SMACKDOWN 29/11/2016 - Going home with TLC

As many of you will know, the go-home shows have been quite lacklustre as of late (with the exception of the last RAW go-home show we had) and I think one of the big factors for this is that there are so many damn PPVs now since the brand split that it is getting more difficult to produce great go-home shows - thankfully it sounds like WWE are going to go back to the old one-PPV-a-month deal from next year which will allow for both brands to really build their stories up to the best of their abilities instead of rushing it each month. But how did Smackdown fair on their go-home show this week? Sure there were more segments than matches, but it can't be all that bad...can it?

Women's Championship contract signing
I really dig the fact that the women get to do contract signings, I believe that it further legitimises them as being on the same level as the men and so was quite happy to see one go down on Smackdown. Two things I couldn't quite help but feel off about: first that it was a contract signing for a normal match (at the time of the segment) and second that it seemed like both Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon weren't even on the show (this must be the case since Rene Young was the one to look over the contract signing). Anyways, the back and forth promo between Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss was actually pretty good and I feel it actually gets you invested in their rivalry to see who is going to come out on top by the end of it. The brawl that broke out between the two seemed a bit random especially since Becky was the one who started it - this made me feel like she is a bit of a hot head and gets insulted pretty quickly. It ended with Becky going through the table that was set up for the contract signing which resulted in the women's championship match becoming a Tables match. I will admit that I'm not a massive fan of tables matches in today's era but I do feel if anyone could remotely pull off a good tables match it has to be these two women.
Rating: 7.5

Kalisto & Dolph Ziggler VS Baron Corbin & The Miz w/Maryse

As many of you will know, I am not usually a fan of WWE just putting rivals against each other in tag matches before a PPV because it feels like they're being put in the match just so they can be featured before the PPV. While this can be said for this match, I was actually happy with it both going in and once it was done. I don't know if it had to do with the superstars in the match itself or if I was just ok with it this time, but I was very happy with it. What made things even better was that by the end of it everyone still looked strong which is always a great thing because it becomes a bit more unpredictable as to who will win their match.
Winner: Kalisto & Dolph Ziggler
Rating: 8

Tension with the Wyatts?
So this was a backstage segment where Bray was about to talk about American Alpha before Randy Orton interrupted him and said he knows exactly how American Alpha are - that they are ignorant and think that they know how to get the job done. He would then say that he and Bray would get their job done and then turned to Luke Harper and said but would Harper get his job done in his match with Kane. What is so great about this, and the reason why I feel the need to mention it, is that there seems to be a real tension brewing in the Wyatt Family - specially between Randy and Luke. Could this eventually lead to Luke turning on the Wyatt Family which would maybe result in a Wrestlemania match? Regardless, I am really intrigued and they have me invested in this story.
Rating: 8

Carmella VS who??
This was originally meant to be a match between Carmella and someone on the roster - we don't actually know who because it wasn't announced and before that person could come out Carmella took to the mic and started insulting Nikki Bella and saying what she would do to her at TLC in the no disqualification match. Next thing we knew Nikki ran out to the ring and the two started to get in a brawl and because of this the match was called off. I really don't understand decisions like this because all that would be needed is for management to tell Nikki she is banned from ringside and the match could go on as normal - especially since it's not like Carmella was seriously hurt or anything. Ai, but what can you do?
Rating: 7.5

The Ambrose Asylum feat. James Ellsworth
I would like to just point out that this was the fourth segment in a row that occurred. I'm not saying it is bad or anything, but it does run the risk of getting very very tiresome. Anyways, it was ok I guess. We saw Ellsworth come out, I can't really remember what was said, but next thing we knew AJ Styles came out and cut a promo of his own. We then saw Styles shove Ellsworth into Ambrose and beat the crap out of the two. The best moment was when Styles did the Styles Clash to Ellsworth off the steel steps on the outside especially because Ellsworth actually remembered not to tuck his head in this time - well done.
Rating: 7.5

Kane VS Luke Harper
I will admit that I wasn't such a fan of this match going in, and quite frankly still not now, but I will admit that it wasn't actually too bad. It certainly is not the best performance the two can do, especially together, but it was ok. I was a bit surprised that Kane got a victory to be honest, but I think it could possibly allow for the Wyatt tensions story to develop further.
Winner: Kane
Rating: 7

The Wyatts VS American Alpha (No.1 Contendership for Smackdown Tag Team Titles)
15 to 20 minutes - this is the amount of time these four superstars were given to do their stuff and there's only one word to describe it: Awesome! Seriously I was very happy with this match and glad it happened. I can't quite remember the specifics, but I do remember it had me on the edge of my seat because I was routing for the Wyatts to win the match. I will be the happiest man alive if the Wyatts win on Sunday because not only will it be fresh, but it will be Bray Wyatt's very first title win. It's times like these that makes me happy to be a wrestling fan.
Winner: The Wyatts
Rating: 8

Overall Segment Rating: 7.5
Overall Match Rating: 7.5
Overall Show Rating: 7.5

And once again we reach the end of another show, and a go-home show at that. I guess looking at it it wasn't really all that bad, but it definitely could have been tons better than it was. I am really looking forward to WWE TLC this Sunday and am hoping it will be a great watch.

SMACKDOWN 22/11/2016 - Chaos Chaos Chaos

Two days removed from Survivor Series, and only two weeks away from Smackdown's next PPV TLC, you would have expected this show to not reflect so much on the last PPV and focus on building up matches for the next one - and they actually did this. I will say now right off the bat that this was a very decent show, however it felt very chaotic to me and not in a good way. Let's go lay the Smack Down and see if it will Hit Up.

Shane o MacDown
I will try keep this as simple as possible. Basically Shane McMahon came out (looking very banged up by the way, but thankfully he is ok) and he talked a little bit about Survivor Series. Dean Ambrose would then come out and poke the bear a little bit before calling James Ellsworth out and ruining the surprise that James had got a Smackdown Live Contract. Shane, very annoyed at Dean for almost costing Smackdown the match at Survivor Series, told Dean to take the rest of the night off and also to leave the building. Dean would leave, AJ Styles would come out and say that Ellsworth does not deserve a contract and so challenged him to a ladder match for his contract later that night. Shane said Ellsworth didn't have to, but Ellsworth wanted to prove himself and so put his contract up for grabs, but said he wants a future title opportunity if he wins. And then it was official and that was pretty much it. It wasn't too bad of a segment and basically set up the main event of the show.
Rating: 7

Ambrose's appearances
So I thought I would just tackle this real quick because it was actually pretty good and I enjoyed watching it, but Dean Ambrose, despite being asked to leave the building, kept on appearing throughout the night. He appeared with pizza, then he appeared dressed as the Mountie, and then appeared in hockey clothes during the main event (we will get to that). It was actually really fun to watch and Ambrose really made it work. Well done.
Rating: 8

The Miz (C) VS Kalisto (Intercontinental Championship)
So I get the premise of this match because Daniel Bryan doesn't want the Miz as his champion and also he believes Kalisto could have won the Cruiserweight title at Survivor Series, but honestly I don't quite feel like Kalisto deserved this shot - although I admit that I would much rather see Kalisto get the shot than Apollo Crews. It was truly a decent match anyway and actually wouldn't mind seeing these guys go at it again in future. We saw Baron Corbin interfere in this match and once again cost Kalisto the title which also allows for their feud to continue.
Winner: The Miz
Rating: 7.5



Tag Team Turmoil Match
For those who don't know the rules of this match, it stars with two teams and every time a team is eliminated another team comes in to take their place and in continues until there is only one team left. The first few eliminations occurred pretty quickly and the main focus ended up being on the final two teams which were the USOs and American Alpha. Now I understand this could upset quite a few people to only focus on the final two, but when it works there's nothing to really complain about. The USOs and American Alpha did a really good job together and I actually had to real idea as to who would win, although I think a part of me was really wanting The USOs to win. By the end of it, it was American Alpha who won the match, but they barely had time to celebrate when the Wyatts appeared on the titentron. They told American Alpha to not celebrate too quickly because there's still one team they need to go through. I understand that some people might be confused that they weren't a part of the original turmoil match, but this was likely done because Randy Orton has a week off so that he can be there for his wife, Kim, who is giving birth to a baby. It seems as if it will be Orton and Wyatt teaming together, which is strange because Wyatt doesn't usually take part in the tag matches, but this now opens up the doors for a future feud where Luke Harper turns on Wyatt. I don't know about you guys, but I hope we see Orton and Wyatt advance to face the tag champs and that they end up winning the match too.
Winner: American Alpha
Rating: 8

Becky Lynch VS Natalya
I'm gonna make this short, this match was decent, not too bad, but nothing special. I look forward to seeing Becky VS Alexa Bliss at TLC (This should be a Ladder match).
Winner: Becky Lynch
Rating: 7

Baron Corbin VS Kane
This match was a very short one and was unfortunately cut short because of Kalisto interfering and attacking Corbin. Shortly after this it was announced that Kalisto and Corbin would settle their differences at TLC in a Chairs match. I really hope we can see a feud between Corbin and Kane in the future because I believe these two can do a really great job together.
Winner: Baron Corbin (by disqualification)
Rating: 6.5

AJ Styles VS James Ellsworth (Ladder match for James Ellsworth's contract)

I don't really feel like saying very much about this match because you don't expect anything great from a match with James Ellsworth, although seeing him do a super kick is great. It was predictable that Ellsworth was going to win because he had already announced at an Indies show that he got a full time contract with WWE, but as I have mentioned before, predictability isn't a deal breaker for me as long as the match is good. This was a fun match to watch and was fun to see how Ellsworth won.
Winner: James Ellsworth
Rating: 7.5

Overall Segment Rating: 7.5
Overall Match Rating: 7.5
Overall Show Rating: 7.5

There you have it. That was Smackdown for the week. Wasn't too bad a show and set up a lot of matches for the TLC PPV. If you missed it these are the matches set up so far:
Dean Ambrose VS AJ Styles (TLC match for the WWE World Title)
Becky Lynch VS Alexa Bliss (SD Women's title)
Nikki Bella VS Carmella (No DQ match)
Baron Corbin VS Kalisto (Chairs match)
The Miz VS Dolph Ziggler (Intercontinental Ladder match)
Heath Slater & Rhyno VS TBD (WWE Tag Team titles)
TLC is looking to be a good PPV and I look forward to seeing how Smackdown pull off their go-home show next week.

SMACKDOWN 15/11/2016 - 900 Strong

Wow! Can you believe that we are 900 episodes into Smackdown already? Who knew when Smackdown first started all those years ago that it would still be going strong as one of WWE's flagship shows today. One thing I am really glad about, and I don't know if WWE ever considered doing this, is that they never ended up dropping the Smackdown show, even when the brand split became null. Smackdown has been one of the pivotal shows of WWE and there are a lot of people out there who prefers Smackdown over RAW, especially since the reinstated brand split. Before this show came on air this week, it was heavily announced that there would be two special appearances: Edge to do the Cutting Edge and the Undertaker, who hasn't been seen since Wrestlemania. I think it is safe to say that a lot of people tuned in to see what happened on this show and if I am honest, they didn't do too bad a job. They had a good mix of the past and present put in as we saw highlights from early Smackdown episodes and then focused back on the current show. One thing I am especially happy about this show is that they didn't do a RAW and make a whole bunch of tag matches. Thankfully we saw a well-structured and story-driven show. With that said, what in particular did I enjoy and what in particular might have made me a bit sour? Let us Smack the 900 Down on this show and find out.

Daniel Bryan and Shane o Mac open the show
I was going a little bit back and forth with this moment because I didn't know whether I should mention it, but as you can see, I came to the conclusion that it won't be so bad to do so. Despite it being authority figures opening the 900th episode of Smackdown, it actually ended up being fine since it was short, plus it made a lot of sense . So yeah, no complaints here, it did what it needed to do and was good.
Rating: 8

Dolph Ziggler (C) VS The Miz w/Maryse (WWE Intercontinental Championship)
A match I was expecting to be a lot further on the card, but actually made sense being where it was. This is a huge episode of Smackdown and so you want to start the show off with a bang with the two superstars that have had match-of-the-night calibre matches the last few times together. It was smart and a great way to start. I will admit that this wasn't one of their best matches, but it was still very, very good and so enjoyable to watch. These two pull of the type of matches that Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens pull off together. I think the only thing I possibly have mixed feelings for has to be the result. It seemed very strange for the Miz to win the title, however I have a theory about this because now the Miz faces Sami Zayn for the title at Survivor Series so could we possibly see Sami win and then jump shit to Smackdown? Or perhaps Sami wins and so Daniel Bryan strikes a trade? The one thing that has to happen is Sami winning because if the Miz just won the title for the sake of having a face VS heel match at the PPV then that is just plain stupid. But I will admit that it is because of it being unsure of exactly what will happen that has gotten me very interested in this match.
Winner: The Miz
Rating: 8.5

Kalisto VS Oney Lorcan
When you talk about strange things happening on a show, this has to be one of them. This was basically a squash match, but not a squash match we are used to seeing. We saw Oney Lorcan (an Nxt jobber too by the way) getting all of the offence for about two minutes before Kalisto managed to hit his finisher on him to end this match. A lot of people might think I might give this a low rating because of it being such a short match and because, let's be honest, Kalisto of all people doesn't need squash matches, but I'm actually not going to rate it low because despite it being a very short one, we got to see a very physical one from Oney Lorcan and I guess I like big sweaty men beating little people up.
Winner: Kalisto
Rating: 7

The return of a King

It's a backstage segment mother trucker! That's right, for the first time I am mentioning a backstage segment for both RAW and Smackdown, can you believe it? I felt this was a very special segment because we saw a return of an awesome king, probably the last great King of the Ring, that's right I'm talking about one King Booker! It was basically just a fun segment where he got to transition from being King Booker to Booker T, but it was so fun and awesome to watch - great job!
Rating: 8

Nikki Bella VS Carmella
I have lost track of if these two have faced off one-on-one yet because they seem to have been in a feud together forever now, but this match in itself was pretty decent. We got a chance to see Carmella do her stuff (and I might add that Carmella is tons better as a heel) and she even went as far as to mock Nikki by doing the John Cena "You can't see me" thing. So it was a decent match to watch, with a really, really, really strange ending. Basically Charlotte came out through the crowd with a ticket and sat ringside. After a few minutes we saw Nikki pull Charlotte over the barricade and next thing we knew the ref was ringing the bell. I am still unsure what the final decision was, but apparently Nikki was disqualified - it's times like these that I wonder if backstage people think about some of the decisions made. Anyways, we would very quickly see the rest of the RAW women's team come out through the crowd and start attacking Nikki. We then saw the Smackdown women come out and it ended with the blue brand out on top. With RAW being on top for RAW, and Smackdown being on top for Smackdown, it leaves the door wide open for which show will come out victorious on Sunday.
Winner: Unknown
Rating: 7

Smackdown Survivor Series Tag Teams VS the Rejects
I didn't feel like naming every single team in this match so basically just labeled it as this because this is pretty much what this match was. It was all the tag teams for Smackdown (except Heath Slater and Rhyno who were at ringside) verses everyone who lost the qualifying matches. It wasn't really anything special, but wasn't terrible either - sort of somewhere in between. I still think it is pretty obvious as to who will win the tag team and women's Survivor Series matches, but it's quite ok because it will be very interesting to see how they play the matches out.
Winner: Smackdown Survivor Series Tag Teams
Rating: 7

The Cutting Edge feat. Smackdown male team

That's right, this special edition of the Cutting Edge featured none other than the five members of the male Smackdown Survivor Series team and this was actually really great. This allowed for these five members to be featured on the show without having to wrestle a pointless match and risk possibly getting injured in the process. Unfortunately, we didn't actually get to see a lot of talking from Edge himself, which was a shame because he is a special attraction and who knows when we will see him again and so should have been given a bit more mic time. However, it didn't affect the show too much at all as we got to see some good and enjoyable promos. My favourite part of the whole Cutting Edge, however, had to be when the Undertaker came out (and I am sure a whole lot of others consider this their favourite too). The Undertaker looks in great shape by the way. He came out and said that Wrestlemania will no longer define who he is and that he is back digging holes and taking souls. Like holy crap, does this mean we are going to see Undertaker more often on the blue brand? Or perhaps just that we will see him be in more PPV matches? Regardless, you have to be excited to see what WWE has in store for the Deadman going forward.
Rating: 8.5

Overall Segment Rating: 8
Overall match Rating: 7.5
Overall Show Rating: 7.75

And there you have it, that was the 900th Episode of Smackdown! Now looking through the review again, there is no doubting that the show could have been a bit better than it actually was, but comparing it to last week's show, they did a ton better this week! So huge props up to them for doing that. Survivor Series is now just around the corner and I highly look forward to seeing how they plan to wow us on this special 4 hour edition of the PPV.

SMACKDOWN 08/11/2016 - Down on the Smack

Just a week away from Smackdown celebrating their 900th episode, you would have expected for the show to have hyped it up really well and to give you a reason to tune in next week. Unfortunately, from my point of view, it did not feel like this was achieved. Sure there were a couple of announcements such as Undertaker returning and Edge doing the Cutting Edge, but there was zero enthusiasm during these announcements and will not bring in a casual fan. With that being said, let's see just how hard this show Smacked Down on the card.

RAW Rebound
I find this title very fitting for this opening segment because it really felt like a rehash of what they did on RAW. So let's go through it: It started with AJ Styles in the ring talking about a whole lot of stuff involving Dean Ambrose and James Ellsworth and this really struck my attention and I honestly thought we were about to see a good and interesting segment. Unfortunately before I knew it, the rest of Team Smackdown (male superstars) were in the ring. Thankfully we didn't actually get a lot of talking from the rest of the superstars and mainly heard from Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles. We would shortly see Baron Corbin leave the ring, which I felt strange because if he wasn't going to do or say anything then why did he even come out? Answer: WWE Logic. Shane McMahon would then come out and announce that Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Randy Orton would go against Dean Ambrose, James Ellsworth and Baron Corbin in a six man tag team match. Backstage we would see Corbin ask to be removed from the six man match which he was and we would then find out his replacement was Kane. So overall an ok segment, but in no way a strong one which is disappointing because I had high hopes of it when it started.
Rating: 7

Breezango VS the Vaudevillians (Qualifying match to be on Team Smackdown)
What can I say, I'm disappointed. Not in the superstars in this match, but in how these guys have been used. I was kind of hoping that Breezango wouldn't be a thing anymore since we haven't seen them in ages, but alas this was not to be. All four of these guys are actually really talented and I can't believe how much they are being under-utilised - actually screw under-utilised, they're being used absolutely shit! I have been mega pissed off with the way they have been used and had hoped that they would be used differently since the brand split - I can't believe they haven't been used better since the brand split especially considering the limited number of teams they actually have. You knew going into this match that regardless of which team won the match, neither would look good and will likely ultimately become the loser in the Survivor Series match by not only getting eliminated first, but probably eliminated very quickly.
Winner: Breezango
Rating: 3

Naomi VS Natalya
Despite me never being a big fan of Natalya's matches, even I know how shit she has been treated as of late, much like the above two teams. I honestly got really behind her after she did her heel turn and she still put on a good performance at Backlash, but ever since then she has just been lost in the shuffle again, which is a shame considering she is a veteran and still deserves a good run with a title. This match was ok, about average I would say, and I think it was especially ruined by the whole fighting thing between Nikki Bella and Carmella at ringside. I feel like WWE are just starting to show things just for the sake of showing them each week, but honestly there is no need to show things if people don't enjoy it and if it doesn't even mean anything.
Winner: Naomi
Rating: 6.5

Kalisto turns heel
This was originally meant to be a match between Baron Corbin and Kalisto, but we would see Corbin attack Kalisto before the match would even begin. Corbin was done with Kalisto and was busy leaving the ring when he misstepped on the apron and fell knee first and so getting hurt. Kalisto would see this and would then dropkick Corbin's knee into the steel steps. Corbin would roll into the ring as it looked like Kalisto was looking to leave. However he changed his mind and decided to dive onto Corbin's injured knee. So my thing is, doesn't this technically make Kalisto a heel? Because Kalisto saw Corbin was injured and basically is trying to end Corbin's career. Last I checked, faces are supposed to take the high road, but what do I know? This would lead to a backstage segment where Shane would report that to Daniel Bryan saying Corbin is injured and won't make it to Survivor Series. He then handed Bryan a roster list saying anyone on the list Bryan can choose to replace Corbin on the Survivor Series team.
Rating: 7

Becky Lynch (C) VS Alexa Bliss (Smackdown Women's Championship)
So before we get into the match, I need to get something off my chest. This will not affect the match rating, but I found myself highly pissed off when the announcers would say throughout the night that this match was going to be the main event, only for it to go on second last. Basically, WWE are trying to drill into our heads that a main event doesn't mean the last match - which we all know is absolute bull. By definition, the main event is what is considered the most important match on the card - by that we could call anything the main event. But truthfully, we know that since WWE make the decisions that they will order the matches in order of importance. By putting the six man tag match on last, they obviously considered this match of most importance, making the women's match feel less special. However, on a much lighter note, this women's match was actually really good. I certainly enjoyed watching it and believe it could have done a lot better. What made this match even better had to be the ending. Despite being a controversial one, this ending allows for the feud between Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss continue and could allow us to possibly see Bliss win the title in the very near future - and I wouldn't mind seeing that.
Winner: Becky Lynch
Rating: 8.5

Apollo Crews VS Curt Hawkins
I cared so little for this match that I was actually already getting ready to review on the six man tag match because I completely forgot that this match even occurred. An OMG moment had to be that Hawkins actually lasted longer than 10 seconds in this match. Crews is still the same old character I've been rambling on about for ages. As I have said countless times before, there is no doubting Crews has the in-ring talent, but he has zero charisma and zero character and even though he has that in-ring talent, his matches just feel like the same old shit. There is no doubting that Crews got called up way too fast and needed more time in NXT to build his character.
Winner: Curt Hawkins
Rating: 2

Dean Ambrose, James Ellsworth & Kane VS The Wyatts
I will just brush over this match because it wasn't anything too interesting. It was average at best and the only real good thing that came out of it was that Ellsworth came in the ring for a minute before being pinned by Bray Wyatt. Now the aftermath of this match almost saw the Wyatts lay a beat down on Dean Ambrose, but before anything could happen Shane McMahon came running down to the ring to stop anything from happening. We then saw Daniel Bryan come down to the ring with his roster list and mention that the final member he wants on Team Smackdown at Survivor Series is Shane McMahon. Now, I don't think this is such a bad thing. Even though I would rather have had Corbin stay on the team because I was expecting big things from him during the match, I think we could possibly see something special with Shane being involved in the match. I still want Braun Strowman to walk out sole survivor, or if Braun is going to be eliminated it needs to be by count-out or disqualification so as to make him still look strong by the end of it.
Winner: The Wyatts
Rating: 7

Overall Segment Rating: 7
Overall Match Rating: 5.5
Overall Show Rating: 6.25

As I type this, I honestly wonder what went wrong in WWE this week for the shows to have been this bad. I actually had pretty high expectations going into the respective shows because of it being in Scotland. There is no denying that the respective crowds were great as they were constantly loud, but that did not help the shows feel great in regards with matches and segments. I find myself highly disappointed that they were not better, but have huge expectations going into next week. With it being the go-home shows for both shows, it should be extra special for Smackdown considering it is their 900th episode and so they will hopefully pull of something great. Only time will tell and I hope to report back next week with better feelings.

SMACKDOWN 04/10/2016 - No Mercy for Going Home Bad

Going into this show I was expecting something great, especially considering it was the go-home show leading into No Mercy this Sunday. Unfortunately, I was left disappointed with there only being two really great moments. I am going to be blatantly honest when I say this was a pretty crap show on a whole and I am going to be showing No Mercy in this review.

Bray Wyatt VS Kane
I think I speak for everyone when I say you never want to start any kind of show, whether normal or PPV, on a bad note and unfortunately that was the case right here. Not only was this match already seen at the Backlash PPV, but it was short, crap and Bray Wyatt lost by count out. I have mentioned it before, but I am pretty sure that the percentage of people actually invested in the rivalry between Bray and Randy Orton are very, very low. This match did not help matters at all and in fact did not need to even happen. WWE should rather have made Bray do a promo in the ring before Randy appeared on the titentron hoaxing Bray backstage.
Winner: Kane (via count out)
Rating: 2.5

Bray-Orton Backstage
I might as well just get this out of the way now as, very much like last week, we saw a whole lot of backstage segments, this time with Bray trying to find Randy. They were all really bad as Bray got locked in a crate by Randy. The only significant part of the backstage segments was the final one when Bray spoke out and asked Sister Abigail to take him away. That really is the only significant part of the whole thing and people are likely more interested in knowing who Abigail is than the feud between Bray and Orton.
Rating: 3.5

Nikki Bella VS Alexa Bliss
WWE what in the hell were you thinking when you decided to do this? So I don't have any problem at all with these two going head-to-head. What I do have a problem with is how the match went. Firstly, it was under 5 minutes and ended because of Carmella interfering in the match. We then saw Nikki getting beaten down and Becky Lynch coming down to save her. This would then transition into a tag team match.
Winner: Nikki Bella (via disqualification)
Rating: 3

Nikki Bella & Becky Lynch VS Alexa Bliss & Carmella
As I mentioned before, the previous match turned into a tag team match between the four women and it ended up being less than 5 minutes too. I hate to be so pissed off with this as I had been really enjoying seeing the Smackdown women before this. There was absolutely no need for this to happen. Like the best way to have played this if you wanted all four women to be featured before the PPV would have been to allow Nikki and Alexa to go a full 10 minutes or so before Carmella would get involved and then Becky could come out to make the save. This way all women still look strong heading the PPV. Instead what we get are two crappy women's matches and Becky Lynch looks weak heading into the PPV because she got pinned in the tag team match.
Winner: Alexa Bliss & Carmella
Rating: 3

The Hype Bros VS The Vaudevillians
So this match wasn't necessarily a bad one, but I think because of the way these teams have been featured over the last few weeks, it was just quite difficult to get behind them. Now this was actually a decent match and it looks like we could be seeing a feud between the Hype Bros and the Ascension which I am very hopeful will be able to show the Ascension as a team to be reckoned with like they were in NXT.
Winner: The Hype Bros
Rating: 7.5

Miz TV feat. a Dolphumentary
Very much like with Chris Jericho on RAW, every time I see Dolph Ziggler and the Miz together in a segment or match on Smackdown, I get excited because I know I am about to experience something great - this week was no exception! The Miz was very quick to call Dolph out and then showed a "trailer" for a WWE24 special featuring the failures of Dolph Ziggler's career. We then saw another emotional promo by Dolph which was great. This was followed by Miz calling out some old friends of Dolph's in the Spirit Squad (Kenny and Mitch). They would then spell out Dolph's name before Dolph would lose it with Miz and try and hit him. Unfortunately the Spirit Squad members stopped this from happening by attacking Dolph from behind. Dolph fought back and would ultimately look like he's heading into No Mercy with the momentum.
Rating: 9

Jason Jordan w/Chad Gable VS Jey USO w/Jimmy USO
I'm not going to talk too much about this match because it feels like they're just trying to beat a dead horse with a stick with this because it doesn't feel like they're really emphasising on the feud the USOs are meant to have with Heath Slater and Rhyno. This was an ok match that actually saw Jason Jordan get the victory. In what can be considered a repeat from a few weeks back, we would see the USOs attack American Alpha out of frustration after the match and would target Jordan's leg. They were about to do a splash onto Jordan's leg before Heath Slater's music hit and him and Rhyno ran out for the save. Unfortunately, if the USOs are going to get the win at No Mercy it doesn't feel like it will really mean anything because the story between the two teams have been pretty much non-existent.
Winner: Jason Jordan
Rating: 7

Jack Swagger VS Baron Corbin

If you think about it, this was actually the main event match of the night, which I think is great because it features my guy Baron Corbin. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very stellar match. I really hate to say that especially because I am such a fan of Corbin, Thankfully we haven't seen Corbin in a meaningless role yet which means WWE could still have some big plans for him looking forward. This was a very weird end to the match as we saw Corbin hit his wrist on the ground while trying to reach the ropes which the ref somehow saw as a tap-out - how you can make that mistake I have no idea. It's obviously just a work though, as I see the match has been added to the No Mercy card.
Winner: Jack Swagger
Rating: 7.5

Face to Face to Face

I admit that I was originally not so keen on this segment and honestly thought it would be a total flop, but thankfully they proved me wrong. We saw no talking from John Cena as we first saw AJ Styles talk over Cena saying what he was gonna say and all that. Cena was then about to say something else when Dean Ambrose cut him off saying what else Cena was going to say and even said that he (Dean) was real life while Cena just played a character on TV. Cena was finally able to say something as he said "talk is cheap" and took down Dean Ambrose. We saw him also take down AJ Styles and then deliver an AA to Ambrose. Cena would hold the world title above his head before Styles would deliver a phenomenal forearm to him. Styles then got out the ring with his title and also held it up, but not before Ambrose took him down and delivered his own finisher and then proceeded to hold the title above his own head. Now this was a really good segment because it allowed for all superstars to look strong heading into No Mercy and makes you unsure exactly who will walk out champion.
Rating: 8.5

Overall Show Rating: 6

As you can see, I really, really, really did not enjoy this week's show, although apparently some people actually did. I am very disappointed and hope that Smackdown will be able to pull of a spectacular show.

SMACKDOWN 27/09/2016 - Minimal Effort

I think it's safe to say that RAW had a pretty bad show this week and with that, you would think that Smackdown would at least put on a half-decent show and be able to beat RAW quite easily, unfortunately from my side I just wasn't feeling it this week. I felt like everything with the exception of one segment (we will get there) was given minimal effort. The matches weren't all that strong and overall I just have quite a negative feeling to it. Considering how much I'm giving away in just the intro, I think you can see how bad it was in my eyes. So let's just Smack the bottom Down and see why this show was the way it was.

Hide-and-seek segments

This title is basically how I saw the segments between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton. It started with me feeling ok with the beginning promo, and I thought there was something there with the backstage stuff, but otherwise the segments weren't really all that great. The worst part is that we should actually be invested in this rivalry because these two really are great, unfortunately they have been subjected to poor story writing and quite honestly each segment was just a rehash of a segment that has happened before. The whole going to find Bray Wyatt backstage has been done before by a few superstars, the first coming to mind being Roman Reigns last year. The part where Randy comes behind Bray in a sheep mask and attacks him has also been done before by John Cena. Now I'm not saying that the match between these two will be bad, quite the contrary actually, but quite frankly they have been mistreated in the storytelling aspect resulting in the build-up feeling weak and getting very few people invested.
Rating: 7

American Alpha & Heath Slater & Rhyno VS the USOs & the Ascension
First off, how whack was the entrance order for this match? So the Ascension were already in the ring along with American Alpha and Slater and Rhyno, but Slater and Rhyno's music had been playing meaning they had just come out. Then you see the USOs do their entrance. So I understand you want to show the USOs with their new music (we will get to that) but come on! You should have had the Ascension's music playing as they came back from commercial. Anyway, speaking of the USOs, since their heel turn, each week we have seen something new from the USOs. First it was the way they performed in the ring along with them no longer wearing face paint and colourful clothing. Then there was the change in their titantron movie and now there is a change in their theme song - it's really great and I have truly enjoyed seeing their heel run so far. Now unfortunately Smackdown made the same mistake that RAW did the other day by putting a bunch of guys in a multi-team tag team match just for the sake of featuring them and having a match. This match was a real bust and was difficult to get behind. Probably the most significant part of this match had to be the USOs winning the match, thus keeping their momentum going forward.
Winner: the USOs
Rating: 7

Nikki Bella & Naomi VS Carmella & Natalya
From one tag team match to another, this one was at least slightly better, but only slightly. It felt like WWE were just trying to make up for the way this match turned out last week (lasting less than 30 seconds) and I personally feel like they should rather have not had these women on the show last week. I understand how people would react if they weren't on the show, but you have to understand that Smackdown literally only has 7 women and by having all of them featured each week is really overexposing them. I also think it helps a lot if there is a clear story being developed like the one between Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss. There is supposed to be a story between Carmella and Nikki, and it is sort of there, but by adding Naomi and Natalya to the mix they're basically just adding them there for the sake of them being there. I want to touch on Carmella in this match quick though. I don't know what it was, but something didn't feel right about the way she was executing her moves and the way she was performing. She is very talented in the ring and so it was strange to watch - I hope we see better performance in the future.
Winner: Carmella & Natalya
Rating: 7.5

The Miz's homecoming

This by far was the best part of the night as the Miz continues on his road of excellence! Miz came out to celebrate his homecoming, but completely denounced the crowed and basically called all of them idiots except his parents who were front row. The Miz delivered a great and passionate promo before Dolph Ziggler came out (keep in mind it's his hometown too) and delivered an even more passionate promo. Miz said that there are no more chances for Ziggler at his Intercontinental Title because Ziggler had nothing to offer him and said Ziggler would have to offer his career if he wanted another shot. Ziggler then kept the passion up by saying how much wrestling means to him and how he has been doing it forever and he is nothing without it, and so he accepted to put up his career for the title. The Miz then clarified that it meant that there is no going to another show like RAW and it truly meant the end of Ziggler's career, Ziggler would not be able to compete again. The match was then set for Smackdown's next PPV, No Mercy. Now I have read online that Ziggler actually has a multi-year contract with WWE since last year, so there are high doubts that this will be the end, but could we actually still see Ziggler lose? Because WWE could look to use him in a backstage scene, or create a story revolving around his "retirement", basically I'm saying it's not necessarily obvious that Ziggler will win the title at the PPV, but it seems there is a very high chance of it. Regardless, based on their last two matches, this match is bound to be another spectacular one.
Rating: 9.5

Becky Lynch attacked

The Smackdown announced that the next match would involve Becky Lynch, but did not say who her opponent would be, but considering the other women were already involved earlier in the night, it seems pretty obvious it had to have been meant to be against Alexa Bliss. Regardless, a match did not happen as we would see Alexa attack Becky from behind during her entrance. Now it seems like attacks before matches have become the norm on Smackdown, and for some it might be a bit much, but I personally feel it is a great way to tell a story. I have really been enjoying the story told between these two women and hopefully we will see a great match out of them at No Mercy.
Rating: 8

AJ Styles (C) VS Dean Ambrose (WWE World Heavyweight Championship)

Announcing a match like this a week prior really allows for WWE to get more viewers for a show and it likely did (I'm actually unsure if it did), but I felt like this match wasn't worth the promotion. Very much like the match Dean had with John Cena a week or two ago, this match was ok at best and I really hate to say that because AJ Styles is really really good in the ring. Maybe it just had to do with the mood I was in while watching it, but I didn't feel anything for the match and there was nothing that made me jump out of my seat saying "Oh my Goodness!". While being given 20 minutes, it just felt like another match to me. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they should go all out and beat the absolute crap out of each other and do all these silly spots, but even from just a wrestling point of view it was very average for me. That's just me though and I know a whole lot of others will likely have  a completely different view on this.
Winner: AJ Styles
Rating: 7.5

Overall Show Rating: 7.5

So it turns out that Smackdown only just beat RAW in my ratings this week, but there's no denying that this is just because of Smackdown's saving segment in Miz and Ziggler - these two have been going above and beyond the last few weeks and quite honestly deserve the main event slot of No Mercy. While I understand it might devalue the world title, I actually believe that the "minor" titles should be given opportunities at the main event too, especially considering the stipulation we now have in Ziggler and Miz's match. I do hope that Smackdown will produce better content over the next few weeks,  but especially leading into No Mercy.

SMACKDOWN 20/09/2016 - Building Up the Smack Down

This is the second episode of Smackdown to air since Backlash and it seems as if they are more focused on looking forward to No Mercy than looking back constantly at Backlash - which is a huge up in my book. As of this writing I have really big mixed feelings towards this show and you will see why when I get there. I know a lot of people are saying that Smackdown are much better than RAW in regards with their storytelling and consistencies, and this is true from that aspect, but as far as the show then and there is concerned, I honestly feel like RAW has been beating Smackdown.

Women's contract signing

This marks another Smackdown where the women are opening the show and not only did they open it, but it was a contract signing! They honestly should be pushing contract signings more often between the women as it makes their matchup feel a lot more legit. I really enjoyed this segment and it made the story between Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss feel a lot more real. When Alexa hit Becky in the face and then upturned the table onto her that was awesome too. When Becky went after her afterwards it was also really really great! Every bit of it was really well done and I have nothing bad to say about it.
Rating: 9

The USOs VS American Alpha
This might have been just a rehash of their match two weeks prior, but it was certainly a lot longer and a lot better. The USOs have captured their role as heels superbly and  have really been running with it. I didn't realise that this was a number one contendership match for the tag titles until it was mentioned by commentary though. On a whole it was a decent match and you would have to think that with the USOs getting the victory that they are bound to capture the tag titles a second time around - if not then it's really pointless to have them go after the titles again. It would unfortunately mean that Slater and Rhyno would have to drop the titles, but I personally feel like the USOs need to keep their momentum going forward. Plus Slater is so over that he would still be cheered tremendously if Creative doesn't drop the ball on him.
Winner: The USOs
Rating: 7.5

Baron Corbin VS Apollo Crews
Let me talk about Crews for a moment: you've heard me say all I need to say about him before, about how he's great in the ring but has zero character. What WWE seem to tend to do is whenever he gets beat up like he was last week, they seem to make him look a lot more serious for like a week and then turn him back to his happy-go-lucky-no-personality self. I hope this time around it is not the case as I feel like him looking a lot more serious every week and not smiling during his entrance is great and gives him a lot more character then when he's smiling and waving at the fans. WWE, keep Crews serious! In fact, let's get a trend going to WWE: #KeepCrewsSerious. Now this match wasn't bad, it was really good to see my guy Baron Corbin get the victory and I wonder if Crews was kicked into the ring post harder than he was expecting because he cussed quite blatantly. It seems as if a rivalry is brewing between Jack Swagger and Corbin, in which case I am really hoping Corbin wins - he needs it way more than Swagger!
Winner: Baron Corbin
Rating: 7.5

The Miz (C) w/Maryse VS Dolph Ziggler (Intercontinental Championship)
Dolph Ziggler came into this match looking to "win the whole damn thing" but was unsuccessful. What he did manage to do though, was steal the whole damn show along with the Miz. When first hearing of this rematch, I'm sure I'm not alone in saying I thought it was going to be a disappointment after their tremendous match at Backlash because of it just being a normal Smackdown match...I am happy to say that I was absolutely wrong! Wow these guys did a spectacular job! Is it possible that they did an even better job on Smackdown than at Backlash? Both were so good that it is tough to say. Regardless of which guy was on the offence and which was on the defence, both did a fantastic job and I could not be happier! Considering how the next three matches went, I honestly wish that this match could have been in the main event and really, both RAW and Smackdown should consider putting their US and IC champions in the main event more often to show just how prestigious these titles actually are! While I am very happy with the Miz getting the victory, my biggest concern is that with him cheating to win again, that they have one more match at No Mercy and that this will be when WWE decide to put the title on Dolph Ziggler. It is my biggest concern because while they would likely put on another spectacular match and while Ziggler could make a great champ, I just feel like the Miz's reign should continue for a lot longer and that he should be facing more opponents. I would like to see the Miz get in a feud with Heath Slater! Regardless, if you aren't excited for the Miz as champion, then you should probably get your head examined.
Winner: the Miz

Rating: 9.5

Randy Orton VS Eric Rowan
I'm not gonna say much about this. It was a very short match, not very exciting and nothing changed from when we saw it a few weeks ago. The only interesting part about it was the new look given to Eric Rowan's mask. Speaking of Rowan, he has to break away from Bray Wyatt, for his own sake and Bray's. Bray isn't going to go anywhere while Creative are still pairing him with his "family". If Luke Harper comes back and teams with Rowan only, I will be fine with that, but Bray must really just go it his own now.
Winner: Randy Orton
Rating: 6

Nikki Bella & Naomi VS Natalya & Carmella
To put into perspective how short and crap this match was, Naomi's entrance was longer than anything that happened in this match. Basically Naomi got knocked down early, Natalya had Nikki in the sharpshooter, Carmella dragged Nikki out the ring for reasons unknown and threw her into the barricade and got disqualified. Why this segment even happened I have no idea. If it was so short because of the amount of time that Smackdown had then it really shouldn't have happened at all. Or at least a brawl should have happened before the match could start which would result in the match being called off, because I can assure you that people would much rather have seen no match than the crap we saw. It was completely worthless and should not have been done.
Winner: Nikki Bella & Naomi (via DQ)
Rating: 3.5

Dean Ambrose VS John Cena

And here we are at the main event! A match that was supposed to be really good turned out to be juts...meh. It was actually really crap! The false finishes from each other's finishers didn't feel special, like you just knew they were going to kick out and then a victory from Ambrose via rollup pin, it just wasn't anything great. To put this into perspective: the feeling you had when del Rio defeated Cena at Hell in a Cell for the US title felt pretty much like this. While it wasn't predictable as to who would win this match, it still didn't feel very exciting when Ambrose actually got the victory. In my opinion, the Miz VS Ziggler match should have been swapped around with this that way we would have ended on a much happier note.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
Rating: 6.5

Overall Show Rating: 7

Once again I have rated Smackdown lower than I did RAW. I have no problem with Smackdown, in fact I want Smackdown to be better than RAW, but I have just been feeling that RAW has been doing a better job than Smackdown and I have enjoyed watching the Red brand more than the Blue. With that being said, there's still a bit that Smackdown need to develop story-wise as they head into No Mercy in a few weeks time and I still look forward to seeing how they develop and if we will see any more matches like the Miz VS Ziggler.

SMACKDOWN 13/09/2016 - Aftermath and Setups

After Smackdown produced a spectacular PPV in Backlash there was no way you could not be excited going into this week's show. There was undoubtedly an aura of something special in the air. With brand new champions of Becky Lynch, Heath Slater and Rhyno, and AJ Styles, you knew something big was bound to occur - even with the Miz staying as champion! Just how good Smackdown was, however, you will have to keep on reading to find out. So let's put this review Down with a big Smack.

A new Champion

It was so good to see AJ Styles come out to open the show instead of an Authority figure. It actually made loads of sense too as this was a massive accomplishment. I really enjoyed how Styles was really shoving it in our face that he told us he would win it, like a true heel does. I thought he delivered a good promo which was unfortunately spoiled by John Cena. Cena would come out and say he wants to take back what is "his" (referring to the WWE world title despite not having held it since Brock Lesnar suplexed him to hell). Dean Ambrose would come out at this point and turn his attention straight away to Styles saying he is going to get payback on him and it won't be pretty. Cena would then turn Ambrose around and really get in his face saying that Ambrose has nothing to complain about and that Stone Cold was right in calling him out on the podcast. Ambrose would retaliate by saying he doesn't care what Cena says or thinks because Cena is just a lazy part timer. Shane McMahon would then come out and announce that at the next Smackdown PPV No Mercy, AJ Styles would be facing both Ambrose and Cena for the title in a triple threat match. Now to me this makes absolutely no sense. Ambrose sure deserves a match anyways because he has a rematch clause, but what makes Cena deserve a shot? Sure he is known as "the face of the company" but from a kayfabe point of view it makes no sense because last I checked Cena actually lost the last match he had. Not only did this match actually happen at a big show in Summerslam, but it was against the WWE World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles. So someone please tell me how Cena deserves to be in this match. Quite simply he doesn't. They could have given him a chance by having him win a match for the spot, but by just putting him straight in there is more than just a bit ridiculous.
Rating: 7.5

The Hype Bros VS The USOs
Despite this just being a rematch from Backlash, I didn't actually have a problem with it. I also didn't think it was really bad or anything like that. I enjoy seeing the USOs in action as heels and this match ultimately allowed for them to keep their momentum as a dominant heel team despite their loss at Backlash. I really look forward to seeing their feud with American Alpha when they return.
Winner: The USOs
Rating: 7.5

The Miz walks out

After retaining the Intercontinental Championship in great heel fashion at Backlash, you would expect another great promo to happen on this show, which it did. While I have always enjoyed Miz's promos and always said he is great on the mic, it hasn't been until the last few weeks that I have actually been excited to hear him speak. Miz basically said that he won by any means necessary before Dolph Ziggler would interrupt. Unfortunately you would have expected this feud to continue after what happened at the PPV. But still, Dolph also delivered a pretty good promo and said he wants one more shot at the gold, this time just him and Miz, no managers, valets, wives, etc. Miz would disagree and say Dolph doesn't deserve the shot. Daniel Bryan would come out and say that he did not like the way Miz went about retaining the title and said that Dolph would be getting a future title shot to which Miz said no and that he wanted his contract renewed and get a better deal and said he would do what he wanted until that happened. At this point he left the arena through the crowd. After a spectacular match at Backlash, you have to imagine if these two were to square up again at No Mercy it would surely be another great classic.
Rating: 8

Baron Corbin attacks

So there were two things that occurred in this segment and I shall rate them separately because I have two completely different feelings about them. So first off, Baron Corbin attacked Apollo Crews from behind just before their match and did a real number on him. I know a lot of people will say that him attacking people backstage and from behind has run its course by now, but I feel completely differently about it. Corbin is still one of my favourite guys on the roster and while he hasn't had any big feuds or a lot of chances to shine, I still have high hopes that he will be going somewhere and so I really enjoyed seeing him attack Crews, especially since I'm really not a fan of Crews. Here's to hopefully something big happen with Corbin soon.
Rating: 8

Jack Swagger promo
This is the second part of the above segment. After Corbin's attack, Jack Swagger's music would play and he get in the ring. Swagger and Corbin would stare at each other for a few seconds before Corbin decided to just leave the ring. Swagger would then deliver a promo and oh boy oh boy, how spectacularly bad it was! I can't remember what the first few words were that came out his mouth, but I honestly thought that was going to be a part of a new gimmick of his. I think there was only one part of his promo that stood out for me and that was when he said throw whatever you know about him out the window because we haven't seen anything yet. I don't know, but I find it difficult to get behind Swagger just from that promo - I do hope he proves me wrong though.
Rating: 3

Naomi VS Natalya VS Alexa Bliss VS Carmella VS Nikki Bella
(Fatal five way no.1 contender match for the Smackdown Women's title)
Even though this was just a rehash from Backlash's match, it actually made a lot of sense and I actually enjoyed it. I am absolutely loving the Smackdown women right now and they are yet to absolutely fail me. This match was really good and we saw the right woman walk out as the number one contender. I look forward to this feud.
Winner: Alexa Bliss
Rating: 8

Heath Slater's contract signing
The day we have been waiting for for weeks now has finally happened! We finally saw Heath Slater sign his Smackdown contract. Not only is he a part of the roster now, but he is also one half of the Smackdown tag team champions. He delivered a good promo and even got a chant of "You deserve it" after signing the contract. He would say that he and Rhyno would fight anyone, any place, any time, to which the Ascension would answer the challenge.
Rating: 8

Heath Slater & Rhyno (C) VS the Ascension (Smackdown Tag Team Championships)
This would mark Slater and Rhyno's first title defence after winning the titles at Backlash. It was actually pretty decent, I honestly almost thought we could see them lose now that Slater has his contract, but thankfully it was not to be. They are still tag team champions, but you have to wonder for how long, and who will challenge them next?
Winner: Heath Slater & Rhyno
Rating: 7.5

Randy & Bray Promo
I'm not going to say very much about this, but I really wasn't a fan of it. I thought there was very little story put into it and the fact that Eric Rowan seems to be helping Bray Wyatt again is just stupid. We saw Bray leave Eric a few weeks back, what is the point of putting them back together? Hopefully this is just a one night thing and they actually go somewhere else with Eric. Eric has so much potential on his own - just let him run with it!
Rating: 5.5

AJ Styles & The Miz VS John Cena & Dean Ambrose

Earlier in the night Shane McMahon said Styles would have to find him a partner to team against Cena and Ambrose. Styles couldn't find one, but luckily the Miz decided to step in...or most unluckily it seems. This match as a whole wasn't all that great. There were some parts that were ok, but really not that great. The crappiest part of this match has to be the ending where the Miz got pinned. All the momentum that the Miz had built up to that point was thrown out the window. I understand that they were wanting that ending after the match where Ambrose hit his finisher on Cena and might possibly be turning heel in the weeks to come, but honestly that could have easily been developed during the match itself where Cena maybe accidentally bumps into or hits Ambrose which results in Ambrose hitting his finisher on Cena DURING the match and then the Miz getting the pinfall victory. This allows for tensions to rise over the coming weeks with still potential of turning Ambrose heel if that's what they want, plus the Miz would still have had tons of momentum. A win for the Miz would have made his argument for a new contract even stronger, but instead he is now left in a pile of shit the size of a tall building. I was very unhappy with this ending for Smackdown.
Winner: John Cena & Dean Ambrose
Rating: 7

Overall show rating: 7

As can be seen, Smackdown didn't do as well as RAW this week. Keep in mind that this is purely from my point of view and my opinions will more likely than not differ from everyone else. The things some people hate I might actually love and vice versa. But even comparing from last week's show, this week was definitely a weaker one. This week certainly did build up some good feuds, but overall I just wasn't quite feeling it. I do hope to be giving a higher rating for Smackdown in the weeks to come, but we will have to find out and see what happens.

SMACKDOWN 06/09/2016 - Final Destination

Can you believe that this Sunday we are going into our first brand-exclusive PPV since the draft - and I think the very first one since 2008 or 2009 (whenever they first started doing inter-brand PPVs). Regardless of how you feel about the buildup to the PPV, there is no denying that you should be excited going into it because you don't know what to expect. But speaking of the buildup, just how well did Smackdown do in their go-home show going into Backlash? Did they do a really spectacular, backflipping-off-a-trapeze-while-holding-a-sword-in-your-mouth type of show? Or did they just flop to the floor? This is why I break down everything that happens on the show - so you can see just how good (or bad) they actually did.

Women Opening
Anyone who is a constant reader of my reviews (and I thank you if you are) will know that when I'm passionate about a certain fact, I tend to mention it over and over again. I am going to do that right here with this segment. The Smackdown women are being represented way better than the RAW women. On RAW, you can tell WWE are only looking at Sasha Banks, Bayley and Charlotte as their top stars. On Smackdown, WWE are emphasising that every single one of their women (although there are only six) are important and can be viewed as a top star. Every single week so far we have seen all the women being featured on the show, whether on commentary or in a match. They did this once again this week by having all six women in the ring at the same time. I thought this was done really well. It started as a very comedic segment (which is absolutely fine because it was done really well) and then turned a little more serious at Natalya, Carmella and Alexa Bliss turned their attention to Becky Lynch and was looking to get the jump on her. Backup would come quick though as we would see Naomi and Nikki Bella join her side to help her get rid of the heel women. I am very happy with this and am really excited for their six-pack challenge (which will be elimination style) at Backlash.
Rating: 8

The Miz w/Maryse VS Apollo Crews

Despite me giving Apollo Crews a lot of hassle last week or the week before about having no character, there truly is no denying he has great in-ring talent. He proved just that this week as he and the Miz put on a really great match. Now if we can add some character to Crews as well, that would be great. I was really happy that the Miz still got the win despite the distraction as he deserves to have that huge momentum going into Backlash. The post-match part where Dolph Ziggler laid the Miz's Intercontinental Championship in the ring daring Miz to come in and get it only for Miz to get Maryse to get it for him, was really really great! It builds the Miz up as a true heel and I seriously hope we see him retain at Backlash because the Miz's run at the moment is absolutely spectacular and I want to see way more of him.
Winner: the Miz
Rating: 8.5

Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton segments
While these were both shown at different times, I thought it would just be better to combine the two into one - makes more sense too. Let's start with Bray Wyatt's vignette: I still feel like he is one of the greatest talkers on the current roster and I always enjoy his vignettes. I would really enjoy seeing more vignettes where he is just doing voiceover work with images playing on the screen, much rather than him just talking in a dark, smokey room. The point is, I wasn't all that into his promo this week. It was still really good, no doubt about that, but I just wasn't all there. I'm also just really worried about what the outcome will be at Backlash. Now onto Randy Orton: his promo - the story he told about the snake - was just brilliant! I thought the way he told it was really awesome, the way he told it very slow, drew the story out a bit more, was really great. Overall, I think the build-up to their match is pretty good, albeit very random.
Rating: 8

Nikki Bella, Becky Lynch & Naomi VS Alexa Bliss, Carmella & Natalya
Well done! This match proved exactly what women wrestlers can do if given enough time. They were given ten full minutes to do their stuff and they did it really well. The ending was also done really really well where Carmella would do her submission finisher to Nikki Bella which would affect the neck considering she had neck surgery. I am really excited for this match on Sunday and look forward to seeing exactly who wins that title.
Winner: Alexa Bliss, Carmella & Natalya
Rating: 8.5

The USO VS American Alpha (Semi-finals tag team tournament)
This match was a shocker to watch. First off, as soon as the bell rang the USOs attacked American Alpha, but the tag team would fight back really quick and ended up defeating the USOs in 30 seconds - 30 SECONDS! After the match we would see the USOs go to shake American Alpha's hands and we thought that the attack beforehand was going to mean nothing...but apparently not! The USOs would lay the Smackdown on American Alpha's candy asses, thus officially confirming the USOs to be turned heel. Now this is great! This is what we have been wanting to see from the USOs for a very long time! It's something different from them and I personally believe they can do a fantastic job as a heel team. They already proved how much better they can be as heels after the match when backstage they would say they were tired of being disrespected by the WWE Universe despite working so hard to earn respect. They were mad that they were constantly being booed and suddenly a new team like American Alpha comes on the scene and gets so much love. Pretty much, the USOs owned that short promo segment and I really look forward to seeing what they bring moving forward. Now while they were attacking American Alpha after the match, they specifically targeted Chad Gable's leg and did a splash onto the leg too resulting in Gable becoming "injured" and so American Alpha are not going to be able to compete in the finals. During "Talking Smack" it was announced that the two runner-up teams in the semi-finals would compete against each other at Backlash, and the winner of that match would go on to face Heath Slater and Rhyno in the finals on the same night.
Winner: American Alpha
Rating: 8.5

Hype Bros VS Heath Slater & Rhyno

While this wasn't exactly the best match on the card, it certainly was one of the better feeling ones. A lot of people are currently behind Heath Slater and are really loving his current gimmick. I think a lot of people are really hoping to see him win on Sunday, but I think they would also partially like to see him lose to see what else he brings out for his free agent gimmick. It was great to have "Heath Slater's Kids" at ringside for this match as it enhances his character.
Winner: Heath Slater & Rhyno
Rating: 7.5

Champion VS Challenger segment
I am very 50/50 about this segment. There were parts of it that was funny and some parts that were done quite well, but overall I don't think it was really all that great. The worst part had to be that it ended the show of all things. And not only did it end the show, but the segment itself ended with AJ Styles kicking Dean Ambrose in the balls. I mean, I get it because it's payback for the week before, but it was just a very weird way to end off the go-home show, especially when you had such a great card beforehand. I would have loved to see the women close the show. Now I thought that AJ Styles actually played his part really well in this segment. He is playing his character to a t. So I don't have a problem with the way he played his part. It was just the overall feel of it that I didn't enjoy so much.
Rating: 7

As is very clear from this review, the overall show was actually really good despite the ending. My overall show rating ended up being 8. I don't know about you, but I am looking really forward to seeing Backlash on Sunday and then how Smackdown develops its stories moving forward. It's bound to be epic.