Rate Smackdown 08/09/2016

[Jacob Fox]

Please rate Smackdown in our poll and let us know what you think in the comments!

Spoiler: Smackdown Results

Opening

The show opened with Randy Orton coming into the arena. He made some comments about Brock Lesnar before being approached by Alberto Del Rio. Del Rio told Orton he was going to break his arm.

Bray Wyatt

Wyatt came to the ring with Erick Rowan to downplay his loss to Dolph Ziggler. He made the argument that he is a god and a god cannot be defeated. He even told Ziggler to ask Dean Ambrose about him.

Dean Ambrose then came to the ring and questioned why Bray Wyatt wuld now be considering himself a victim. He said it sounded more like Wyatt was a baby and not the Eater of Worlds. After a back and forth, Dolph Zigger came to the ring and tried to beat on the Wyatts. The Wyatts, however, took the advantage.

Dean Ambrose ran into the ring to help Ziggler. He made good progress but Bray Wyatt eventually got him into Sister Abagail. Ziggler moved to superkick Bray, but Wyatt pulled Dean into the way and Ziggler kicked Ambrpse in the face.

American Alpha vs. Mike Vega and Mikey O'Shea

We go to the ring and out comes Chad Gable and Jason Jordan. Local wrestlers Mikey O'Shea and Mike Vega wait in the ring. Before the match can begin, The Ascension's music hits and out comes Konnor and Viktor. The Vaudevillains' music hits and out comes Simon Gotch and Aiden English. Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley are out next as The Hype Bros. also want to watch the match.

American Alpha makes quick work of their opponents and hit a double dropkick to send O'Shea to the floor. Jordan launches Vega and nails him in the corner before tagging in Gable for the double team and the win.

Becky Lynch vs. Eva Marie

Eva Marie had a "wardrobe malfunction" and left the match. Becky was upset and demanded an opponent. Alexa Bliss answered the call and came out to challenge Becky.

Alexa Bliss rolled up Eva Marie for the win.

Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio

Randy Orton defeated Aberto Del Rio by disqualification when Del Rio hit Orton with a chair.

Heath Slater vs. Rhyno

Slater created a storyline in which he needed a contract to support his kids, but his lies showed when he continually forgot the number of kidshe had.

Rhyno defeated Slater by pinfall after hitting a Gore.

Carmella vs. Natalya

Carmella defeated Natayla by submission when Natalya tapped out to the Code of Silence.

Backstage

Corbin beat up Kalistor and said it was for costing him the shot at the Intercontinental Title. Corbin left and trainers came to check on Kalisto.

Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler vs. Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan

Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler defeated Bray Wyattand Rick Rowan by pinfall after Ziggler hit Rowan with a superkick.

After the match, Ambrose hit Ziggler with a surprise Dirty Deeds.

 

[Jacob Fox]

I am giving this episode a 7. Even though it was not as good as I was hoping, it proved a point I have been trying to make for a long time. When a show is only two hours long, it can get away without having PPV caliber matches because it doesn't have to live up to the three hour investment of a PPV. There was nothing memorable that happened in this episode, but it didn't matter. It was still an enjoyable two hours of entertainment that did what it had to. It built up Summerslam.

This week, Smackdown defeated Raw.

 

[Mr. Roman Empire]

Only watched the highlights on Youtube. Seemed just as boring as Raw. 4/10

 

[¡Tranquilo!]

Better than RAW this week even without AJ Styles or John Cena. I though the show flowed pretty nicely and every match tonight told some kind of story. The segments were great tonight, all of them. 7/10.

The Good:

Eva Marie's new gimmick is great and I'm on the verge of officially calling myself an Eva Marie fan. If only she could wrestle a decent match. I'm looking forward to see what she does to get out of her match next week!

Bray Wyatt tonight was good. His promo at the beginning was the perfect mix between nonsensical biblical talk and straightforward heel talk. The Sister Abigail counter to the super kick was cool. Hopefully in time Wyatt becomes the omnipresent heel of Smackdown live and feuds with just about everyone...and WWE champion would be nice too.

So the tag team division took a page out of the Womens division's book and had every team come out and surround the ring but instead of talk a bit and then be enchanted by all red everything, they punched for a bit. Cool segment actually. It gives the tag teams a reason to fight each other now, to prove they're better than American Alpha. I do hope the titles debut before or after Backlash.

The Miz and Maryse are fucking gold, that is all. Apollo Crews will win the IC championship probably so I hope that means we see Miz move up into the main event scene. You can't keep Hollywood Miz in the mid-card...the gimmick is too good.

Heath Slater and his 8 kids+5

Bliss Vs. Lynch was a decent match and good in-ring debut for Alexa Bliss. She's scary in the ring and her finisher is a thing of beauty. Wish Becky would stop losing matches but I guess tonight was for a good cause...

The Meh:

Carmella Vs. Natalya was so boring. Why Carmella was on the defensive damn near the whole match I don't know. However I do like Carmella's work and her finisher is cool.

Randy Orton Vs. Alberto Del Rio was fucking boring. The only thing saving this from being bad is that Del Rio made it a point to target Orton's arms and I swear to the demons of salzar if Orton doesn't sell that shit at Summerslam...he gon' have some problems with me.

The Bad:

The commentary team ( with the exception of Mauro) is HORRENDOUS. JBL needs to be OFF COMMENTARY. David Otunga can go fuck off too. They don't help the talent nor do they compliement Mauro Renallo good at all. WTF WWE you couldn't give Mauro something better to work with!?!?!? JBL WTF ARE YOU DOING QUOTING MICHEAL COLE ON SMACKDOWN YOU FUCKING DICKBAG!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE--I'M BEGGING YOU TO GET THE FUCK OFF MY TV. /Rant

 

[Prince Bálor]

It was a good show, I felt. 7/10

SmackDown defeated RAW this week.

Positives:
- Both RKO and ADR cut decent promos hyping their match for later in the show.

- The show opening segment w/ Bray, Rowan, Ambrose and Ziggler was alright. It was a logical thing to do following last week's closing segment. Plus, the segment not lasting 20 minutes helps.

- The American Alpha squash was exactly what it needed to be. They squashed those two fools and looked dominant. The post-match stuff was OK, I guess. The tag division feels like a bit of a mess, so hopefully they get down to it post-SummerSlam.

- That Miz/Maryse segment on Talking Smack was so good.

- Eva Marie's shtick continues to be entertaining. Can't believe I'm saying this! The 'wardrobe malfunction' this week was a nice touch. Can't say I mind her not wrestling, though. I'd be down for this happening every week. It's simple, yet effective.

- Becky Lynch shouting "Come at me, bro!" was adorable.

- Alexa Bliss vs Becky Lynch was decent. Alexa losing her debut match would've been bad and the loss doesn't hurt Becky here.

- Orton vs ADR was a decent match. That RKO OUTTA NOWHERE was sweet.

- Slater/Rhyno segment was hilarious. Slater continues to be entertaining week in and week out! #SignHeathSlater

- That Miz/Scooby Doo segment wasn't awful. #MizMakesEverythingBetter

- Rhyno vs Slater was OK for what it was. Slater sold the loss well.

- That Slater/DB/Shane-O Mac segment was hilarious. Poor Hottest Free Agent In Sports Entertainment.

- Carmella vs Natalya was OK. Carmella won her debut match, as she should. And dang, Nattie's still comical at selling submissions. Also, the fact that they're trying to establish new women is appreciated.

- Baron Corbin destroying Kalisto backstage was good. It was simple, yet effective and played off of last week well. There's your SummerSlam pre-show match.

- Ambrose & Ziggler vs Wyatt & Rowan was a solid ME. Could've been better, but oh well. I didn't expect much from it anyway.

Some stray observations:
- Ambrose was really stupid to do that suicide dive, he almost got hurt.
- Nice to see Superkick being used as a finisher.

Oh, and Ambrose laid out DZ with Dirty Deeds post-match.

Negatives:
- JBL and Otunga are lame ass turds. GTFO of that commentary table. Hell, I'd be fine with bringing back Lawler. Throw Phillips into the mix, too!

- What's up with the DQ finish in that Orton/ADR match? I mean, they didn't have to go 12 minutes and do the DQ. And now they suddenly feel the need to protect ADR even though he's done nothing in forever? Meh. Should've been a RKO OUTTA NOWHERE and 1...2...3... The end. A clean win for Orton.

- Carmella's intro is still awful.

Also, this is unrelated, but whatever:
GLORIOUS!
NO, I WON'T GIVE IN, I WON'T GIVE IN
TILL I'M VICTORIOUS

So hooked to that song.

 

[alexb]

I thought Cena vs. Styles was 15 years in the making but last night they said 10 years in the making. Which one is it? :idk:


In all seriousness, felt Smackdown yesterday was quite boring...2/10

 

[Snowman1]

I'm giving Raw the edge this week, mostly on the strength of Cesaro vs Rusev and that Balor video package. 3-0 in my book, but SD's been close most weeks. This one, I'm not so sure!

Not having Cena on the show definitely helps, though them thinking that terrible segment from last week was worth recapping had me shaking my head haha. Miz and Slater were the MVP, though. That backstage segment with Shane and Daniel considering offering Slater a contract regardless had me laughing pretty hard!

But, I feel like with SD that I'm giving WWE too much of a free pass on their old ways. Orton vs ADR with horrible commentary - JBL has to go, yesterday - is way too much of the damaged WWE stigma it's created. Orton vs ADR was a pretty good match but I had to almost force myself to watch it lol. Even hearing Mauro throw around Viperville every 5 seconds was irritating. Mauro's usually even fine with the forced sports/pop culture crap but that was nauseating. The opener was, as Prince said, not 20 minutes and set up the main event (which still felt way too much like the typical wrestling for wrestling's sake minus Ambrose almost dying on the diving push) although Ziggler's parade of superkicks is a LOT of fun and Bray throwing Ambrose in the way of one was a nice touch! Liked that.

It's cool to see SD get it's own set of tag titles as they pretend like they have an actual division, but these goon teams running out here felt so sad. The Vaudevillains, Hype Bros, and Ascension eyeing Jordan and Gable demolishing two dudes in the ring? Maybe this is their way of saying "We have enough depth to totally justify tag titles!" before Wyatt and Rowan jump Alpha next week? It's kinda sad to see Mojo on this show, Ryder feels like he can be so much more without him.

Becky. :gusta: hahaha Eva's entrance with the loud unnecessary stupid big voiced guy is really really entertaining me already. How can you have that many adjectives and not love it? This gimmick is just crazy enough to work. Natalya/Carmella was surprisingly solid despite Carmella being back to just being the most naturally hatable person haha

Think that's all there is to say. Show went by fairly quick

 

[Prince Bálor]

Prince Bálor Forgot To Mention It, Part 56: The fact that Miz drives an Audi makes me love him even more.