Last week's Smackdown proved that the blue brand can indeed put on great shows and while last week was the greatest show they had so far, the bar was not put so high that it seems impossible to beat. Smackdown is a show that I want to love and a show I want to get behind more than RAW and if it keeps on setting the same type of standard as last week, it could very well just be my favourite show to watch. But with this week's show having passed us by, how exactly did it fare to last week?
The Miz
I don't know if the Miz has ever started a Smackdown show before, but if he has it pales in comparison to the way he started this one. Wow! This is the only word I can use to describe just how amazing his promo was! It didn't feel anything like a script, it felt like he was just given the mic and told to say exactly how he felt. Considering that it was based on some real stuff, I wouldn't be surprised if that truly was the case. While I thought that Darren Young should have won the Intercontinental Championship at Battleground, I'm now happy that he didn't because it has given us the opportunity to finally see a great side of the Miz. Now don't get me wrong, the Miz has always been really good on the mic, but I feel as if he is now being given the opportunity to just break out of his shell and be the real him. He was absolutely superb and if he had continued this promo for another thirty minutes I would still be very very happy. The fact that the promo itself had me so invested was great, but the fact that even more fuel was added to the flames when Dolph Ziggler came out was truly great. The way Miz's manhood was basically brought into the equation was great as we got to see a Miz that actually wanted to fight. I loved it and I truly, truly want to see so much more of this in the weeks to come.
Rating: 9.5
The Hype Bros VS the Vaudevillians
Before I get into the match I would like to say what a shame it is that the Vaudevillians have been treated the way they have. Much like the Ascension, since making their main roster debut the Vaudevillians have been treated like trash and have basically just become bonafide jobbers. I was really hoping that they would win this match, but it looks like WWE are taking the safe route and just putting all babyface teams in the tournament, which is a shame because nobody wants to see the USOs in the semi-finals of this tournament. In my most honest opinion, the finals should actually be American Alpha VS the Ascension, but American Alpha VS Heath Slater & Rhyno could be good too. Now this match was given very little time and they didn't do too badly, but I felt like they could have done a lot more if given enough time.
Winner: The Hype Brose
Rating: 7
AJ Styles gets interrupted
Much like the Miz, I could listen to AJ Styles cutting a promo for a very long time. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, Styles was literally only given two minutes on the mic before being interrupted by Apollo Crews who, I might add, absolutely sucked! There was no emotion behind his promo and he STILL HAS NO CHARACTER! He has been on the main roster since the night after Wrestlemania and has shown nothing for it in regards with character development. People are very soon going to start giving Crews the Roman Reigns treatment if WWE don't give him a character soon as well as if WWE keep on shoving Crews down our throats. Unfortunately it was all because of Crews that my rating for this was segment was dropped.
Rating: 6.5
Apollo Crews VS AJ Styles
Despite his bad mic skills and having no character, there is no denying that Crews is really good in the ring. With Crews and Styles being so great in the ring, you can be sure this will get a higher rating than the segment beforehand. While the wrestling was quite good, it still felt like it was just there to fill the time and in my opinion didn't really need to happen. Styles didn't actually need to be in a match and could have done so much better if just given more time on the mic. Even the tag team match beforehand could have gone on a bit longer if this match didn't happen.
Winner: AJ Styles
Rating: 7.5
Heath Slater's home
Straight off the bat, I think this was really great. This was basically a look at Slater's kayfabe home and his kayfabe wife. A lot of people are starting to get behind Slater's free agent gimmick, although I will admit I have been behind him before this as I have always known him to be a great worker. This segment gives fans more reason to get behind Heath Slater as we could get closer to seeing Slater getting signed to the blue brand - but will we?
Rating: 8.5
Bray Wyatt match setup
Ever since he made his debut in NXT a few years back I have always been a massive fan of Bray Wyatt. If I'm honest, his vignettes in the swamps in NXT had to be the best vignettes he did and I would love to see more of his promos done like this. Regardless, Bray is still one of the greatest talkers in WWE right now and really gets his character across. Unfortunately, Bray has to also be the most underused superstar on the roster as he is still yet to win a singles title - a feat he should have accomplished a very long time ago. This segment was basically setting up the match at Backlash between him and Randy Orton which brings the question as to who will win. After his TKO loss at Summerslam, a loss to Bray at Backlash might make Randy look weak. On the other hand, Bray needs this win more than anyone else in order to establish himself as a dominant superstar. Randy can always recover from his loss, but I almost feel like there's no going back for a Bray loss. Bray needs to start being built up now already and then sometime in the near future needs to win the world title - I'm pretty confident that when Bray does win it he will get a "you deserve it" chant which he definitely more than deserves.
Rating: 7.5
Becky Lynch & Naomi VS Natalya & Alexa Bliss
I hate to start this on a bad note, but is anyone else feeling, based on her commentary, that Nikki Bella isn't going to be such a great face? I mean in the ring she will be fine and I think the fans will still be behind her, but it really didn't sound too great on the commentary side. Now I don't know if this is just because they aren't given a script for commentary or if this is really how she is going to sound in her promos, but for now I'm really not feeling it. Anyway, I was really happy with the match. Just seeing all those women in the ring at the same time made me happy. As I've mentioned before, Smackdown are doing a much better job with their women than RAW are. All the Smackdown women feel like possible top stars.
Winner: Natalya & Alexa Bliss
Rating: 8
Heath Slater & Rhyno VS the Headbangers
Oh my goodness! For the first time in 16 years, the Headbangers are back in the WWE! Who are the Headbangers you ask? Well let me tell you, they are...they were...they had...Actually, I don't know them too much myself if I'm honest. All I know is they were apparently a tag team that were apparently a part of the Attitude Era apparently. Apparently I like to say the word apparently, and apparently we could very well see Slater and Rhyno head to the finals (my own prediction). So this match: It was ok I suppose. It was nothing special and I think the most significant part was when Rhyno somehow got busted open above his eye. The only conclusion I can make of that is that one of the members of the Headbangers decided it would be really fun to knock the hell out of Rhyno for real, which explains why the big man looked furious when hitting the massive gore. As to my speculation of Rhyno and Slater going all the way to the finals, I think that they will make it all the way there so fans can wonder if their father (because we now have a Heath Slater's kids section) is finally going to get the contract he has been grasping at for weeks now. I don't think it will happen just yet, but imagine how great it would be if it did.
Winner: Heath Slater & Rhyno
Rating: 7.5
The milk man gets sent to hell
Mill the Milkman, or whatever the hell his name is, came out, grabbed the mic and said he would not leave the ring until he got to have a match with someone. He would strip down to his plain white underpants before Kane's music would hit and he would get chokeslammed through the ring (not literally). My big question is: why in the hell did we actually have to see that? What in the world was WWE even thinking when deciding to do that? The only reason I can think of is the slight glance that Baron Corbin and Kane gave each other while Corbin made his entrance. Could we see a possible feud between Kane and Corbin? Or was this just a way to feature Kane because I believe he's the only one on the roster who hadn't had a match yet since the drafts. Regardless, this was shit and shouldn't have happened.
Rating: 2
Baron Corbin VS Dean Ambrose
I would like to point out that this is the very first time (that I know of) that Baron Corbin is main eventing a show. I think it's great and really gives him an opportunity to show that he can hang in that main event scene. It could even be an indication on future plans WWE have for Corbin, but only time will tell with that one. This match in itself was really good. I believe there are some people that feel differently about it, but I thought it was pretty good and really gave each superstar and opportunity to showcase themselves. Corbin is still one of my favourite guys on the roster and I really hope to see big plans for him in the near future. The ending to the show was actually really great. After the match was over, AJ Styles (who was on commentary) decided to try and get the jump on Ambrose by hitting a Phenomenal Forearm. Unfortunately, as Styles jumped on the top rope, Ambrose would sweep his leg making Styles land so that he would become sterile. It was really great and funny to watch Styles just sit there looking highly uncomfortable. You have to wonder though, since Ambrose has been getting the one-up on Styles since last week, will Styles be the one to win the World Title from Ambrose? It would be very interesting to see what develops if this does occur.
Winner: Baron Corbin (by DQ)
Rating: 8.5
So as can be seen, this Smackdown didn't quite meet the hight of last week's show, but that is in no way saying that it was a bad show. From a wrestling point of view it was actually pretty good. From a decision or story point of view, it was not quite as good. But I still have really high hopes that Smackdown will be the greatest show in WWE.
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