Read on for my thoughts on last night's Smackdown.
- Shane/Bryan/Slater/Orton backstage:
I like these little opening segments establishing what's happening on the show.
I love Slater eating crow to try to get back in the good graces of Shane and Bryan.
The Viper eating an apple was a clever reference.
- MizTV:
I'm kind of glad this is getting right to the chase. I hope Apollo makes an appearance.
Ziggler's character is too smug for me to get behind him as a face.
Stiff shot at the Ghostbusters reboot, which made its budget back but wasn't a huge hit.
I do really wonder what Ziggler's future is if he doesn't win the big one AGAIN.
Ziggler vs. Ambrose feels a little forced.
I wonder what Ziggler's goals really are. Does he really want to be the company guy or does he just want to talk about how the company doesn't get behind his hard work? Would he be happy as the smiling happy babyface talking about Sheamus' tater tots and appearing in kids movies?
That was a pretty good ending to the segment. It's now really personal.
- Miz/Apollo:
I'm glad Apollo did get something in on Miz.
- Ascension/Breezango/Vaudevillains vs. Usos/A. Alpha/H. Bros:
"Just throw all the tag teams together in one match I guess."
I love a big multi-man melee.
That was pretty fun. I assume there's a good chance we'll see tag team champions crowned at Backlash.
- Naomi vs. Eva:
Eva continuing to work Shane and Bryan into not wrestling. What's her end goal, in kayfabe? I guess to get paid her downside guarantee and skate by on looks.
- AJ/Del Rio segment:
I'm ready for AJ to get his chance against Cena.
Poor Alberto. I actually kind of want to see him threaten to put Bryan in the cross armbreaker in order to get a match. Goats can be perros, too.
- Hawkins video:
I'm not really crazy about a Chuck Norris Facts gimmick for Hawkins, but I guess they need to do something beyond "look who's coming to Superstars and Main Event!"
Also, Stephanie and Foley need to step up their free agent recruiting game. Smackdown's really beating them in that department. If it wasn't for Slater trying to reunite The Band, Raw wouldn't have even gotten Jinder.
- Orton vs. Slater:
A vicious streak form the Viper. I like it.
HEATH SLATER FINALLY GOT A WIN! THEY HAVE TO SIGN HIM NOW!
I like the taunting of Brock. "Poor" Slater being the victim again, but at least he gets to work with big names and has a regular TV role on both brands.
- Slater/Bryan/Shane backstage:
Slater's the MVP of the brand extension. This is pretty funny.
Nice plug for No Mercy.
Hilarious.
- Bray and Orton backstage:
That could be a pretty fun next feud. Them voices in yo head been lyin to you MAAAAN.
- Ambrose vs. Rowan:
This is alright so far as a conflict in styles. I wouldn't see Dean looks like WWE Champion material here, but that might be bias from seeing the days of much bigger man as the sole champion of the company.
I'm still not crazy about the rebound clothesline.
I'm a little surprised Bray didn't get involved.
I hope the Wyatts aren't splitting. I can live with it, but they're fun together.
- Carmella/Becky vs. Natalya/Alexa:
Natalya's great as a foil for the newer names to work off.
This is going pretty well so far.
Glorious Heel Eva Marie. I love how the same people who think the Young Bucks are genius meta-heels get worked by acts like Eva and Elias Samson.
That was pretty good overall. Backlash could definitely crown a women's champion and tag team champions. The first women's champion can then face off with Bayley.
- Corbin beats up Kalisto:
Kalisto could use some backup. Gran Metalik would make more sense on Raw with the Cruiserweight division. Otherwise, he'd be my pick.
- Cena vs. Del Rio:
I really miss Ricardo Rodriguez.
Del Rio's a really talented guy, but has trouble getting traction as a character.
These two always have good matches together.
Nice counters with the submissions.
I enjoyed Cena's version of Reigns' version of Hunico's one-arm powerbomb spot. I hope Sin Cara gets to keep it, though.
Nice ending. Cena vs. AJ's going to be really great.
- Cena/AJ segment:
I wish AJ talked more about why he's great instead of "I'm not Cena."
BAH GAWD CENA'S A MAN POSSESSED.
Summerslam could really be an epic show with some of these matches. Big ending to Smackdown.
More wrestling coming up.
Summerslam predictions:
ReplyDelete- If the Smackdown women's match is on Kickoff, I see the faces winning. Otherwise, I think Eva Marie will have a big moment. Either way, the more important match will be at Backlash when we could see Eva and either Becky or Bayley face off for the Women's Championship.
- Cesaro might as well start his series off with a win before he has to come from behind to win the series proper. I don't think they'd have him come from a 3-0 deficit to win, but that'd be the classic "against the odds" scenario.
- I'm hoping Apollo gets the upset (?), because it helps him more to win than it does for Miz to retain and it sets up the New Era for the title and all that. I don't think they would have had Darren win last month unless Ryder also won to take the U.S. Title to Smackdown. This month, they have a chance to elevate a new star without having to worry about Raw.
- Enzo and Cass winning as faces doesn't really do much for their feud. I see it continuing until one team goes into the title picture with either the Club or New Day. So, Enzo and Cass lose here to keep things going.
- I know I call for New Day losing EVERY. SINGLE. MONTH. and it never happens, but my rationale this time is the Big E injury angle and the possibility to do something big with The Club now that Balor's on the main roster. The fact Balor hasn't worked with his former NJPW buddies yet should mean they'll interact soon. There's the possibility of Anderson, Gallows, and Balor holding titles after the show, and I think they'll at least tease that possibility.
- Sasha retains unless there's a surprise injury or change of plans. We could see a Dana face turn soon.
- I would think Rusev wins after Roman beat him on Raw. The feud could well continue.
- I think AJ will win somehow to enter the WWE Title picture. I don't see why they'd job him out as one of few top heels on Smackdown.
- Ambrose losing to Ziggler so soon in his title reign would be a big disappointment and hurt his momentum. I think he retains.
- Rollins getting The Club to turn on Balor would be such a glorious heel move, and save Balor from a clean loss at a big stage. I don't see them having Balor turn heel so early, and Rollins winning clean would be anticlimactic. They COULD have Balor win and get beat down by The Club, but Rollins as champion again would seem to work better as far as setting up Balor as a top face.
- Brock vs. Orton is pretty intriguing after Brock's big test failure. Goldberg will be in town for WWE 2K17 hype, so a Brock/Goldberg feud could totally happen. Goldberg getting involved here would make sense to do that, save Brock from a clean loss and Orton from doing the job. Or, you know, we could get Suplex City again. It looks like Orton vs. Bray could be next.
As for other surprises, I haven't heard of any beyond the potential Club turn and Goldberg, which are both pretty big.
Solid and logical predictions. Let's see what happens. I do feel a bit bad for Young/O'Neil, as they're not even on the pre-show, despite being on Raw for the past couple of months.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you posted this before Eva's suspension, but I'm saying the "face" divas win. This is a disposable match, regardless.
I say Sheamus will win match No. 1. My justification is he's lost a number of matches to Cesaro already this past month, and he needs a big win. I think Sheamus has been very undervalued this year.
I say Miz will retain. I don't think Crews has gotten enough notoriety at this point to justify him winning the title. I think this feud may continue after Summerslam, so we'll see what happens.
You know this more than I do, but I think the Enzo/Cass and Jericho/Owens match may rest on how long Jericho stays on this current run. I can understand why they'd book an Enzo/Cass win here if they don't see Jericho staying long, which has been Jericho's worst enemy in booking. In a fair world, Jericho and Owens are too talented to lose to a relatively green/new team when they are much more established and make so much sense as a team. I say Jericho and Owens SHOULD and probably will win, but it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't.
I have also figured New Day will lose time and time again. Anderson/Gallows are similar to Apollo Crews in that I just don't think they've established themselves enough yet and haven't given us reason to believe they're the ones to take the titles off of a veteran team that has held them for a year. I say New Day retains.
Banks will retain. I see more potential in Charlotte than Banks, but unfortunately, one person can't hold a title for a decade.
I say Reigns will prevail. For him to take a "demotion" of sorts to the U.S. Title would be a little odd if it resulted in a loss. I say this feud will continue. At the least, if Rusev does find a way to retain, Reigns will win the title eventually.
Other than Balor, I say that Styles has the most to prove in this pay-per-view. If he loses, he'll be like to many others that just can't take that next step by beating Cena. If he wins, he'll have done it twice, and that's something that many have not done. This one will be a close one, but I'll say in classic Cena fashion that he will sneak out a win.
Ambrose vs. Ziggler is probably the easiest match to predict. I say Ambrose will win. I questioned the choice of Ziggler to be the one to face Ambrose when he's been booked fairly poorly the past six months, so it will be very hard to justify Ziggler winning the title here.
I say Rollins wins. It's obvious WWE sees a ton in Balor (reminiscent of The Shield) in that they want to keep him in the upper card. I just think a title win this quickly is a bit of a reach. Rollins is the safe bet to represent Raw as their champion. We'll see what happens from here with Balor and Rollins as a feud.
Brock and Orton will be close. I like the advertising standpoint of this being "15 years in the making." I see Lesnar winning this one, but Orton still making it a tough call and staying towards the bottom of the upper card even after a loss.
Goldberg's potential return would be interesting with regards to how he will fare. He is going to be 50, so like you mentioned with Shelton Benjamin, he will not be seen as a sustainable champion like a Rollins.
I guess they're saving Titus vs. Darren for TV going forward, since they've got a lot of time to fill each week.
ReplyDeleteThe Smackdown women's match is just a stepping-stone toward a women's title match anyway. I'm interested to see where they go with Eva out, since she was the top heel. Nikki would make sense in that role now that she's OK.
They definitely need an IC Title match for Backlash, so they could hold off Crews winning until then (if he wins at all).
Jericho's sticking around at least through WWE's tour of South America in October, but who knows how long he'll stay on TV. We might actually see a Jericho/Owens feud before he goes back to doing Fozzy. Enzo and Cass have a decent amount of experience as a duo, and are certainly over. Ultimately in-ring technique only counts for so much. Enzo and Cass aren't bad in that regard, but as always, it's a sports-entertainment contest instead of a match about the better athletes.
Anderson and Gallows were a big deal in Japan, but that was largely because they were a WWE-style team working as bad guys there. That effect is lost in WWE.
I'm never surprised when Cena wins, but I'd like to think a New Era would have him lose more. I believe he's missing Backlash, so they could have him lose here to set up a big return in October or whenever.
I doubt Goldberg would even win a title. I would think he'd just have a few big matches and go into the HoF. I would be surprise if his return lasts a year, and it would probably be a Brock/Sting kind of thing.