Just off the bat, the title of this week's Smackdown review is more related to certain things that happens in the show than the overall show itself. This week was possibly better than last week's Smackdown, and only slightly better than this week's RAW. Much like a pimple, let's pop this bad boy open.
Getting Personal
This segment was between Dolph Ziggler (challenger) and Dean Ambrose (champion) and I felt like they really tried to one-up what RAW did between Finn Balor and Seth Rollins. Unfortunately, I didn't feel it was as good, but there were certain parts that I did enjoy. I enjoyed the shouting match between Ambrose and Ziggler and it had a real personal feel to it, I just didn't quite understand why it happened because quite honestly it felt a bit out of nowhere. I don't know if it was meant to be Ambrose trying to motivate Ziggler, or if they're showing Ambrose as being like a bit of a dick by saying Ziggler never gets the job done, quite honestly I couldn't quite understand the motive behind this, at least at this point. A bit later I realised exactly what WWE are doing, but we will get to that. Ambrose would leave the ring after which the lights would go out and when turned on Bray Wyatt would execute the sister abigail. At this point Wyatt would challenge Ziggler to a match and whoever wins would go on to be the official number one contender for Ambrose's title. This match was accepted. Overall, it was decent. As I said, some parts were confusing, but it was actually done pretty well.
Rating: 8
Baron Corbin VS Kalisto VS Apollo Crews (No.1 Contender match for IC Title)
I was so looking forward to this match. While I wasn't expecting it to be a massively great match, I was expecting it to be really good. I was almost correct as they were really getting into it and starting to do some really cool stuff before...well it ended. It was a very short match and a lot more could have been done. Unfortunately it seemed quite obvious that Crews was going to win as (from the drafts) there was an indication that Kalisto would get into a rivalry with Corbin, which ultimately started after this match was over and Corbin attacked Kalisto. I might just add that I'm not a massive fan of Apollo Crews. He has all the in-ring talent in the world and is actually pretty decent on the microphone, but he honestly has no character. I would like someone to please tell me exactly what his gimmick is because I sure as hell don't know.
Winner: Apollo Crews
Rating: 7
Becky Lynch VS Eva Marie
So I'm pretty sure what happened here is really legit. Eva Marie was on the second rope during her entrance and just plopped herself down on her feet and seemed to have pulled something. She started limping and when the ref asked the two women if they were ready, Eva said no and so the ref got the doctor to check it out. The match was thus called off. It was very strange and like I said, I'm pretty sure it was legit. I'm just really disappointed because I honestly think we could have seen a nice match happen between her and Becky. I can't give this a rating because nothing actually happened.
The Vaudevillians VS American Alpha
If you're not a fan of American Alpha then I think it's about time you got your head examined. This tag team has to be the best tag team I have seen in a very long time. They are absolutely amazing in the ring and have real chemistry as a team. No matter how often I see them, they just keep on impressing me. This was a really great debut for them and I can't wait to see even more of them.
Winner: American Alpha
Rating: 8
The Confrontation
What an awesome segment this was between John Cena and AJ Styles! I can not give enough credit to both of these guys! They did a spectacular job making their rivalry feel real and personal and they did a spectacular job in getting all the viewers invested. After this segment, you know you not only have to tune into Smackdown next week, but also to Summerslam to see what exactly happens between these two. I'm excited and you should be too.
Rating: 9
Randy Orton VS Fandango w/Tyler Breeze
As you would have expected, this match wasn't very interesting and was short. The only interesting part of this was when Brock Lesnar stormed the ring and gave an F5 to Orton. It will be interesting to see if there are more invasions between these two competitors leading into Summerslam.
Rating: 7.5
Carmella gets ambushed
Keeping this one short and sweet: Carmella was supposed to go one-on-one with Natalya, but Natalya attacked her from behind before the match even began and ultimately we had no match. While this is nothing we haven't seen before, I'm still interested to see how things progress over the weeks to come.
Rating: 7
Dejavu angle
So this is the part that felt most like dejavu to me. What happened was that Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan came to Dolph Ziggler backstage and tried to talk him out of having his match with Bray Wyatt, saying that Dolph has everything to lose in this match. Dolph would then say that he gets it and that he sees that nobody, including Bryan and Shane, believe in him and believe that he can win. For those who don't know, this is the exact same angle used for Daniel Bryan leading into his WWE title match at Summerslam against John Cena. Could we very well be seeing a repeat? Could Dolph Ziggler actually win the WWE Title at Summerslam and be given a good run with it? If he does, I will actually be truly happy for him.
Rating: 7.5
Dolph Ziggler VS Bray Wyatt
I have to give big props to both Bray and Dolph for putting on such a good match to end Smackdown. They did a really good job together and there were moments when you actually thought either superstar could win. Ultimately, the victory went to Dolph which is a really good thing - imagine the reaction if Dolph lost! The only weird thing about it was that Dolph won by using the exposed turnbuckle and then a super kick. Could we see a heel turn for Dolph in the near future? After the match Dolph got beaten down by Erick Rowan and Dean Ambrose got the same treatment when he tried to help out.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler
Rating: 8
So as can be seen, while Smackdown was actually better than last week's show, it really only just beat RAW this week. I hope the women are able to be shown more and hopefully they will grow in numbers too. You have to be excited to see what's going to happen next week.
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