3 Ups And 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE Smackdown (Nov 22)

Downs...

3. Opening Segment Clutter

Smackdown opened with Commissioner Shane McMahon, who was hurting after the Survivor Series, but was pleased with Smackdown's victory at the event. Still, he had a bone to pick with Dean Ambrose, who helped eliminate AJ Styles and could have cost Smackdown the match in the process.

Ambrose came out and was clearly less than remorseful about his behavior, and from there, things kind of went off the rails. Ambrose brought out James Ellsworth, revealing that Shane was going to present Ellsworth with a full-time Smackdown contract, but Shane wasn't through with Ambrose. He told "The Lunatic Fringe" that he was banned from the building for the evening.

As Ambrose left, Styles came out and criticized the decision to sign Ellsworth. He then challenged Ellsworth to a ladder match with the contract on the line, and Ellsworth agreed - but if he won, he'd get another shot at the WWE World Championship. Styles agreed, then Ambrose was back in the ring for some reason.

Not only did this telegraph the finish of the main event, but this portion of the show also felt like three segments crammed into one. They could have followed up on Survivor Series with a finer touch than this.