live contract to James Ellsworth. Shane informs Ambrose that he is giving him the night off because he has been too crazy off late and asks him to leave the building immediately.
AJ Styles is out to interrupt, and he tells Shane that he needs to kick Ambrose off the SmackDown roster for what he did to him at Survivor Series.
AJ targets Ellsworth and tells Shane that he is making a huge mistake by handing out a contract to Ellsworth. He says Ellsworth does not deserve a contract and that he has to earn it by facing AJ Styles in a ladder match tonight. AJ says that if Ellsworth climbs the ladder and grabs the contract, he gets the contract.
But if he climbs the ladder and grabs the contract, he is going to rip the contract apart. Ellsworth accepts and adds a stipulation that if he wins, not only does he get a contract but he also gets a future title shot against AJ Styles’ title. Shane makes it official. As long as Dean does not come out to make the save and make it a drag, should be an interesting match.
The Miz and Maryse have a photo shoot. Daniel Bryan interrupts and orders the Miz to defend his intercontinental championship against Kalisto tonight.
Shane walks Dean Ambrose out of the building and asks him not to come back.
The Miz vs Kalisto for the Intercontinental championship: Kalisto gains control of the match when he throws Miz to the outside and hits a suicide dive. He connects with a Senton bomb and a hurricanrana for a two count. Kalisto goes for a high flying move off the top rope but gets distracted by Baron Corbin.
Corbin climbs on to the apron and Kalisto kicks him off. Kalisto turns into a skull crushing finale from the Miz who picks up the win.
After the match, Corbin connects with the end of days on Kalisto. Miz is celebrating in the ring, but Ziggler sneaks out of nowhere and drops the Miz with a super kick. Looks like the two would be going at it at the next pay per view, TLC.
Daniel Bryan runs into Corbin and reprimands him for interfering in matches. He books him in a match against Kane tonight.
Tag Team Turmoil: This would name the new number one contenders to Rhyno and Slater’s tag titles. Expect the match to take place at TLC.
- Updated card for the WWE Royal Rumble pay per view - January 28, 2017
- WWE SmackDown Results – 01/24/2017 - January 26, 2017
- WWE RAW Results – 01/23/2017 - January 24, 2017
