WWE Smackdown LIVE Highlights: Is the Blue Brand Losing its Touch?
Is Jinder Mahal's Push Finally Working?
One of the biggest surprises we have seen in the world of wrestling in twenty seventeen is Jinder Mahal's main event push. Moving over to Smackdown LIVE from Monday night RAW following the brand split Jinder has surprised as us all over the past month becoming one of the most talked about WWE superstars thanks to his surprising main event push. The move came completely out of nowhere and kick started when Jinder won a number one contenders six pack challenge match with the winner facing Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at Backlash. I remember watching this, laying on my sofa slowly falling asleep and then being completely surprised to see Jinder Mahal of all people take home the victory. Jinder. This was a match that had the likes of Sami Zayn competing in it and for Jinder to get the win was completely out of the blue and while the rumors had been surfacing prior to the show that night I still didn't really believe he would get the win in the end. Now, since then Jinder has come under a lot of heat. Since arriving on the scene he hasn't really even been given a push or work that has established him as a main event, top star. He hasn't really even had a standout match on the main roster. Sure he competed in a couple of solid singles matches down in NXT when that really got kick started but nothing else has really led anyone to believe Jinder is a man we should believe is top star material. And so when he was given this big push out of nowhere fans didn't take too well to it including myself. I hated the fact that a man we haven't seen much of in the space of five years is now being given this huge push when there are so many other stars that I believe to be more worthy taking into consideration the consistent work from those men. However, I have to say that slowly my opinions are changing. We as fans are always complaining about seeing the same thing. The same superstars main eventing, the same kind of booking and we are constantly asking for something new. However, the moment we are given something new we complain because it isn't quite what we wanted. Here we have a superstar who has worked his butt off over the years and who has been working his entire career for this moment. Sure the WWE could have gone about things differently. Built up his push so it made sense at least. Shoving him in a WWE Championship feud with Randy freaking Orton out of nowhere was never going to go down well but Jinder has been working to prove his critics wrong. While we are yet to see a standout in ring performance from him his character development is really strong right now. He's getting better on the mic the more we see him and the alliance of the Singh brothers means that he has something that the WWE can really work on and develop as time goes by. So far I have to say that I'm really starting to enjoy what we are seeing from Jinder. During the show last night he was able to pick up a victory over AJ Styles and while he had some work from the Singh brothers and Kevin Owens a win is a win and it works towards building his momentum. Now, as far as Sunday goes, Smackdown LIVE don't have a main event WWE Championship match that will draw in fans. This isn't the type of match that will draw the attention of casual fans which is a surprising move for the WWE but we can see the efforts they are going to to make this work. This weekend Jinder must standout. He has got to have a killer match that has us all turning our heads. I'm not expecting to see the title change hands but he must make an impact if he wants fans to get on board fully and believe in him and his push.Sami Zayn vs Baron Corbin Feud not Receiving Correct Build
It's no secret that Baron Corbin and Sami Zayn are two of my favorite WWE superstars. Both NXT graduates the pair have always been captivating stars that I have been hugely keen on throughout the years. The two men clearly posses completely different styles, skill, and appearance but have the potential to work a pretty strong feud and a promising match that could surprise us all. Now, during this weeks episode of Smackdown LIVE it was announced that Corbin and Zayn will collide this Sunday at the Backlash pay per view. The two have been feuding for a short while but the WWE have taken a slightly different approach, a more NXT style. Now, I was talking to one of my friends last night and he told me that he wasn't a fan of the build up to this match. He expressed the fact that he felt there wasn't enough of a story being told and that a lot more could be being done. While I agree that we could be given more of a story between these two I like the slower approach. For once we aren't seeing a feud rushed and shoved down our throats. Here we have the opportunity to slowly build on something and allow a feud to grow as the weeks go by. What I love about this is the potential. There really is a story to be told here. This isn't a unique, crazy storyline. this is a story between the big gut monster heel and the ultimate underdog baby face, not to mention their NXT careers is something that could find its way into the story. Now, the backstage work we saw between these two last night wasn't the best. I'm really not a fan of Corbins mic work and while he's beat downs always look good whenever he speaks I have to admit I still cringe a little. Putting all that aside however I am looking forward to their match this Sunday. I'm hoping that they are given a lengthy amount of time to really showcase what they can do. I know that if they were able to work a solid twenty minuets or so they would seriously impress and could actually have the match of the night. Got to say I have really high expectations of this one and while the build up might not be to everyone's taste I am really enjoying this.No Womens Championship match Booked for Backlash
If there is one thing I'm really not happy about heading into this Sunday's Backlash pay per view its the fact that there is no Smackdown LIVE Women's Championship match on the card. Now, I understand why, there has been a decent story between the Welcoming committee and Lynch, Naomi, and Charlotte. However, I really don't like the fact the title will not be defended on pay per view. They still could have find a way to get a championship match on the cards. Depending on how you want to look at the Welcoming Committee and if the WWE have any plans on building something from this little group in the near future you could have had one of the girls (looking at the little moments we have had between Naomi and Carmella and James Elsworth, a title match between the two would work just fine) compete for the championship and while the other two face off against Charlotte and Becky. That way we get to test to see how well Becky and Charlotte can work together considering their history. If I was booking that I would have focused on showing Charlotte to still struggle with working as a team, believing shes the best and not needing Becky or Naomi by her side. While the champ defends her title against Carmella later on in the night. Again, the booking of those matches really would have depended on where you see the Welcoming Committee going. Now, I really like the idea of these girls (and James) working together, the little faction works and I really do hope its something the WWE continue to build up and work on. The show last night saw the contract signing between the six women for the six women tag team match take place. Following that Carmella and Naomi did go one on one in a non title match. I may not be the biggest fan of the Backlash women's match set to take place but I do have hope on the division growing over the next few months. I'd love to see Billie Kay, Peyton Royce or Asuka make their way to the Blue brand. The division is in need of more names and new faces could be exactly what the division needs. Hopefully we still get some impressive work between the six competing women on Sunday night.Smackdown LIVE Roster is Set to Grow
During the superstar shakeup we learnt that the New Day, Lana, and Rusev would all be making their way to Smackdown LIVE. Three of the biggest names to be drafted to the blue brand during the shakeup, these were the promising names that I had to leave myself to believe would give Smackdown LIVE the advantage and keep them on top somehow. However, none these superstars are yet to debut for Smackdown LIVE and while the WWE have been teasing their arrival since the start of the superstar shakeup we are yet to see any of them make a TV appearance. Now, I understand that Kofi and Rusev both suffered in injuries and so the wait is to be expected. Now, for weeks we have been seeing video packages hyping the return of these superstars and Rusev in particular has been right at the forefront. I really am hoping that the WWE have big things planed for all of these superstars but there really is n other superstar more worthy of a big push than Rusev. He really has been underutilized and I'm hoping that his return will see him finally given the big main event push we all know he deserves.Over the weekend I will be live tweeting throughout both NXT Takeover Chicago and of course Backlash. Also, the next few weeks are going to see me really focus more on Smackdown LIVE. I want to start dedicating certain months to specific brands and Smackdown LIVE will be the first I touch on this. Today's post will be the first in the series and you can look forward to seeing more Smackdown LIVE based content over the next few weeks. A review/ highlights post of both NXT Takeover and Backlash will also be uploaded next week! As always any recent blog posts will be linked bellow and you can let me know what you thought of last nights show by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria.
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