Sin city Smackdown eh? Seems suitable given how much they’ve been gambling the future of their most prominent stars. Eh? Tough crowd. Anyways, I’m James Toal and I’ll be covering SmackDown this week. I’ll slowly be taking over this site until it becomes my own personal playground but before that… Welcome to the most must-see Vulture Hound weekly review in history; welcome to… The SmackDown Review.
Opening this week was Kevin Owens who came out and deemed SmackDown Live to be the Kevin Owens show. He stated his plans to sue everyone in the WWE until SmackDown Live is no more, Even wanting to fire some people like Sami Zayn, and wanting Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton to wear a two man suit as they’re pretty much the same person (his words, not mine). He went too far though, saying he wanted to cancel the Fashion Files. He then proceeded to call out Mr McMahon. But, Twist! Shane’s music played. Double Twist. Dolph Ziggler came out imitating Shane, oh… great.
Kevin and Dolph engaged in banter and as soon as that was over, some order was finally restored when General Manager Daniel Bryan made his way down the ring. Mr Bryan explained that the fun and games are over, even as Owens stated that Bryan will be able to become janitor once it’s the Kevin Owens Show. We were told that Mr McMahon will be there shortly and we’ll see what both men have to say to each other. I appreciate that Kevin is being made to be a big deal and a genuine threat to WWE programming, he’s always been an entertaining heel and knows exactly what to do to get a reaction from the crowd. Hopefully, they can keep this momentum going.
Meanwhile, in the first match of the night. AJ Styles defended his US championship against Tye Dillinger. The match seemed to be going into AJ’s favour, until the buried- I mean, brutal Baron Corbin attempted to interfere. AJ knocked him off the ring apron easily but then Dillinger made his move and looked like he may just win. The title almost switched hands as Tye managed to hit the Tye Breaker but as his knee wasn’t exposed, the pin only went to 2 ½.
In the end, AJ successfully retained his championship and both men showed sportsmanship with a handshake. However, Baron Corbin made his presence known by hitting the End of Days on AJ and proclaimed that next week, he’ll be facing Corbin for that title. Well, there goes Tye back into the obscurity once again. Who knows when they’re going to trot him back out and actually give him something to do that’ll develop his character.
The Other Bits:
– Rusev was interviewed about his absence after his loss at Summer Slam, saying he came back to his family in Bulgaria as a loser. He knows what he needs to do, break a legend.
– Backstage, Kevin Owens talked to Sami Zayn about the past and their dreams, boasting about him going to own WWE and working under him. Sami simply said he’d rather go back to the old days rather than work for Owens
– The New Day took on The Uso’s in a Sin City Street Fight for the Tag Team Championships. After a thrilling match, The New Day is once again SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions.
– Naomi took on Natalya for the SmackDown Live Women’s Championship. As Natalya locked in the sharp shooter, she stared down with Carmella and Naomi had to tap out. Natalya retained her championship
– Aiden English practised his singing backstage, but a smiling Kevin Owens approached him in order for him to make a new theme song for the Kevin Owens Show.
– Dolph Ziggler came out and did a similar routine as last week. This time he decided to mock Bayley, Ultimate Warrior, I even think we ended with the same exact words as last week.
– The Hype Bros faced off against Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable. A quick match that ended with Gable & Benjamin winning and Zack Ryder leaving without shaking hands with his opponents
I was going to put this promo coming up in “The Other Bits”, but this really needs addressing. The WWE Champion Jinder Mahal (can’t believe this is still going) made his way to the ring to talk about his upcoming match with Shinsuke Nakamura at the Hell in a Cell PPV.
He then cut a promo by mocking Shinsuke’s’s facial expressions saying he looks constipated, using toilet humour, calling him a rip off of Michael Jackson, and even saying one of his faces looks like he’s about to scream “Godzilla!”… Jesus Christ. But no, it didn’t stop there. You see the point of all this was that Jinder was telling Nakamura that these would the type of insults he would receive if he became champion. Yeah he’s like that friend that says “no offence” after saying something that would deliberately offend you. Jinder expressed that the American people won’t accept him and just laugh at him by saying he’s “Pikachu having a seizure”. Here’s a tip guys, don’t try to counteract racism with even more racism.
Kevin Owens and Mr McMahon finally confronted each other face to face. Vince talked about the fact that Owens “respects authority” when he didn’t fight back with Shane, but to him, it was just because he couldn’t fight him based on his skill. Insinuating him cowardly for suing instead of fighting back. The moment that Kevin files that law suit, Vince will personally call Owen’s attorney and fire him there. Vince boasts about not losing lawsuits and Kevin would be bankrupt by the time it ever went to court. Vince even went on to say that he didn’t suspend Shane due to the attack, but because he didn’t finish the job. Instead, Mr McMahon said that Shane and Kevin will face each other in a Hell in a Cell match.
Owens wanted McMahon’s word that he wouldn’t get fired as long as he’s allowed to beat a McMahon senseless. A handshake to end the agreement, but Kevin headbutted the chairman, knowing that he’s not going to get any repercussions for doing so. The head of Mr McMahon bled and lay on the floor of the ring, as Kevin delivered the final blow with a frog splash. Stephanie McMahon came down to help her father as Kevin Owens made his way backstage.