While not a great show, SmackDown continues to show its superiority over its Monday Night sister show.
SmackDown Thoughts
- The show starts with WWE Champion Daniel Bryan walking out to the ring. He apologizes to all the sheep in the world for comparing the fans to them last week. They are just too stupid and ignorant. 205 Live's Mustafa Ali comes out and interrupts Daniel Bryan. Bryan allows him to come to the ring and introduces him to the crowd. He tells Ali that they don't need to have the match because the crowd won't care either way. They're too consumed about themselves and are too "FICKLE." Ali asks what happened to Daniel Bryan. Ali wants a fight, just like the old Daniel Bryan would. Bryan asks Ali what kind of car he drives. Ali says it's an SUV. Ali tells Bryan that he drives an SUV for his family. Bryan slaps him several times and calls him ignorant. Ali fights him to the floor and dives out off the top rope to the floor. Eco-fueled heat here from Daniel Bryan to set up the match with the 205 Live star.
Bryan and Ali work a match through two commercial breaks. During one of the commercial breaks, thanks to USA's commercial video play for allowing us to see it, ALI HIT A SPANISH FLY OFF THE TOP ON BRYAN!!! But Ali gets sent off the top to the floor. Bryan puts the "Fickle (?) Lock" on Ali in the middle of the ring. But Ali gets to the ropes. Ali starts to fight back, but he misses his 054 (Backwards 450 dive). Bryan goes after the leg of Ali, wrapping it against the ring post and chop blocking it. The Heel Hook gets a tap out. Nice exhibition for Mustafa Ali, but I'm pretty sure the casual Smackdown Live viewer will think "Who's that jobber?" That's not meant to be a dig on the guy, but just throwing 205 Live guys on TV without any backstory or anything for regular fans to invest into is a waste of time in my opinion. (And no, that opening segment does not count as backstory. No one would buy The Hurricane interrupting a promo with The Rock and having a match immediately afterwards. Instead, they built up Hurricane for weeks to prep for that match before it happened. Today, it's "we'll just throw out this guy for a quick segment, have him work the match, and the fans will love it." And it just doesn't work most of the time.)
After the match, Mustafa Ali attacks Ali on the entrance area by stomping at his face and locking in the Heel Hook once again.
- The Rap Battle is next between The Usos and The Bar with The New Day as the hosts. The Bar basically riff off of "Ice, Ice Baby." (Vanilla Ice could sue, but Queen would probably laugh at that.) The Usos just massacre them on the mic and even bring in a turnbuckle to go after Cesaro's teeth being destroyed last year. The Bar trying to jump The Usos, but The Usos duck the initial attack. But leave it to The New Day to distract The Usos enough for The Bar to beat everyone down. This did nothing to add to my anticipation for Sunday.
- Asuka promises Charlotte will not be ready for her tonight. And we learn that later tonight, Jeff Hardy and Rusev will face Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura. That's an awesome match in the making.
- The Miz comes out with the World Cup. He begs Shane McMahon to come to the ring. He gets on his knee and says "Unlike Jon Snow, I'm not afraid to bend the knee." LOL. Shane McMahon comes out to a good ovation from the crowd. The Miz says they could be so good together if he just gave them the chance. A lot of relationship innuendo is in the subtext here. The Miz asks a referee to come down. He brings out a local team to represent Las Vegas. They are teaming up against The Vegas Boys. The Vegas Boys jump Shane, and Shane fights back. A botched DDT spot by Shane McMahon on one of the Vegas Boys. A triangle choke by Shane McMahon gets the win for The Miz and Shane. Um... ok. I think they are still trying to build up long-term for WrestleMania, but this didn't do much for me in the present. But points to The Miz for the Game of Thrones reference. But I will say this: When watching WWE lately, I'm reminded that "the night is dark and full of terrors." I guess Melisandre watches Raw too.
- Paige gets in the referee's face for refereeing the match. Miz told the referee that she sanctioned the match. The Vegas Boys want $5,000 as The Miz promised. Paige rips up the paper and throws all the men out. Hmmm.... Paige came off somewhat heelish in this whole exchange, but it does make me interested in seeing what wrinkle Paige adds to the situation.
- Randy Orton comes out and cuts a Randy Orton promo on Rey Mysterio saying Mysterio needs to worry about R... K... STEEL CHAIR SHOT TO RANDY ORTON BY REY MYSTERIO! Rey chases off Randy from the ring after several chair shots and a 6-1-9.
- The Man is shown backstage and is interviewed. She's going to be at ringside for the match between Asuka and Charlotte. She doesn't care if the doctors like it or not. She's going to show what kind of chaos happens when "The Man Comes Around." God I love Becky Lynch.
- Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura take on Jeff Hardy and Rusev next. After Nakamura makes his entrance, Carmella and R-Truth make an interruption and do a 7 second dance break. This allows Shinsuke to kick Jeff Hardy in the back of the head to get an early advantage. Nakamura and Rusev get a few minutes to work in the ring. Rusev catches Nakamura running towards him and nails him with the Machka Kick for the win. I'm glad to see Nakamura take the pinfall loss here as now he has someone to work against him for the U.S. Championship. What good is being a champion in the company if you don't have someone chasing after you?
- Shane McMahon goes nuts on The Miz for hiring wrestlers to attack Shane. The Miz doesn't apologize. He wants the Killer McMahon instincts to come up. The Miz was never considered The Best in the World until Shane McMahon came around. He offers a handshake towards Shane, and Shane just walks off. Miz gives the ultimate "puppy dog" sad look as the camera fades to black. More fuel to add to the fire of this feud.
- Lars Sullivan is lurking... Good for him.
- AJ Styles is going to get his revenge on Daniel Bryan this Sunday at TLC.
- The main event is Asuka going one-on-one against Charlotte in a rematch from WrestleMania. I really enjoyed and got invested in this match as it went on. It was a different type of match than what we've seen lately with a lot of ground and pound, submission type of wrestling between the two women. Charlotte working as the heel definitely helped make just as memorable in my opinion as Mania. Charlotte gets caught in the Asuka Lock and rolls Asuka out to the floor. She gets a Kendo Stick and goes to work on Asuka for the DQ. Good. If Charlotte is going to face Asuka at WrestleMania, you don't want Asuka to get a win on Charlotte before that match.
After the match, Becky gets attacked by the Kendo Stick too. Becky attacks Charlotte from behind and thrashes her with the Kendo Stick repeatedly. Asuka attacks Becky from behind and throws her over the table. Asuka gets the Kendo Stick and thrashes Charlotte some more with it. And now she's going back and forth with the Kendo Stick against both women repeatedly. Asuka stands tall on the table to close the show.
Overall, this was a mixed bag of a show. There were some things I really liked, like the main event and the Rusev/Hardy vs. Joe/Nakamura match. But on the other hand, I thought that the Ali-Bryan match, while technically good and entertaining, did nothing for Ali in the long-term. The Rap Battle did nothing to add to the Tag Title Match build. And The Miz/Shane McMahon story ran in circles this week except for the slight tease of Paige getting involved somehow. Still, compared to Raw, this show seemed like a masterpiece.
Until next time, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness.
SmackDown Thoughts
- The show starts with WWE Champion Daniel Bryan walking out to the ring. He apologizes to all the sheep in the world for comparing the fans to them last week. They are just too stupid and ignorant. 205 Live's Mustafa Ali comes out and interrupts Daniel Bryan. Bryan allows him to come to the ring and introduces him to the crowd. He tells Ali that they don't need to have the match because the crowd won't care either way. They're too consumed about themselves and are too "FICKLE." Ali asks what happened to Daniel Bryan. Ali wants a fight, just like the old Daniel Bryan would. Bryan asks Ali what kind of car he drives. Ali says it's an SUV. Ali tells Bryan that he drives an SUV for his family. Bryan slaps him several times and calls him ignorant. Ali fights him to the floor and dives out off the top rope to the floor. Eco-fueled heat here from Daniel Bryan to set up the match with the 205 Live star.
Bryan and Ali work a match through two commercial breaks. During one of the commercial breaks, thanks to USA's commercial video play for allowing us to see it, ALI HIT A SPANISH FLY OFF THE TOP ON BRYAN!!! But Ali gets sent off the top to the floor. Bryan puts the "Fickle (?) Lock" on Ali in the middle of the ring. But Ali gets to the ropes. Ali starts to fight back, but he misses his 054 (Backwards 450 dive). Bryan goes after the leg of Ali, wrapping it against the ring post and chop blocking it. The Heel Hook gets a tap out. Nice exhibition for Mustafa Ali, but I'm pretty sure the casual Smackdown Live viewer will think "Who's that jobber?" That's not meant to be a dig on the guy, but just throwing 205 Live guys on TV without any backstory or anything for regular fans to invest into is a waste of time in my opinion. (And no, that opening segment does not count as backstory. No one would buy The Hurricane interrupting a promo with The Rock and having a match immediately afterwards. Instead, they built up Hurricane for weeks to prep for that match before it happened. Today, it's "we'll just throw out this guy for a quick segment, have him work the match, and the fans will love it." And it just doesn't work most of the time.)
After the match, Mustafa Ali attacks Ali on the entrance area by stomping at his face and locking in the Heel Hook once again.
- The Rap Battle is next between The Usos and The Bar with The New Day as the hosts. The Bar basically riff off of "Ice, Ice Baby." (Vanilla Ice could sue, but Queen would probably laugh at that.) The Usos just massacre them on the mic and even bring in a turnbuckle to go after Cesaro's teeth being destroyed last year. The Bar trying to jump The Usos, but The Usos duck the initial attack. But leave it to The New Day to distract The Usos enough for The Bar to beat everyone down. This did nothing to add to my anticipation for Sunday.
- Asuka promises Charlotte will not be ready for her tonight. And we learn that later tonight, Jeff Hardy and Rusev will face Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura. That's an awesome match in the making.
- The Miz comes out with the World Cup. He begs Shane McMahon to come to the ring. He gets on his knee and says "Unlike Jon Snow, I'm not afraid to bend the knee." LOL. Shane McMahon comes out to a good ovation from the crowd. The Miz says they could be so good together if he just gave them the chance. A lot of relationship innuendo is in the subtext here. The Miz asks a referee to come down. He brings out a local team to represent Las Vegas. They are teaming up against The Vegas Boys. The Vegas Boys jump Shane, and Shane fights back. A botched DDT spot by Shane McMahon on one of the Vegas Boys. A triangle choke by Shane McMahon gets the win for The Miz and Shane. Um... ok. I think they are still trying to build up long-term for WrestleMania, but this didn't do much for me in the present. But points to The Miz for the Game of Thrones reference. But I will say this: When watching WWE lately, I'm reminded that "the night is dark and full of terrors." I guess Melisandre watches Raw too.
- Paige gets in the referee's face for refereeing the match. Miz told the referee that she sanctioned the match. The Vegas Boys want $5,000 as The Miz promised. Paige rips up the paper and throws all the men out. Hmmm.... Paige came off somewhat heelish in this whole exchange, but it does make me interested in seeing what wrinkle Paige adds to the situation.
- Randy Orton comes out and cuts a Randy Orton promo on Rey Mysterio saying Mysterio needs to worry about R... K... STEEL CHAIR SHOT TO RANDY ORTON BY REY MYSTERIO! Rey chases off Randy from the ring after several chair shots and a 6-1-9.
- The Man is shown backstage and is interviewed. She's going to be at ringside for the match between Asuka and Charlotte. She doesn't care if the doctors like it or not. She's going to show what kind of chaos happens when "The Man Comes Around." God I love Becky Lynch.
- Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura take on Jeff Hardy and Rusev next. After Nakamura makes his entrance, Carmella and R-Truth make an interruption and do a 7 second dance break. This allows Shinsuke to kick Jeff Hardy in the back of the head to get an early advantage. Nakamura and Rusev get a few minutes to work in the ring. Rusev catches Nakamura running towards him and nails him with the Machka Kick for the win. I'm glad to see Nakamura take the pinfall loss here as now he has someone to work against him for the U.S. Championship. What good is being a champion in the company if you don't have someone chasing after you?
- Shane McMahon goes nuts on The Miz for hiring wrestlers to attack Shane. The Miz doesn't apologize. He wants the Killer McMahon instincts to come up. The Miz was never considered The Best in the World until Shane McMahon came around. He offers a handshake towards Shane, and Shane just walks off. Miz gives the ultimate "puppy dog" sad look as the camera fades to black. More fuel to add to the fire of this feud.
- Lars Sullivan is lurking... Good for him.
- AJ Styles is going to get his revenge on Daniel Bryan this Sunday at TLC.
- The main event is Asuka going one-on-one against Charlotte in a rematch from WrestleMania. I really enjoyed and got invested in this match as it went on. It was a different type of match than what we've seen lately with a lot of ground and pound, submission type of wrestling between the two women. Charlotte working as the heel definitely helped make just as memorable in my opinion as Mania. Charlotte gets caught in the Asuka Lock and rolls Asuka out to the floor. She gets a Kendo Stick and goes to work on Asuka for the DQ. Good. If Charlotte is going to face Asuka at WrestleMania, you don't want Asuka to get a win on Charlotte before that match.
After the match, Becky gets attacked by the Kendo Stick too. Becky attacks Charlotte from behind and thrashes her with the Kendo Stick repeatedly. Asuka attacks Becky from behind and throws her over the table. Asuka gets the Kendo Stick and thrashes Charlotte some more with it. And now she's going back and forth with the Kendo Stick against both women repeatedly. Asuka stands tall on the table to close the show.
Overall, this was a mixed bag of a show. There were some things I really liked, like the main event and the Rusev/Hardy vs. Joe/Nakamura match. But on the other hand, I thought that the Ali-Bryan match, while technically good and entertaining, did nothing for Ali in the long-term. The Rap Battle did nothing to add to the Tag Title Match build. And The Miz/Shane McMahon story ran in circles this week except for the slight tease of Paige getting involved somehow. Still, compared to Raw, this show seemed like a masterpiece.
Until next time, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness.
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