With the Superstar Shake-up currently underway, my boy the Miz has been drafted back to the blue brand. This once again gives relevance to not only the “B show” but also the ending tagline in my weekly introduction. Welcome to the most must-see Vulture Hound weekly review in history; welcome to… The SmackDown Review.
AJ Styles opened the show and demanded that Shinsuke Nakamura make his way to the ring so AJ could “kick his ass”. For the second time this week, Rusev forced his way into the card and challenged Styles to a match. The resulting bout was nothing spectacular as it ended by disqualification when Aiden English attacked Styles early in the match. However, Daniel Bryan made the save for Styles and later on declared he’s got Styles’ back so they can eventually have their own dream match. Afterwards, GM Paige did her best Teddy Long impression and set up a tag team match (playa) for the night’s main event.
Well, shake it up baby now:
– Shelton Benjamin cut a promo where he thanked Chad Gable initially but then said he never needed him, and demanded competition. Randy Orton answered the call but he was interrupted by Jeff Hardy, who won the United States Championship last night on Raw. Hardy won the match with a Twist of Fate followed by a Swanton Bomb.
– It was announced that Absolution will be making their way to SmackDown. We will have to wait and see if Paige pulls them any favours.
– In singles action, Luke Harper defeated Jey Uso. Following the match, the Bludgeon Brothers attempted to further assault the Usos with their mallets (careful now) but spared them when Naomi begged them to stop.
– Samoa Joe made his SmackDown debut by squashing Sin Cara. Joe cut a promo after the match and threatened to take all the opportunities and destroy everyone on SmackDown.
– A vignette aired for Sanity announcing their imminent arrival. It remains to be seen if Nikki Cross will be joining them as she did not feature in the graphic.
– A returning Big Cass interrupted a backstage interview with Daniel Bryan, calling him “little man”. Oh, scary!
– New SmackDown Women’s Champion, Carmella held a “Mellabration”, which wasn’t as annoying as it sounds. Charlotte and the IIconics interrupted, then brawled with each other. Becky Lynch ran out to make the save.
– The brawl was made up into a match between Charlotte Flair and Billie Kay. Lynch and Peyton Royce remained at ringside to witness Flair win by submission with the Figure-Eight. Carmella attacked Flair with the Championship after the match with the IIconics joining in on the beat down. The latest member of SmackDown’s Womens division, Asuka, came to help the Queen.
– The Bar announced that they’re heading to SmackDown.
– A funny backstage segment with the New Day and Tye Dillinger saw them run into R-Truth. Truth thought they were all together on Raw. “My bad”.
– Former NXT Champion, Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas will also be heading to SmackDown with his manager, Zelina Vega.
Twist and shout:
The night’s main event was, again, another short-lived affair after it ended in disqualification. Daniel Bryan all but had the match won with a running knee on Rusev but was distracted by Shinsuke Nakamura who once again hit Styles with a low blow but went undetected by the referee. For some reason Big Cass appeared and attacked Bryan with a big boot, causing the official disqualification.
If you don’t follow football in the UK, then the chances are you won’t get this reference, but here’s the full rundown of deadline day transfers.
In: The Miz, Jeff Hardy, Absolution (Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville), Samoa Joe, Sanity, (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe, and Killian Dain), Big Cass, Asuka, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Cesaro, Sheamus, R-Truth, Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega.
Out: Jinder Mahal, Sunil Singh, The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan), Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Zack Ryder, Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze), Natalya, Mojo Rawley, Dolph Ziggler, Baron Corbin, Mike Kanellis, The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor), Bobby Roode, Chad Gable.