WWE SmackDown 12/06/2023: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show where a beloved babyface tag team unexpectedly turns heel as the payoff to a long-running angle — no, not that one, the other one. Coming off Survivor Series: WarGames, WWE is heading full speed ahead toward Saturday's Night Main Event and the end of 2024, bring back an old standby at a time of chaotic new growth for both the company and the industry at large. All around us, things are changing — new titles are being fought for, wrestlers are potentially getting traded from brand to brand, and as previously mentioned, tag teams are turning faster than The Big Show in a centrifuge. We're talking about all that here, and more, as we comb over Friday's blue brand offering and tell you what we thought.

Remember, these are the entirely subjective opinions of the WINC staff. If you want objective facts, check out the show's results page. If you want to know which matches and segments we enjoyed and which we didn't, you're in the right place. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 12/6/24 episode of "WWE SmackDown."

For so long now, I've felt like the WWE brand split had been shallow at best and at worst one of the biggest recurring plot holes in the canon. But where others would argue for getting rid of the concept entirely, I still felt like it's better than not having one — provided it's done right. Now, that's not say it ever has been done truly effectively since the early 2000s (or arguably 2016) and it certainly becomes a broken mechanic when "Raw" and "SmackDown" exclusive talent appear on the other show either with no explanation or one that is so weak there might as well have not been one. But Friday night saw a positive move in that vein, showing that there is an awareness that the concept could be fleshed out further.

Chad Gable appeared during "SmackDown" despite being a "Raw" star to challenge WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, which I was more than ready to abhor as another ignoring of the very idea of a brand split. But I was more than happy to be wrong, as Michael Cole explained that Gable and American Made were there to talk with General Manager Nick Aldis pending the new WWE Transfer Window, a period ahead of the Netflix premiere of "Raw" where each brand's respective General Manager — Adam Pearce for "Raw," Aldis for "SmackDown," and Ava for "NXT" — will be discussing prospective talent trades. As a lifelong soccer fan, I have long wanted for this idea to be explored in WWE as a connective tissue for refreshing each competitor pool when the time calls for it, as well as a potential subplot to drive home the value of a talent making the move. Of course, all we know right now is that this is an idea being implemented, and it's yet to be clear how it will manifest. For now, at least, it's a fun little addition to the product and the wider lore of WWE. Only time can tell how it will go.

Written by Max Everett

You would be forgiven for assuming that Elektra Lopez was going to do next to nothing to contribute to Friday's Women's United States Championship tournament match. After all, when she's performing next to Naomi, a veritable icon in the women's wrestling world, and Tiffany Stratton, who is the future of WWE's women's division, it is incredibly easy for someone like Lopez to fall through the cracks of the match. The good news: Lopez absolutely blew out any preconceived notions of her inexperience out of the water with her performance in Friday's triple threat. The bad news: Lopez proved, in a single match, that she is being given fewer opportunities than she deserves.

Lopez's booking woes can be traced back to her "NXT" days, where she mainly served as a pretty face on WWE's developmental show. She truly started to show her inner wrestling fire when she became embroiled in a intense (albeit short-lived) feud with former ally Lola Vice towards the end of her "NXT" run. Unfortunately, Lopez took the loss in that feud and moved to the main roster to become the full-time valet for Santos Escobar and Legado Del Fantasma. Ever since, she has been little more than, again, a pretty face.

Not this week.

Am I saying Lopez is the best wrestler on the roster? No; there were some timing issues that really prevented her from delivering an immaculate product. However, I am saying that Friday's in-ring performance and her history of booking don't add up. It is clear that she has improved a lot in the ring since her "NXT" days, and yet she is still reduced to a, frankly, useless valet for a lower mid-card faction. She was absolutely explosive in the early goings of Friday's match, shocking Minneapolis when she pulled out a modified version of the Blue Thunder Bomb to dash both Naomi and Stratton's Women's US Championship dreams (and she would've won if it weren't for a pin break-up). Lopez has a lot to learn, yes, but she held her own with a wrestling veteran and one of the hottest young stars WWE has had in a while. Why is she not being put in the ring?

I think Lopez's performance Friday night warrants a re-evaluation of her position within WWE. She has provided probable cause — if not outright proof — that she deserves to be involved in more in-ring activity, beyond her interfering ways as a heel valet. If anything, she's charmed me more in this match than she ever has as a manager for Legado Del Fantasma. In a performance medium so dominated by men, there is merit to adding just another female star to regularly scheduled programming. While I don't think there's much point in clumping her in with Nia Jax, as WWE is doing with Candice LeRae, I do think that a separate feud involving her would be a great opportunity to add more diversity to WWE's programming. Elektra Lopez deserves more than what she's getting, without question.

Written by Angeline Phu

Just a few days ago, a certain women's world champion claimed that women's wrestling was "dead and buried." Bianca Belair, Piper Niven, and Chelsea Green heard that and uttered a collective "hold my beer."

Friday's episode of "WWE SmackDown" saw a spectacularly hard-hitting match between Belair and Niven (accompanied by Green). Even with Belair's body thoroughly exhausted after an intense women's WarGames match not even a week in the rear view mirror, all three women put on a spectacle that had a crowd chanting "this is awesome" — during a Niven match. What an absolute treat to watch.

All the women performed their jobs perfectly. Belair has been one of WWE's most dominant stars, and while her momentum was not squandered in this match, it was refreshing to see her struggle in a match. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a Belair fangirl, but having her crumple in pain after a particularly nasty blow from Niven did absolute wonders for Niven's credibility. It emphasized a point that certain figures in the industry will forget: one of wrestling's core tenants is to make the people around you look good. Belair exemplified that virtue, and not only did it give Niven a push even amidst a loss, but it made Belair's comeback towards a match victory so much more satisfying.

Niven and Green did their jobs as heels wonderfully, with Niven showing the blue brand why she ran "NXT UK" in its early days. Every time I watch her in the ring, I am blown away. Don't get me wrong, her partnership with Green is incredibly amusing, but she has the in-ring chops to be a serious singles star. We've heard commentary hype up matches between two incredibly large men before, but the powerhouse vs. powerhouse match that Niven had with Belair was nothing short of a spectacle of strength. Green was hilarious as always, and she is an incredible team player when it comes to hyping up Niven. Again, the point of wrestling is to make the other party look good — Green makes Niven look like a thousand bucks every time they're together.

I cannot write about this match without bringing up the incredible KOD finish. Belair dragged Green, who was previously antagonizing her from the outside of the ring, into the ring, and laid her out. Then, she retrieved Niven and hoisted her up for a devastating KOD that took both Niven and Green out of action. We've seen double KODs from Belair — her pre-Crown Jewel 2021 contract segment with Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks comes to mind first — but they never get any less impressive. Everyone looked like a hundred bucks here; Belair looked like an absolute beast, Niven is just as lethal as a friendly-fire weapon as she is as an in-ring competitor, and Green cemented herself in spot infamy a la her insane 2024 Money in the Bank fall.

Whoever dares to claim that women's wrestling is "dead and buried" has no idea what they're talking about.

Written by Angeline Phu

"SmackDown" had two major things coming out of Survivor Series: LA Knight surprisingly losing his United States title to Shinsuke Nakamura, and the men's WarGames match unsurprisingly being won by a team that included Roman Reigns and CM Punk. And while I understand that we're needing to move right into Saturday Night's Main Event build and deal with things like the DIY heel turn, it would have been nice to get more Survivor Series fallout, considering the TV following a PPV/PLE is traditionally referred to as "the fallout show."

What fallout we did get was basically crammed into a single segment right around the middle of Friday's program. Nakamura came out to the ring to speak, but was immediately interrupted by Knight, who seems to think his loss at Survivor Series was a lot more protected than it actually was, and who wanted a rematch right then and there. Knight was interrupted by Andrade, however, who also has beef with Nakamura, and then all of them were interrupted by the New Bloodline, down two members and steaming from their WarGames defeat. I kinda dug Nakamura not immediately backing down and doing the thing where blood or whatever comes out of his mouth before ultimately leaving the ring, but the scene as a whole didn't seem to have many ideas for the US title division post-Nakamura win beyond "Knight wants a rematch and also Andrade is here I guess?"

After the Bloodline had cleared the ring of the easily dispatched would-be US Champions, Solo Sikoa cut another pretty good promo; he's been doing that a lot lately. But again, it just didn't feel like enough. Reigns wasn't there, Punk wasn't there, Paul Heyman wasn't there; it was just Solo and his depleted crew taking a few minutes to try and boost their egos back up before we got to the tag team action. It wasn't bad, it just also wasn't much. Even the women's division felt a little depleted this week in the absence of Nia Jax and Bayley, and they were starting from a rough place already given that the women's WarGames match was thoroughly uninterested in any of the "SmackDown" storylines.

This kind of disconnect between the TV and the PLEs is one of the things that just naturally gets exacerbated by five-match PLE cards, since the angles that don't get PLE time have to be advanced on TV. It doesn't always bother me, but in this case it felt almost like "SmackDown" was actively punishing any fans who had been drawn in by Survivor Series and become invested in those specific characters.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

If you've been reading this column for the last few weeks, you know I've been advocating for a #DIY heel turn. Of course, there were teases of yet another turn between Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano, as Ciampa has been jealous of Gargano's friendship with Motor City Machine Guns since their arrival. After Gargano mistakenly hit Ciampa in the No. 1 contender's match and it eventually cost them the match, things escalated. Ciampa has been erratic, and last week on "SmackDown," he gave his partner an ultimatum: choose the tag titles or MCMG.

On Friday's show, the Street Profits were finally getting their title shot, but Adam Pearce was informed that Montez Ford had been taken out. Conveniently, Gargano was nearby; he convinced Pearce to let them have the match. During the bout, Ciampa continued to berate Gargano, slapping him in the chest to tag him in and demanding he take out Shelley. Eventually Gargano challenged his partner to "do something," and as the two began showing each other, it seemed Gargano was going to choose MCMG. However, while the ref was distracted by Ciampa, Gargano low-blowed Sabin, allowing them to connect with Meeting in the Middle to get the win. The result ends MCMG's title reign at 43 days (at least they got a run that lasted longer than a moon cycle) and instantly cemented #DIY as heels.

As I've stated before, the story between #DIY, MCMG, and Street Profits needs #DIY to be the heels. The Street Profits have justified anger after being screwed out of a title shot a couple months ago. They'll be livid once they realize that not only did #DIY take their title shot, but then used that shot to become champions. Obviously, MCMG are going to be mad about losing their titles due to a low blow. Depending on how this all plays out (and what both sides of The Bloodline are doing), we could end up with a triple threat match at WrestleMania.

"The Sicilian Psycho" is an excellent heel, as we saw in "NXT" when he turned on Gargano. Gargano, in contrast, wasn't really a believable heel with The Way — he was too pure to be taken seriously. This time, he has Ciampa with him instead of against him.

Written by Samantha Schipman

I feel like I haven't been too critical of WWE's storytelling lately, but that ends with "SmackDown" tonight. While I should have known that Kevin Owens was going to show up at the end since Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes was in the main event, I had already started to dislike the fact that Owens and Rhodes hadn't gone head-to-head to start off the night. That might be entirely on me for being impatient, but I feel like this story had been losing a lot of steam, and I hate that for both of these men, and I was already in a grumpy mood about it.

Instead of Owens coming out immediately to confront Rhodes, as he was booked for the show for a sit-down interview (that never actually happened) after weeks of not being allowed at "SmackDown," we got Chad Gable, who's a "Raw" star. Gable said he was there to talk to General Manager Nick Aldis about the trade portal and his contract, and came out to challenge Rhodes. At that point, having not heard anything about a trade/draft/whatever, I was already a bit annoyed at a "Raw" star being on the blue brand, especially when he was basically interrupting a story that needed furthered ahead of Saturday Night's Main Event. Then Owens' sit-down interview with Cole turned into an angle where the "Prize Fighter" called out the announcer to his car, but the social media promo Owens put out was much more interesting than whatever went on with Cole when he actually went outside to find Owens.

In potentially the worst aspect of this, however, it seems like we're getting a ridiculously similar angle to what Rhodes and Owens were doing ahead of their match at Bash in Berlin. Then, Rhodes' knee was kayfabe injured and he wouldn't admit it, but Owens also wasn't targeting it. This week, Rhodes' ankle was injured by Gable, and Owens appeared following the match to further beat down Rhodes. So while Owens is at least going to target the injury this time, we're still getting a match where Rhodes is going in injured, yet likely going to win anyway. Owens thankfully looks strong right now, and I'm not sure how many people will remember the Bash in Berlin angle, but it still seems rather silly to me. I don't think Rhodes needs to be going in to the match hurt — again — just to come out looking strong. Just give me a good ol' fashioned slobberknocker between these two, with none of this funny business, and I'll be happy.

Written by Daisy Ruth