This week’s WWE Smackback will not be written in the Good, Bad, Ugly format.
Tonight’s WWE Smackdown Live was held at the Verizon Arena in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Show Open
Jinder Mahal opened the show with his usual rhetoric. “You don’t know what it’s like to walk in my shoes” and “I’m always shown disrespect”. Nothing we haven’t heard before. After his embarrassment last week he said someone would have to pay. The Singh brothers then jumped in and began apologizing profusely. One of the Singh brothers began crying and apologizing to all of India, their family and especially Jinder. As punishment for their disappointing performance last week which subsequently caused Jinder to be hit by the Kinshasa, they offered to kiss Mahal’s feet. Just before this awkward scene came to conclusion, Shinsuke Nakamura saved us all and came to the ring.
The Singh brothers stepped in between the champion and the King of Strong Style, but Nakamura easily pushed them aside. Let me rephrase. Shinsuke gently split them apart, but they treated it like a futbol match and flopped like they got hit by a car. Jinder attempted to land the first blow but Nakamura blocked it and started to lay into the champ. Eventually though the numbers would be too much and Nakamura was throttled by all three men. Randy Orton came down to try and save his partner for tonight’s main event but Rusev would change those plans by coming down as well. The segment ended with both Rusev and Jinder standing over the fallen faces.
The Ascension vs Gable and Benjamin – Winners: Gable and Benjamin
For the return of Shelton Benjamin, who seemed to be received very well by last week’s crowd, this match was a bit of a letdown. I was hoping that with both men having similar styles there would be some great combination moves that utilized both men’s skill set. This however was not the case. At first it seemed like the writers were going for the angle that they were still feeling each other out and not quite on the same page. Halfway through the match that idea seemed to fizzle out and they picked up the win.
I hope that the second part of the match was a prelude to future matches. I think the WWE would be much better served to make these guys out of be a well oiled machine rather then them having issues at first.Unless you are planning on breaking them up early or having a great story play out of them training together with Angle himself (very unlikely as he is on RAW) I’m not sure the Smackdown Live writers can produce a compelling enough story to make it work.
Backstage
Baron Corbin was stopped by Renee Young and questioned The Lone Wolf about his squandered MITB opportunity. Corbin took issue with the word “squandered” and said that it was John Cena would distracted him and cost him the World Title. He continued to shame Cena for running to RAW and not allowing him to have his revenge. This is all in the past though and Corbin is looking to the future. The first act in his future, answering AJ Style’s open challenge.
AJ Styles Open Challenge
This segment began with The Perfect 10 Tye Dillinger answering Styles’ open challenge. As he made his way to the ring, Baron Corbin came out and spun Dillinger around and began screaming at him for cutting in front of what he assumed would be his challenge to answer. Corbin pushed Tye and the Tye pushed him back causing him to stumble off the ramp. Baron would jump him from behind which made it look as if Corbin would get his wish and take his shot at the title. Tye would have the last laugh though, jumping into the ring first and knocking Corbin to the floor, the ref then rang the bell and we have our match.
AJ Styles vs Tye Dillinger – Winner: AJ Styles
This match was ruined by the circumstances surrounding it. It was far too short in my opinion, I was hoping to see these two talented superstars work with each other. Tye would have a few moments of offense, even almost hitting the Tye Breaker by catching AJ in the middle of his Phenomenal Forearm attempt. AJ would break free though and cause Dillinger to tap from a calf crusher. After the match Corbin would pull Tye out of the ring and attempt to fight AJ. A solid forearm shot would send Corbin reeling to the outside. Corbin would huff and puff while pacing outside the ring, but the Lone Wolf would not blow down the house that AJ Styles built.
All around bad segment. The match I wanted to see was way too short and a feud that the WWE seems to be setting up is not something that interests me in the least. I’m not bagging on Corbin here, I just don’t think a feud with AJ is where he should be at the moment. If I’m being honest, I don’t think Smackdown Live is the brand Corbin belongs in period.
Bobby Roode vs Mike Kanellis – Winner: Mike Kanellis
I would think that when you have someone like Bobby Roode come to the main roster it would be a move that the WWE had been planning for months. That being said, I would also assume you had a story line already in place that you would begin immediately after his debut. This is especially important in Roode’s case as he is an older talent.
If I can say one good thing about the match is that Roode did everything beautifully. He was laying in everything super clean, albeit a bit stiff. I think Kanellis may have caught him a few times in the face while stomping him in the corner which would have explained the aggression. Roode is exactly what his catchphrase states. Absolutely Glorious. He should be treated as such by the writers. GET THIS MAN A DECENT FEUD GOING NOW!
Aiden English vs Sami Zayn – Winner: Aiden English (Kind of)
As we were “treated” to the musical stylings of English he was immediately interrupted, as is commonly the case, by a very upset Kevin Owens. Owens told English to not waste his time or talent on the Arkansas hillbilly crowd and asked him to leave the ring. English agreed only because of his fondness of Owens.
After Aiden left the ring, KO began to address the crowd about the new age Canadian screwjob that occurred last week. He went on to show a clip of what happened last week as evidence as to how Shane caused him to lose any future title shot versus AJ Styles. He continued on, stating that this type of injustice and abuse of power would never happen with Stephanie McMahon on RAW. This was apparently the last straw for Shane O Mac, who would enter the arena after this comment.
Shane explained that Kevin had no one to blame but himself. He was the one who picked a referee that was completely biased and then quit his appointed position when he was questioned and reprimanded by Shane. He also made the point that a match of that magnitude needed a proper referee to officiate it and that is why he stepped in. After this he told Kevin to exit the ring and invited Aiden English back into the ring to compete in his match versus Sami Zayn
Actual Match
Kevin Owens didn’t leave ringside during the match and instead posted up in his second favorite place, the announcer’s table. He wasn’t as entertaining as he usually is, in fact he was just plain made and spent most of his short time there threatening Byron Saxton. I say short time because it didn’t take long for his distain for the Smackdown referee staff to boil over. He couldn’t take the incompetence and entered the ring himself, taking the ref’s shirt for himself. Sami was on the top rope at the time and was stunned as KO counted him down from the turnbuckle. As Zayn attempted to continue the match KO interfered and hit his former friend with a pop up powerbomb, allowing English to pin him for the win.
I don’t know what Sami Zayn can do to get the wins/decent story he deserves. He was one of the most popular superstars at NXT ever. Now, which is unfortunately the case for a lot of the NXT stars, he is trapped in the mid-card. I like “loose cannon” Kevin Owens, but not when he isn’t funny while doing it. This has now become a lock for him to fight Shane at one of the big four PPVs, which I am not a fan of.
Dolph Ziggler Backstage Segment
Following one of the best cut promos of the year from Dolph last week, Ziggler was again interviewed backstage concerning his absence and his now hinted at change of style. Unfortunately Ziggler pretty much said the same thing as last week and it didn’t have the same pop. Next week he promised us his new gimmick, which he promises will be crappy, but the fans will eat it up like they do all the other stuff Ziggler considers garbage.
The New Day vs Usos – Stipulation Match – Winners: The Usos
These two teams have faced each other so much I really don’t see the point in them having a match unless is is on a PPV and it’s for the titles. This week they were competing for the opportunity to set a stipulation for their next match for the Usos’ titles.
The Usos won by yet again utilizing a blind tag and some confusion during interference from people not legally in the ring. This being the catalyst for their victories is getting so stale. I know they are heels, but if you want them to be dominant and look strong, just let them win clean. They are good enough for the crowd to buy it.
Carmella Backstage Segment
Carmella had a very awkward interview with James Ellsworth. She ripped into James for blowing the plan to Nattie last week. James asked if she got her flowers and then the Carmella asked if he got them from a funeral.This was because the flowers said “with sympathy”. Get it?? Tired and obvious joke fell flat.
Nattie then showed up and told Carmella that she should be thanking James for blowing up her spot because if she did try to cash in on her, Natalya would make Carmella the Baron Corbin of the women’s division. Man…..Corbin must have pissed someone off in the offices. Carmella made a quick threat about her match with Nattie next week and then left. Naomi showed up as well and told Nattie that she better get some good rest. After next week’s match with Carmella, Naomi will be getting her rematch the following week.
Tamina vs Tina Stock – Winner: Tamina
This entire match was a train wreck. Tamina was introduced by her new manager Lana. The crowd was so against Tamina they started to chant “Let’s go jobber”. Within moments of the beginning of the match, Lana screamed into a mic, “Tamina….CRUSH!”.
At this point you would imagine some great transformation of style and intensity from Tamina. Nope, nothing changed. She was still her same old mediocre self. Once the match was over she even botched throwing the jobber out of the ring. The final part of this horrendous segment was Lana having photographers come into the ring. I’m assuming to make it look like Tamina was popular. UGH Smackdown Live writing team…..just UGH.
Fashion Files
Shinsuke Nakamura/Randy Orton vs Rusev/Jinder Mahal – Winners: Shinsuke and Randy
I know, let’s take two of our more charismatic superstars and pair them with two other superstars that are boring as hell. I felt bad for Rusev and Shinsuke that they had to be part of this match. More so for Shinsuke. The most exciting superstar in the match and he was in it for the least amount of time. I’ll be honest with you, this match had no meaning in the grand scheme of the show’s story line. I zoned out on half of it and I couldn’t be bothered to re-watch it.
The part I really took issue with was post match after Shinsuke and Randy won the match. As they were celebrating in the ring, Orton hit Nakamura with an RKO. What was the point of this? If it is to set up something in the future between Nakamura and Orton, please don’t. Nakamura needs to be treated like the worldwide superstar that he is. Go watch some old entrances and match with him in New Japan. He was a God. This was just the generic icing on a stale cake that was Smackdown Live this week. Come on guys, you can do better.
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