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SmackDown Live Recap & Review – Episode 1008

WWE SmackDown Live
Episode 1008
#SDLive

Original Air Date: December 11, 2018
Event Date: December 11, 2018 (aired live)

City: Las Vegas, NV
Venue: T-Mobile Arena

Commentary: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves
Ring Announcer: Greg Hamilton

 

Video
Tonight, Charlotte Flair battles Asuka in a Wrestlemania rematch just days before the triple threat women’s title match at TLC. Plus, the new Daniel Bryan will face the heart of 205 Live, Mustafa Ali.

Ring Area
Daniel Bryan heads to the ring. Bryan apologizes for what he said last week. He apologizes to the sheep he compared “these idiots” to. The people aren’t sheep, they’re parasites. Fickle parasites. They latched onto the old Daniel Bryan and lived through his accomplishments. But the old Daniel Bryan is dead, so now everyone resides on the couch in the house that AJ Styles built. Bryan reminds everyone that he is the WWE Champ, not AJ Styles. Bryan intends to crush Styles’ dream to be champ again.

As Bryan talks, Mustafa Ali interrupts and heads to the ring. Ali tries to introduce himself, but Bryan interrupts him. Bryan says he knows who Ali is, and he introduces Ali to the crowd as the heart of 205 Live. Bryan says Ali is an incredible performer. Bryan says he’s sees a lot of himself in Ali. He also says that they don’t need to have a match tonight. The people won’t care about them after the match is over, and they don’t deserve to see that match anyway.

Ali wonders what happened to Daniel Bryan. Bryan inspired Ali to become a superstar, and all the guys on 205 Live look up to him. So what happened? The old Daniel Bryan would want to fight, and Ali wants a fight.

Bryan asks Ali what kind of car he drives. Confused, Ali says he drives an SUV. Bryan strikes Ali and calls him ignorant. Ali fights back, kicking Bryan out to the floor and diving onto Bryan from the post.

 

Match 1
Daniel Bryan (WWE Champ) vs Mustafa Ali
(referee: Mike Chioda)

Show/Hide Results

Result: Daniel Bryan wins via submission with a heel hook
Time: 9:56 (joined in progress)

Match Thoughts
Good match. Ali looked good and had some nice offense. Bryan never really looked to be in any real trouble, but the match allowed Ali to show some of what he can do. Ali was able to be competitive against the WWE Champ, and I think that’s a great thing to see. As much as I enjoyed seeing Lio Rush in action on RAW, comparing that match to this one shows how different the mindset is between SmackDown and RAW.

 

Ring Area
After the match, Daniel Bryan attacks Mustafa Ali on the ramp. Bryan stomps Ali and puts him back in a heel hook. Referees get Bryan to back off, and Bryan celebrates his actions.

Ring Area
In the ring, New Day hosts the second-ever SmackDown Live rap battle. They introduce the competitors, The Usos and The Bar. New Day goes over the rules before letting The Bar go first.

Sheamus and Cesaro sing “Ice Ice Sheamy.” The Usos laugh. Big E holds up a picture of a garbage can as The Bar’s score. The Usos go next. The Usos kill it.

The Bar tries to attack, but The Usos avoid them. New Day and The Usos get in each other’s faces, and that gives The Bar time to attack from behind. The Bar manages to knock everyone out of the ring. Then they celebrate by holding their thumbs sideways.

Backstage
Asuka says she made one mistake at Wrestlemania, but she will not fail at TLC. And tonight, Charlotte is not ready for Asuka.

Ring Area
The Miz is in the ring, and he’s holding the WWE World Cup trophy. Miz appears upset, and he calls Shane McMahon to the ring. Miz begs for Shane to come out. Shane heads to the ring.

Shane wonders if Miz is okay. Miz knows Shane is scared, but they could be great together if Shane just gave them a chance. Miz wants to tag one more time. If they lose, they’ll go their separate ways. Shane says Miz is getting weird with the World Cup trophy. Miz calls a referee to the ring, then he calls out Chip and Chad, the Vegas Boys. Miz calls for the bell…

 

Match 2
The Miz & Shane McMahon vs The Vegas Boys
(referee: Jason Ayers)

Show/Hide Results

Result: Shane McMahon forced Chip (or maybe Chad) to submit to a triangle hold
Time: 1:27

Match Thoughts
Chip and Chad attacked SHane from behind and forced him to fight back. Shane never tagged out, and he quickly took care of both of the Vegas Boys. This was goofy, but it was fine.

 

Backstage
Paige yells at Jason Ayers for refereeing the last match. Ayers says The Miz told him that the match was sanctioned. The Vegas Boys walk up and hand Paige two invoices for $5,000 each. They say that The Miz told them they would both be paid for their match. Paige tears up the invoices and tells everyone to leave her office.

Ring Area
Randy Orton heads to the ring. On his way, Orton grabs a chair. In the ring, he says that chairs can be used to send a message. To illustrate his point, Orton shows video clips of how e has used a chair against Rey Mysterio over the last few weeks.

Orton is surprised that Mysterio is okay with the fact that they have a chairs match at TLC. Maybe Mysterio thinks he will be getting revenge, but he better watch out for an RKO. Before Orton can finish, Mysterio hits Orton in the back with a chair. Rey uses the chair a few times and hits Orton with a 619. Orton escapes up the ramp as Rey looks on.

Backstage
The Man, Becky Lynch, encounters Kayla Braxton. Braxton asks Lynch if she’ll get an advantage at TLC since Charlotte and Asuka have a match against each other tonight. Lynch says no, the advantage is not hers. But Lynch loves fighting against the odds. Lynch also loves chaos.

 

Match 3
Jeff Hardy & Rusev w/ Lana vs Samoa Joe & Shinsuke Nakamura (US Champ)
(referee: Danilo Anfibio)

Show/Hide Results

Result: Rusev pins Shinsuke Nakamura after the Machka Kick
Time: 7:32

Match Thoughts
Good match. Jeff got isolated early and took a beating from Joe and Nakamura. Joe and Nakamura didn’t necessarily work as a team, but they did take turns beating up Jeff. Rusev got a tag late in the match, and he looked quite good off the hot tag. This was fun.

 

Backstage
Shane McMahon yells at The Miz for everything he did tonight. Shane says Miz crossed the line. Miz agrees, but he’s proud of getting Shane to fight tonight. Miz says he was never considered “best in the world” until Shane came along. Miz offers his hand to Shane, but Shane refuses to shake.

Video
Lars Sullivan will be on the main roster at some point in the future.

Video
Clips of the feud between Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles.

Backstage
Kayla Braxton welcomes AJ Styles. Styles says he is biding his time. Styles wants to beat the hell out of Bryan, but if he did that tonight then Bryan wouldn’t be able to compete on Sunday. This new Daniel Bryan is the real Daniel Bryan, but there is only one AJ Styles.

Backstage
Kayla Braxton asks Charlotte how she is approaching her match tonight against Asuka. Charlotte is going to give The Empress and The Man a preview of Sunday when they will both bow down to The Queen.

 

Match 4
Asuka vs Charlotte Flair
(referee: Charles Robinson; at ringside: Becky Lynch)

Show/Hide Results

Result: Asuka wins via DQ when Charlotte hits her with a kendo stick
Time: 12:10 (1 break)

Match Thoughts
Great match. This was a fight, and both women looked like they were really struggling to gain an advantage. There was a lot of wrestling on the match as well as a lot of kicks and strikes. I loved how aggressive both women were. I’m not even mad about the finish. I never really expected this to go without any shenanigans anyway. Not before a TLC match. This wasn’t as good as their Wrestlemania match, but I don’t think anyone expected it to be. This was definitely a good follow-up to their ‘Mania match though.

 

Ring Area
After the match, Becky Lynch stands up at ringside and looks at Charlotte. Becky starts to walk away, but Charlotte hits her with a kendo stick. Charlotte turns around to hit Asuka as well, but Becky grabs Charlotte and throws her into the ring steps. Becky uses the kendo stick on Charlotte, and Asuka throws Becky over the announce table. Asuka grabs the kendo stick and uses it on both Charlotte and Becky. Asuka stands tall on the announce table as the show ends.

 

Show Impressions
I think this was a very good show. Except for the silly Miz/Shane segments (which were fine), I quite enjoyed everything on this show. Highlights for me were seeing Mustafa Ali being competitive against Daniel Bryan and Asuka standing over Becky and Charlotte at the end of the show.

Match of the Night
Asuka vs Charlotte
As much as I’d love to pick Ali versus Bryan as the best match of the night, Asuka and Charlotte delivered a great match. I’m really looking forward to their match at TLC on Sunday. I feel like the SD Women’s Title deserves to close the show.

 

Official Results: https://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/2018-12-11

 

 

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