Read on for my thoughts on last night's Smackdown.
Owens' opening segment was great. He's one of the best things in wrestling.
I love these segments setting up the matches later in the night. I hope these are a regular thing after the draft.
Miz is always really enjoyable as a heel, too.
That was a pretty good Ambrose promo. He's better when he focuses on the wild part of his personality.
- Sasha vs. Dana:
I like Sasha trying to win right off the bat. Why drag things out if you don't have to?
I really like how these two face off. Their styles mesh quite well.
That was pretty fun. Dana's doing well on the main roster so far. She's in good hands with Charlotte and Sasha working with her.
Fine post-match.
I'm glad Rusev and Lana are back together. As much as I loved Rusev calling her a fish and all that, they work together well.
- Rusev vs. Ziggler:
Ziggler's a great wrestler, but I've seen him do the same thing way too many times to invest in him as a character. He's been in the same place on the card for years.
These two mesh well, too. Ziggler has finesse and Rusev is a tank.
I appreciate Ziggler trying to get the sleeper over.
This is quite impressive.
Kind of a sloppy ending.
Rusev rebounded well from the loss. Turnbuckles don't hold grudges, though.
Really fun stuff from Enzo and Cass.
- AJ/Anderson vs. Enzo/Cass:
I love the dynamic between Enzo and Cass. It's a nice break from teams like the Usos where both members do similar things.
Pretty good work by both sides so far.
Styles is always impressive.
I'm liking the strategy of working over Enzo.
Solid match overall. Good ending.
I'm not really crazy with the UFC plugs, given how much of a douche Dana White is.
- Breeze vs. Kalisto:
This is OK. Kalisto can be too flippy at times. All the spots people do blur together after a while.
That was mostly good. A little short, though.
It's good Miz introduced Backlund for the large part of the audience unfamiliar with his earlier work. Little Jimmy wasn't even alive when he was WWE Champion.
Miz burying Young's accomplishments was great. Obviously it threw his opponent under a bus, but it was at least in a really funny way.
Miz has headlined more Wrestlemanias than Backlund has.
I think Miz carried that segment, but that's more on him being hilarious than Darren not being good. Young as champion would be a good roll of the dice.
I really wanted a segment where R-Truth called Shane "Eric Bischoff" or something. Crazy Troof is fun at times.
Wait... really? Shane needs to make Charlotte defend the title. But that is a perfect opportunity to call Bayley up. Obviously Sasha and Bayley aren't friends and shouldn't be treated as such, but that doesn't mean they can't have a mutual goal because Sasha recognizes how good the former NXT Women's Champion is.
- Ambrose vs. Owens:
Well, that didn't last long.
NOW HOLD UP JUST A MINUTE NOW PLAYAS. LOOKS LIKE WHAT WE NEED IS A STRAIGHT-UP.... TAG TEAM MATCH! HOLLA HOLLA HOLLA! They need to have Teddy Long on-hand just to pop up and do that every once in a while.
- Owens/Rollins vs. Zayn/Ambrose:
This is pretty chaotic, but that makes more sense than them competing to see who's the better team or whatever.
Ugggggghhhh I hate synchronized dive spots. ESPECIALLY in matches that are supposed to be between people who hate each other.
I'm liking the work of the heels here.
The action here's quite good, but definitely doesn't seem like a fight between bitter rivals. Too flippy and fancy.
GOD it's an ROH match where everyone just does lot of moves.
Glad that ended when it did.
I hope their Battleground matches feel like fights between heated rivals instead of showing off who has the best moves.
More wrestling coming up.
I thought the Miz TV segment was decent. I think WWE wants to use Young in small doses and not have him turn into this over-talkative, aggressive person so quickly. For what it was, I think he showcased some of that aggression he showed in NXT (crazy to believe that was six years ago already!!) and it was a good start on the road to more notoriety.
ReplyDeleteOn one side of the coin, I think for him to get repackaged and win that very crowded battle royal all for him to lose at the pay-per-view would seem a bit unreasonable. Then again, playing devil's advocate, he has a lot to prove for WWE to have confidence in him enough to beat Miz and put the title on him. I'm seeing maybe a DQ ending at the pay-per-view. If WWE is sold on him enough, they may see how he fares with his performances before, during, and shortly after the next pay-per-view to then decide what happens. I think they're probably undecided at this point as to what to do with him. It's good to see him getting a decent push at this point, though.
What are your thoughts on his progress and also what will happen from here?
I definitely think we'll see Young and Backlund speak/do more after the draft as each brand will need new/fresh acts to stand out. This is an important opportunity for him to break through as a singles act.
ReplyDeleteYoung winning at Battleground would seem a little out of nowhere to me given he just returned to action on TV. I personally think they'll need to do more to see what he can do in this role in front of live, televised audiences before putting the title on him, but they might want to really roll the dice for the new brand split with Ryder and Young winning singles gold. Miz and Young have worked quite a bit on live events lately, so they should be able to pull something good out at the PPV. Both men have strengths that can combine to make a solid match.
My biggest problem with the act is it pretty much came out of nowhere. I would have liked it more if they spent time establishing why Young needs a life coach and the process of choosing Backlund. I really wonder how many current fans are familiar with the Hall of Famer, his history, and his finisher. They jumped right into them working together without much in the way of backstory. They have given the pair a lot of vignettes, though, so if everyone involved brings their A+ game at the PPV and beyond, it can work.
Young needs to "reintroduce" us to who he is in the ring, maybe pull out some new tricks and that kind of thing. How has Backlund's training paid off? What specifically has he learned in the ring, beyond the chicken wing? I'd like to think Bob would know some tricks from an earlier era he could pass on. It's also important Miz sells this new transformation. The chicken wing sounds and looks like a goofy finisher; Miz needs to fight to avoid it, get to the ropes, etc. so it looks lethal enough to win a match. Miz being surprised at Young's tenacity works, too. The cheap way to do this is to have Young kick out of a SCF, but I'd rather him kick out with Maryse putting Miz's feet on the rope or some other kind(s) of heel tactics.
While Battleground and the remainder of the feud will be important, the real test will be when they have to work with people who aren't as naturally heat-worthy as Miz and Maryse. The end goal should be for Young and Backlund to be an entertaining act people will keep wanting to see beyond Young's technical wrestling ability.