Rate Smackdown Live! 5/1/2018

[Jacob Fox]

Rate Smackdown Live! and leave comments to let us know what you think of the show!

Spoiler: Smackdown Live Results

Miz TV

Miz had Jeff Hardy as a guest and talked about him disrespecting Randy Orton. Orton came out and said he did the same to Jeff. Shelton Benjamin came out and said that Orton did not deserve a title shot. Orton attacked Benjamin and Miz tried to help.

Miz and Shelton Benjamin vs Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy

Orton and Hardy won by pin fall. After the match, Orton hit Hardy with an RKO.

Backstage

The New Day and the Bar interacted and it resulted in Sheamus challenging a member of the New Day to a match. Big E intensely accepted but the offer was for Xavier Woods, not Big E.

Lana and Rusev had a discussion with the implication that Lana felt Aiden English was holding Rusev back.

Big Cass

Cass gave a speech in the ring about Daniel Bryan being small and weak. He then brought out a midget dressed as Bryan to mock Bryan further. When the midget wasn't looking, Cass attacked and brutally beat him in the ring before leaving.

AJ Styles

AJ came out and was asked if he would apologize to Shinsuke Nakamura for brutally attacking him at the Greatest Royal Rumble after Nakamura hit him in the crotch. AJ talked about his match at Backlash where he could break the rules too. When he was about to invite Nakamura out, Samoa Joe came out instead. Joe said people should be focused on his match with Roman Reigns because when he was done, he would come after the WWE Championship.

Nakamura's music played and Joe made as if he was expecting Nakamura to come out from backstage. Instead, Nakamura snuck up behind AJ and lowblowed him again. Nakamura than set up and hit AJ with his finisher.

Sheamus vs Xavier Woods

Woods won by pin fall.

Asuka, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair vs the Iconics and Carmella

Charlotte, Asuka and Becky won by submission

 

[Jay-Ashley]

Overall the show was decent with some decent matches. The main highlights for me were Shinsuke low blowing once again and Asuka getting the win for her team, thus the only reason I gave it a 6/10.

Spoiler

This is was my first and last LD as I just suck at them, but it was fun.

 

[bullyballmm]

5/10. It was an episode between GRR and Backlash, so I was expecting fireworks. Nothing really bad, but nothing amazing either.

 

[Jacob Fox]

I gave it a 6 although the saving grace of it was only the main event. However, they need to have Carmella wear a ball gag when she wrestles so I don't have to hear her scream anymore. Asuka and Charlotte really did a great job in that 6 woman tag.

 

[SWL]

similar situation to Raw, not much going on, just basic story progression without any big moments to take away from

• I hope Nakamura and Styles get to main event Backlash instead of Joe and Reigns. First of all, it's the only world title on the card and second of all, having the Smackdown guys main event a dual branded PPV won't happen often once the Universal title is back on the scene, so I'd use the opportunity and give Styles/Nakamura the spotlight, as long as the finish is a good and clean one at least. If it's another screwy finish, then I'd understand why they wouldn't put it in the main event slot but if not, why not?
• I'm actually looking forward to Hardy vs Orton, and I might be the only one. It's just a nice throwback to their 07/08 feud and I hope they do a "twist of fate into RKO" tease from their Rumble 08 encounter.
• I see Big Cass as another Jinder of some sorts, he's a true heel with true heat and whatever segment he does is well executed and will always get shit from a crowd. The one thing he's lacking is the in-ring ability.. and he kinda looks odd, not just his physique but also his face. That sounded harsh but I wouldn't call him handsome
• just like Raw, we ended on a 6 man tag and I gotta say, I fear for Charlotte vs Carmella. From the few things I saw, they don't seem to have the best chemistry and I'm pretty sure they're gonna have Carmella run away with some cheap victory so the overall quality of the match might suffer but we'll just have to wait and see. Also, I like Asuka more as a singles player. It doesn't fit her character to be in a tag, or a group for that matter. To me she should always be a threat to anyone on the roster, not just the heels

 

[Mustafar Reginald]

I work Tuesday nights so I only ever bother to watch the youtube clips for the segments I care about. So this thankfully means I get to watch the show in like twenty minutes, it's great. But I won't be rating. Real quick thoughts on what I watched.

I. The Miz TV segment was entertaining though almost all on The Miz. I'm not entirely sure what WWE is doing with him trying to instigate Orton to go ape on Jeff but I've been finding his character post-baby pretty interesting. The stuff with Cass the other week was interesting, and my read on the Orton thing this week was that he was saying that with good-hearted intent. Like, he legitimately believed Orton was getting disrespected and wanted Orton to take action but when Orton told him off he sided with Shelton. If Miz's character direction is someone trying to be a face that's too entrenched in his heel persona to achieve that (there's definitely a level of projecting his own perceived mistreatment on Orton there), then it's safe to say Miz will remain one of the best elements of WWE. Or maybe the youtube condensed version of the segment just gave me the wrong picture of the events.

II. Big Cass' character has been oddly consistent in his motivations and speeches. Like, he went from feuding with a "small" guy who was way more over than he was to feuding with a "small" guy because he was way more over than him. Both Enzo & Bryan are roughly the same height (with Enzo being a little taller iirc), and the level of popularity between the two in comparison to Cass is note-worthy. It's pretty interesting to look at this feud from the perspective of Cass projecting his unresolved feelings on Enzo to Bryan. Don't get me wrong, none of this is intentional. I'm positive the similarities are there simply because WWE wants to bash us over the head with the fact that Cass is seven feet tall, but nevertheless, it's giving me something about this feud that I find interesting. His whole might means right line reminds me of Enzo too, his big problems stemming with how Enzo would constantly force Cass to protect him because Enzo would never shut up. Or how Cass stated last week when he was small he deserved to be beat up, it's like teaming with Enzo only reinforced that mentality in him, leading to him snapping. Cass was real solid on the stick here, and I liked him admitting it was a scene and then giving props to the home town midget so he could get more heat for kicking off a hometown prospect than an imposter Bryan. I hope Cass has gotten better in the ring or that Bryan works his magic.

III. The Styles segment was solid progression but something I don't actually have anything to comment on about. I will say, I want Joe vs. Styles for the WWE Championship at some point but that should be put on hold be Christ does Shinsuke ever need to win this on Sunday. It feels now or never for him.

IV. I enjoyed what I saw of the main event so much I'm considering searching up the full match. First off, the positive of Asuka's streak ending definitely played out here. Despite thinking they nailed the booking last week, I'm still in "Any moment they're going to murder her" so there was actual a moment or two where I thought they might've had Peyton pin her. If they did, it would've ruined my mood, but they didn't so it just provided the adrenaline kick I needed and Asuka winning was definitely gratifying, and I loved how she countered into the Asuka Lock this time. Her hip attack on all of them was awesome too. Besides Asuka, Charlotte was great too. The plancha surprised me, not sure I like it, felt a bit slow, which is a weird thing to say but her moonsault looked awesome as ever. There's an old curmudgeon in me that thought "Why is she doing this on TV!?". Like, she's done this on TV before so I wasn't shocked that she did it but she performs it so well that it could really mean something if she saved it. Look at Shawn Michaels, the moonsault is a basic move but both by execution and being selective of when he used it, it felt important whenever he did it. As for the final Avenger Becky Lynch, she barely existed in the youtube version it was mostly just Charlotte and Asuka. I'm not complaining though, this was a real fun main event.

You know, I'm not sure I understand the definition of "quick"

• I hope Nakamura and Styles get to main event Backlash instead of Joe and Reigns. First of all, it's the only world title on the card and second of all, having the Smackdown guys main event a dual branded PPV won't happen often once the Universal title is back on the scene, so I'd use the opportunity and give Styles/Nakamura the spotlight, as long as the finish is a good and clean one at least. If it's another screwy finish, then I'd understand why they wouldn't put it in the main event slot but if not, why not?

If Reigns/Joe main events Backlash over Nakamura/Styles, which I don't expect by the way, I actually think it'll be the angriest I've ever been at Reigns booking. Like are they seriously going to put a feud that came out of basically nowhere and seemingly exists just because Brock couldn't be around every week to remind Reigns how much of failure he's been, not to mention a feud that has basically nothing riding on it over the WWE Championship match that's had actual narrative progression that's seemingly reaching to the climax just because Roman Reigns is in it? I sure as hell hope not. One thing that gives me faith is Joe setting his sights on Styles this SDL. If there's going to be screwy finish in the WWE Championship, with no disqualification it basically has to be interference and since Joe's the only one who's been seeded for that, he's the biggest candidate (and having him do that before the Reigns match makes very little sense). Though I'm expecting a clean finish.

 

[SWL]

If Reigns/Joe main events Backlash over Nakamura/Styles, which I don't expect by the way, I actually think it'll be the angriest I've ever been at Reigns booking. Like are they seriously going to put a feud that came out of basically nowhere and seemingly exists just because Brock couldn't be around every week to remind Reigns how much of failure he's been, not to mention a feud that has basically nothing riding on it over the WWE Championship match that's had actual narrative progression that's seemingly reaching to the climax just because Roman Reigns is in it? I sure as hell hope not. One thing that gives me faith is Joe setting his sights on Styles this SDL. If there's going to be screwy finish in the WWE Championship, with no disqualification it basically has to be interference and since Joe's the only one who's been seeded for that, he's the biggest candidate (and having him do that before the Reigns match makes very little sense). Though I'm expecting a clean finish.

I don't know, the second Reigns didn't win the Universal title I was sure Styles/Nakamura will be set as the main event but on wwe.com, Joe/Reigns is still the top match listed so I'm not sure about it. I nearly forgot about the no DQ stipulation, so ye that definitely helps the match ending situation. To me it's not a big problem because I'm sure Reigns and Joe will have a decent match but it's just way more traditional and also satisfying to have a PPV end on a World title match, especially with a good feud like Styles/Nakamura right now.
And I also think it would help Reigns' status with the crowd given that they're not gonna be pleasant towards the fact that he's the headliner again, so it might help the reactions to their match as well

 

[Grievous 3D]

Okay... lets see what's happening on the "The Asuka, Becky & Charlotte" Show
this week...

+ So...Styles/Nakamura is a No DQ match now ? G...I wonder if that's a set up
for someone else to interfere...like say...Andrade "Cien" Almas and Zelina Vega
perhaps?

+ The Miz truly is Awesome...

+ And now the IIconics are also Hot...but Lame...although I will admit this
faction kind of makes sense...more so than Nattie, Tamina & Carmella did.

+ And Daniel Bryan wasn't cleared to wrestle tonight. Oh Dear...this could
be the beginning of something truly terrible.

+ So...are the SDL tag titles being defended at Backlash? Where are
Harper & Rowan? Also where the fuck are SAni†Y?

+ Yep...the WWE appears to be trying to kill off Rusev Day...&the WWE is
going to use Lana to do it. Fuck you WWE!

Rusev should just leave. I still can't believe they changed the crowd chants
a couple of weeks ago. If I was Rusev I'd fucking walk.

+ Big Cass is kind of boring...SKIP!!!

+ Yeah...another low blow...& I really don't care. I honestly do not care about
Heel Nakamura. I know everyone else is like "He's amazing! Low Blows are
Awesome!!1!"...but I'm like SKIP!!!

+ Okay...this segment features Becky, Asuka & Charlotte so its automatically
the the best thing on the show. Although if I'm being honest...I'd rather see them
fighting each other than standing around playing "Grab Ass"

:emoji_thinking:

Wait...what was I talking about? Oh Yeah...SDL...right.



That Avengers reference was Cringe...but it gives me an excuse to post this
image.

Yes...I'm incredibly lame. I freely admit it & embrace it!

+ Is it me or are The Bar being slowly buried? Like they were successful for
a good stretch of time so now they have to made to look like idiots for some
reason.

+ And Absolution is thankfully over. That name was lame...although something
tells me Mandy will get to pin Becky next week...which I'm already angry about.

Yes I know I keep harping on about Becky's poor booking...but if the symptoms
persist then...

KEEP TAKING YOUR MEDICINE MOTHERFUCKER!

+ And the main event was like a Waifu War for me...

:emoji_heart_eyes:

but couldn't Becky have been the one to earn the victory for her team?

Am I the only one who wants Becky to be winner & a Champion again?

All in All...SDL is Awesome is RAW is Lame.

And I'm Done...

 

[Redboy123@]

This episode of Smackdown taught me that Randy Orton will always be super over no matter how badly they book him. Probably cuz he is a great wrestler.


Woods beat Sheamus. Is that he's biggest singles victory ever?

 

[Giggityfish80]

Carmella has turned into a Banshee so i'm gonna call an exorcist