By: Keila Cash
Hello everyone and welcome to another
installment of The SmackDown Files. Tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live!
emanated from Pinnacle Bank Arena in Omaha, Nebraska. It’s the go-home show for
the Backlash PPV which takes place this Sunday. New champions are guaranteed to
be crowned in the Tag Team and Women’s Divisions. Plus, AJ Styles takes on Dean
Ambrose for the WWE World Championship. After last week’s slapstick ending, did
the creative team take things more seriously as we head into the first brand-exclusive
PPV of the New Era? The answer to that question can be found throughout this
blog. Without further ado, let’s dissect tonight’s episode of SD Live! in no
particular order.
·
Here
are the positives about the opening segment. Becky Lynch showed great fire
during her promo. Everything else was a mess because it’s really difficult to
pull off a segment when the women are talking over each other with bad dialogue
to boot. I did find it funny that Alexa Bliss and Carmella magically teleported
to the ring to interrupt Becky and Natalya. It was awkward and it appeared that
Bliss came out too soon which caused Becky to stall for a few seconds.
Otherwise, I thought this was a poor way to start the show. On a lighter note,
the six woman tag team match scheduled for later tonight should be decent.
·
Dolph
Ziggler looks like a preppy Mister Rogers on guest commentary.
·
The
Miz vs. Apollo Crews was solid. Crews showed nice showmanship for a change as
he had the crowd in the palm of his hand. It was refreshing to see him connect
with the audience. He still needs to develop a personality that goes beyond
smiling from ear to ear, but I like what I saw from Crews tonight.
·
The
match broke down when Miz taunted and attacked Ziggler at ringside. Crews slid
out of the ring, but Miz knocked him into Ziggler which gave the
Intercontinental Champion the upper hand. He slammed Crews’ arm into the ring
post, tossed him back in the ring, and finished him off with The Skull Crushing
Finale.
·
Miz
and Maryse made a run for it, but left the IC Title in the ring. Since Miz is
the Cowardly Lion, he made his wife get in the ring to retrieve the belt.
·
Miz
and Ziggler are set to face each other at Backlash for the IC Title. It should
be a good match. However, Ziggler dropped an interesting nugget of information
when he was on guest commentary by saying that he would have to re-think things
if he didn’t beat Miz on Sunday. Could a much needed heel turn be Ziggler’s
future? One can only hope.
·
If
I am not mistaken, the crux of Bray Wyatt’s promo on Randy Orton is that he
plans to go Hannibal Lecter on Orton at Backlash by eating his flesh. I really
hope he means that metaphorically.
·
Cannibalism
aside, I thought Wyatt did a great job being spooky as he painted a dark, but
beautiful picture when it came to the evolution of mankind. The Eater of Worlds
is a God and a God cannot be destroyed. We shall find out if that’s true on
Sunday.
·
The
Six Woman Tag Team Match featuring Becky Lynch, Naomi, and Nikki Bella vs.
Natalya, Alexa Bliss, and Carmella was passable. Lynch was the babyface in
peril as she was isolated from her tag team partners for a huge chuck of the
match until she made the hot tag to Nikki. Nikki ran wild on Bliss and finally
got her hands on Carmella when she laid her out with the TKO. Bliss broke up
the pin and all hell broke loose. Things got sloppy down the stretch as there
were a few spots that were mistimed. Carmella locked Nikki in the Code of
Silence and David Otunga was very astute as he mentioned that the submission
hold would have a negative impact on Nikki’s surgically repaired neck. Nikki
tapped out which gave Carmella a signature win heading into the six pack
elimination challenge for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at Backlash.
·
I
was looking forward to American Alpha vs. The Usos in the semifinals of the Tag
Team Tournament. The Usos showed poor sportsmanship after they shook Chad Gable
and Jason Jordan’s hand only to attack them from behind. Then, the match ended
in less than a minute when American Alpha dropped Jimmy Uso with Grand
Amplitude to pick up the shocking win.
·
Things
got even crazier when Jimmy and Jey viciously attacked Gable and Jordan after
the match was over. They did the most damage to Gable as they targeted has leg
which left him writhing in pain as the segment came to a stunning conclusion.
·
I
guess the The Usos have turned full-blown heel and it’s long overdue. Considering how the match and aftermath were
laid out, I have no problem with how everything went down. American Alpha are
heading into the finals of the Tag Team Tournament at less than 100%. If
Gable’s injury is serious, will they withdraw from the finals? Will The Usos be
rewarded for being evil? Most importantly, did the path just get clearer for
Heath Slater and Rhyno to win the whole damn tournament?
·
Randy
Orton just pulled a page out of the Aesop’s Fables handbook by telling a story
about a man, rabbit, and snake and how the man and snake were after the same
prey. The man grabbed the dead rabbit, but the snake came from out of nowhere
and took them both out. It was a cool way to demonstrate that Orton can drop Wyatt
at a moment’s notice with an RKO. He is the Apex Predator for crying out loud. It’s
in his nature to stalk his target before he strikes. Will Wyatt be Orton’s next
victim? We shall find out on Sunday.
·
Fandango
invited a random lady to dance with him in the ring. She had no rhythm and he
dismissed her. Kane came out and chokeslammed Fandango for being an ass. This
was very baffling.
·
Rhyno
Gored Zack Ryder as he and Slater punched their ticket to the finals of the Tag
Team Tournament. Slater celebrated with his seven rent-a-kids at ringside. They
had red hair and it appears that Slater started having children right out of
high school. At least he’s a loving and responsible father to his fake
offspring.
·
The
Usos are fed up with being disrespected and their attack on American Alpha was
their breaking point. It’s about damn time that The Usos get booed for being
bad instead of getting heat because they are related to Roman Reigns. They
should thrive in this role and deliver stellar matches against American Alpha
as we head into the fall season.
·
The
closing segment involving Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles was very good. Both men
brought it on the microphone as Ambrose presented Styles with a participation
bowling trophy and claimed that would be the only thing Styles would be getting
from Ambrose. Styles dropped the trophy on the canvas and said that Ambrose
shouldn’t take him lightly. After all, he defeated John Cena at SummerSlam which
made him the new face that runs the place.
·
Ambrose
had a great comeback when he explained that Styles was a better wrestler than
Cena, but he was facing something completely different at Backlash. Styles
would be entering the battlefield where things get down and dirty. Their match
will not be a technical masterpiece as Ambrose vowed to retain the WWE World
Championship. The Champ had a parting shot for the Phenomenal One as he said
that trophies will not be handed out to the face that came in second place.
·
Styles
kicked Ambrose in the groin to return the favor from last week. He smashed the
trophy over his knee and stood over Ambrose as SD Live! went off the air.
·
Ambrose
talks a big game, but he needs to show it in the ring on Sunday. He has been
sleepwalking through his matches as of late and he can’t afford to phone it in
against Styles. Styles tends to bring out the best in his opponents and I hope
he can pull something out of Ambrose at the PPV. If not, I am going to have
serious doubts about Ambrose’s viability as a top tier star on the blue brand.
Here’s hoping that both men show up and show out this weekend.
·
Overall,
I thought tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live! was decent at best. It seemed as
if the show was in cruise control instead of hammering home the fact that there
is a PPV taking place on Sunday. The key matches were highlighted, but I
expected a bit more in terms of excitement and anticipation. I liked how Orton
and Wyatt traded bedtime stories to hype their match and The Tag Team
Tournament is heading towards an interesting conclusion as well. Miz and
Ziggler needed more mic time in order to get their feud over to the masses. They
had plenty of time to hash out their issues if that stupid Fandango segment was
cut from the show, but I digress.
·
The
main event managed to make the PPV seem important which salvaged things for me,
but I wished that passion reverberated throughout the broadcast as a whole.
Backlash should be a good show and I expect the men and women to have their
working boots on. Plus, there is no reason for this show to last three hours. A
tight two hour show should get the job done. Hopefully...
On
that note, this wraps up another edition of The SmackDown Files. I hope you
enjoyed it and I will be back next Monday with a brand new installment of The
Raw Exposé. See you later, boys and girls!
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