SmackDown Results and Recap: Empress of TLC

The November 27th, 2018 episode of WWE SmackDown LIVE was an eventful one, setting up the SmackDown Women’s Championship match at TLC, featuring a great tag team match, and celebrating Jeff Hardy’s 20th anniversary of his debut with the company.

The episode opened with the much-anticipated return of SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch. She held her championship high to a raucous ovation and said that even short time away was too long for “the hottest thing in this industry.”

Lynch called her rival Charlotte Flair to the ring, and they exchanged verbal barbs about who was copying who (as well as who was copying the “Nature Boy”), with some shots at RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey also thrown into the mix. Flair said she didn’t actually fight for Lynch at Survivor Series—she fought for herself because Lynch couldn’t—and would gladly fight the redhead right then and there. Paige quickly deescalated the situation and booked the women in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the SmackDown Women’s Championship on the upcoming TLC pay-per-view.

While this satisfied Lynch and Flair, the rest of the women of the blue brand were none too happy. First, Mandy Rose’s music hit and Rose, The IIconics, Sonya Deville, and Zelina Vega entered. Rose said that any of them could have done what Flair did to Rousey and they all deserve title shots. She also accused her former Absolution leader of only giving opportunities to her former PCB stablemates since their group broke up. Then Naomi, Asuka, Carmella, and Lana entered and surprisingly agreed with their colleagues, acknowledging that they also have the desire for championship opportunities. After this protest, Paige set the main event of as a battle royal between these women, the winner of which would be added to the championship match at TLC. Obviously, the SmackDown Women’s Championship continues to be the most aggressively sought-after title in WWE.

Before the show, The Bar issued an open challenge for a non-title match, which was answered by The Usos. (They also ended their alliance with The Big Show.) This was unquestionably the match of the episode, a competitive, aggressive, fast-paced match between two of the best tag teams in WWE. After a splash, The Usos gained a pinfall victory over the tag team champions.

Backstage, we saw The New Day laughing at a video on Woods’ phone. The Miz asked what the were laughing about, only to learn it was his embarrassing loss to local talent last week. After an argument about their respective Survivor Series performances, The Miz declared that he would notify his “Co-Bestie” Shane McMahon to set up a match for that night.

Later in the show, The Miz did get a match… but it was a singles match against Kofi Kingston. Kingston, supported by his New Day teammates, got an early advantage and ultimately picked up the win. Backstage, The Miz blamed Shane for not supporting him and said they are forever bonded by being “Best in the World,” as the World Cup trophy is their child.

The Miz’s tag team partner at last weekend’s Starrcade, United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, had a singles match against Rusev on the show. Or at least, he was scheduled to have one. “The King of Strong Style” jumped Rusev before the bell and kneed him in the head, knocking him unconscious. The match was thrown out and Nakamura left the ring looking proud of himself.

Ahead of his rematch for the WWE Championship at TLC, AJ Styles cut a passionate promo against his opponent, Daniel Bryan. Styles was medically cleared from the results of Bryan’s post-match attack, but clearly, his pride was still hurt. He insultingly compared Bryan, who wasn’t at the show, to RAW Universal Champion Brock Lesnar and swore to win back the WWE Championship.

The episode also included a presentation celebrating the 20th year of Jeff Hardy’s WWE debut. He made a sincere speech about his accomplishments and the crowd chanted “Thank you, Hardy” and “Delete!” at him in appreciation. When he was about to leave the ring, Samoa Joe entered and cut a promo about how Hardy sickens him, has let down WWE fans in the past, and will always be haunted by his demons. Those were fighting words to the North Carolinian daredevil, but Joe exited the arena rather than back it all up.

The confrontation between Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio, however, did end in violence. Orton entered the arena with Mysterio’s mask and started to cut a promo on him. Mysterio, still wearing that neck brace, entered and starting attacking Orton. The luchador got in a few shots, but Orton ripped off the brace and incapacitated him with a chair-assisted shove into the steel stairs. After this, the Viper was finally backed off by officials.

The show’s main event, the women’s division battle royal, was on the short side for this type of match but still energetic and entertaining. We saw outside-the-ring aggression from Zelina Vega and Lana, the IIconics attempt (and fail at) their “Throw ’em all out!” strategy, and tag team rivals Asuka/Naomi and Mandy Rose/Sonya Deville as the last four in the ring.

Naomi eliminated Rose, but Deville quickly took out Naomi. The crowd was hyped for Deville vs. Asuka, and both got some close calls. But a knee strike from Asuka ended a dramatic struggle on the apron, and the “Empress of Tomorrow” was officially added to the SmackDown Women’s Championship match at TLC.