Smackdown Live Blog/Final Battle Discussion

I'm not doing a Final Battle live blog, but since it's happening during smackdown, I've made it open to all subscribers!

Opening segment

• King Corbin is out for a congratulatory segment because he.....put dog food on a guy?
• Dolph Ziggler is totally his lackey here. Corbin says he'll be the sole leader of the locker room and Ziggler just nods along.
• Ziggler is very 1991 WWF managerish in this promo.
• They're interrupted by New Day, who get some cheap pops.
• Big E calls Corbin a trick. Corbin asks Kofi to show him the trick where he loses to Brock Lesnar in 7 seconds.
• Kofi makes sure everyone knows it was 8 seconds. Corbin goes at Kofi verbally and gets slapped. Cool.

Bliss Cross Applesauce defeated Fire & Desire
5/10 (SHORT)

• The separate drafting of Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross continues to make little sense, as they're back together in a promo in Gorilla.
• Mandy and Sonya run back and attack them, which was kind of cool to hear.
• Sonya's strikes are good, but Nikki quickly wins the match.

The Revival defeated Ali G
6/10

• AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA Dash Wilder popped Ali and Chad Gable with that fall. Amazing
• It's not much of a surprise that this match rules.
• Shorty G hits a belly to belly suplex mid air on Dawson while on Dash's shoulders.
• We come back to see double dives on Revival. Shorty G has
• Scott Dawson channeling his hero Ahmed Johnson with a Pearl River Plunge.
• Shatter Machine wins it. This was GREAT.
• The match with New Day on Sunday is now a ladder match.

Bayley defeated Dana Brooke
5.25/10

• Bayley talks about the lazy women's division. She's champion and Sasha Banks is making a rap album. She goes off on Elias for interrupting her. He has her in secret santa this year and has a song for her. It's about him rejecting a threesome with her and Sasha and saying she looks like a dude.
• Dana Brooke gets a match with Bayley.
• I love that Dana Brooke changed her handspring attack in mid-air when it didn't look like she was going to make it. It ended up looking great.
• Dana hits a nice powerbomb, but gets pulled into the ropes.
• Bayley wins with the Rose Plant.
• I enjoyed Bayley vs. Dana Brooke for what it was, and I continue to want to see more of Dana Brooke.

Backstage Crappenings

• Another Sheamus vignette.

RENEE AND MIZ

• Renee Young is with The Miz at his home.
• The Miz doesn't know where Daniel Bryan is. I'm not sure why he would.
• Miz says he doesn't like Daniel Bryan, but he respects Daniel.
• Maryse is shouting from another room. The rabbit was in their baby's crib. 
• Bray Wyatt appears on Firefly Funhouse. He talks about how great The Marine 5 is. 

The Artists (w/ Sami Zayn) defeated Heavy Machinery
5.5/10

• Otis got Sami Zayn a Christmas ham for Secret Santa, but Sami isn't happy with it.
• Admittedly, I'm paying more attention to Maria Manic on ROH, but this match is good.
• Heavy Machinery have just gotten so good, so fast. 
• Tucker ate a nasty Kinshasa. 
• Is everyone on this show in a tag team now?

New Day vs. Baron Corbin & Dolph Ziggler
5/10

• Throughout the night, Ziggler and Corbin find people laid out all the time. 
• Corbin and Kofi work a pretty good, standard match through the commercial break.
• Back from it, Corbin catches Kofi with a big punch. 
• This breaks down into a DQ, and of course it's a tag team match.
• The Revival come out and hit a Shatter Machine outside.
• They're about to DOG FOOD New Day, but Roman Reigns is out to make the save.
• He beats up jobber security and New Day.
• Ziggler cracks him with a superkick, but Reigns throws him off a ladder through an announce table.
• Neat ending to a primarily pointless show.

Rating guide

10- Perfect, 9- MOTY Territory, 8- Excellent, 7- Great, 6- Good, 5- Average to above average, 4- Slightly below average, 3 or below: Poor

Each match starts at a 5 and slides up and down based on entertainment, execution, time, environment, reaction and stakes. The ratings are in no way an indication of a "star rating," which is a completely different system. A standard, non-offensive "TV match" lands at a 5. The gap between 5.75-6 is generally the largest, with anything reaching 6 being recommended viewing.
These are opinions, and incredibly inconsistent ones that may change upon a second viewing, or sitting on the match for a period of time. Don't take them too seriously, and have (and share) your own!