BRM Reviews the 12/16/2022 Smackdown (WALTER VS.vRICOCHET!)

[Big Red Machine]

SAMI ZAYN & THE USOS ARRIVE AT THE BUILDING- Michael Cole tells us that there is speculation that Sammy could become an “official” Uce tonight instead of just being an honorary one.

WWE WOMEN’S TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Damage CTRL (Iyo Skye & Dakota Kai)(c) (w/Bayley) vs. Tegan Nox & Liv Morgan- 6.75/10
They did their stuff. The important part is that Bayley grabbed Nox and threw her into the group near the timekeeper’s area… and a fan in a hoodie attacked her. Security grabbed the fan and escorted her away, but now we have a mystery on our hands.
Damage CTRL retained the titles.

WALTER VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO ON RICOCHET- awesome build for tonight’s match

RICOCHET VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO ON WALTER- awesome

BLOODLINE BACKSTAGE- fine
Sami was excited, then left. Jey thinks that Sami will be made a full Uce tonight, while Jimmy thinks Roman will be angry and that Sami will be “disappointed.”

MICHAEL COLE PITCHES TO A FOOTAGE OF WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OFF LAST WEEK- snore
Cole said they received this footage via being sent a Q.R. code. So they were sent a mysterious Q.R. code and just scanned it? That sounds like a great way to get a virus on your phone.
Anyway, it turns out that someone tied L.A. Knight up and put a scary mask over his head.
And apparently they’ve let him go, as we now see him walking around backstage. He doesn’t even appear injured. My continued skepticism of all things Bray Wyatt remains warranted.

L.A. KNIGHT PROMO-
He pretty much summed up my feelings on Bray Wyatt. He also said that he knows it was Bray who attacked him, not some “Uncle Howdy,” because he heard Bray’s voice. He tells Bray to “put on whatever mask you need to; put on whatever costume you need to” and come out and get an ass-kicking.
Bray came out and cut a promo. When he got into the ring, Knight delivered the promised ass-kicking. Uncle Howdy took over the TitanTron to say some stuff that I couldn’t understand because of all of their stupid special effects noise. His mask looks like a Guy Fawkes mask and Colonel Sanders had a baby, which got turned into a zombie. Then he came out onto the ramp. He’s also got a top-hat ringed by barbed wire. He laughed, and it echoed through the speaker. L.A. Knight fled in fear. This sh* remains uninteresting.

ROMAN REIGNS, PAUL HEYMAN, & SOLO SIKOA HAVE ARRIVED AT THE BUILDING- self-explanatory

WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Gunther(c) vs. Ricochet- 9/10
Adam Pearce preemptively ejected Imperium from ringside. Why didn’t he do that to Bayley earlier?
Imagine a really awesome Ricochet vs. WALTER match, and that’s exactly what we got here.

During this match, they told us that the person who attacked Tegan Nox was Xia Li. I really liked this. News doesn’t wait for a convenient moment in the show, and it makes sense that WWE security would unmask this person as soon as possible.


POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine
Imperium came out to attack Ricochet, but Braun Strowman made the save, then helped Ricochet up, and even raised his hand afterwards, though the camera mostly missed that last bit.

JIMMY USO TRIES TO GET ROMAN TO TELL HIM WHAT HE IS PLANNING FOR TONIGHT RE SAMI ZAYN- fine
Roman won’t spill the beans. Once Jimmy leaves, Roman orders Paul Heyman to call Adam Pearce.

ADAM PEARCE COMES TO SEE ROMAN REIGNS-
Heyman pitches Roman Reigns & Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens and a partner of Owens’ choice for December 30 on Smackdown.

JOHN CENA NARRATES A VIDEO ABOUT THE 1ST TRIBUTE TO THE TROOPS- WWE still hasn’t learned how anniversaries work, as they said that this year was the “20th anniversary of Tribute to the Troops.”
It was a great video package, though.

WINNER GETS A WWE UNDISPUTED TAG TEAM TITLE SHOT NEXT WEEK: Viking Raiders (w/Valhalla) vs. Hit Row (w/B-Fab) vs. Legado del Fantasma (Joaquin Wilde & Cruz del Toro) (w/Santos Escobar & Zelina Vega)- 6/10
These Viking Raiders look far too much like cosplayers to be taken seriously.
Hit Row won a match that was mostly power moves and dives. Top Dolla horribly botched one of those dives.

KAYLA BRAXTON INTERVIEWS RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ- fine
Kayla asks her if she will be cleared to compete in time for next week’s Gauntlet match to determine Ronda Rousey’s next challenger. She cut what started out as a decent babyface “this is why I must have revenge” promo, but that got derailed when she claimed to be friends with Shotzi Blackheart, which then turned this into a heel promo, so I cheered when Ronda and Shayna attacked her and worked her arm over some more. It’s nice to see someone get what they deserve for enabling Shotzi’s obnoxious behaviors.

They announced Ricochet & Braun Strowman vs. Imperium in a Street Fight for next week.

CLOSING SEGMENT- good
Roman Reigns says that tonight “was” going to be a good night for Sami Zayn, but it won’t be because of this Kevin Owens problem. If Owens is stalking Sami, it’s a problem for Roman. Roman tells Sami about the tag match. Sami then cut a promo agreeing with Roman. While burying K.O. and talking about what a “cancer” he is, Sami says “for crying out loud, I’m his only friend!”
And then he realized his mistake, and tried to correct it.
And while he was in the middle of correcting it, John Cena appeared on the TitanTron and read a text message he got from Kevin Owens pitching for him to be his tag team partner. Cena’s promo was a little too kitschy for my liking, but I thought the bigger problem was him calling Owens his “long-time friend.” I thought it would have worked better if Cena had accepted more for the sake of Owens’ pitch about 2022 being the only calendar year in the past 20 in which Cena hadn’t had at last one WWE match, and not wanting to let that streak end.
Sami looked worried, Roman laughed it off, and the others were all stoic.


This was a good episode of Smackdown, although mostly on the back of the WALTER vs. Ricochet stuff. I will probably watch the show through the end of the year and then decide whether I want to make it a weekly thing again.