This week’s Talking Smack was quite a heel-heavy show, but that is because TLC was a near clean-sweep for the heels of the blue brand.
Since the show kicked off right after the main event, which saw James Ellsworth turn on Dean Ambrose and cost him the WWE World Championship; General Manager Daniel Bryan and co-host Renee Young were still buzzing about the finish.
Bryan then took control and calmed down, and Renee soon followed suit. He then went on to say that the roster stepped up and praised all of the matches on the card.
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New SmackDown Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss was the first guest on the show. She was surprisingly out of character and very emotional about her victory over Becky Lynch. She spoke about how it was the first WWE show that her parents attended, though they had attended her NXT shows in the past.
She also thanked her mother for her support stating, “we did it”. As a result of the ‘dis-arm-her’ she received during the match, Bliss had her hand wrapped, to sell the move. She then promptly switched back to character, saying that the former champion Becky Lynch gets no credit for her effort in the night.
She made a bold claim that she will be a better Champion than Becky Lynch because she was meant to be Champion. Bliss added that she was what WWE meant when they coined the phrase “The New Era.”
The new Champion then departed, and Bryan said that he had confidence in Bliss and was glad to see her emotion after her victory. He also praised the Nikki Bella-Carmella No DQ match and praised the guts of women from the Blue brand. He also said that he would continue to give them opportunities.
Baron Corbin was the next guest on the show. He told Bryan that he must have had a rough night, seeing him beat up “little people”. Bryan refuted that Kalisto did get to Corbin as well and that The Lone Wolf didn’t escape unscathed.
Corbin retorted by saying that he just took his time while picking Kalisto apart, and thanked Bryan for making it a chairs match. Corbin then claimed that he should now be in the main event picture.
He said that ever since he came, he has been making a mark, and went on to cite his Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal victory on his main roster debut at Wrestlemania 32, to drive the point home. Bryan said that while he does not deny Corbin is very good, he had to give Kalisto credit.
Bryan then requested the cameraman to zoom into Corbin’s eye, pointing out that it had a “shiner”. When Renee asked about the approaching Royal Rumble and his involvement in it, Corbin said that he was going to do whatever needed to be done to become World Champion.
Corbin said that he had proved over and over that he is a winner, and that he was going to celebrate it. Bryan said that he would consider Baron Corbin’s demand to be moved up the card; though he didn’t sound fully convinced.
Renee and Bryan then began to talk about Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt becoming new Tag Team Champions, but an enthusiastic Ellsworth hopped in and began to justify why he turned on Ambrose. He said that he did it because he has a guaranteed title shot against AJ Styles, which Shane McMahon said he'd be getting on Tuesday.
He proceeded to say that he has “AJ Styles’ number” and seemed overconfident about defeating him. He said that he and Ambrose go way back and that he will let Ambrose be the first one to get a title shot against him, once he wins the championship.
Ellsworth remained overconfident about defeating Styles, despite Bryan reminding him, that all of his victories against the World Champion were due to Ambrose’s interference. A seemingly angry Bryan said that the one thing they have over the Universal Championship is that there is no interference in their world title matches, unlike Kevin Owens on Raw who constantly relies on Chris Jericho for help.
Bryan told Ellsworth that if he defeated AJ Styles on Tuesday, then he will give Ellsworth his spot as the co-host of Talking Smack. After Ellsworth had left, Bryan said that he needs to talk to Shane McMahon about the Ellsworth situation.
Immediately after, Bryan’s biggest rival on SmackDown Live The Miz, along with Maryse stormed in. Miz claimed that Bryan is a bad General Manager and that many other talents in the locker room said so. Renee came to Bryan’s defence, and Bryan maintained that he is doing his best.
The General Manger went on to say that if it weren’t for the Talking Smack platform and Bryan pushing him, The Miz would not have reached the level that he is at today. The Miz began to defend himself and then the intense back and forth began.
While Bryan admitted that The Miz had done more with Intercontinental Championship than he ever was able to, he told the Miz that he spoke better than he wrestled, to which The Miz replied that he performed Bryan’s moves better than he did. The argument continued until the show went off air abruptly.
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