WWE SmackDown Live 12/27/16 Retro Recap

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Fred Richani recaps the final WWE SmackDown Live of 2016 from Chicago, featuring John Cena’s return, a four-team tag team title match and AJ Styles vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin for the WWE Championship.

SmackDown Review

Adapted from the episode and edited for clarity and brevity. Listen above for the full review.

First, rest in peace to Carrie Fisher, a mental health champion and a pioneer for women in Hollywood. This was a wild card edition of SmackDown, and John Cena opened it in front of a mixed Chicago crowd chanting for The Undertaker and CM Punk. Cena shut them down, said people keep calling him a part-timer with one foot out the door, called the “new era” BS and declared the My Time Is Now era. Then he challenged the winner of the main event to a match at the Royal Rumble. That’s a superstar.

American Alpha won the tag team titles in a four corners elimination match, pinning 12-time world champion Randy Orton after Orton was pushed into Luke Harper. It came out of nowhere, and Orton did a phenomenal job putting over Chad Gable and Jason Jordan, who broke down in tears after being underutilized since they arrived on SmackDown. The new Wyatt Family is an awesome act, but it’s awkward that David Otunga has had a longer WWE title reign than Bray Wyatt or Harper.

The Miz refused to be interviewed by anyone but Renee Young after she slapped him last week, and Dean Ambrose, disguised as security, attacked him. Miz has been awesome all year. I gave up on him after 2011, but something clicked in 2016, from Maryse’s return to his famous promo exchange with Daniel Bryan. Alexa Bliss retained the women’s title over Becky Lynch after La Luchadora distracted Becky. My guesses for who’s under the mask: Mickie James or Tamina.

The main event was not a lame event. AJ Styles retained the WWE Championship over Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin. Corbin wasn’t boring for once, and he contributed to a really good match, with AJ and Dolph diving onto Corbin through the announce table and a great near fall after Ziggler’s superkicks. AJ hit the Phenomenal Forearm to pin Dolph and cap a great year that didn’t look promising after his losses to Roman Reigns and Chris Jericho. Cena then offered his hand, and AJ reluctantly shook it. AJ vs. Cena at the Royal Rumble should be great.

I find it hard to believe SmackDown is produced by the same people as Raw. Since the brand split, it has been consistently good and, at times like tonight, great. Major thumbs up. On Raw, Braun Strowman faces Sami Zayn in a last man standing match on Jan. 2, and Kevin Owens defends the Universal title against Roman Reigns at the Royal Rumble with Chris Jericho in a shark cage. We’ve already seen Reigns vs. Owens plenty, and Triple H has overshadowed Owens’ entire title reign.