SMACKDOWN 26/07/2016 - Really a New Era?

Much like the sun in summer, this show had the huge potential to be a scorcher! With RAW having a fantastic start, you would have to think that Smackdown would do their absolute best to outshine RAW. But did this happen? I have to start this review off with a negative as, in regards with the look of the show, it looked exactly like it did before. Quite literally the only things that changed were the logo and the ring ropes. Otherwise, the stage looked the same, the announce tables were in the same place, the refs were wearing the same colour shirts as the RAW refs do - it felt like nothing had really changed in the look of the show...but did things change with the happenings of the show? Let's take a look shall we?

WWE Title announcement
This segment started with Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon backstage talking to the camera saying how it wouldn't be about them (management) which would then progress to them walking onto the ramp and saying it's about all the superstars and the WWE Universe. Fine that was ok. We then saw them in the middle of the ring with the entire Smackdown roster surrounding them - the men and the women. Now unlike RAW, there was no real point for the women to have been there at that moment, especially with what happens later. On RAW there was at least an announcement made about the women's match that would happen later that night. In this segment it was just about the male competitors because Daniel and Shane would announce that six competitors would compete in a six pack challenge later that night to determine the number one contender for Dean Ambrose's WWE Championship at Summerslam. Five names were mentioned:
Bray Wyatt - After a victory against New Day at Battleground this makes sense and shows how he's going on his own now
Dolph Ziggler - a strange pick in my opinion especially because he's been lost in the shuffle for a long while and has been losing majority of his matches
Baron Corbin - he's my guy and a well-deserved pick in my opinion
AJ Styles - a tremendous athlete in the ring and now separated from the Club, this is a good start to going on his own
John Cena - Understandable to have the face in that scene, but nobody wanted it because nobody wants to see him near the world title scene
Daniel then announced that the rest of the superstars would compete in a battle royal to determine who gets the sixth spot. So overall this was a decent start to the show, it was a cool announcement to make and made it slightly different to RAW, but like I said it made no sense to have the women out there for this segment.
Rating: 7

Battle Royal Match
I'm really not going to talk much on this match because I really did not enjoy it. I've felt like the Battle Royals WWE have been doing lately have been extremely disappointing. It's really been boring to watch and nothing special tends to happen in it. Apollo Crews came out with the victory for this match, which I don't fully agree with. If I'm honest, I'm still not a fan of Crews. As I've said before, he's great in the ring and all, but he needs some serious character development and shouldn't be anywhere near the world title scene.
Winner: Apollo Crews
Rating: 5

Becky Lynch VS Natalya
I know a lot of people would have a problem with this rematch, but much like at Battleground I felt myself actually anticipating something good happening. Probably one of the best things to happen to Natalya was her heel turn as there has been a completely new feel to her as well as her matches. For the time they had on here, it was actually a decent match and I quite enjoyed watching it. At the end they showed all the women on the roster come out: Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Eva Marie and Naomi. This means that there is a total of six women currently on Smackdown, which is very small, but you have to imagine that with all of them coming out, there must be a plan to create a women's title for the blue brand - which I'm all for. Keep in mind that Emma is still injured and Bayley is yet to be officially on the main roster, so there is a chance that one or both of these two could be coming to Smackdown. But I'm actually really happy with the women we do have on this show because it's all women that have been overlooked or are new, so we will get a chance to see them prove themselves.
Winner: Becky Lynch
Rating: 7.5

Miz TV feat. Randy Orton
Do I really need to talk about this? This was boring as hell and nothing significant happened! And what happened to promoting this huge match with Brock Lesnar? Like they really just mentioned it a bit and that was it, next thing we knew there was a match made for Miz VS Orton.
Rating: 3

Randy Orton VS the Miz
These two really aren't doing well this night are they? Two really great athletes in my opinion and they just dropped the ball. Much like Miz TV beforehand this was a huge disappointment. Probably the most significant part of it was when Orton got thrown out the ring and I legit thought he had re-injured his shoulder. That was about it. It didn't last very long after that as Miz worked the arm a bit before throwing Orton back in the ring which would then lead to an RKO "outta nowhere". Hugely disappointed guys.
Winner: Randy Orton
Rating: 4

Heath Slater gets heated in the ring

Heath Slater is currently playing out a "free agent" storyline as he was not picked by either brand during the WWE drafts. It is said that he will be playing this story out for the next few weeks as WWE brings in WWE veterans again. I would like to say that he did a tremendous job and truly is a fan favourite. He actually managed to get the crowd to chant "Sign Heath Slater" and it was loud! While he is playing this really well, I do hope that he actually goes somewhere when he does officially get put to a particular show. This segment was used to bring back Rhyno to the main roster. Much like he did in NXT, Rhyno will be used to make younger and newer talent look good.
Rating: 8.5

Six pack Challenge for WWE Championship contendership

Regardless of what I said about Apollo earlier, there is no denying that all six of the superstars in this match are top stars and they all did a good job putting on a great match. Going into it I thought that Bray Wyatt or Baron Corbin would win it - I would have also put AJ Styles' name in the mix if I thought for a second that his rivalry with John Cena was over. But much like RAW, Smackdown did the unthinkable by allowing Dolph Ziggler to pick up the win. What a great, great decision not only because people have been wanting to see Dolph pushed like this for a long time, but because regardless of how this show was beforehand, it's this moment that would make you want to tune in next week to see what other unexpected things could happen. The show ended with Dean Ambrose and Ziggler standing face to face and then...Daniel Bryan and Shance McMahon coming out to raise their hands. Now I don't so much have a problem with Daniel and Shane coming out, but I do have a problem with the fact that their entrance music played when they did. They started the show by saying that Smackdown is all about the superstars and not management, and yet the management's entrance theme plays when Dolph is trying to celebrate. It's small things like that that really ticks me off just a little bit.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler
Rating: 8

So that was the very first Smackdown Live of the "New Era". Overall, I was really disappointed by the show as it didn't quite deliver as I was hoping and expecting. Hopefully they will really pick up their game as the weeks progress. But as for this week, RAW absolutely kicked Smackdown's ass! Now I'm a huge Smackdown fan and I really want to see them pull off a spectacular show. So the big question now is: Who will be the better show next week?