WWE SmackDown live results: Undertaker & Edge return on episode 900

Date: November 15, 2016
Location: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, PA

The Big Takeaway —

The Undertaker returned during the Cutting Edge segment, announcing that he was back and that Team SmackDown better win at Survivor Series or else they have to answer to him.

Also, The Miz defeated Dolph Ziggler to regain the IC Title with help from Maryse, making Miz vs. Sami Zayn official for Survivor Series. Finally, the Raw women’s team invaded, but the SmackDown women fought them off.

Show Recap —

They started with a quick highlight package of some memorable SmackDown moments, leading into a promo for tonight announcing Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz for the IC Title, the Cutting Edge and the return of the Undertaker.

Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan each come out on the stage to big pops. Bryan mentioned the return of Edge, as well as Undertaker’s first appearance on SmackDown in over three years. Shane announced the IC Title match will kick off the show. The crowd seems super hot.

The four-man announce team is back. Mauro Ranallo called Tom Phillips the “host.”

Intercontinental Championship: The Miz (w/Maryse) defeated Dolph Ziggler

Maryse is wearing a mostly all-white outfit with black lipstick and black boots. Each guy countered signature moves leading to a commercial break about a minute into this championship match. During the break, Miz launched Ziggler into the barricade, but after the break, Ziggler caught him with a dropkick. Miz worked over the leg until they started trading moves. Miz then tried a jackknife pin with a his feet on the rope, but the referee caught him. Ziggler followed with a fameasser for a near fall.

Immediately following a break, Ziggler has a rollup for a near fall. Miz cut him off and started doing Yes-kicks, “or his attempt at Yes-kicks,” as Ranallo put it. Ziggler ducked the last one and used a schoolboy for two, but Miz followed with Bryan’s flying knee, following by a Skull Crushing Finale for a near fall. They traded moves again leading to a Zig Zag, but Miz got his foot on the rope.

The Spirit Squad ran out but Ziggler knocked them off the apron. The distraction allowed Miz to apply the Figure Four but Ziggler fought to the ropes. Ziggler applied a small package near the ropes, but Maryse pushed them from outside the ring, allowing Miz to roll into the small package for the pinfall win. Miz is the new champion thanks to Maryse. Really good match that went about 18 minutes.

Otunga screamed about what crap this finish was and JBL proudly announced they don’t have instant replay in WWE. So Miz vs. Sami Zayn for the IC Title is official for Survivor Series. (I didn’t mention it earlier, but Miz took a long look at the belt before the match started.)

They aired a SmackDown clip from August 2000 of Steve Austin destroying the DX Express bus. They also aired a promo for Wyatt Family member Randy Orton appearing on USA network TV show.

Sami Zayn tweeted that he wanted to steal the show with Ziggler at Survivor Series, but will gladly take a win over Miz for the title.

Backstage, Alexa Bliss was showing Bryan a replay of what happened in her title match last week. Bryan didn’t think this was important right now, because she needs to focus on Survivor Series. He assured her she would be getting her rematch. Natalya jumped in blowing her whistle and told Bliss to pick herself up again (she was quoting another song). Bliss couldn’t believe this and left.

Kalisto defeated Oney Lorcan

Lorcan caught Kalisto off guard and immediately nailed a running uppercut to start the match. He followed with another, and hit a half nelson suplex. Kalisto came back with kicks and tried a springboard move, but slipped off the ropes. Lorcan was smart and jumped on him right away for a cover. Kalisto ended up hitting Salida Del Sol for the win in about 2 minutes.

The next SmackDown clip was from the debut show in August 1999 of Shawn Michaels superkicking The Rock, allowing Triple H to retain the WWF Championship.

The next SmackDown clip was from the debut show in August 1999 of Shawn Michaels superkicking The Rock, allowing Triple H to retain the WWF Championship. They showed an Instagram post by The Rock congratulating WWE on SmackDown’s 900th episode.

Backstage, Heath Slater and Rhyno approached the SmackDown tag teams and wanted to motivate them. Slater had King Booker do the honours. Booker got a nice pop. He was doing his King Booker schtick when Fandango and Tyler Breeze, the fashion police, interrupted. Booker called them suckas and the tag teams chanted “All hail King Booker.”

The next clip was John Cena’s debut against Kurt Angle. They didn’t show Cena losing, but they did show Undertaker shaking his hand afterwards. (A nice reminder that the company’s biggest star of the past decade was made on SmackDown, not Raw.)

Nikki Bella NC Carmella

This is the top-of-the-hour segment. Carmella did the “You can’t see me” gesture, so Nikki chased after her, hit a facebuster, vertical suplex, and did the Cena hand gesture herself. Carmella blocked a baseball slide and dropped Nikki with a neckbreaker to the outside of the ring. (It looked more like she gently pulled her out of the ring by the head.)

The crowd began buzzing as Charlotte was shown walking down through the crowd to the front row. She’s wearing a Raw t-shirt and has a ticket for the show. After a break, Nikki came back with an Alabama slam and disaster kick. Nikki then tossed Carmella into the barricade near Charlotte, and decided to deck Charlotte with a forearm. Nikki yanked her over the barricade and into the ring and the referee called off the match.

Nikki attacked Charlotte in the ring as the crowd began cheering, because the rest of the Raw women ran down and jumped in the ring. They began putting the boots to Nikki. Bayley was doing it too. The SmackDown women ran out to make the save and a big brawl ensued. Among the highlights were Nia Jax launching herself through the barricade (trying to kill Becky Lynch, who moved) and Naomi hitting a big dive on the Raw team. SmackDown stood tall to end the segment. Crowd was hot for this.

They teased the Undertaker’s appearance, showing just his shadow lurking backstage. They did something similar earlier too. A long promo for Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar aired as well.

16-Man Tag Team Match: American Alpha, Usos, Hype Bros & Breezango (w/Heath Slater & Rhyno) defeated The Spirit Squad, Vaudevillains, Ascension & Headbangers

Loud chants for Slater and Rhyno, who were not in the match. They took a commercial break after entrances, then another during the match. The good team was all over the bad team until the bad team briefly got the heat on Zack Ryder. Chad Gable made a hot tag, leading to everyone getting involved. With a bunch of guys outside the ring, The Usos acted like their old selves and hit big dives onto everyone. American Alpha picked up the win with Grand Amplitude on the Headbangers.

The Cutting Edge with Team SmackDown

Tony Chimel introduced Edge, who has grown his hair out longer than it was the night he retired. He also has a thick beard. He’ll be the guest on SportsCenter this week.

Edge got a great reaction. He was excited to be back on SmackDown. He said he bleeds blue and has a vested interest in the Survivor Series match. He brought out the entire SmackDown men’s team, and James Ellsworth.

Edge said one man in particular represented the beacon of light SmackDown brings and wanted to shake that man’s hand. AJ Styles assumed it was him, but Edge shook Ellsworth’s hand instead. Ellsworth was thrilled, saying he’s been a fan of Edge his “whole life.” He wanted a five second pose, but Styles cut them off. He thought that was stupid and thought they should be paying attention to him.

Edge ignored him and approached Randy Orton, his former tag partner. He wondered if Bray Wyatt had to pull on Orton’s string for him to talk. Bray said the old Orton was dead and we’ll see an even more dangerous version on Sunday.

Edge told Shane he had his work cut out for him. Shane said they didn’t have to like each other, they just need to be on the same page. Styles told Shane they’ll stick together because of him, because he even managed to put his differences aside with that hothead Dean Ambrose. Ambrose called him a bonehead and said he would go after Styles as soon as Survivor Series was over. Styles and Ambrose argued when the Undertaker’s dong sounded.

Undertaker got a giant reaction and “holy shit” chants upon entering the ring and facing off with Shane. Taker put over Shane by saying there was no better man to be commissioner than the man with no fear. Taker said WrestleMania will no longer define his career. He was back, “taking souls and digging holes.” He debuted at Survivor Series and SmackDown was his home. Loud “Undertaker” chants.

Taker said there was no reason for Team SmackDown to fear failure at Survivor Series, but if they fail, they will have reason to fear the Dead Man. Taker finished off saying Team Raw better Rest in Peace.

Final Thoughts —

This was an entertaining show. Undertaker’s announcement was unexpected, and they’ve done a good job making Survivor Series seem like an important show, even if nothing is actually on the line.