In years past, it was normally the RAW after Wrestlemania that stole the show, well move over RAW because Smackdown Live is here to play as well. This week’s WWE Smackdown Live came to us from Orlando Florida, closing out a long weekend of WWE events. Let’s talk about what Smackdown Live did to close the extravaganza.
Randy Orton opened the show tonight, coming off a major victory over the Eater of Worlds Bray Wyatt. It was very apparent that the whole crowd was not behind the Viper being a 13 time WWE champion. I can’t say that I blame them. The WWE spent quite a bit of time giving Bray Wyatt his first world title, and then to have him lose it so soon didn’t make much sense. Especially after pumping him up as an almost supernatural entity right before Wrestlemania, it had me shaking my head. Randy spoke directly to Bray, denying that he had any power over him. That it was actually Randy that was the master now, and that Bray would never forget his name. This apparent blasphemy caused Bray Wyatt to appear on the big screen. Bray cut a pretty mean promo. He told Randy that he was the master of nothing and that the era of Wyatt has just begun. He continued to tell Randy that, on top of his rematch, he wanted to fight him in a different type of match. One that would push him to his very limits psychologically, and change the way that he viewed the world. A house of horrors match, a match that would quote “sentence of us to eternal damnation”. Randy accepted his challenge, even though he admittedly didn’t now what type of match it was. Randy then invited Bray down to the ring for one more ass whipping. The lights went out, and the next thing that the Legend Killer heard was “I’m here”. Bray was in the ring and began to unleash his anger on his former disciple. Randy began to get the upper hand on Bray, however a giant clad in a lamb mask pulled Randy out of the ring. There was a familiar red beard protruding from under the mask, and a very familiar face was unveiled when the mask was raised. Eric k Rowan has returned! A now two on one situation did not sit well with Luke Harper who quickly came to the ring. Rowan and Harper met each other on the entrance ramp, and Harper was the victor in that exchange. Bray caught Harper as he entered the ring and set him up for Sister Abigail, but Harper reversed it and unleashed a big boot on his former master. This left former enemies Harper and Orton standing in the ring as Wyatt and Rowan retreated to the back. First segment and a big return, I like what I see so far Smackdown Live, keep it up!
There was a short segment in the back where Renee Young interviewed the Miz and Maryse, asking them what they thought about John Cena’s marriage proposal following their match at Wrestlemania. Miz attacked Cena’s motivation, saying that only Cena would take a proposal and make it into a Wrestlemania moment. Maryse even went so far as to say that Nikki should thank them for backing Cena so far into a corner that he had to propose. Referencing that the “Superstar Shakeup” was coming very soon, Miz challenged John Cena and Nikki Bella tonight. He concluded the interview promising that this would be the last time you would see John and Nikki on Smackdown Live for a very long time. The cheers from the audience could be heard in the background. The Miz is so over right now it’s not even funny.
The first match of the night is a semi rematch of Wrestlemania where new WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion Naomi took on Alexa Bliss. Truth be told, this was the match I would have liked to see two nights ago at Wrestlemania. Both of these women are great at what they do. Naomi is a tremendous athlete and Alexa is one of the best heels in the game right now and can back it up with very solid in ring skills. Alexa got to work on Naomi’s injured knee early on, using every bit of a five count whenever Naomi got to the ropes. Naomi was able to mount a bit of a comeback raining punches down on Bliss then pick her up and drop her into a high kick. This was only able to keep Bliss down for a two count however. Alexa continued to punish Naomi until Naomi was able to pull off a Rear View. Naomi then tried to set Bliss up for a high spot but Alexa had Naomi well scouted and pulled her off the top rop. Bliss then tried to pin the champion while holding onto the ropes. The ref saw it and this was enough of a distraction that Naomi then rolled up the five feet of fury into the same submission that won her the title. This would be enough for tonight as well, Bliss tapped out and Naomi stays the champion.
After the break Curt Hawkins was in the ring looking smug as usual. He issued an open challenge to the back, looking to prove that he should be on everyone’s minds instead of the Superstar Shakeup. He told them that he would give them till the count of 10….did someone say 10? The perfect opponent arrived. TYE DILLINGER IS AT SMACKDOWN LIVE! The chants of 10! roared through the Amway Center. They continued throughout the match, with each move Dillinger landed a thunderous “10!” would erupt from the crowd. One of the favorites of NXT was certainly welcomed with open arms by the Smackdown Live audience. Dillinger made short work of Hawkins, finishing him off with a Tye Breaker. Welcome to the main show Tye, we’ve been waiting for you.
Up next Miz and Maryse came down to the ring dressed as John Cena and Nikki Bella, obviously wanting to continue the mocking from their Total Bellas Bulls**t segments. The Miz also continued his command of the crowd that he enjoyed at Wrestlemania, leading them into chants, and genuinely entertaining them with his portrayal of Cena. As Cena, he announced that he and Nikki would be leaving WWE and going to Hollywood! As the two exited the ring the lights dimmed and we see a man under a spotlight about to play…..a violin. The man did not even have to play a note of his beautiful intro, because we all knew what he signified. Ladies and gentlemen, THE KING OF STRONG STYLE IS AT SMACKDOWN LIVE!! The crowd goes ballistic as Shinsuke Nakamura’s main theme begins to play, singing along with the violin. I’m not going to lie, I was marking out at this moment. I have been waiting for a very long time for Shinsuke to be brought up to the main roster. The energy of the moment caused Miz and Maryse to exit the ring as soon as Nakamura entered it. If there is one person to steal the crowd’s love of Miz right now it’s Nakamura. This was apparent when Shinsuke’s music ended and the chants of “Nakamura” were deafening. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t have to. His music began to play again, and that was that. This was an amazing moment on it’s own and I loved it.
A street fight between Baron Corbin and Dean Ambrose welcomed us back to the show after the break. Corbin apparently hasn’t had any closure yet in his rivalry with Ambrose. As much as this rivalry hasn’t captivated me, this is a perfect match for both of these men. Unfortunately there wasn’t anything different than what we have seen from these two in the past. Now don’t get me wrong, it was a good match, I just think this feud has run it’s course. During the match Dean put his body on the line, Corbin at one point putting him through a table in the corner. He also whipped the Lunatic Fringe with a leather strap afterwards. Dean had his revenge after sending Corbin into a chair in the corner, using the same strap on Corbin. It looked as if Ambrose would get the victory after sending Corbin through a table with a flying elbow on the outside of the ring. It would be Corbin however that would have the last laugh, throwing a chair at Dean while he was about to fly from the top again. This set him up to hit Ambrose with End of Days to pick up the win.
Shane McMahon came out to address the audience regarding the announcement from his father the night before about the Superstar Shakeup. He said that the shakeup means excitement for the entire WWE Universe as well as new challenges for himself and Daniel Bryan. He went so far as to say that any superstar on the Raw roster should be praying to be picked to compete on Smackdown Live. At this point AJ Styles made his way down to the ring. AJ and Shane stared at each other in the middle of the ring as the chants of “AJ Styles” rocked the arena. AJ said that he didn’t know what the shakeup meant, but he didn’t want to go anywhere, because Smackdown Live is the house that AJ Styles built. However the shakeup is not what brought Styles out to the ring. He said that after Wrestlemania he owed Shane something, and then they shook hands. AJ then went to leave the ring. As he did so he pretended to attempt to punch Shane but then pulled back, smiled, and posed for the crowd. This was an amazing sign of respect from arguably the best talent of his generation.
Our final match of the night was made after the first segment of the night, where the current members of the Wyatt Family brawled with former members. It would be a tag team match with Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan taking on Randy Orton and Luke Harper. The match took the typical beats, it went back and forth like a typical tag match would. Watching the match I started to think that a feud between Rowan and Harper should be up next for both men. Two large and very agile men that have a personal history could be interesting. Wyatt and Rowan had Harper in trouble for most of the match, until Harper was able to tag Orton after hitting Wyatt with a spinning sidewalk slam. Orton immediately hit a tagged Rowan with a powerslam. He then went to get Rowan in a draping DDT but Wyatt attacked him from behind. Randy got the best of Bray and decided that it was Wyatt who should receive the DDT. As Randy was getting ready to hit an RKO on Wyatt the lights went out and when they came up, Wyatt was outside on the entrance ramp and Rowan was behind Randy. Rowan attempted a full nelson slam but Randy twisted out of it. Luke Harper then delivered a super kick to Rowan directly into an RKO. Lights out for Rowan, a victory for the former enemies turned tag team partners. Bray did not seemed phased at all by the loss, laughing and clapping on the entry ramp as Orton’s music played.
This was a fantastic Smackdown Live. That is saying something about a show that consistently brings solid shows every week. I hope that this new “Superstar Shakeup” only makes this brand better. From what I have seen here tonight, it looks like a pretty safe bet.
