Smackdown Review and Reactions 28/1
This past week on Monday night RAW The Rock made a massive return and took part in one of the best segments I have seen in years with the New Day. Last night on Smackdown the tag team champions came down to the ring to kick start the show and address what happened on RAW this past Monday. Keeping things entertaining as usual, the New Day were able to keep a smile on my face and hooked on their every word. I know I have said it about a billion times before but I cannot put into words just how genuinely funny I find these three superstars. They remain, for me, the most entertaining superstars on the roster. Every single week I honestly look forward to and wait for their segment of the night. They guarantee entertainment, sure to give us some phenomenal mic work and solid match that keeps the fans talking about them. Their little promo last night was however cut short when the Miz made he's presences known sharing he's issues with the Rock also, creating an alliance for the night with the tag team champions. If I'm being honest I lost a lot of interest the moment the Usos came out. I know I know I know, I have said it over and over again and the entire world knows I'm the biggest Usos hater in the world but I'm genuinely getting so bored of Jimmy and Jey that it's actually getting frustrating. I aint denying their talent and touch of charisma at all. I know they are great all round performers but when any superstar is shoved down my throat for too long I'm going to loose more and more interest. In my personal opinion I don't find them entertaining or worth the hype in the slightest and I seriously believe that another tag team should be getting a push and reciting the attention that the Usos are getting. And yes, I am still reeling from the fact that a tag team that weren't working together because of an injury for six months won tag team of the year. Anyway, rant over and after interrupting the New Day and The Miz, the Usos joined forces with Titus O'Neil and Dolph Ziggler for the opening match up.
I'll be honest, I really didn't have a lot of interest in this match for all the obvious reasons. It was just typical Smackdown tag team booking. I wasn't hooked, or interested, or even entertained and the only reason I continued to watch and pay any attention was completely because of the New Day. When you put those three superstars and the Miz together it creates a seriously charismatic team that is almost untouchable in that sense. The early parts of this match saw Jey Uso take full control of the Miz with the former WWE Champion failing to get any offence again Jey. To be completely honest it was both Jimmy and Jey who spent a great deal of time in control of this match dominating the Miz and the New Day keeping the pace of the match on their side and making the match about them as much as possible. A drop kick from Kofi Kingston to Dolph Ziggler was the turning point that saw the heels take over. Throughout the match the team of the New Day and the Miz seemed to work really well together with regular tags mainly taking it to Ziggler who took time to get some momentum going until eventually making the tag to another Uso. Personally, I didn't feel like there was a need for Ziggler and Titus in this match. It didn't feel like they really had a place or reason to be competing in the match. They were just adding the numbers and that was it. Both had a couple of solid spots but nothing that made them really stand out. This match was all about continuing the feud between the Usos and the New Day and there is no doubt about that. I am one hundred and ten percent growing more and more bored of this feud. I'm desperate to see something different and new competition for the New Day. It's most probably time to start thinking about bringing up an NXT tag team or looking further into the division up on the main roster. I also want to quickly touch on the fact that I do still feel as though Titus O'Neil is need of a singles push. I will be speaking about him in more detail in an up and coming blog post but like I have said before, he has been working on the roster for a good several years now and with he's charisma and in ring potential he could really be something special and should at least be chasing after the US championship in the next couple of months. So I'm hopeing that the matches from this point onwards are all leading up to that big singles push including what we saw last night. He really showcased he's power last night and it was great to see and he did pick up the victory witch was even better to see and was really refreshing. The final parts of this match really did allow Ziggler and Titus to prove they had a place in this match up. A decent start to the show. A typical Smackdown tag team match but the closing moments where something to really pay attention to.
Up next, two former NXT Graduates go one on one as Adrian Neville took on the United States champion Kalisto. I was really looking forward to this match and super glad it was booked for a show. I always get a great feeling when I see two former NXT Superstars go one on one and compete with or against one another. A sense of pride almost. NXT Fans will probably get what I mean. The month of January has been a great month for Kalisto. No superstar has had a better start to the year than the lucha competitor. In the space of three weeks he has managed to become a two time United States Champion, defying the odds and leading a new revolution for cruiser weights in the WWE. I will admit that I was never really sure how Kalisto would fair working as a singles competitor but he has been doing absolutely amazing. Everything he has done this month has been golden and he really has proven me and I'm sure many other wrong. He really is growing to become one of my current favourites, the more I watch him the more I adore him! As for Neville he's been a little more quiet recently. He's had a couple of stand out performances and moments but we all know that he is capable of much more than what he has been booked for. Seeing him take on Kalisto for the championship last night was a nice little shake up. It's great seeing two former NXT stars and two smaller talents go at it and put on something very very special. I personally had very high expectations of this match. Following the careers of both these superstars for so long I know that they capable of delivering a phenomenal match and they did not let me down at all last night. Straight away the match proved to be as fast paced, action packed and exciting as I was predicting it to be. It was counter after counter, high risk after high risk, near full after near full. It was such an exciting, entertaining match to watch and I honestly could have watched the two of them go at it for another fifteen minuets or so. It defiantly made me very happy with the decision I made to tune in and watch Smackdown this week. I did not want it to end. It was also great seeing a championship match on Smackdown again. Regularly defending the championship and against such diverse superstars will only work in the favour of Kalisto. A fantastic performance from both superstars, very very impressive. Kalisto of course picked up the win retaining he's championship but Neville had a performance just as strong and impressive.
As announced this past Monday on RAW Chris Jericho would be hosting another edition of the Highlight reel with special guest Roman Reigns and the Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose. The reason this highlight reel was such a big deal because of course this past week on RAW we also saw Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns announced as two of the superstars who would be competing in a triple threat match at Fastlane in three weeks time alongside Brock Lesnar with the winner facing Triple H at Wrestlemania for the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.I haven't really commented on this over the past week just because if I'm honest I hate the idea of this triple threat. I mean don't get me wrong I'm interested in seeing how it plays out and of course I'm proud of Ambrose in particular for earning a major spot in a major pay per view main event but I can't help but feel this is ridiculously predicable. We all know the Wyatts will be costing Lesnar the match and Reigns will go on to face Triple H at Wrestlemania. And that's fine, I have predicting that Mania match since December but my issue is that I feel as though the WWE are going full circle with Roman Reigns and instead of going forward and proving a point that they are just going backwards and they are going to find themselves in a similar situation they were in after the two thousand and fifteen Royal Rumble with Reigns. But I'm hopeing the WWE can prove me wrong and they keep the championship on HHH until Seth Rollins makes a return, hopefully with something up their sleeve for Mania. As for Ambrose I'm seriously hopeing that we get a one on one with him and a heel Chris Jericho at Mania witch at this point seems very likely. Anyway, back to last night and this was a very light hearted edition of the highlight reel. This was three baby faces with three very different characters taking part in what was a strong segment. They pushed the Fastlane pay per view, the main event, and Wrestlemania really well. Now, if you really want a reason to tune into the Fastlane pay per view and especially the main event then I advise you to seriously go check out he's recent interview with Michael Cole on WWE.com because it was absolutely amazing. Despite their strong friendship Reigns and Ambrose made it perfectly clear that Fastlane was every man for themselves and that little set of issues that the pair had during their Shield kind of shined through last night and it was great to see. Now, the Wyatts did interrupt this segment and I don't really have an issue with that. They are keeping themselves relevant and in the spotlight/main event picture and I like to think there is something much stronger waiting for him around the corner.
The Social Outcast were up next with a little promo basically bitching about AJ Styles. I ain't going to lie, I am loving the idea of the Social Outcasts. They are four very underutilised superstars who all deserve more than they get and when you put them together you just get something very very entertaining. Now, of course this wasn't about the Social Outcasts at all and it was all about the phenomenal one AJ Styles. If you would like to hear what I think about the arrival of AJ Styles in the WWE then let me know in the comments bellow. Looking to keep momentum at an all time high, Styles took on Curtis Axel, the man he eliminated in the Royal Rumble this past Sunday. I have mentioned it before but I do think Axel is extremely underutilised. Such a great in ring competitor but has never truly had the time or the spotlight to prove that. Throughout the match Styles had to deal with the rest of the Social Outcasts as ringside who regularly made their presences known trying to assist Axel in a victory but they fell flat with Styles picking another victory as the momentum keeps growing for AJ Styles. I have to admit it's still crazy hearing he's name on a WWE show!
Divas action next as Natalya took on the divas champion, Charlotte. I cannot believe that it has been almost two years since these two "divas" put on one of the greatest women's wrestling matches I have ever seen back at NXT Takeover. For anyone that has seen that iconic match you will know that these two are capable of putting on a phenomenal match, one that puts every diva and every superstars on hold. I still am hopeing that we get to see a rematch between the two, a proper one that is of the same length as their NXT match and a full on feud because it really would be Wrestlemania quality and worthy and I hope it is something the WWE seriously consider for the near future. Now, Natalya will do down in history as one of the most underutilised talents in the WWE. We all know that she is a phenomenal wrestle capable of so much it is so frustrating seeing her barley used with the WWE never even touching anywhere near her capabilities. I would honestly do anything to see her get the big push that she deserves but I just can't see it happening and it's such a shame. The match last night was under five minuets, ridiculous. For the very little time that they did have they put on a solid match with some great spots, had they had another ten minuets than this could have been something great. After the match Becky Lynch came to the aid of Nattie after Charlotte continued to attack the former champion, sending a massage. Now, I know I'm going to get a lot of hate for this but I really wish Becky was back in NXT. I am planning on doing a whole separate post on this in the up and coming weeks so keep an eye out for that but I just haven't felt her feud with Charlotte and every single part of me does not want to see it go on. Yes it makes sense and for once the writing for a divas storyline has been strong but I just aint sold and I feel as though there was till a lot more for her to do in NXT. For me it's still all about Sasha Banks and I am one hundred and ten percent pulling for as the next divas champion. The divas Wrestlemania match is looking to be Sasha Banks VS Charlotte VS Becky Lynch at this point.
Main event time and after their early altercation the Wyatt family took on Chris Jericho, the intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose, and former WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Roman Reigns. A predicable main event but one I was looking forward to for obvious reasons. A bunch of my favourite superstars were competing and I was very happy to once again see Bray Wyatt compete. I love watching Wyatt compete and the more we see him wrestle the better. These two teams of course know each other very very well. We have seen them take each other on before in the past in tag team action. It was back then that we actually saw some tensions between Chris Jericho and former Shield partners Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, something that has never really been addressed since. Last night saw the Wyatts work exceptionally well together as per usual. It was great seeing more of Luke Harper. You all know that I am a massive Luke Harper fan and you know that I strongly believe he is one of the most under utilised superstar in all of the WWE. I still strongly feel as though he is the best wrestle of the Wyatt family clan and that is something I will never be letting go of. The early stages of this match saw Jericho in action for he's team and while he started out strong the size advantage from the Wyatts meant that he found himself take a strong beating from the opposing team. The pace of the match however changed the moment the tag was made and the Intercontinental champion Dean Ambrose stormed into the ring. What was great about this match was everyone had a place and everyone had a moment to stand out and hit a great spot. Even Erick Rowan
The night as a whole was actually pretty decent. We had a couple of solid matches with my favourite easily being Kalisto VS Adrian Neville, I thought we got some true original and fantastic work between them. The all round booking for the show actually made a lot of sense and I found myself really interested in most of the action. I would say it was worth a watch. Feel free to let me know what you thought of the show by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at
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