WWE Smackdown Live results and observations (1/3/17): The lunatic is a champion again

Smackdown Live built up a lot of momentum at the end of 2016 by putting on a show that (barely) defeated Raw in the television ratings.

The blue brand kept that momentum going Tuesday night with another eventful showing in its first outing of 2017, which emanated from the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla.

Before I dig into my full analysis, here are the full match results.

- Baron Corbin def. Dolph Ziggler

- Becky Lynch def. La Luchadora

- Carmella def. Aliyah

- American Alpha def. Breezango

- WWE Intercontinental championship – Dean Ambrose def. The Miz

A lunatic Intercontinental champion

For the second week in a row, Smackdown Live was highlighted by a major title change. This week, it was the Intercontinental title that changed hands, as Ambrose defeated The Miz to win the title for the second time.

However, the win did not come without a little bit of controversy.

Ambrose won the title by pinning The Miz. That much cannot be disputed. What can be disputed was whether The Miz should have been disqualified long before Ambrose hit him with dirty deeds to pick up the win.

During the course of the match, Maryse slapped Ambrose in the face right in front of the official. That was actually the second time she had slapped Ambrose that night and the third slap she dished out overall. The other surprisingly went to Renee Young.

But this slap should have landed The Miz a disqualification loss, which would have also meant him keeping his championship.

With a little bit of convincing by Ambrose, the official decided not to disqualify The Miz and instead opted to eject Maryse from ringside instead, keeping the match going.

The Miz disputed this on Talking Smack after the show and Smackdown Live general manager Daniel Bryan didn't seem too bothered by it. It did not seem like he was going change anything about what happened.

While I wouldn't have any problem with Ambrose keeping the Intercontinental title for a little while, I also wouldn't have a problem if WWE decided to reverse the decision and hand the title back to The Miz.

Yes, it would be a 2016 version of the old "Dusty finish," whereby a babyface wins an important match only to have the result changed in some way soon after.

It doesn't always work, but I think it could in this case. Handing the title back to The Miz would only give him more heat, which is never a bad thing and it would fit his character so well. It also keeps the feud going with Ambrose trying to definitively defeat The Miz for the title.

Also, I thought it was a nice touch for Smackdown Live to put the Intercontinental title in the main event instead of the WWE championship contract signing. The night before, Raw put the United States title in the middle of the show and put a talking segment at the end.

I like that Smackdown Live did things in a different way and it only helped the Intercontinental championship look more important.

AJ Styles, John Cena bring the heat

Speaking of the contract signing, I thought it was one of the better ones WWE has put on in a while.

I'm typically not a fan of WWE's contract signings because the company overuses them and they generally accomplish nothing.

With that said, I have found a few here and there to be useful and this was one of them.

Styles and Cena went after each other in this segment and I thought it was great. Cena used some foul language, but they managed to take some digs at each other without trying overly hard to be controversial or say something that only the hardcore fans would recognize.

Cena's new edgy attitude is a wonderful breath of fresh air. It is nice to see the guy finally have a chip on his shoulder. It was also nice to see Styles hold his own with Cena.

What I also liked was the injection of Corbin into the mix. Corbin, who came off a big win earlier in the night, found the contract signing to be a good time to announce that he was entering the Royal Rumble and was going to win it.

He then got into a heated exchange with Cena, which ended with Styles kicking his Royal Rumble opponent in the back of the head.

Because of all of this, Corbin will face Cena next week in what should be a real litmus test to see if Corbin can truly hang in the main event.

Ziggler has snapped

The man Corbin earned his big win over earlier in the night was Ziggler.

Poor Ziggler. Unfortunately for him, losing big matches is nothing new. While that is nothing new, his reaction to it was, as he was highly upset and showed as much by super kicking Kalisto when he tried to help him fend off Corbin.

Ziggler then went to the locker and began tearing things up when Apollo Crews confronted him wondering what his problem was. It sounded like Ziggler called Crews a mark and then head-butted him. Mojo Rawley and Rhyno were there to break up the brawl.

I absolutely love the prospect of Ziggler playing this angry, ticked off guy with the chip of all chips on his shoulder. Ziggler has finally snapped and showcased some real character progression in the process, which is not common in WWE.

Usually, people lose and nothing changes. But with Ziggler, all of the big losses he suffered in 2016 and all of the losses he has suffered during his career in general has finally pushed him past his breaking point and I am very much looking forward to what will happen next.

La Luchadora(s)

I was a fan of Doink the Clown and the prospect that there could be hundreds and hundreds of Doinks. I thought it was a cool touch to the creepy clown gimmick and it was literally the only thing I liked about WrestleMania 9.

In 2016, we have something that is sort of similar with La Luchadora, who at first was Lynch.

Then another mystery woman came out dressed as the character last week. This week, there were two La Luchadoras. One was a mystery women and the other was Smackdown Women's champion Alexa Bliss, who tapped out dressed as the character.

I am still going to give this time before I really pass some form of judgment, but with all of the people being unmasked lately, it feels like I'm watching Scooby-Doo and the gang solve mysteries on Smackdown Live.

My only question is who's driving the Mystery Machine?