Tonight WWE Smackdown Live was held at the Huntington Center in Toledo, OH.
The show opens with a photo recap of Jinder Mahal winning the WWE Championship two night’s ago at Backlash. The photos were joined with headlines from some of the biggest names in sports. ESPN, Fox, etc. all covered the event. Vince McMahon knows how to make headlines.
In celebration of the Maharaja’s ascension to championship gold, there will be a Punjabi Celebration. Perhaps it won’t be so bad, I hope the Great Kali shows up. The intro concluded and the show started. However as the announce team welcomed us to the show a video feed on the backstage parking area came up. A police escorting two vehicles with Indian flags rolled up to the stadium. The Singh brothers jumped out of the lead car to place a rug at the back of the limousine. The new champion exited with a huge smile, and the belt he was given to pander to a new business venture….ahem….he worked sooooo hard for. Whatever, let’s get started!
Show Open
Shane McMahon opened the live show as he commonly does. He briefly addressed the new champion and the fact that Randy Orton cashed in his rematch clause. The rematch with be at Money in the Bank. This was a perfect segway to introduce the five participants in the PPV’s main event. AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Sami Zayn and Dolph Ziggler all made their entrances. As Shane was about to announce the final competitor the New Face of America showed up. Shane was having none of that telling KO that he knows good and well that he was not the fifth superstar in this match. Queue the violins!
Shinsuke Nakamura entered the arena to a thunderous reaction. After Nakamura entered the ring Kevin Owens started to complain that some people in the match didn’t deserve to be there. He took special exception to Styles, who Owens beat at Backlash. Shane conceded that Owen’s had some good points and awarded him a position in the match.
Some back and forth mic work from everyone caused Shane to make two matches tonight. Sami Zayn would get a rematch against the Lone Wolf Baron Corbin. Our main event would pit Ziggler and Owen vs Styles and Nakamura. I was extremely excited to hear that second match booked. Every superstar in that match is elite.
Natalya/Carmella vs. Charlotte/Becky Lynch – Winners : Charlotte and Becky
The Good: Becky gets a clean win. I’m a huge fan of Becky Lynch. She may do some cheese stuff here and there, but anyone trained by Finn Balor has my support.
The Bad: I’m still not liking the fact that they made Charlotte a face to even out the roster. I get the fact that you want equal numbers, but get someone else to do it. You literally drafter the best female heel in the company, use her as such.
The Ugly: Can we please get Ellsworth and Tamina something else to do. Watching them interfere like clockwork every week is getting old.
Baron Corbin vs Sami Zayn – Winner: Sami Zayn (technically)
The Good: Baron Showed a new level of rage in his post match mauling of Zayn. He was believable as the assault was going on. Screaming at both refs and fans alike.
The Bad: I was waiting for a Braun Strowman level move. I know Baron can’t lift an ambulance, but something epic could have been done here.
The Ugly: The fact that both these guys still can’t seem to get over. Someone write them a decent storyline PLEASE!!
The Final Fashion Files?!
Shane McMahon wanders through his backstage area that has been set up as the Fashion Police HQ. A dejected Tyler and Fandango enter with their box of equipment and say they are ready to hand in their badges and guns. “YOU HAVE GUNS?!” Don’t worry Shane, they’re just water guns, be careful though, they are loaded. Shane told them they have done nothing but prove themselves and granted them both a singles match against one of the UGOS. BACK ON THE CASE GUYS!
Punjabi Celebration
Well, wasn’t this an affair to behold. Let me just say this. It really was a great performance. The dancers, decor and music were all great, so now I can’t be called a complete negative Nate now can I? I just can’t get behind this decision and the way it is being handled. Jinder is not ready. Period. Anyone with any type of knowledge of the business knows this is a move to look good to India. My real problem though, is the way they are writing his character. This anti-America stuff is getting ridiculous and lame. This isn’t the 80’s.
Jey Uso vs Tyler Breeze and Jimmy Uso vs. Fandango – Winners : Tyler Breeze and Fandango
The Good: Absolutely Everything. Fandango squirting Jey with a water pistol to distract him so that Tyler could roll him up made me laugh so hard. Then Tyler wearing the old lady wig and blowing kisses to Jey was a close second. That hilarity allowed Fandango to roll up Jimmy while he was distracted by that scene.
The Bad: Absolutely nothing.
The Ugly: The Usos wearing all black attire with white shoes. You’re under arrest!
The Usos vs Breezango Title Match : Winners : The Usos
The Good: This was a pretty great match. A handful of close calls with both teams showing up to fight. As playful as they are outside of the ring, Breezango really brings a lot of talent to the table.
The Bad: This would have been the chance to put the titles on Breezango. The crowd was going nuts for them and they were completely over. They must really want the Usos to look unbeatable for some reason. Time will tell.
The Ugly: We won’t get to see new and improved decorated Smackdown Live tag team championship belts.
AJ Styles/Shinsuke Nakamura vs Dolph Ziggler/Kevin Owens – Winners: Styles/Nakamura
The Good: A solid 20 minute match to close out the show. Even though there was no real payoff for either team to win, each superstar brought a ton of intensity. These guys really showed what it means to be the best of the best. They told a great story in the match and had me engaged the entire time.
The Bad: There were a few botched sequences with Ziggler, but other than that there wasn’t much here.
The Ugly: The crowd that was super behind Nakamura in the beginning tonight seemed a bit sluggish as he celebrated in the ring. That dude just put on a great match, don’t be lazy WWE Universe.
