Read on for my thoughts on last night's Smackdown.
That was quite the good opening segment. Miz is easy to hate, so using him to get heat as a set up for Roman is good.
Quite the match between Ambrose and Cesaro. I expected nothing different! Both men are workhorses.
Interesting Rollins promo, and a pretty good one at that. Their match should be pretty good. It's an interesting choice of stipulation after all the wild brawls.
That was almost a face move from Kane to force the heel to compete. I liked the segment, but it was kind of inconsistent to characters.
Ziggler vs. Titus was pretty good for what it was. Titus isn't there to have amazing technical matches.
Good post-match with Slater Gator. I think there are really low odds of them being tag team champs, but it's fun to think about what they'd do.
Henry vs. Harper was good to set up a tag team feud. That's a lot of humanity in one ring.
I'm a little surprised we're getting this match now. It would have made sense to add that to Summerslam.
I don't think I'll ever be excited for a Big Show win. It's nothing against him personally. I've just seen him do pretty much the same thing for so long it makes me ready for something different. I guess this gives Harper and Rowan something to do while Wyatt's tied up with Jericho, for what that's worth.
Stephanie did quite a good job selling the match with Brie there. She's her father's daughter, that's for sure.
Damn you, Eva Marie! They couldn't have had Alicia get that spot instead? Eva Marie should be down in NXT, not beating the Divas' Champ (even in these circumstances).
The AJ/Paige feud is good stuff. Not AJ/Kaitlyn level, but at least it's note more Total Divas stuff.
HILARIOUS Bo/Swagger stuff. I wish they would have cut some Show/Henry/Wyatts stuff in favor of Bo telling Swagger to Bolieve before this match.
Good Lana promo. I'm ready for this match.
Another entertaining segment with Bo. He fits his character quite well.
Good way to end the show. I'm ready for Summerslam!
More wrestling coming up.
Summerslam predictions:
ReplyDelete- RVD vs. Cesaro could go either way. I think they'll give the local guy the win unless he's leaving again soon.
- AJ retains against Paige since she just recently became champion.
- Miz retains for the same reason. I think they'll try to keep him champion until BNB returns as a face.
- I think they just might have Swagger get the "upset". Obviously they're building Rusev pretty strong.
- Reigns over Orton. They obviously like Reigns a good deal.
- Wyatt hopefully gets a big win over Jericho to set up Round 3 next month.
- I think Brie vs. Stephanie has gone on long enough. Brie beating the non-wrestler should be the ending. I think WWE knows that.
- Ambrose seems likely to win since Rollins keeps the briefcase no matter what.
- I could easily see Brock winning to go on a long road to WM31 without a ton of title defenses. I could also see a surprise Rollins cash-in (maybe that's Heyman's deal with HHH?). Brock beats him down, so Rollins can cash in. They've got a number of directions.
Before I dive into my suggestions, I wanted to mention I totally agree about Eva Marie being in the minors. For her to "upend" A.J. twice is basically a slap in the face. She has a TON of work to do and it definitely is a slap to the integrity of the Divas Title and for all of the hard work A.J. has put in to make it to the top. Eva has a lot of intangibles going for and could be a force in the future, but it's WAY too early to have her upending A.J. numerous times, even if it was more about hyping Paige/A.J.'s match.
ReplyDeleteRVD/Cesaro features two talented guys in a match that wasn't hyped at all. Cesaro has taken a bit of a tumble, but so has RVD. I will say RVD will get the better of Cesaro to get the crowd hyped. Just a shame it's a meaningless match with how talented both are.
I'll go with A.J. Paige has constantly gotten the better of her, which shows WWE is high on her, but I see A.J. keeping the title. We'll see who ends up dethroning A.J. in the future.
I'll take Miz. Ziggler has constantly been in that spot where he will win a non-title match against the champion, but will fall short in the title match.
The Swagger/Rusev match will be close, but I'll go with Swagger with it being "U.S. vs Russia. I don't see the second major pay-per-view the company has resulting in Russia upending the U.S. What do you think the justification is/was of Rusev getting the better of Swagger in the latest live events?
I'll go with Reigns. If you were to say two years ago that Roman Reigns would upend Randy Orton at the second biggest pay-per-view out there, I'd say you were insane. WWE is clearly high on him for him to upend Orton here, but it will probably happen. Where do both men go from here?
It's pretty axiomatic that Bella will win. It would make little sense to have a non-wrestler constantly get the better of the wrestler and also win at SummerSlam. Will Daniel Bryan make an appearance to hype up the crowd??
I'll also go with Ambrose. I don't see Rollins cashing in any time soon, so it won't hurt him all that much to lose. He has gotten the better of Ambrose virtually ever week, so it wouldn't make much sense to see Ambrose lose his momentum. He is very talented and I see a very bright future for him, as well as Rollins. Do you think Rollins and his MITB reign will end up like Ziggler's and result in a title win or do you think it will end up like Sandow and result in an unsuccessful result?
Cena/Lesnar is tough to call with so much on the line and I agree there are so many directions to go. On one hand, WWE is making this Cena title reign seem special, so losing it relatively early would not make too much sense in that regard. Also, Lesnar may not even be a full-time competitor as champion. However, there is truth to what you mentioned about Lesnar being able to draw in more fans. With this being sports entertainment and with the WWE Network slipping, that may sway WWE in Lesnar's favor. I'll say Cena, but I'm not certain by any stretch.
There are definitely better Divas down in NXT than Eva Marie from a "workrate" standpoint of being skilled at the in-ring portion, so I'm disappointed she's in that position.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely feels like WWE doesn't know what to do with Cesaro or RVD. I don't see RVD ever really being a top force again since he doesn't want to be a full-timer and I don't think HHH is a big fan of his.
For Paige to be on the main roster AT ALL at 21 is a big vote of confidence. She was a top prospect in NXT, and not just for Divas.
Ziggler does that role really well, which is both a blessing and a curse as far as a push goes.
The fact Rusev still hasn't lost after this long is a sign they like him. Those live events could just be "rehearsals" to see how fans react. WWE needs to have a plan for both guys going forward.
There continues to be talk of Reigns being a top babyface, potentially even leaving WM31 with the title. There's a lot of time between now and then, though. Reigns vs. HHH seems logical. I could see Orton turning face and feuding with Kane given their issues.
I'd like to think they'd have advertised Bryan if he was going to be there. He's still at least a few months from recovering.
Rollins could be holding that briefcase for a good while. I'd really like to think WWE is behind him whether he wins the title or not. If the champ (whomever that may be) gets hurt, a Rollins cash-in is an easy "out" for the situation. I think he's got a good shot at cashing in, but it could be 2015 before he does it.
Lesnar will almost definitely not be a full-time competitor. I'd be a little surprised if he appears every Raw and PPV. He's a special attraction and would probably be content to retire from WWE if he didn't have such a great deal.