WWE SmackDown Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from December 3

Every week on Bleacher Report, I take an in-depth look at WWE SmackDown to recap the action, offer analysis and grade the matches, segments and anything else that takes place on the show, as well as make a few predictions for future events.

This week's show continued The Authority's trend of having one match's stipulations decided by the outcome of another contest. Once again, Roman Reigns was the victim of circumstances beyond his control.

We also saw some progress in the storyline involving Charlotte and Becky Lynch. It looks like we may see the end of that partnership sooner than later.

Other than that, it was business as usual for the blue brand. It was a decent show in terms of action, but one of the matches seemed a little out of place.

Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's SmackDown.

Opening Segment

The show began with The Usos, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns in the ring discussing what happened on Raw with The Authority and The League of Nations.

They also talked about TLC a bit, but most of the focus was on setting up matches for SmackDown. Reigns challenged Sheamus' new group to a match, which the new stable happily accepted.

Sheamus and Reigns traded some barbs on the mic, but it seemed like Sheamus got the upper hand by being funnier than Reigns. It felt like The Celtic Warrior was more confident than usual, and it helped sell him as the leader of the group.

The New Day joined the party toward the end of the segment to let everyone know that Reigns' partners had to earn the right to fight alongside him in the main event.

Nobody is going to be talking about this next week, but this was a stronger opening segment than we usually see.

Grade: B

Notes and Highlights

• Judging from the crowd reactions, Ambrose was more over than anyone else in the ring.
• It's kind of funny that King Barrett still carries around his scepter to remind us all that he is a king.
• Sheamus telling the crowd that they all have their green cards to quell the USA chants was much more effective than expected. The line about Rusev not having his yet was pretty funny.
• The New Day must have loaded up on the energy drinks. They were more hyper than usual.

Tyler Breeze vs. Neville

Dolph Ziggler joined the commentary team for this showdown between two former NXT standouts. Neville used his speed to take control early on, but Breeze used his aggression to gain the advantage.

These two men know each other well after spending so much time in NXT together, so they were able to put on a smooth match that highlighted both of their strengths.

Breeze picked up the win with a little help from Summer Rae. It was a pleasant surprise to see this match have two segments, and they did a good job of pacing themselves so it didn't feel rushed or boring.

Grade: B+

Notes and Highlights

• It's funny how in NXT, Neville would have easily defeated Breeze but they are on equal ground on the main roster.
• Ziggler was good on commentary. He sounded comfortable and showed off his quick wit.
• Neville landed right on Breeze's head when he hit a standing shooting star press. There's no way it didn't hurt.
• At least seven active Superstars use the superkick on a regular basis.

Brie Bella vs. Becky Lynch

Becky Lynch gave an interview before the match that Brie Bella and Alicia Fox interrupted. Charlotte stepped in to defend her friend, but there was still some friction between them after the way Charlotte defeated Lynch on Raw.

Brie and Becky were having a good, physical match when Charlotte caused a disqualification by attacking Brie following an unintentional collision. Becky already had Brie locked in the Dis-arm-her, so she would have ended up winning.

Becky was understandably upset and laid into Charlotte for costing her the victory. It's nice to see WWE taking some time with this storyline. Charlotte and Becky are slowly building to an eventual feud, and it feels more organic than if they had one disagreement and suddenly turned into enemies.

Grade: C+

Notes and Highlights

• Fox has basically become a cheerleader for the Bellas. She barely wrestles and adds little to the storylines.
• What was the point of showing Team BAD playing with a pinata backstage?
• The Miz and Neville had a strange moment backstage after the match where The Miz offered to mentor Neville. The Man That Gravity Forgot didn't look like he was going to give the offer serious consideration.

The Usos and Dean Ambrose vs. New Day

The Usos and Ambrose looked like they were going to join Reigns in the main event after controlling most of the action in this match, but The New Day had other plans.

Ambrose was one of the highlights in this contest, which comes as no surprise. He is one of the few Superstars who don't tone down their style for meaningless matches. He goes full throttle every night.

All six men worked hard to make this bout fun, and it just proves that WWE has more than enough talent to be a great product but has failed to use everyone to his fullest potential.

The New Day picked up the win after exploiting Jimmy Uso's injured leg, making it so Reigns would have to face four men by himself later in the night.

Grade: B+

Notes and Highlights

• A new match for TLC was announced before this bout took place. The New Day will defend the WWE Tag Team Championships against The Usos and The Lucha Dragons in a ladder match. There's a good chance they will steal the show.
• Woods needs a new prop. The trombone has officially worn out its welcome.

D-Von Dudley vs. Bray Wyatt

The lights went out before Bray Wyatt's entrance like they always do, but when they came back on, R-Truth was on the ramp. He looked surprised to see himself standing there and gave a quick wave to the crowd before disappearing just as quickly.

Wyatt absolutely destroyed D-Von Dudley in singles action. The legendary tag team and the backwoods brawlers are in the middle of a storyline right now, so it was weird to see D-Von portrayed this weak.

D-Von got in some offense during the first minute, but Wyatt quickly took over and defeated him with Sister Abigail. After the match was over, The Wyatt Family took out Bubba Ray and Tommy Dreamer, putting the latter through a table.

The match was inconsequential, but the way the whole segment played out helped advanced the feud between these men, so it wasn't a total loss.

Grade: C+

Notes and Highlights

• This match reminded everyone that Wyatt rarely wrestles singles matches outside of pay-per-views.
• It was great to see Dreamer join his former ECW brothers at ringside. It looks like he might stick around through TLC.
• Is R-Truth's new gimmick just showing up in random places he doesn't belong? It sounds dumb, but he is funny enough to sell it.

The League of Nations vs. Roman Reigns

After Ambrose and The Usos failed to defeat The New Day, Reigns was forced to go it alone against all four members of The League of Nations.

King Barrett was somehow disqualified all by himself, which turned the match into a three-on-one situation. It made no sense, but it helped give the impression that Reigns had a chance to overcome the odds.

The fight eventually spilled to the outside, and Reigns found a way to take out all three of his opponents before rolling back in the ring to get a count-out victory.

Count-outs are usually a terrible way to end a match, but it was the right call this time. It was the only believable way to give Reigns the win.

Grade: B-

Notes and Highlights

• It was surprising to see everyone in The League of Nations get their own entrance instead of entering as a group.
• Booker T said, "Reigns is man on an island by himself, like Gilligan." Did he even watch Gilligan's Island? Not only was he not alone, but other people came to the island every year, including the Harlem Globetrotters.

Final Thoughts and Predictions

All things considered, this was an above-average episode of SmackDown, but since the average episode isn't that great, there was still room for improvement. 

We got some decent storyline development and a new match added to the TLC card. The one thing that seemed out of place was D-Von being defeated so easily by Wyatt.

TLC is right around the corner on December 13, so we should see the rest of the card fill up during next week's Raw and SmackDown.

Predictions

• The Wyatt Family will face The Dudley Boyz and Tommy Dreamer in a Tables match at TLC.
• Charlotte will defend the Divas title against Becky Lynch and at least one other Diva at TLC.
• Charlotte will also make a full heel turn soon.
• Alberto Del Rio and Zeb Colter will officially part ways next week.
• Neville and The Miz will fight on the TLC Kickoff show.

What did you think of this week's SmackDown?

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