WWE Clash of Champions 2017 DVD Review

WWE have released the 2017 edition of Clash of Champions on DVD in the UK, available here. But is it any good? Lets take a look!  

Top Matches include: 

- Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn's WWE Contract // Special Guest Referees - Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon // Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn 

- WWE Championship // AJ Styles (C) vs. Jinder Mahal

- SmackDown Women's Championship // Lumberjack Match // Charlotte Flair (C) vs. Natalya 

The event kicks off with it's best match as a triple threat over the United States Championship, with Baron Corbin defending against Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode, features some great action, with the three combining their signature offence for a number of exciting sequences and surprisingly strong near falls. Backstage, Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon discuss both being the referee in the Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn match later on, without clearing up how the gimmick is actually going to work. After an interview with Dasha Fuentes, Baron Corbin threw a bin at a door. The good times keep rolling with an exciting Fatal Four-Way match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship with The Usos defending against Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable, Kofi Kingston & Big E of the New Day and Rusev & Aiden English, in a match that is helped by a crowd that is massively into Rusev & English. The beginning and ending, including a brilliant performance from Gable, feature some wonderful action, although the match is let down by some weird rules that have a member of each team in the ring at the same time, leading to some awkwardness during the middle portion. 

Charlotte Flair puts the SmackDown Women's Championship on the line against Natalya in a disjointed Lumberjack match, where the gimmick does more to hold the pair back than create any genuine excitement. There's some solid action in there, but there's also a lot of treading water, whilst every single lumberjack receiving their own entrance is over-kill. The Singh Brothers get interviewed by Fuentes, with the end result once again being that we find out nothing about their potential involvement in the Jinder Mahal vs. AJ Styles match later on. The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper & Rowan) vs. Breezango (Fandango & Tyler Breeze) doesn't stick around long, but has a couple of nice moments, whilst en route to the squash result. 

Fuentes (who is seemingly all over the place here) catches up with Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn backstage, with the duo their usual jovial selves until Dasha brings up that they could be fired if they lose their match against Orton & Nakamura. The match between Owens & Zayn and Orton & Nakamura features an overkill of stipulation with Shane McMahon & Daniel Bryan operating as special guest referees and Owens & Zayn getting fired if they lose the match. These stipulations are not conducive to producing a good match with a lot of time spent on setting out the dual referee gimmick and a number of hokey spots like McMahon & Bryan drawing a line down the middle of the ring, whilst the top talent end up going through the motions for, at least, fifteen minutes of the bout. The finishing stretch however does feature some engrossing action between Orton and Zayn, as well as a big spot on the outside featuring Owens and Nakamura, whilst a handful of nearfalls are worked in surrounding the dual refs situation. 

The WWE Championship match features Jinder Mahal's best performance of his main event run as he challenges AJ Styles for the brand's top prize. The action isn't always thrilling, but there's a strong narrative, with both men working over injures body parts, as well as a couple of sturdy near falls in the scrappy closing match. The Singh Brothers play their part well, including a brutal looking spot on the floor, before the contest comes to a satisfying conclusion that pays off the matches major story thread. The disc concludes with it's only special feature as Zack Ryder faces former tag team partner Mojo Rawley in a match that is exactly what it needed to be.

ATPW Scale Rating // 5.23/10

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale 

WWE SmackDown Live Review // 23rd January 2018 // AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens then Sami Zayn

This week's SmackDown Live came to us from Washington, D.C., the same city that bought us Battleground 2016 and Backlash 2000! It was also the go-home edition before one of WWE's biggest shows of the year, the Royal Rumble, so it had to be good? Right? 

At a Glimpse 

- WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens then Sami Zayn 
- Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin 
- Appearances from: Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, The New Day, Shelton Benjamin and Natalya

AJ Styles def. Kevin Owens // Submission 

then...

Sami Zayn def. AJ Styles // Pinfall

Lets with some positivity here, because I'm aware I can be a grumpy fucker at times. The match between AJ Styles and Sami Zayn was a bloody good television contest, featuring some world-class exchanges between two of the smoothest wrestlers around today. Driven by Zayn having to attack Styles to break up a Calf Crusher on Kevin Owens, the bout had energy, especially in the final third. The gear change bought a series of exciting exchanges, with seemingly flowing like water at points, as the two went back and forth at pace in action that wouldn't have looked out of place on a PPV. The two also deserve commendation for their selling throughout the match, whether that be of the effect of the physical action and big moves, the frustration of not being able to put their opponent away and the dislike they shared for each other, it all came across clearly and gave depth to what could have been another throwaway clash.  

So onto some negativity, because there were a couple of things to moan about here. The main thing is that it is very difficult to work out who is supposed to be the villain within this storyline. Styles holding onto the Calf Crusher after squashing Owens made sense, the Phenomenal One looking to gain some kind of advantage for Sunday's Handicap match, whilst also offering up a potential get out of jail card for Owens when his team takes a loss at the PPV. Yet, having Styles repeatedly assault KO when he was being seen to by medical staff, including pushing him off a stretcher, seemed out of character and almost uncomfortable to watch. This being added to Styles initially asking for the handicap match and then asking to face Zayn and Owens back to back, only to try and get out of both matches, creates even more of a grey area. Surely, a top babyface is supposed to be a man of his words and certainly shouldn't be one to backpedal on a challenge? Add Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan's ambiguous storyline into the mix and you've got even more of a mess of a storyline, where I've got no idea who I'm supposed to be getting behind.

The segment that set up the main event was the weakest part of the whole affair. Kicking off the show, this was bloated, sluggish and unnecessarily long for what should have been an easy set-up. There really was no need for this segment to go on for almost fifteen minutes and it only served to put on spotlight on the distinct lack of chemistry between AJ Styles and his two current rivals. If it wasn't clear in the summer of 2017 that Owens and Styles have no connection as rivals, either on the mic or in the ring, then it's become blindingly obvious at the start of 2018. I'm not sure what it is, but things weren't helped by a number of long pauses where it appeared as it someone had forgotten their line. All three men are talented performers but are being under-served by the creative right now. To end on some positivity, I am loving the relationship between Owens and Zayn at the moment and the attention to detail that the pair have been putting into their characters and body language.

Shinsuke Nakamura def. Baron Corbin // Disqualification

A good semi-main event match here, that I was close to calling one of Baron Corbin's best until the Disqualification finish. Corbin wanting to walk out so early in the match was a little lame, but once we got past that, Corbin and Shinsuke Nakamura put together some strong quality action. There were a couple of lovely sequences here with The Lone Wolf blocking a Kinshasa with Deep Six and Nakker's beautiful counter of End of Days into a rolling cross-armbreaker particularly standing out. The attack from Randy Orton just as the match was heating up could have been a little dissapointing, but seeing Orton fly from one side of the screen to the other and nailing an RKO on Nakamura was a great piece of television that I didn't see coming. The follow up RKO to Corbin was a nice little piece of set-up for the Rumble. The fact that Orton and Nakamura have been teaming up a lot recently got over the every man for himself element of the upcoming bout and it will be interesting to see if we get any further interaction between the two on the road to WrestleMania. 

Kofi Kingston & Bobby Roode & Xavier Woods def. Rusev & Jinder Mahal & Aiden English // Pinfall 

A fun six man tag match here, which felt mostly like it was about mixing the signature characteristics of New Day and Bobby Roode. The promo before the match was a good example of this, with the New Day trio combining with the new United States Champion for a humorous few minutes, including a cute build-up to Roode's "Glorious" catch-phrase. This continued into the match as after a Kingston face-in-peril run, it was straight into a fiery Roode hot tag and breakdown stretch, that concluded with a quad-ripping spinebuster of doooooomahhh and Wood's Home Run to English for the win. It was a shame that Rusev, Jinder Mahal and Aiden English felt a little like afterthoughts here, as they had a lot more to offer than being here to put over Kingston, Roode and Woods and with a little more time or tighter blocking could've offered up a match that would've remained a little longer in the memory.

Chad Gable def. Jey Uso // Pinfall 

I like Chad Gable and I like Jey Uso, but this one way exceeded my expectations. Often these singles matches featuring two members of tag teams that are facing each other at the next PPV are relatively pointless exercises featuring some interference and a mild stare down, but this was actually a really good TV opener. During the break we were treated to some split-screen action that was mostly Gable working over Uso's arm and shoulder with different holds and strikes, which was followed up on after the break with Uso selling the injury for all the it was worth. Whilst it didn't play into the match here, it would make a lot of sense to carry the injury over to the 2/3 Falls match at the Rumble and base the story of that bout around the injury. The rest of the bout included some lovely tease and build to an Uso suicide dive and a sublime closing sequence with both men going back and forth before Gable was able to hit Chaos Theory to pick up only his second TV singles match victory.

Naomi def. Liv Morgan // Pinfall 

Because Women's wrestling is so important to WWE and not at all just a way of making Stephanie McMahon look good anytime she makes a major announcement, the only women's segment on the show received the least amount of time. The match itself featured very little of note, but had a good physicality behind it and featured a cool variation on the double stomp from Morgan. After Naomi picked up her first singles win since dropped the SmackDown Women's title at SummerSlam (yes her first win since AUGUST!) with a Sunset flip, things descended into general Royal Rumble build with the rest of the division (Natalya, Lana, Tamina, Carmella, Sarah Logan and Ruby Riott) taking turns to hit moves and throw each other over the top rope. The only interesting moment came when Becky Lynch attempted to chuck her pal Naomi over the top rope, only for Naomi to land on the apron, before they looked at each other awkwardly. Charlotte Flair headed out to close the segment with a promo about how it didn't matter who won the Rumble, because she'd beat the shit out of them at WrestleMania anyway or something like that. The build to the Women's Royal Rumble has been dire.

Also

A highlight pack of RAW 25, set to Fall Out Boy's My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark, makes the show looks much more exciting that it actually was...Tye Dillinger discussed his entry in the Royal Rumble...

Finally...

Overall, I found a lot to enjoy on this week's SmackDown, especially when it came to the in-ring action. I still can't get my head around the main storyline, but the wrestling portion of Sami Zayn vs. AJ Styles was very good, whilst Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin, the six man tag and Jey Uso vs. Chad Gable all featured some stellar wrestling at points and didn't outstay their welcome. The development for the Women's division is something desperately needs to improve as I still couldn't tell you what the Riott Squad are supposed to be or why WWE thought they'd put enough time and effort into the division to warrant holding a Women's Royal Rumble. 

WWE SmackDown Live 959 Review // 2nd January 2018 // AJ Styles vs. Sami Zayn

It was the first SmackDown of 2018, so it was bound to be freaking amazing, right? WWE lined up a main event featuring WWE Champion AJ Styles taking on Sami Zayn whilst Kevin Owens, Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan hung out at ringside. The episode also saw the return of Becky Lynch, as she joined SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair and Naomi in confronting The Riott Squad, following their match with The Welcoming Committee. Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable, Xavier Woods, The Bludgeon Brother, Breezango and The Usos were all also featured. 

Let's talk a look, pals and see how it all went down at the Amway Center in Orlando.

AJ Styles called out Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon

then...

Sami Zayn def. AJ Styles // Pinfall

Rightio, this storyline is getting old already and following how the show ended I'm not sure that it can recover. More on that in a moment. Firstly, lets talk about the opening segment, as AJ Styles kicked the show off, before being joined by General Manager Daniel Bryan and Commissioner Shane McMahon. This was a convoluted way of getting Bryan and McMahon to be ringside for the main event between AJ Styles and Sami Zayn later on. McMahon was worried that Bryan would allow Kevin Owens to be ringside for the match, so instead of just banning Owens from ringside himself (because he's Bryan's boss and surely that means Bryan can't overturn his decisions), McMahon said he'd be at ringside and Bryan said he'd be there too. The only thing that I kinda dug about the segment was McMahon asking Bryan a question and then cutting off the answer by saying "I wasn't finished talking", because I thought it was a cool way to show the development in their relationship and actually showed a little bit of thought behind it. 

I think my main issue with this storyline is that it is being hilariously over-booked for the wrestler that are actually involved directly in it. AJ Styles and Sami Zayn have the ability to put on a really good television match (see their April 2016 RAW match for details), whilst also having the ability to carry an interesting storyline. With Kevin Owens thrown into the mix, this should be a no-brainer. Yet, the match ended up being just alright, showing flashes of what the pair can do together, but being constantly undermined by whatever is going on between Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan at ringside meant that they didn't get reach even half of the level that you would expect. A couple of nice near falls for each man and great little sequence with Zayn getting caught in the Calf Crusher after Styles ducked a Helluva Kick meant that this wasn't a complete waste of time, however. The finish featured much fannying around as McMahon tried to get Owens removed from ringside and Bryan tried to do the same to Shane, before Zayn picked up the win with a Helluva Kick after Styles had knocked Owens off the apron. I was pretty buzzed that Zayn had picked up such a big win, but man, the finish was lame. 

The post-match stuff somehow manage to get more over-complicated. A furious Styles got the mic and demanded a match with both Owens and Zayn, with Bryan booking a Handicap match for the Royal Rumble, with the WWE Championship on the line. Like what is happening here? Has Bryan turned heel now? He was pretty buzzing to book the match and then started yesing like fuck all over the announce table. Who thought this was a good idea? Is this happening? Surely, Shane is the villain here? Why are we having this feud at all? I have so many questions and not in a "Man, I can't wait to find out the answer to these questions on next week's SmackDown LIVE" kind of way. Less of this please.

Ruby Riott & Sarah Logan & Liv Morgan def. Natalya & Carmella & Tamina // Pinfall 

then...

Becky Lynch returned alongside Charlotte Flair & Naomi 

Before the return of Becky Lynch, the Riott Squad vs. The Welcoming Commitee featured some more confusing booking, as it played out in front of a dead crowd. I suppose the match itself wasn't that confusing, but more the fact it was taking place in the first place, without any clear character shift for either Natalya, Carmella or Tamina. Two heel trios facing off didn't really do anything for anyone and I quickly found myself drifting from the contest, especially when it continued through the commercials (American adverts are very distracting). There was a nice exchange between Liv Morgan and Natalya at the very beginning and Sarah Logan's new Kentucky Knee finisher is pretty sweet as well. Having a three person faction with such a small roster doesn't seem to be conducive to varied television on either SmackDown or RAW at the moment. 

The segment that came after the match was definitely a step upwards as Ruby Riott and Charlotte Flair cut two solid promos, before Becky Lynch made her first appearance since getting crushed by a door on 20th November. After seeing Logan and Morgan stumble through promos in previous weeks, it was certainly a wise decision to keep the mic in Riott's hands here and she ended up doing a good job. Riott bought a good intensity as she ripped on Orlando and actually made some suspect content about magic seem remotely interesting, before Flair's interruption (sans SmackDown Women's title) bringing out Naomi and then Lynch. Personally, I'm not sure what having Flair, Naomi and Lynch dominate the whole Riott Squad in their first confrontation does for this long-term, because surely the interest is in having Lynch still searching for revenge after the Riott Squad (or at least Riott) dodge the attack, but it was still a fun watch.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship // Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso (C) def. Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable // Pinfall

The first SmackDown title match of the year, followed the pattern of having questionable booking as we saw a dusty finish between The Usos and Benjamin & Gable. The thing here is that the first part of the match was actually very good, full of energy and with a shocking conclusion, because of the sheer dominance of the challengers. Benjamin and Gable continued to impress here and we didn't even see Gable pull out any Chaos Theories! The opening got the crowd pumped as Benjamin jumped up to meet an Uso on the top rope and nail a throw, before Gable nailed a moonsault for an early near fall. A lot of the action took place during the break with Benjamin & Gable working the leg and then when we came back it was straight into one of those wicked Uso hot tags. The spirited hot tag being cut off with one Uso getting thrown shoulder first into the barricade, followed by the other taking the Powerbomb/Double clothesline combination for the pinfall. It was refreshing to see such a major swerve from the regular format and also to see such a dominant win. I was considering the possibilities for the next few weeks as The Usos, who have previously been presented as the best tag team in WWE, looked to regain the belts and recover from being run over by a relatively new tag team. But then...

Basically, the pinfall happened between the two illegal competitors (which makes Benjamin look a little dim for not knowing he was the legal man) and then after an awkward moment with another referee coming out, the match restarted. The rest of the match was fine, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, but it just wasn't the same. The energy wasn't quite there, my excitement had kind died down thanks to the whole restart angle. The actual finish was pretty cool with whichever Uso it was managing to block Benjamin & Gable's finisher by dropping down into a rana position from the powerbomb, leading to Gable jumping straight into a superkick from the other Uso, before multiple superkicks and a Superfly Splash meant the Usos held onto the belt. I guess that Benjamin & Gable's decisive victory first time around will mean that we'll get another title match between the two teams, that will hopefully keep things simple. 

United States Championship Tournament // First Round // Xavier Woods def. Aiden English // Pinfall 

This clash was probably my favourite of the night, mostly due to it's lack of shenanigans, which considering Big E, Kofi Kingston and Rusev were at ringside for the entirety is pretty impressive. The match was a little short, but English and Woods worked a good pace from the off and included a few creative spots that helped the contest stand out. The opening back and forth section was very well put together as the pair slickly exchanged a number of holds, whilst the handful of spots on the outside, highlighted by Woods colliding with the steps after missing an Honor Roll, made for a delightful first few minutes. A near fall a piece, including a lovely Torture Rack backbreaker from Woods, kept the good times coming, before Woods picked up the win after escaping a potential avalanche piledriver with a back body drop and nailing Limit Break for the victory. Following this contest, I'm pretty sure Woods and English are two of the more underrated singles guys in WWE, right now. To top things off we also got Rusev singing before the match, which was wonderful.

Also this week...Bludgeon Brothers vs. Breezango didn't happen because Harper & Rowan started beating up Fandango & Tyler Breeze before the bout and then battered The Ascension as well after they tried to help...The commentary team did rundown of the Royal Rumble card so far, which seemed a little early, but whatever...Baron Corbin revealed that he'll be participating in the Men's Royal Rumble...Former Basketball player Karl Malone was shown in the crowd...

Finally... 

The first SmackDown of 2018 wasn't a great one, for me. This was mostly down to some weak booking and ongoing storylines that just seem unnecessary. Daniel Bryan's supposed heel turn is baffling, an all heel trios match struggled to hold the attention and whilst the dusty finish in the Tag Team title match wasn't awful, it wasn't as good as the first part of the match on it's own would've been! There were some positives though with Aiden English and Xavier Woods having a fun and creative bout and Becky Lynch's return helping keep the show's head above water. 

Review by James Marston (@IAmNotAlanDale)

Clash of Champions 2017 Review // AJ Styles vs. Jinder Mahal // WWE Championship

The final WWE PPV of the year had come around with very little fanfare, as the Clash of Champions card read more like a standard house show line-up, full of feuds that appeared to have ended and very little else. The SmackDown branded event saw Jinder Mahal receive his expected WWE Championship rematch against AJ Styles, desperately seeking a match that would be described with brighter terms than "average" in the main event. The upper end of the card featured Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn tagging up to face Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura in a match piled high with gimmicks and stipulations as Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan operated as dual special guest referees and a potential loss for Owens & Zayn would result in their WWE contracts being terminated, whilst Charlotte Flair put the SmackDown Women's title up against Natalya in an oddly balanced Lumberjack Match. Could Clash of Champions recover from it's half-arsed build? Lets take a freaking look, hen.

WWE Championship // AJ Styles (C) def. Jinder Mahal // Submission 

As always we begin our review with the main event, a contest which saw Jinder Mahal provide a career best performance, opposite the superlative AJ Styles. I'm not going to go overboard, but this was a good match and, considering Mahal's previous PPV efforts against Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura, should be considered a Christmas miracle and further prove that Styles is the best professional wrestler in WWE right now. The bout's story was the cliche "simple, told well" situation, with Styles locking in a Calf Crusher early, before a limping Mahal turned the tide by dropping the champion midriff first across the top rope. Mahal would focus on the ribs for the rest of the match, before Styles was once again able to lock in his signature submission, when Mahal abandoned his game-plan and went for a Styles Clash and, after a sustained period in the hold, Jinder was finally forced to submit. Mahal did a solid job of selling his right leg just enough to keep the injury in the back of the viewer's mind, whilst I felt Styles was on fine form when fighting from underneath.

The contest was maybe a little long (making up for a six match card), coming in as Mahal's longest non-gimmick PPV bout, but there was good feeling of momentum throughout, even during the Canadian's lengthy periods in control. Mahal bought a good intensity, that was missing from some of his earlier matches, whilst also mixing up his moveset, pulling out a double knee gutbuster and a variation on Ryback's Shellshocked, as he continued to work over Styles' ribs. I also got a kick out of the little touches from Styles as he tried to fight through the injury, highlighted by the creative Ushigoroshi where the Phenomenal One bounced Mahal off the ropes first in order to be able to get him up for the Fireman's carry part of the move. After playing a big part in the build up, the Singh Brothers' involvement was kept to a minimum and whilst the bumping bad boys have generally been the best element of any Mahal main event, it allowed for a much more satisfying contest and meant Jinder's intensity could come through. They did however provide the bouts best near fall after getting battered by the WWE Champ on the floor and allowing Mahal to land a Khallas for a long two, calling back to every Jinder match since May. 

After the match, my main feeling was that AJ Styles had looked like an absolute star throughout the event. Following back to back losses on PPV to Finn Balor and Brock Lesnar (as well as dropping the US title to Baron Corbin in a three way), his performance here, both in and out of kayfabe, was a pleasing sight. In story he took an arse-kicking, dug deep and used his technical prowess to outsmart an act who'd got the better of Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura on multiple occasions and out of it, he helped a limited performer to the best bout of his career. His interview on Talking Smack added to Styles aura as a special talent, as he put over Mahal's effort, bought up some interesting points about the Singh Brothers' involvement and just generally came across as a star. After a disappointing feud with Kevin Owens cooled Styles' summer, his form in the last three months of 2017 has been outstanding, putting on top tier matches with Balor and Lesnar in October and November, before seeing the year out by pulling a talent to a match that many thought he was incapable of achieving, even with the companies best.  

Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn WWE Contracts on the Line // Special Guest Referees: Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon // Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn def. Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura // Pinfall 

What seemed like a needlessly overbooked match heading into the show ended up being just that as Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura and Randy Orton went through the motions, whilst Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan pissed around as special guest referees. Despite previously mentioning in a backstage segment that they would discuss how they would deal with the match "in private", Bryan and McMahon almost instantly began arguing over who should be counting the falls. What the fuck did they talk about? Dad things, probs. Whilst Orton was busy looking like he'd rather be anywhere else for most of the match and Nakamura was running through a tepid tag (like a hot tag, but not...that hot?), we were treated to McMahon and Bryan splitting the ring in half to decide who should count the pinfalls. This took way way too long to achieve, meant there was very little meaningful action and didn't amount to much anyway. 

The bout was saved from being a complete dud by a fun closing section. This featured some decent near falls for both sides and a number of soap-opera style moments, even if there was a lack of anything genuinely surprising. Saying that, Daniel Bryan did kind of take a bump in WWE in 2017, almost certainly leading to a thousand opinion pieces predicting an imminent 2018 return, as Owens pushed him on McMahon to deny Orton the win after an RKO on Zayn. Shane flatout refusing to count the pinfall for the heel team got a strong reaction, whilst the fast-count from Bryan should lead to some interest surrounding Tuesday's SmackDown. There was also a cool highspot where Zayn aided Owens in hitting Nakamura with a running splash from one announce table to another. However, two minutes of quirky back and forth, doesn't a good twenty minute match make. 

I'll let it be known that I'm not interested in seeing a Shane McMahon vs. Daniel Bryan feud on SmackDown, perhaps if I was then I'd have enjoyed this clash a little bit more and be more hyped following it's conclusion. McMahon has been featured way too heavy for my liking on SD Live in 2017 and whilst I'll give him some leeway for having a very good match with AJ Styles at WrestleMania 33, it's been a case of diminishing returns when he's been pushed into storylines with other top talents. If WWE are willing to let Bryan compete again, it will definitely be on a limited basis and when you have a roster packed with better in-ring talent than WWE has ever had, it would be extremely wasteful to put The American Dragon in their with the boss' son. That being said I'd take McMahon vs. Bryan over the rumoured Bryan vs. Cody (Rhodes) contest on the indies! (Just realised I've barely talked about any of that actual competitors in the match, but that's pretty much how the match was put together, so there) 

SmackDown Women's Championship // Lumberjack Match // Charlotte Flair (C) def. Natalya // Submission

A hot mess of a Lumberjack match, that was dominated by it's gimmick and featured very little of anything else. Beyond the finish, I couldn't name one sequence that Natalya and Charlotte Flair had with each other, as most the bout's action was one throwing the other to the outside and that person either getting beaten up by the rag tag Riott Squad and the rag tag bunch of Carmella, Lana and Tamina or the bout's sole babyface lumberjack Naomi. Mixed into the generic lumberjack antics we had whomever put the match together throwing shit at the wall and seeing what stuck as we got the two heel groups squabbling over who got to beat up Flair leading to a springboard crossbody from Naomi to take everyone out, a teased Money in the Bank cash-in from Carmella before the Lumberjacks stormed the ring for no particular reason and then Flair nailing a beautiful moonsault to the floor onto everyone but Lana, who bumped anyway, seemingly out of sheer FOMO.

With the entire Women's division involved (and bizarrely every Lumberjack getting their own entrance), one would've expected an element of storyline progression or something to justify everyone being involved. Unfortunately, that wasn't present, with most of the match simply...just kind of happening. I'm not quite sure what Natalya's promo was all about after the match, but maybe Lana has a point on Total Divas (seriously, that might be my favourite feud in all of WWE right now). On the other side of the coin, Charlotte Flair owned her appearance on Talking Smack, once again making me sad that the show is no longer a weekly affair, as even with notorious dweeb Sam Roberts hosting this was a fun watch. With a visible mark on her face from her scrap and real emotion in her voice throughout, Flair talked about wanting to become an irreplaceable attraction in WWE and it was wonderful. Real emotion is so important for driving professional wrestling television and WWE needs to be harnessing this more often, as Flair came across as a relateable and likeable human being, something which isn't always the case on SmackDown.

SmackDown Tag Team Championships // The Usos (C) def. Big E & Kofi Kingston and Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable and Rusev & Aiden English // Pinfall

Standing out amongst the pack, the four way tag bout was my favourite contest of the night. Following two entertaining promos from Rusev & Aiden English and The Usos, the match kept the crowd hot with multiple spills to the floor in the early goings, before settling down and then launching into a great closing stretch. Rusev and English might not be the Best Boys, but their probably in the top twelve and their extended period of near falls and Accolades was handled nicely, with the live crowd hot for every moment. Chad Gable looked like the Gable we chanted about during that first UK NXT tour (remember that?) and just kept hitting Chaos Theories on anyone in sight, including one that appeared to have straight up murdered English. Those last three, four or five minutes was some of the most fun I've had watching WWE this year. The bout wasn't without it's own problems however, as having four lads in at one time lead to a little clunkiness, seen notably with an awkward double faces in peril sequence transitioning into an Uso and Big E simultaneous hot tag that didn't come across as well as I think it could have. 

In a night where AJ Styles seemed to be finally cemented in a top role in WWE, I got a similar feeling when The Usos overcame significant challenges to walk out with the blue and silver belts once again. Considering the breakout performance from Chad Gable and how many near falls the popular Rusev and Aiden English tandem got, it felt like The Usos had come up against a significant threat, faced kayfabe career best performances and walked out with the tag titles anyway, making the most of an slip-up by Gable and, perhaps most importantly, winning with their finishing sequence. It would have been easy to hot shot the belts onto Rusev and English, who are riding a wave of Rusev Day-based euphoria, but Jimmy and Jey have had a magnificent 2017, in the ring and on the microphone, winning fans over with their Uso Penitentiary gimmick and completely earned this showpiece victory. It would seem like the duo will work a programme with the Bludgeon Brothers in early 2018 (a team they had two good matches with back in the summer of 2014), with this being hinted at during Talking Smack.

United States Championship // Dolph Ziggler def. "The Glorious" Bobby Roode and Baron Corbin (C) // Pinfall

Whilst the match came together for seemingly no reason, Dolph Ziggler, Bobby Roode and Baron Corbin outworked the prior booking, putting on a good opener with a surprising ending. The early stages weren't doing much for me and whilst the one in, one out style was okay, it lacked pace and any real story to get my teeth into. Then seemingly out of nowhere the three were all in the ring together and put together a flowing back and forth sequence including a Ziggler dropkick and concluding with a lovely Deep Six from Corbin. After that we were off to the races, with a classic tower of doom spot and a very good near fall for Roode off a Glorious DDT to Ziggler. The finish was a difficult-looking spot, timed to perfection, as Corbin got Roode up for an End of Days, only for Ziggler to slide in from behind and hit the then US Champion with a Zig Zag for an unanticipated victory. Perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised that The Show-Off finally regained the belt he lost to Zack Ryder six years ago as WWE has developed a habit of having guys who have no right to be in multi-man contests walk out with the win over the last couple of years. Ryder's Intercontinental Championship win at WrestleMania 32 and Jinder Mahal becoming #1 Contender to the WWE title in April spring to mind.

Side note: Later on, we'd see Corbin launch a plastic bin at a door. 

Mojo Rawley def. Zack Ryder // Pinfall

My expectations weren't high for this one, but you know what it was exactly what it needed to be. Zack Ryder worked hard and Mojo Rawley looked like a bastard. Ryder starting proceedings by furiously going after his former tag team partner got over the personal issue between the two arguably better than any other match on the card, with the clothesline over the top rope punctuating things well. The bump from the top rope to the floor that Ryder took was well placed just before the break as well. The finish seemingly coming out of nowhere put over Rawley's explosive power, as he cut short a Ryder comeback with a chop block to the knee that had cost the team a tag title shot, before twatting his old pal with a running forearm shot in the corner to seal the deal. Rawley has potential as a heel, after years as a dull blue-eye, but not everyone will bump around for him like Ryder did here and not every match will hide his weaknesses so well.

The Bludgeon Brothers def. Breezango // Pinfall 

A pretty straight-forward squash match with Harper and Rowan having a counter for everything and anything that Tyler Breeze and Fandango had to offer, before winning with the double crucifix powerbomb.

Finally... 

Looking down the card and having watched the build, it was difficult to remember that Clash of Champions was even taking place. Yet, when I finished watching the show I realised I'd had a much better time watching it than I was expecting to. Whilst the Owens & Zayn vs. Nakkers & Orton and the Women's Lumberjack match were booked to death, almost everything else delivered above expectations. The Four Way tag was top of the pile, but Jinder Mahal pulling a good main event out made me bizarrely happy and fuzzy inside, as well. Yes, it could have been booked better and the time could have been used better (two Women's matches, surely?), but I spent more time thinking "Oh that was quite nice" than thinking "What the fuck is this happening for?" which hasn't always been the case with WWE this year. 

SmackDown 954 Review // Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens // No Disqualification

Lexington, Kentucky was our location for this week's SmackDown as the brand picked up momentum heading towards 17th December's Clash of Champions PPV. The show featured Randy Orton squaring off with Kevin Owens in the main event under No Disqualification rules, with Sami Zayn barred from ringside as The Viper looked to gain revenge on Owens for his involvement in SmackDown's loss at Survivor Series earlier in the month. There was also more depth added to the Women's division as the team of Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan, now going by the collective name The Riott Squad stepped in with three of the women they assaulted last week, Natalya, SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair and Naomi. But was it any good? Let's take a look!

Shane McMahon turned the tables on Kevin Owens [Kevin Steen] and Sami Zayn [El Generico]

then...

No Disqualification // Kevin Owens def. Randy Orton // Pinfall

The opening segment felt unnecessary and followed the tired pattern that's been seen for months with Shane McMahon skipping out to open the show and talk aimlessly for a bit. Honestly, the job that McMahon did here had already been done in the show's opening video package and him recapping storylines is a waste of everyone's time. The tension between McMahon and Daniel Bryan continued to be played up, but feels a little bit forced at this point. To be honest, there whole conversation felt convoluted and revealed very little information about anything. We did, however, get the news that Sami Zayn would be banned from ringside for Kevin Owens vs. Randy Orton and the match would be No Disqualification. This whole segment could've been boiled down to a short backstage skit, a WWE.com article or just a tweet, with the screen time going to any one of the actual wrestlers.

A couple of backstage segments set us up for a good TV main event, with the highlight being Orton refusing to have an interview as he stormed out of his dressing room heading to the ring. The match followed on from there with The Viper looking extremely motivated and bringing the fire in Lexington as he dominated Owens from the bell. Whilst the reasoning for Orton's anger (Owens cost SmackDown an Elimination match at Survivor Series) is lame, Orton's aggression and physicality sold just how pissed off he was with the former Universal Champion. The two made good use of limited number of weapons, with a number of heavy kendo stick shots and a cool moment when Orton was reaching for the foreign object whilst in a headlock, only for Owens to release the hold, grab the weapon and batter Orton with the stick himself. It was the physicality that drove the match, with lots of brawling on the floor and spots involving the barricade and announce table, but there was also a handful of crisp wrestling sequences, with Orton's snap scoop powerslam standing out in particular. Whilst the two brawling towards the entrance ramp felt contrived, Sami Zayn's involvement (he was only banned from ringside) was obvious and Zayn's chair shots to Orton's thigh were two of the weakest in recent memory, they played an important storyline role in the finish of the bout. Orton was unable to hit the RKO, due his plant leg being injured, before a shot to the injured leg, a superkick and a frog splash gave Owens a big pinfall victory. For the length of the match, they perhaps could have worked a few more convincing near falls into the action and maybe one or two more weapon spots (the crowd wanted tables, dammit), but this was still a very good main event. Where both men slot into Clash of Champions I'm unsure.

The Riott Squad def. Natalya, Charlotte Flair and Naomi // Pinfall

One of the most impressive female debut matches in quite some time as newly christened Riott Squad ripped apart the thrown together trio of Natalya, Charlotte Flair and Naomi. Consisting of Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan, the group took out their opponents one by one and took very little offence in return, against the last three SmackDown Women's Champions. Natalya ducked out of the bout after a physical clash with Logan, before Morgan and Logan would dismantle Naomi at ringside whilst Riott controlled Flair inside the ring. I have to say that at points the match felt a little flabby, seemingly unable to decide which highspot on Naomi looked better and doing all three and also taking a little while to transition from that attack to the group finally putting Flair away. Whilst, the Riott Squad have a long way to go in perfecting their act, the presentation of the group was spot on here, as they looked different from pretty much anything that's been promoted with the blue brands females up to now. The promo from Riott before the match also did a quality job of getting over her character and relationship with Morgan and Logan, with the former CHIKARA Young Lions Cup Tournament Champion showing bags of personality. It's an easy  comparison to make but the Riott Squad's segment this week was head and shoulders above what was done with Absolution on Raw the previous night.

"The Phenomenal" AJ Styles def. The Singh Brothers // Pinfall

AJ Styles did an avalanche Styles Clash in WWE. 2017 is freaking spectacular. Fair play to whichever one of the Singh Brothers took the move (coming off the middle rope onto his brother!), with the move coming off a super safe. The match itself did a pretty good job of positioning Styles as the underdog against a pair of lads who have at best been presented as fall guys for Jinder Mahal throughout their run. Styles got sent under the bottom rope and ribs first into the ringpost in a pre-match attack from Mahal, Sunil and Samir, with the Phenomenal one selling the injury well throughout as he fought from underneath against the former GFW Tag Team Champions. After the match, Mahal finally dumped the men who had allowed him to remain the WWE Champion for six months, hitting both brothers with the Khallas. Where this will go in the last two episodes before Clash of Champions, I'm not sure, but I'd be up for a Singh Brothers run in the tag team division if nothing else. Side note: Mahal's legs look like those of another man.

Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods def. Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable // Pinfall

A solid tag team opener here, even if the result is a strange one. The bout was a relatively basic two on two, with Woods working the face in peril role, a couple of underhanded tactics from Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable, before a Kofi Kingston hot tag. The match was elevated by a wonderful sequence between Kingston and Benjamin that went back and forth at pace with a number of crisp reversals. The two have history from their time on ECW together, as well a fair few house show singles matches, so I got a kick out of seeing them go at each other full pelt. The match paced itself well with a hot finish seeing Benjamin taken out with a tope conhilo from Woods, before a wicked version of UpUpDownDown put Gable out. It was an odd decision to have Benjamin & Gable lose here, as they had previously been in a feud with SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Uso that included Benjamin beating Jey Uso last week, whilst New Day have had repeated matches with the champs for quite sometime. Perhaps, WWE is positioning for a triple threat at Clash of Champions, but it's come completely out of the blue.  

The Bludgeon Brothers def. The Hype Bros // Pinfall 

An even swifter squash match for Rowan and Harper as they knocked Mojo Rawley off the apron and ran through Zack Ryder in under a minute with a double crucifix powerbomb. In a dramatic post-match angle, Rawley turned on Ryder during an interview with Dasha Fuentes, before later telling Kayla Braxton backstage that "the landscape has changed" 

The Fashion Files // Sawed

The Fashion Files returned with one of their better episodes in the last few months, as they parodied the Saw franchise and The Ascension apparently died.

Baron Corbin denied Bobby Roode a United States Championship match

Interrupting an interview with Dasha Fuentes, Baron Corbin claimed he was not scared of Bobby Roode, so Roode challenged him to a United States Championship match later on in the show, but Corbin refused.

Finally...

After we got past the opening segment, this week's SmackDown was an entertaining show and whilst nothing was a homerun, there was a lot of second and third base attempts. The two top matches with Owens vs. Orton and the Riott Squad vs. Natalya, Flair and Naomi delivered with plenty of physicality, only being hurt by being slightly bloated at points. The undercard was also solid stuff. AJ Styles' handicap match was booked well and included an avalanche Styles Clash, the New Day vs. Gable & Benjamin bout featured some delightful action, whilst the Bludgeon Brothers looked impressive and Rawley turning on Ryder bought some intrigue to two guys that had been treading water for months. There was also a return to former for the Fashion Files! 

SmackDown 954 gets a thumbs up from me.

Review by James Marston (@IAmNotAlanDale)

SmackDown 953 Review // Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. Kofi Kingston & Big E // Lumberjack Match

The first SmackDown after Survivor Series 2017 had Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn all over the episode, as the fallout from their interference in the show's main event began. The show's main storyline was whether the duo would be fired by Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan, with the duo featuring in the main event, a Lumberjack match against Kofi Kingston & Big E from the New Day, whilst the show's other big story included the debuts of Ruby Riot, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan and their appearance during a SmackDown Women's Championship match between champion Charlotte Flair and Natalya. But was it any good? Let's take a look!

Daniel Bryan intervened before Shane McMahon could fire Kevin Owens [Kevin Steen] and Sami Zayn [El Generico]

Then...

Lumberjack Match // Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn def. Kofi Kingston & Big E // Pinfall

As an opening segment, Daniel Bryan saving Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn from being fired and setting up a Lumberjack match main event did it's job. It had elements of drama and built well to Bryan's interruption of Shane McMahon, gave us a main event to look forward to, as well as a storyline that would run throughout the show in multiple backstage segments. That being said, not everything hit it's mark. The main thing that didn't work brilliantly was McMahon coming out and talking up how well SmackDown performed at Survivor Series, despite losing the Series 4-3. Honestly, (and here's a niche reference) it reminded me of my football team, Walsall's manager, Jon Whitney during post-match interviews, trying to make excuses and putting elements of performance over results. McMahon came across as a bit of a loser and he would've been better off flying into calling out Owens and Zayn to get over how furious he was at their interference. Zayn however was on excellent form as he hammed it up, clearly enjoying his recent character shift, whilst getting a strong reaction when being told to "Shut up" repeatedly by Daniel Bryan.

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn petitioned Baron Corbin and Bobby Roode to help them out in the Lumberjack match with both men telling them where to go...Shane McMahon complimented Daniel Bryan on booking the Lumberjack match, before leaving with his backpack, with the expectation that Bryan would be firing Owens & Zayn after the match was over...Owens and Zayn continued to look for allies and seemed to have some support after speaking to Rusev and Aiden English...Owens & Zayn then interrupted Dasha Fuentes' interview with Bryan, telling the SmackDown General Manager if he fired them tonight then it would be the biggest mistake he'd ever made...

A solid main event, that soldiered along with a simplistic story and featured a wild finish. The idea that the lumberjacks were willing to attack Sami Zayn or Kevin Owens, but that Big E and Kofi Kingston had a pass was put over early and continued to be the theme throughout. It was a logical narrative, following up from Survivor Series, but it could have been improved by using Rusev and Aiden English as rebellious lumberjacks, because having Owens and Zayn fighting against the entire roster risked turning them babyface, through the sheer odds stacked against them by those in charge. Whilst the commentary team was saying weird things like "Sharks don't have hands, Saxton", the tag team action was decent and basic, highlighted by Big E's wonderful hot tag sequence, all belly to belly suplexes and big splashes. The finish seemed to come out of nowhere though with Kingston sending Zayn to the outside onto a group of lumberjacks and after a Baron Corbin punch aimed for Zayn connected with Bobby Roode, a mass brawl broke out and rolled through the ring with everyone seemingly getting involved and when the dust settled, Zayn took advantage and got a roll-up on Kingston for the win. Thinking about it there was more than a few similarities between this finish and the one seen on RAW in Manchester a few weeks ago when The New Day's invasion caused Cesaro & Sheamus to walk out with the RAW Tag Team Championships! 

After the match, The New Day circled on Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn, but after Owens escaped through the crowd after a little help from Rusev, Zayn ended up taking the brunt of the attack, as The New Day got their revenge and seemingly brought their involvement in the storyline to an end...The show closed with Kevin Owens on his knees backstage begging Daniel Bryan for his job, before getting booked in a match with Randy Orton (who Shane McMahon had mentioned he'd had to send home because he was so furious with Owens & Zayn in the opening segment) for next week.

Liv Morgan, Ruby Riot [Heidi Lovelace] and Sarah Logan [Crazy Mary Dobson] caused chaos during the SmackDown Women's Championship Match

Liv Morgan, Ruby Riot and Sarah Logan made their SmackDown debuts attacking Naomi and Becky Lynch in a violent backstage segment, that concluded with Lynch getting sandwiched in between a double door...Natalya told Dasha Fuentes that the only change that matters in WWE is the title change that will happen later tonight and also called Ric Flair a "hot mess"...

Before Liv Morgan, Ruby Riot and Sarah Logan interfered, Charlotte Flair and Natalya were actually having a pretty good SmackDown Women's Championship, in front of a crowd that was invested in Flair as the champion. A wicked sitout powerbomb, a long spell in the sharpshooter for Flair and a cool combination backbreaker and flatliner into the top turnbuckle combination from Charlotte, lead us into a Natalya spilling to the floor following a spear and the introduction of the three most recent NXT graduates as they jumped Natalya on the floor.

After the match, Ruby Riot, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan battered Natalya on the outside, before turning their focus to Charlotte Flair, taking turns to hit some signature offence on the SmackDown Women's Champion, in a mirror image of Paige, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville's appearance on RAW the previous evening.

Jinder Mahal tried to get a leg up on AJ Styles

It was no surprise to me that out of all of the losers from Survivor Series, AJ Styles did the best job of addressing his loss in a promo. Styles talked about how despite the praise he'd received for his effort in the match, there were no prizes for second place. It was refreshing to see acknowledgement of disappointment and it makes Styles even more of a likeable babyface, whilst a reference to Rocky II and a potential rematch with Brock Lesnar means that if that match comes around again it will feel even more electric than the first time round. Jinder Mahal decided to turn up on the screen and tell Styles that he was "up here" again, despite Styles already staring at the ramp...someone should really tell Mahal that the screen isn't on the ceiling. Mahal's promo was shaky and garbled, but the long and short of it was that we're getting Styles vs. Mahal for the title at Clash of Champions on 17th December. I was hoping we'd get the rematch on television and a bigger, more interesting clash for the final PPV of the year,. but what are you gonna do? The segment concluded with the Singh Brothers attempting to attack Styles from behind, only for the WWE Champion to easily fend them off, nailing Samir Singh with a crowd-pleasing Styles Clash.

Shelton Benjamin def. Jey Uso // Pinfall

For a match that went less than five minutes on television, I thought this was a great outing from Shelton Benjamin and Jey Uso. The bout featured some hard strikes, a massive leaping knee from Benjamin to knock Uso off the top rope to the floor, as well as a good series of near falls after Chad Gable and Jimmy Uso started scrapping at ringside, before Benjamin was able to pick up the win with Paydirt after Uso missed a Superfly Splash.

The Usos turned up later on to shill some merch, ahead of Black Friday...

The Bludgeon Brothers def. The Hype Bros // Pinfall

For the final time, the Bludgeon Brother received a short vignette, before the message "Tonight" appeared on screen...

Harper and Rowan murdered Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley, picking up a quick squash win with a two-man crucifix powerbomb on Rawley.

Finally...

It was cool to have storyline flow throughout a show this week, with the various backstage segments with Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn, Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon complimenting the moments that book-ended the show involving those guys and The New Day. The addition of Liv Morgan, Ruby Riot and Sarah Logan shakes up the Women's division on the blue brand, although the similarities between Paige, Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville doing the same on RAW are obvious. The two shorter matches were fun with Jey Uso and Shelton Benjamin doing well with their time and The Bludgeon Brothers looking impressive in their intense and dominant debut. Even though I'm not thrilled by the prospect of another Jinder Mahal PPV title match, I wouldn't say there was anything on this show that I actively disliked as a whole segment, being able to find more than a few things I liked about everything that went down this week. With just three more episodes before Clash of Champions I'm looking forward to seeing how the brand goes about fleshing out that card with only AJ Styles vs. Jinder Mahal currently scheduled.

Review by James Marston