To kick off Smackdown! 2017, we had an Intercontinental Championship Match that made a new champion! Dean Ambrose won the title for the second time, defeating the Miz last week. Will they have a rematch soon down the road?

Another championship match was made official, as A.J. Styles and John Cena signed the contract for their WWE World Championship bout at Royal Rumble on January 29th. Tonight, Cena takes on Baron Corbin, who also wants to be in the WWE World Championship scenario; will tonight’s match have any impact on that?

Lastly, we will have another rematch tonight, as Tag Team Champions American Alpha look to defend their newly-won titles against The Wyatt Family, who they defeated two weeks ago. The only question is, which of the three Wyatts – Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, or Luke Harper – are going to team?

All this and much more, so read on!

Tuesday Night Smackdown! Live Television Report for January 10th, 2016 – “A Bayou Battle.”

Introduction: Video Promo

A recap of The Miz and new Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose’s rivalry plays.

Arena Promo

We go live to the arena, where Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose is welcomed by the ring announcer. Mauro Ranallo, David Otunga, and John “Bradshaw” Layfield greet us from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The IC champion has brought back his “Ambrose Asylum” talk show and announces that he will be entering the Royal Rumble Match. He tries to introduce his guest, his rival The Miz, but “The Awesome One” cuts him off.

Miz pronounces that he is too going to be in the Royal Rumble Match, but goes back to seven days ago, where he claims that Ambrose “stole” his championship via shenanigans with the referee. He wants “The Lunatic Fringe” to give him back the IC title, but instead, Ambrose gives Miz a “Miz Participation Award!”

Miz acts in appreciation at first, but then starts to beat-down Dean. He holds him up so Maryse can slap, but Ambrose moves and she hits her husband! Dean drives him to the canvas with his Dirty Deeds DDT, and then gives Maryse the “Miz Participation Award.” Mauro says that Maryse was fined $5,000 for slapping Rene Young – a non-competitor.

Video Promo

A montage of Nikki Bella’s and Natalya’s feud airs.

Nikki is shown walking through the halls but is suddenly hit by Natalya. “See you out there, Nikki,” she quips.

Commercials.

Match #1: Single – Natalya VS. Nikki Bella

Natalya is out first and waits for a bit, but Nikki is able to make it. They engage in a huge brawl until referees are finally able to pull Natalya away after she applies The Sharpshooter on the floor.

Winner: No Contest due to No official start

Backstage Promo

Dasha is with Dolph Ziggler, who had a change of attitude last week; clips of his attacks are shown. She says that Kalisto wanted a bout with Dolph, and she wants to know why he did what he did. He doesn’t say anything and walks away.

Commercials.

Match #2: Single – Kalisto VS. Dolph Ziggler

Kalisto starts off hot with quick kicks and a hurricanrana (thanks, Mauro!). Dolph goes to the floor and then back in the ring to measure Kalisto. They square off and Ziggler tries a pin twice with combos. Dolph takes over after a neckbreaker. He goes for another, but Kalisto reverses into a backslide for two! Ziggler hits back hard with an elbow! He eats a kick from Kalisto on the apron, but then uses the top rope to jawbreak Kalisto to the floor!

Commercials.

Dolph is now stretching Kalisto in the ring and wearing him down with a grounding rear chinlock. Kalisto manages to reverse into a jawbreaker. He counters a superkick into a roll-up, but only gets two! Dolph hits back with a dropkick and lazily covers, but Kalisto reverses and receives the victory!

Winner via Pinfall: Kalisto

Post-match, Ziggler clotheslines Kalisto hard in frustration. He then struggles for a bit, and then collects a chair to hammer away on Kalisto’s back. Apollo Crews charges out, but can’t make much of a difference. Dolph wails on him with the chair too, and then gives one more shot to Kalisto.

Locker Room Promo

Tag-Team Champions American Alpha are questioned by Dasha about their rematch with The Wyatt Family. Jason Jordon says proclaims that they “are the only ‘alphas’ in the Smackdown! Tag-Team Division.” Chad Gable concurs, and both declare that no one will be able to snatch their championships.

Commercials.

Backstage Promo

Rene Young inquires John Cena about Baron Corbin. The former “Dr. of Thuganomics” wonders who Baron really is. He actually agrees with WWE World Champion A.J. Styles and Corbin when they called him a “has been,” however John turns it around into how long it’s been since he had to battle to show he is on the main-event level. He threatens that what A.J. will see tonight between Cena and Baron is a “taste of what’s to come at ‘The Rumble.’”

Video Promo

“American Alpha, I hope you relished your time as Smackdown! Tag-Team Champions. Because unlike the bonds of this ‘family,’ nothing lasts forever. And now, ‘the devil’ is at your doorstep. Knock, knock, knock.” “We’re here,” the Wyatt Family warns.

The Wyatts and American Alpha make their entrance; a clip of American Alpha winning the Tag-Team Championships on December 27th airs. They face-off and will be wrestling, next!

Commercials.

Match #3: Tag Team for the Tag-Team Championship – The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton) (with Wyatt Family member Luke Harper) (Challenger) VS. American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad Gable) (Champions)

Bray and Chad are going at it, with Bray headbutting Chad a couple of times. Gable manages a tag and Jason hits a couple of dropkicks, and then rams his shoulder into Bray’s gut in the corner. He takes him down with a waistlock-slam and then rolls him over for a pin for two. Jordan rolls around with Wyatt, but “The Eater of Worlds” is able to push Jason into The Wyatt’s corner and switch with Randy.

“The Viper” tries, but Jason gets the better and tags in Chad. He waistlocks Orton, but Randy elbows out and switches with Bray, but Gable is too quick for Wyatt! He avoids and tosses him to the floor, and then follows with a somersault-splash from the apron! They run at each other in the ring, with Bray ending up on the better side after a double-crossbody. 1 – 2 – Chad kicks out!

Orton is back in and chucks Chad to the outside and then drops him on the barrier. In the ring, Wyatt takes control again with a swinging rib-breaker, and then grounding him with a rear chinlock. The Wyatt Family dominates for a bit over Chad in their corner, but Gable counters with a jawbreaker and rolls into the hot-tag to Jason! He cleans house on both Bray and Randy and almost gets this after shoulder-ramming Bray in the corner. Jordan is soon slung off of the top rope to the floor with a suplex by Randy to stop the momentum.

Commercials.

The Family is back in domination for a bit, but Jason nails a hard running-clothesline from the corner on Bray! He tags in Chad who also dominates The Family. He lands German Suplex pin on Orton, but Bray breaks it up before 3! Wyatt is dumped to the outside, and then Gable soars off of the top turnbuckle with a clothesline for a very near-fall! He measures Orton but Luke gets referee Charles Robinson’s and Chad’s attention; Randy takes advantage with a Draping DDT from the second rope. He gears up for an R.K.O., but Harper hops the apron! Gable shoves Orton into Luke, and then rolls him up in an O’Connor position (thanks again, Mauro!) to get the 1 – 2 – 3!

Winners via Pinfall and STILL Tag Team champions: American Alpha

Post-match, Harper and Orton begin to argue until Bray tries to split them apart. Luke kicks at Orton as Randy ran at him, but he hits Bray instead! Randy and Harper glare at each other, and then Wyatt walks right through them and gets up in Orton’s face but walks away instead.

Video Promo

Baron Corbin’s “attitude” is shown.

Video Promo

John Cena’s shocking return at the 2008 Royal Rumble in the Royal Rumble Match is recapped.

Commercials.

Backstage Promo

Becky Lynch is going over her match with Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss/La Luchadora with General Manager Daniel Bryan. The Women’s Champion walks in and claims this as a “miscommunication” and tries to tell Daniel not to “fall” for her explanation. Lynch and Bliss argue until Bryan decides to have them wrestle next week for the Women’s Championship inside a Steel Cage! Alexa is not pleased and walks off, and Becky gives props to Daniel for his booking.

Match #4: Single – C.J. Lunde VS. Carmella (with James Ellsworth)

Carmella picks this one up quickly with a (botched) flatliner and then her leg-scissors hold.

Winner via Submission: Carmella (with James Ellsworth)

Video Promo

The Undertaker’s return to Raw, in which he announced his participation in the Royal Rumble Match. So far, we have 12 wrestlers in the match on January 29th.

Commercials.

Backstage Promo

Carmella is happy with her “winning streak,” and then promises James something. He thinks it’s a kiss, so he freshens up with mouth spray, but Carmella says it will be a new wardrobe, which she is excited for.

Backstage Promo

Baron Corbin is interviewed about his bout with John Cena; he can’t say too much as WWE World Champion A.J. Styles walks up. He tells Baron that he will be on commentary, and then to be like Styles and “beat up John Cena!”

WWE World Champion A.J. Styles makes his entrances and joins the commentary booth.

Commercials.

Match #5: Single – Baron Corbin VS. John Cena

(WWE World Champion A.J. Styles is on commentary.)

They ci8rlce each other and then Corbin takes a swing, but John ducks and hits a punch. Baron tries again, but Cena ducks and hits a few more punches until he is booted down. “The Lone Wolf” takes over and bullies John around the ring, and then points at A.J. and chucks Cena to the floor for a break.

Commercials.

Cena is trying to work his way out of a move and pick up Baron, but he drops to the mat and Corbin punches away. He then jaws at Styles again, but John stop shim and they fight on the outside. Baron points at A.J. and then elbows at John’s head against he corner of the barricade.

Corbin throws Cena back in the ring but tumbles to the floor as he runs when John pulled the top ropes down. He tries to run at Cena against the steps, but John moves and Corbin eats the steel! Back in the ring, Cena runs again but is caught in a World’s Strongest Slam for a two-count!

John tries again but is side-walk slammed, and then run over with a running-punch. He catches Cena off of the ropes in a bear hug, but Cena works out of it and manages a tornado DDT out of the corner! The crowd is firing up Cena, who plants Baron with a backdrop and the Five-Knuckle Shuffle. He finishes with the Attitude Adjustment and covers for the victory!

Winner via Pinfall: John Cena

Post-match, Cena poses on the turnbuckle and stares at WWE World Champion Styles as Ranallo hypes up their Royal Rumble Championship Match to close the show.

End of Smackdown! Live.

Reporter’s Rumblings

This was another great addition to 2017 for Smackdown!. The show moved along smoothly, and except for the Carmella/CJ bout, the rest of the show all made sense and kept my attention. Onto the particulars.

Excellence: matches between Kalisto/Dolph, the Tag-Team Championship, and Cena/Corbin. Promos from Dean/Miz, American Alpha, The Wyatts, John Cena, A.J. Styles, Dolph Ziggler, Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, and Carmella/Ellsworth.

While I wrote last week that I didn’t like/didn’t care for Nikki and Natalya’s beef, they did change my mind this week with the fight. Their promos leave a lot to be desired with content, but tonight’s scrap and their eventual match will be much better, and have/will intrigued me.

I love Dolph’s new character; I’m interested to see where he goes and if the crowd will fully boo him/they turn him full-heel, or he’ll be a “go-between,” doing heel-tactics and still having the fans loving him.

The Wyatt Family’s storyline is intriguing; I’m not sure if I like or dislike it fully. I actually like the paring of James and Carmella; they work!

So looking forward to Miz/Dean, Cena/Styles at The Rumble, and Bliss/Becky next week; they have built these feuds very well and I hope they continue.

Bogus: Carmella/CJ – I slightly understand why, but it really was pointless and could’ve been left off in favor of a longer Dolph/Kalisto or Cena/Corbin.

Overall, a great edition and I want three-in-a-row next week! I know they can do it! Until next week, Be Excellent Wrestling-Online Fans!