3 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Smackdown (Dec 6)

Ups...

3. Chest Puffed Up, Chin Stuck Out

Smackdown opened with AJ Styles, who retained the WWE World Championship at TLC in a crazy match with Dean Ambrose. Of course, Styles didn't come through it all unscathed - his foot was injured during the contest, and he was protecting it with a boot. That put his scheduled title match with James Ellsworth on ice.

That brought out the man of the hour, Ellsworth himself. Since turning on Dean Ambrose at TLC, Ellsworth has been displaying a heightened sense of self-confidence, and it showed here. He accused Styles of ducking him, then started trading barbs with the champion, reminding him that he'd beaten him three times. Styles wisely noted that he only did it with Ambrose's help, and that now Ambrose was going to look to give Ellsworth a beating that would put all of the others to shame.

Ambrose's music hit and "The Lunatic Fringe" made his way out. He hit the ring, kicked Ellsworth in the gut, and planted him with Dirty Deeds. This was a bit rushed, but an effective way to start the show, given that it addressed the lingering questions from TLC. And something tells me Ambrose isn't done extracting his pound of flesh from Ellsworth.