SmackDown Results and Recap: The Fickle Finger of Fate
The December 4, 2018 episode of SmackDown Live saw our SmackDown Women’s Championship challengers renew an old feud, representatives from our top tag teams in a triple threat match, and a little more of what the “New” Daniel Bryan is capable of.
The episode opened with a recap of everything that happened in the SmackDown Women’s Championship picture last week: Paige announced a championship match between Charlotte Flair and champion Becky Lynch at TLC, the rest of the women on the roster protested, and then Asuka earned her way into that match by winning a battle royal.
The first thing we saw this week was General Manager Paige in the ring—surrounded by ladders, with a championship belt hanging high above—standing behind a table prepared for a contract signing.
Asuka, then Flair, then Lynch entered the ring and trash talk soon commenced. Asuka shouted down the arguing Flair and Lynch, pointing out that while Lynch has already beaten Flair, she has yet to beat Asuka. Flair brought up that she had beaten Asuka, but “The Empress of Tomorrow” insisted it was a luck (and only “one time”). Lynch chimed in that neither of these women can beat her, but the WrestleMania 34 opponents seemed more focused on each other by that point. Flair declared that by ending Asuka’s streak, “I already shattered the mystique at WrestleMania, and at TLC, I’m going to finish you.” After a tense signing of the contract, Asuka challenged Flair to a match right then and there.
The crowd got hyped at this possibility, but Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville entered to shut it down. Rose was angry that Paige picked these two women to face Lynch next rather than “the two women you groomed for stardom in WWE.” Deville said Asuka eliminating her from the battle royal last week was a fluke. Paige met her former Absolution stablemates halfway and challenged them to prove their drive in a tag team match against Asuka and Flair.
We joined this tag team match in progress as Asuka and Deville, two skilled grapplers, faced off. When tagged in, Rose taunted of both her opponents and received open palm strikes and a fallaway slam for her cockiness. Though Flair and Asuka both looked dominant, their rivals’ superior teamwork kept the match competitive. Things fell apart though when Flair accidentally big booted Asuka in the face and Asuka responded by very intentionally dropkicking Flair. Deville rolled up Flair for the win, and “The Queen” looked seriously ticked off. Asuka clearly showed she wasn’t sorry at all, and Becky Lynch at ringside just confidently held her title high. Later in the show, Flair vs. Asuka II was announced for next week.
In the SmackDown Tag Team Championship picture, Xavier Woods, Cesaro, and Jey Uso wrestled a triple threat match while their teammates watched. At one point, Cesaro demonstrated his superhuman strength, then locked a sharpshooter on Woods. The submission was broken by Jey, who later won the match with a superkick to an unaware Cesaro. Later in the show, we learned that The Bar and The Usos will have a rap battle next week (hosted by The New Day).
In a backstage interview, Rusev was asked if he knew why Shinsuke Nakamura attacked him before their match last week. Rusev replied that it was because Nakamura is “terrified” of him. He also praised the United States Championship—a championship which he’s held before—as something that represents “honor and courage and tradition,” which Nakamura clearly lacks because he’s been avoiding matches.
Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton had another one-on-one match this episode, with Orton having seemingly moved on, at least for now, from his torture of Rey Mysterio. Hardy was prepared to fight outside of the ring this time and looked ready to hit what would have been an epic coast-to-coast dropkick after a streak of offense. However, he was halted by Samoa Joe appearing on the giant screen at a bar, an ominous reminder of Hardy’s personal demons. This distraction gave Orton time to hit an RKO and win the match.
Joe performed a faux-PSA about “the dangers of excess,” especially in regards to drinking. The demoralized Hardy exited the arena to almost dead silence after this promo that may have hit too close to home for him and some of the audience.
Backstage, early in the show, we saw Shane McMahon on his phone by the “Best in the World” trophy. The Miz entered and protested the fact that he was scheduled to host Miz TV with Daniel Bryan as the guest rather than wrestle a tag team match with his bestie/boss. Shane challenged him to use his “mental acumen” to get answers out of the still somewhat mysterious “New” Daniel Bryan, and Miz grudgingly accepted.
On Miz TV (after a quick dance break interruption by the Fabulous Truth), we saw “The A-Lister” question the “New” Daniel Bryan. Bryan said the old Daniel Bryan thought he was smart but couldn’t have been that smart because he let the opinions of WWE fans influence him. Now he doesn’t care about them and only follows his dreams. He decried his lack of “intellectual peers in the locker room,” mocked the audience for their “What?” chants, quoted Alexander Hamilton, and went on a rant about careless consumption and climate change.
A lot of his points seemed to go over The Miz’s head, but he still tried to get Bryan to admit that the part about rejecting the opinions of the fans was something he picked up from him during their years-long rivalry. They didn’t get far with this line of thinking
Daniel Bryan sat in on commentary for this match and overshadowed the action for the first half as he berated the regular announcers about their use of plastic water bottles and how he hopes his daughter will one day kick thousands of men in the groin. After a commercial break, things were not looking great for Styles, but he scored a significant blow with a forearm splash to The Miz outside the ring. But Bryan walked up to Styles, distracting him and giving the Miz a chance to throw him into the stairs. A Skull Crushing Finale back in the ring resulted in only a nearfall, angering Bryan. When Styles escaped the setup for a Figure Four, he grabbed the Styles from under the ropes. Still, Styles was able to apply a Calf Crusher to The Miz and quickly tap out his opponent.
As Styles raised his hands in victory, Bryan jumped him. He proceeded to brutally attack him against the ring post and the announce table, with