SMACKDOWN 16/08/2016 - Laying the Smack down

As mentioned at the end of last week's review, Smackdown has been slowly but surely getting better and better by the week. While it might not have been quite as good as RAW, it certainly was one of the better Smackdown shows since the drafts. Now as sure as I am sitting here typing this review, I am about to breakdown just what happened.

Miz TV feat. Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose
This was just great. Much like Kane's pyro, this segment was hot as hell and it does a spectacular job getting you invested for the match between Ziggler and Ambrose at Summerslam. These two spoke amazingly well and has got me excited. There might be some people out there who viewed the super kick to Ambrose as a bit of a heel turn for Ziggler, but I don't actually see it that way. Quite honestly, I just saw it as Ziggler getting payback for the Dirty Deeds Ambrose hit on him the week before. I can not tell you how excited I am to see these two go at it for the title on Sunday. So while this segment was really spectacular, there is unfortunately a downside: the Miz. So I understand that this was a way to get the two in the ring at the same time to get this spot going, as well as to promote the intercontinental title match for Summerslam (which was done during the break), but if I'm honest, there was no need for him to be there. He served no purpose and if they wanted the two in the ring at the same time it could have been as simple as Dolph Ziggler calling Ambrose out because of last week. But otherwise, that's the only problem I had with this segment and it did not affect the rating.
Rating: 8.5

American Alpha, Hype Bros & the USOs VS Breezango, Ascension & Vaudevillians 

While this match really wasn't anything special and was a short one, it does kind of bring a story across. All the teams that were in this match are really all the tag teams on the Smackdown roster. Last week, I said there would likely be a Fatal Four Way Tag Team match at Smackdown's first brand-exlusive PPV Backlash to determine the first Smackdown Tag Team Champions. However, this week's Smackdown has made me change my mind. Because Smackdown has now established their full tag team division, there is a high chance that at Backlash we could be seeing a Tag Team Gauntlet match to determine the new champions. It will either be that or we could see a mini-tournament which would lead to a triple threat tag team match at Backlash.
Winner: American Alpha, Hype Bros & the USOs
Rating: 7.5

Naomi and Eva Marie
I want to talk about these two separately because I can. So first off with Naomi: wow! That is a really awesome entrance and despite her attire looking like pyjamas, I still have very high hopes that this reinvention of Naomi will mean something good for her. As it is, I am more excited about the Smackdown women's division than I am about RAW's because there is a much higher chance of us being able to see something new and different from them because they're all under-utilised and new talent and only Natalya has actually been champion. There are rumours that Nikki Bella could be coming to Smackdown, but my biggest fear is that she will be shown as being the top dog and will be put on that pedestal again. Now Eva Marie: She once again weaselled her way out of a match, this time by it being announced by her own personal ring announcer that she was stuck in traffic and so couldn't compete. I'm absolutely loving this. It's truly great. This segment as a whole was just great to watch.
Rating: 8

Randy Orton VS Heath Slater
While I'm not a fan of one-sided matches, I really enjoyed this match. Heath Slater got absolutely decimated and Randy got disqualified after the ref counted to three (did anyone else notice this?) and it was really fun to watch. And Slater told like a champ. This is another reason why I love Slater so much because regardless of what's being done to him, regardless who he goes against, he makes the absolute most of it. This is why I'm glad he is still not signed to any show of yet because I want to see what's going to happen next.
Winner: Heath Slater (by DQ)
Rating: 7.5

Dean Ambrose VS Erick Rowan w/Bray Wyatt
A pretty cool match here. Nothing great and nothing you wouldn't have expected, but still pretty good. I think the most significant part of this was after the match where Bray Wyatt looked at the sheep mask of Rowan's and just walked away. Could this mean the official end of the Wyatt Family? Will there be a feud between Rowan and Wyatt first? I hope for the latter because Bray Wyatt on his own will be able to do so much more and a feud between him and Rowan would be quite cool to see.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
Rating: 7.5

Becky Lynch & Carmella VS Natalya & Alexa Bliss
A match I was really looking forward to turned out to be not so great, not to the fault of the women in the ring of course. They were only given five minutes, one of those minutes which included Eva Marie making her appearance followed by Naomi, so it wasn't exactly stellar. There was so little that happened that I didn't even really have time to focus on what was happening in the ring. Probably the most significant thing was probably the fact that the entire Smackdown women's was out there which you have to assume, much like the tag team division, will result in a multi-person match at Backlash for the first Smackdown Women's Championship.
Winner: Becky Lynch & Carmella
Rating: 6.5

John Cena VS Alberto del Rio

This match as a whole was ok at best and I think the only reason being that I am finding it extremely difficult to get behind del Rio. this is mostly because of how del Rio has been booked since he returned last year. I mentioned last week that if WWE don't do something significant with him after Summerslam, he really should just leave the company. Del Rio is an amazing talent and I refuse to see him go down the same road as Cody Rhodes and Sheamus where they're just put into pointless matches that goes nowhere. Del Rio deserved the absolute best treatment because he is that damn good. After this match we would see Styles deliver a Phenomenal Forearm. Cena would then hit the Attitude Adjustment when he would try beat him up some more. This was then followed by Styles getting AA'd through a table. I'm quite looking forward to their match at Summerslam and hope that Styles gets the victory.
Winner: John Cena
Rating: 7.5

And there you have it. As can be seen, there were some things that I didn't quite agree with or didn't fully like, but overall it was actually a very good show. It also had more matches than just talking which is always great. With Smackdown getting better and better, just how much better can it get in the weeks to come, especially in the lead up to their first PPV in Backlash? I don't know about you, but I can't wait to find out.