WWE Smackdown LIVE Best and Worse Moments
A Very Strong opening Changes Everything
I mentioned in last weeks Smackdown LIVE Best and Worse blog post that I was not the biggest fan of the ending of the show. I've mentioned it time and time again that I have never been the worlds biggest Dolph Ziggler fan struggling to jump on the band wagon and join the hype surrounding him and so when he picked up the win last weeks main event six-pack challenge over three superstars I would have preferred, three young up and comers I was not a happy bunny. I also made it clear that it would take a lot for me to gain an interest in this up and coming match and that over the next couple of weeks the WWE are going to have to start building up a story between these two superstars. Last night they did just that and I cannot believe just how much my opinions have changed. I've gone from strongly disliking this whole thing to absolutely loving it! This weeks episode kick started very strong with WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Dean Ambrose making his way to the ring to cut a promo witch actually was rather similar to the promo we saw Sasha Banks cut the night before. He spoke of his journey to the top, what he had to go through to get there and made it clear to the number one contender, the other men in the locker room and the WWE universe that there is no not a single person that will be able to take away that title from him. He then called out Dolph Ziggler in what was a planned segment for Ambrose that worked out perfectly. Exploiting Ziggler for all he his Ambrose took on the role of the heel in this story and it worked down to perfection. This one segment completely changed everyone's opinion on this "feud" and the up and coming SummerSlam match. There was a story built, one that anyone and everyone can get behind and one that just works. I said it last week and I'll say it again; Smackdown LIVE is being pushed as the place of opportunity. This feud highlights that. We have two superstars have had to fight from the bottom to get their way right to the top. We have a challenger who wants that title more than anything and champion who wants to hold onto that title more than anything, neither wanting to be pushed back down to the bottom.
Smackdown LIVE Continues to fail Women's Division
Again, in last weeks Best and Worse Moments post I wrote strongly about the women's division and how the first episode of the new era for Smackdown wasn't great for the women's division with nothing to fight for (despite Daniel Bryan announcing in a podcast that a women's title for Smackdown LIVE will be coming very soon) and an odd introduction to the division on the show that just didn't work. When you compare what we got on Monday Night RAW compared to what we have see on Smackdown we see a huge difference in the way the women's division is run. Last week on RAW we had a fantastic women's championship match that stole show and this week the women opened the show, competed in a mix tag team match and had another dominate showing from Nia Jax while on Smackdown LIVE we've had a small match between Becky and Natalya, an odd segment and an attack and it's just not good enough. To be fair we did have a nice story start up between Carmella and Natalya witch hopefully leads to something strong for Carmella and the start of her main roster career. But considering thats all we got from the women's division it's just not good enough. We have to talk about whatever that was from Eva Marie as well... I mean come on... seriously? I still have no idea whether or not that was a work but for everyone's sake I hope it was because it would be great for her character but if so she still could have done it better. This is supposed to be the era of Women's wrestling and it's about time Smackdown joined in.
Dolph Ziggler has a Point To Prove
I mentioned just a moment ago that the opening to this weeks Smackdown LIVE was as strong as it needed to be and it changed most people's general opinion of this WWE Championship feud heading into SummerSlam. We had a story really kick start and the roles where made clear. Now, the big part of this story is about Ziggler proving everyone wrong. Throughout the night we had everyone show they didn't believe in Ziggler, that they didn't believe he deserved the championship match or show they didn't believe in him. Ambrose, Bray Wyatt and even general manager Daniel Bryan and commissioner Shane McMahon hinted that they didn't quite believe he had it in him and so this created the foundation to this story. This now is about Dolph Ziggler proving himself to everyone, proving everyone wrong and he looked to start that last night. He changed his attitude and vowed to prove every single one of them wrong. At the start of the show Bray Wyatt challenged Ziggler to a one on one match that promised that if Ziggler walked away with a loss than Bray Wyatt would take his place at SummerSlam. I'll talk about the match itself in more detail a little later on but in throughout the main event we really got to see just how much Ziggler was willing to change things up and adapt himself and his attitude to work to his advantage. He channelled a much darker more intense side of himself and proved he would go to any lengths to pick up the victory including exposing the turnbuckle.
A New Number One Contender, a Different Star On Top?
I'll be honest, I wasn't sure if to make this a best or a worse moment considering the nature of it but I loved every single moment of this part of the show and how it was done that it just had to go in the best moments list. Now, during a backstage segment Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon announced that a triple threat would take place between Kalisto, Apollo Crews (or Creed), and Baron Corbin to determine the new number one contender for the Miz's Intercontinental Championship. I was actually really excited for this match. We have three former NXT Superstars fighting for what is still a very respected championship amongst hardcore fans. I was however disappointed with the match. I understand that Smackdown LIVE is a smaller show and they don't have as much time but I just think this match could have been a little longer and a lot lot better especially because we had three very very different and talented men. It was in the end Apollo Crews who walked away with the victory as I personally predicted but it was actually Baron Corbin who was left as the man we were all talking about. After attacking both Kalisto and the Miz after the match Corbin was the man we were all talking about and so it's going to be interesting seeing what happens between these four superstars over the next thew weeks and I have to admit that I'm very very interested!
American Alpha Finally Debut
When American Alpha were drafted to Smackdown LIVE a couple of weeks back I was left screaming at my TV and running around my living room at almost three AM. After following these for so long, watching them both grow and develop in NXT as both singles competitors and as a tag team I was so happy and proud to see them make the jump from developmental to the main roster after Jordan in particular had spent so long in NXT/FCW. I was of course very very disappointed not to see them make their main roster debut last week but it did give me something to really look forward too this week. Picking up a huge reaction both live in the arena and online Jason Jordan and Chad Gable, American Alpha finally made their debut live on Smackdown and what a debut they had indeed. Taking on former NXT Tag team champions The Vaudevillians a solid tag team match was one of the highlights of the night. American Alpha were of course the most over in this match having the crowd eating out the palm of their hands. They had everyone on their feet and brought back the energy to the room. Both stars looked strong and dominate and the pair together picked up a nice victory sending a message to the tag team division and the WWE Universe. They had a brilliant debut and already the biggest talk of the tag division today and now, I cannot wait to see what the WWE have coming up for these guys and I cannot wait to see what they are going to bring to Smackdown LIVE.
Brock Lesnar Evens the Playing Field
Overall I loved the fact that Lesnar played Orton at his own game and got a touch of revenge. I liked the set up throughout the night. We all knew or at least hoped that Lesnar would making an appearance on this weeks episode of Smackdown LIVE following what we saw on Monday Night RAW. Orton added fuel to the fire this past Monday when he attacked Brock Lesnar with an RKO literally out of nowhere to push this feud even further. He may not have supposed to have been on RAW but it made everything tie together and my interest when from ten to a hundred. It was of course only a matter of time until Lesnar got his revenge. Throughout the night last night Shane and Bryan made it clear that the same thing that happened on RAW would not be happening on Smackdown insuring that security would be tight int he building and would stand at ringside during Orton's match against Fandango later on in the show. However, all of this was not enough to keep the Beast out of course and last night he evened up the playing field hitting a brutal F-5 on Orton and soon being escorted out of the building. I was hopeing to see a little more and a touch more aggression from Lesnar but this really was a highlight of the night and now the scene really has been set for SummerSlam and I cannot tell you how excited I am for this match.
Bray Wyatt Stands Tall to Close Smackdown LIVE
This weeks Smackdown LIVE main event was without a doubt the highlight match of the night. As note earlier on, Bray Wyatt challenged number one contender Dolph Ziggler to a one on one match where if he managed to defeat Ziggler he would take his place at SummerSlam and instead be the one
to challenge Dean Ambrose for the WWE Championship. We have seen Ziggler and Wyatt cross paths before, we have seen a number of fantastic matches from the pair and so I was expecting some strong from these two to close the show and that is exactly what we got. They did not disappoint what so ever and gave a strong main event that ended the show on a high. Both looked great throughout and both brought something different to the match and both actually told a great story. I was completely hooked on the action and left on the edge of my seat thanks to several close calls. It was of course Ziggler who scored the win the assisted help from the exposed turnbuckle. However, after the match Wyatt proved to be far from finished with his opponent of the night and with Erick Rowan helping him out the two gave Ziggler a beating to remember but despite playing the heel of the feud Ambrose showed he wasn't completely on the dark side just yet and he was still willing to do the right thing. Stepping into the ring Ambrose looked to even the numbers however the Wyatts proved to be just too much and after attacking both Ziggler and the champ it was Wyatt who was left standing tall to close Smackdown LIVE this week. An interesting move but one I loved and one that geniuenly has left me excite for next weeks show to see how this story is going to develop and more importantly what is going to be waiting for Bray Wyatt following his actions and what he could possibly be looking at heading into SummerSlam.
EXTRA'S
A couple of extra's here; AJ Styles and John Cena took part in a fantastic segment that I noted as one of the highlights of the show. It was also announced that the two would once again do battle this time at the SummerSlam pay per view later this month. We also found out that next week Heath Slater will face Rhyno where if he picks up the victory he will earn a Smackdown LIVE contract.
I personally enjoyed this weeks episode of Smackdown LIVE far more than I did last week. It was a much much stronger show full of must see and important segments, debuts, and brilliant matches. As always you can let me know what you thought of the show by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria.
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