With the WWE Universe still digesting the Thanksgiving holiday, the returning Beard fed SmackDown an Intercontinental Championship Match, a United States Title Battle Royal and an explosive showdown pitting Ryback against Seth Rollins.
Newly crowned WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz and Damien Mizdow kicked off SmackDown with 'Miz TV.' After expounding on how 'he' won the titles at Survivor Series, The Awesome One introduced another Superstar who made a huge impact that night by knocking out John Cena and turning traitor to Team Cena, Big Show.
Encouraged by Miz, the giant explained that he never should have joined Team Cena and expressed his outrage over Superstars like Erick Rowen judging him. Before he could continue, though, Daniel Bryan emerged and declared the show to be 'Daniel Bryan's SmackDown' - as he was running things for the evening!
The former WWE World Heavyweight Champion set up a series of matches. They included Ryback vs. Seth Rollins, an Intercontinental Title Match between Luke Harper and former titleholder Dolph Ziggler and - because Rusev failed to say the Pledge of Allegiance on Raw - a 20-Man Battle Royal for the United States Title.
Rusev defended the United States Championship in an Over-the-Top Battle Royal
After Jack Swagger eliminated Tyson Kidd in the closing moments of the SmackDown Battle Royal for the U.S. Title, the remaining three competitors were The Real American, Cesaro and Rusev. While it looked like the Swiss Superman would dispose of the Russian titleholder, Rusev was able to keep one foot off the ground and reenter the action. Then, seconds after Swagger eliminated Cesaro, Rusev reengaged and kicked him out of the ring for the victory.
Bray Wyatt celebrated his upcoming TLC Match against Ambrose
Claiming that while the demons molded Dean Ambrose, he controlled the demons. Brat Wyatt shared his goal of sending The Lunatic Fringe 'back where he belongs' at WWE TLC.
Nikki Bella def. Emma
Five days after capturing the Divas Title from AJ Lee at Survivor Series, Nikki Bella overcame Emma with the Rack Attack. The titleholder then fired back at AJ's controversial comments from Raw, saying that her adversary will always just be that 'pathetic girl from New Jersey.' The dig brought AJ charging to the ring to attack Brie as the Divas Champion made her escape.
Ryback def. Seth Rollins by Disqualification
Santino Marella attempted to get a laugh at Kane's expense as the agitated Superstar was forced to sell T-shirts to the WWE Universe, but the intimidating former Director of Operations ultimately made The Milan Miracle scream and run without saying a word. Later, the same T-shirt area was shown in absolute turmoil, with the table broken as if someone had been thrown through it.
Back in the ring, just when it looked as if Ryback was about to overcome Seth Rollins with Shell Shocked, Kane emerged with a steel chair and caused the match to end in a disqualification. While The Human Wrecking Ball fought back after the bell, he found himself on the wrong end of a 2-on-1 disadvantage and ended up suffering an excruciating chair assault and a chokeslam onto the chair from Monster Kane.
The New Day def. Heath Slater, Titus O'Neil and Curtis Axel
The New Day dawned on SmackDown, as Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods worked together with absolute precision in their debut match as a group - soundly defeating Heath Slater, Titus O'Neil and Curtis Axel.
Dolph Ziggler def. Luke Harper by Count-out in an Intercontinental Championship Match
In the height of SmackDown's Intercontinental Championship main event, Dolph Ziggler suffered a fierce assault from Luke Harper around the SmackDown announce table. Nevertheless, with the help of a thunderous kick, the resilient Showoff had enough presence of mind to get back in the ring at the last second and overcame the titleholder by count-out.
While the finish allowed Harper to hold onto the illustrious title, when he tried to attack Ziggler with it afterward, he ended up with a post-match Zig Zag for his trouble.