Renee Young opens this week’s edition of Talking Smack with her co-host, Smackdown Live GM Daniel Bryan. The opening topic is James Ellsworth and his happiness. How happy he was after his actions helped Dean Ambrose defeat AJ Styles to earn a future WWE World Title match. Before the conversation can go any further. Daniel Bryan says that not only was James Ellsworth in the doghouse, but so is Renee Young. Daniel Bryan questions Renee as to why she hosted The “Raw Talk” show after Sunday’s Hell in A Cell pay per view.
Renee says she got the call from her boss, Michael Cole to host the show. Renee also mentions Kevin Dunn and Vince McMahon. Daniel Bryan is shocked that Michael Cole is her Boss. Daniel tells Renee that he is her boss. He tells Renee that if Vince calls her to do Raw Talk, that she needs to tell him no, that she is Smackdown Live. Bryan instructs Renee to say “Screw You Vince”. The next time she gets called to do a Raw themed show. Renee laughs this off and apologizes. Bryan calls her a traitor.
The conversation shifts back to James Ellsworth’s actions on Smackdown Live. Bryan says that he has to reprimand Ellsworth for getting involved when he was instructed not to. As Bryan is elaborating on this…. Natalya interrupts and joins the show. “Natty” can barely be heard, so Renee instructs her to pick up a mic under the broadcast desk. Natalya has a gift for Daniel Bryan. She is giving him a gift because he made her The coach for the women’s smackdown live team at The Survivor Series. Natty gives Daniel a custom made t-shirt of her cat “2 Pawz”. Natty says that the fact that she survived The Hart Dungeon. That it makes her the most qualified woman to coach The Smackdown Live team. Natalya then runs down all the women on The SD Live team. Calls Becky nutty, says that Carmella needs to up her protein intake…. Bryan asks her to elaborate. Natty says that she goes to the gym and is built well physically and she thinks that Carmella needs to get stronger. Bryan asks Natty what she thinks of The potential Raw team. Natty says that The Raw team won’t be a well oiled machine. She calls them all dysfunctional. Natty says that Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon believe in her and that she will have the SD Live team ready by The Survivor Series. As Natty continues to ramble on…. Shane McMahon arrives and politely gives her the hook. Telling her that she needs to leave the show.
Shane McMahon joins the show. He gets thanked by Bryan and Renee for getting Natty off the show…. Shane McMahon asks Bryan if now is the right time to make a big announcement. Daniel says yes and provides a drum roll for Shane. Shane McMahon announces that on December 4th in Dallas Texas. Smackdown’s TLC PPV Main Event will be AJ Styles vs. Dean Ambrose. Of course, It will be a TLC match. Shane McMahon puts over the match, AJ and Dean had on Smackdown Live tonight. Shane says that he can watch those two wrestle all the time.
The conversation then shifts to the Survivor Series. Renee asks Shane about his thoughts on all 3 Smackdown Live vs Raw matches. Renee asks about the tag team survivor series match. Bryan interrupts and says that, next week on Smackdown Live, there will be a qualifying match for the final spot on The Smackdown Tag Team side. Renee then previews the 5 on 5 Mens match. Asks Daniel about what he thinks about The Raw team of Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens. Mentions that there is one spot yet to be determined. Bryan jokes that it will probably be someone from the attitude era. Bryan mocks Raw for being in love with wrestlers from that era. Daniel Bryan says he wouldn’t be surprised if it’s someone like Gillberg or Road Dogg. Shane says that he is not concerned with the mystery man on Raw’s team. Says that he has faith in The Smackdown Live roster.
Renee asks about the women’s match at Survivor Series. Renee mentions that Raw currently has only 3 women listed in Nia Jax, Charlotte Flair and Bayley. Bryan jokes that Raw may fill the team with attitude era divas like Sunny, Sable and even throws in a mention for Malia Hosaka. Bryan throws out the name of Alundra Blayze. Puts her over actually saying that she is still in great shape. Bryan has faith in The Smackdown Live side. Shane teases and jokingly tells Daniel to join Natty as a coach for the women. Daniel declines. Says that it is gardening season in Phoenix and that he has Kale growing. Shane leaves the program to allow for other guests to come on the show.
When Shane leaves, Daniel quietly asks Renee if Raw will continue to steal Smackdown Live ideas. Like they did with Raw Talk. Bryan speculates that they may actually steal his attitude era ideas from tonight’s show. Renee thinks that Daniel may be on to something… Renee goes over the two teams that qualified for The Survivor Series in The Uso’s and American Alpha. Renee asks Daniel if The Spirit Squad are under contract. Bryan says that their situation is similar to James Ellsworth. That they are all not under contract currently, but that could change.
American Alpha joins the show. Chad Gable compliments Daniel Bryan on his blue plaid shirt. How it goes well with The sky blue Alpha shirts. Bryan jokes that one side of the table is wearing blue, while Renee happens to be wearing Red. Renee asks for a different shirt. Bryan teased her briefly about wearing red earlier in the opening of the show. Renee said that it was the only top, she had to wear…. Renee asks Alpha if they are going to be the backbone for The Smackdown Live team. Gable and Jordan say that they are the best tag team and that they can carry the team. Jordan corrects himself and says… lead the team.
Renee asks Daniel if Alpha may get a future Smackdown tag title shot. Bryan says that he doesn’t know. How things change frequently behind the scenes. Renee uses Bryan’s comment to excuse her participation in hosting Raw Talk. Bryan blows her theory off. Changes the subject to New Day’s comments about The Smackdown Live teams on Raw. How New Day mocked every team except for American Alpha. Jordan calls The New Day good guys. Gable agrees with Jason. Gable says that The New Day are very entertaining but they can’t hang with them in the ring…. Gable says that when he was an amateur wrestler… That there were plenty of guys on his team. That he loved hanging out with. That were cool and funny guys, but that he couldn’t rely on them to compete, because they weren’t any good….. Both Daniel Bryan and Renee Young start hooting and hollering after Gable’s comment. Jason Jordan compliments New Day for being on top of Raw but says that every team behind them is way below. Says that New Day seems like the only real competition. Bryan jokes that Raw may get some attitude era teams to join New Day…. Bryan conveniently neglected to mention that The Headbangers were just on his show tonight. You could also mention that Rhyno is co holder of The Smackdown Tag Titles but I digress…. Still funny stuff from Bryan.
Renee then asks Alpha about teaming with their rivals like The Usos. Gable says that for one night only, He will allow The Usos to pull their underhanded tactics, if it means that their team will win. Jordan goes back to ripping on The Raw tag teams. Asks everyone what teams they have. Bryan mentions Enzo and Cass. Jordan says to remember that this is a “wrestling match”…..
Bryan mocks The Anderson-Enzo “pumpkin match” on Raw. As American Alpha’s interview ends…. Renee brings up what took place on Miz TV tonight with Daniel Bryan. Bryan says that he tried to be professional with Miz. That it’s not natural for him to be a GM. Bryan says that he doesn’t like The Miz. Daniel says that Miz has really stepped his game up of late. Agreed with Ziggler that his match with Miz should have been the main event of Backlash. Bryan says that after, Miz refused to face Ziggler last week. That he refused to have him be a part of The Smackdown Live Men’s team.
Dean Ambrose joins the show. Starts singing his own version of The Smackdown Live theme song. Bryan sings along with him. Renee congratulates Dean for becoming the #1 contender. Dean says that he feels terrible physically after his match with AJ, but states that this is what he does. Renee tells Dean about The TLC match with AJ in December. Ambrose asks Bryan about the ground rules… Says that this type of match is right up his alley. Likes weapons but doesn’t want to fall off of any more ladders. Ambrose says that he has a vendetta against Styles. Compares it to Peter Griffin and The Chicken. Dean mentions the possibility of him being in a 120 minute match. Bryan says that he likes that idea. It could cover an entire episode of Smackdown. Ambrose takes a shot at John Cena. Says that John Cena wouldn’t be able to do that type of match, because he doesn’t train hard enough….. Bryan asks Dean how he feels about teaming with AJ at The Survivor Series. Dean says that he is an excellent teammate. Ambrose says that he will be the spiritual leader of the team. Suggests different methods, he could use. Dean asks Renee and Bryan what type of fight that there will be between Smackdown and Raw. Suggests calling his buddies in Philly to bring in some tire irons. Bryan tells Dean that he would be dq’d.
The conversation then shifts to James Ellsworth. Dean asks, Where did James Ellsworth come from?… Daniel responds that he may be a part of The Reptillians. Bryan tells Dean to talk to Brian Kendrick about it. Calls it a fascinating topic. Dean calls Ellsworth a beloved part of The Smackdown family. Ambrose accepts James apology. Credits him for being a man and standing up to him. Renee brings up how Daniel told James last week about what Dean could potentially do to him. Daniel tells Dean that he told James about that time, Ambrose bloodied him at Dragon Gate USA. Seems like Daniel has mentioned every promotion on this show so far. ROH, PWG,NJPW, TNA and Dragon Gate. Seems like no promotion is off limits. Dean says that Daniel deserved that beating at The Dragon Gate show. That he was in a war state of mind. Dean is happy that James didn’t screw up again tonight. That he would have ripped off his arms and beat him with it. Dean then talks about the dedication it would take, to rip a man’s arms off. Daniel says that Mark Henry once did it. Dean says that Mark is cheating because he is the strongest man alive.
Dean makes Renee laugh with his crazy analogy of ripping off Ellsworth’s arms. Dean puts over how great AJ Styles is. Likes how AJ pushes him towards greatness. Talks about how The TLC match favors him. How AJ won’t be able to deal with him in that style of a match. Renee thanks Dean and closes the show.
Thanks to Leon Milici for the recap.
