Following the disappointment of last week’s “Super” SmackDown, the Blue brand looked to bounce back this week by treating us to an appearance from part-timer Goldberg who was on the hunt for his next opponent. Meanwhile, the tag team and women’s title pictures are starting to take shape whilst King Corbin continues to be a royal pain in the arse in his continued feud with Roman Reigns. Welcome to the most must-see SteelChair review in history; welcome to… the SmackDown Review.
Results:
– The Usos defeated Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode in a tag team match.
– Elias defeated Cesaro.
– Daniel Bryan defeated Heath Slater.
– Sheamus defeated Apollo Crews.
– Carmella defeated Alexa Bliss, Dana Brooke, and Naomi in a Fatal 4-Way match to determine the No. 1 contender for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
Bradley’s Best Bits:
The Dirt Sheet made its much-anticipated return to WWE when Miz and Morrison opened the show. The duo played a trailer for their new movie ‘Once Upon A Time… On The Dirt Sheet’ featuring a cameo from Miz’s dad. This was interrupted by New Day, Usos and then Roode and Ziggler, with the latter two teams taking exception to Miz and Morrison being the top contenders to the SmackDown Tag Team Championships. This led to the night’s first match between The Usos and Roode and Ziggler.
This was a fairly even match between two teams looking to insert themselves into the title picture. Jimmy and Jey have been on fire since their return and were so again in this bout, but their energy was matched by the Glorious One and the Show Off for the most part. That was until a final burst for a comeback saw the Usos land their trademark splash on Roode for the win.
Just as Elias was ready to play a new song ironically titled “Third Time’s The Charm”, he was cut off by Sami Zayn in receipt for himself being interrupted by Elias last week. This was the set up for a match with Zayn’s associate Cesaro.
The Swiss Cyborg put on a typically strong performance, looking physically dominant in parts despite his opponent also being an imposing figure. Yet, it would be the sarcastic singer-songwriter that would go on to win the match with a huge elbow drop which is quickly becoming a trademark finisher for the music man.
Later in the show, Zayn would again interrupt someone. This time speaking over the new Intercontinental Champion Braun Strowman on behalf of his friend Shinsuke Nakamura after having lost the title at the Royal Rumble. This led to an ambush, with the Revival attacking Strowman from behind with the big man eventually eating a Kinshasa in the face despite trying to fight back. This could be meaningless for The Revival whose contracts are due to expire, but it does keep Shinsuke in the title picture for the time being.
The most exciting part of the episode saw Hall of Famer big Bill Goldberg make one of his customary part-time appearances leading into WWE’s next Saudi show to let us all know “who’s next”.
The 53-year-old was straight to the point in that he did not want to face Brock Lesnar again, but instead wants another run with the Universal Championship. With that said, Bray Wyatt appeared on-screen with some breaking news from the Firefly Fun House.
Wyatt was up to his usual deranged antics but old Bill wasn’t having any of the mind games, interrupting the Universal Champion to demand, “Bray Wyatt… you’re next!” to which Wyatt responded with “let me in” to end the segment with the image of The Fiend appearing on the screen.
In a funny backstage segment, Heath Slater was in the locker room to chat with Daniel Bryan about his “stupid” decisions regarding taking on The Fiend. This, of course, annoyed Bryan who took out his frustrations on Slater in a squash match.
Yet, this was more than just a run over of the former 3MB man. The scars that The Fiend have left behind on The Yes Man is quite clear to see. Although Bryan won and is presenting himself as a babyface, his mannerisms once again beginning to seem more ruthless following his defeat at The Royal Rumble. In the match, Bryan had the contest won with a running knee but chose not to go for the pin and instead stomped repeatedly in the face of the poor Slater who then passed out as The Planets Champion locked in the LeBell Lock. The impact of the psychotic Fiend has once again gotten to Bryan who has been left wondering what to do next.
The main event of the night featured a Fatal-4-Way match to determine the number 1 contender for Bayley’s Championship.
There was near-fall after near-fall between Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Dana Brooke, and Naomi, with each woman getting to land some key offence. Despite her exciting return last week, Naomi failed to capitalise on the momentum. As she landed a Rear View, she was unable to go for the pin when Carmella hit a pair of superkicks to claim a surprise but crowd-popping win. For her efforts, Bayley laid out the No. 1 contender to close out the show.
For Fox Sake:
Although the aforementioned teams of The Usos and Roode and Ziggler will want to chase tag team gold, it may be the case that they are still just an extension to the Reigns vs Corbin feud for the time being which has now been going on for longer than the concept of time itself.
This week, Corbin was furious over the replays of dog food footage from last week and decided to attack a member of the production crew before targeting a “fan” by boring his drink all over his head. It was then that Roman Reigns put a stop to the petulant behaviour by landed him with a superman punch and confirming they will have one more match… inside a steel cage.
Whilst Corbin is superb in playing up his annoying heel role, this story has been going on for months without any clear direction of why they’re even fighting any more. Initially, it was over locker room leadership, but at this point, it just seems like lame one-upmanship.
In a terribly short match which did nothing but embarrasses Apollo Crews on his first TV appearance this year, Sheamus steamrolled right through the former NXT star with a Brogue Kick. He then went on to flatten Shorty G once again after the Olympian attempted to attack The Celtic Warrior following the match.
Whilst this does give Sheamus a new no-nonsense and ruthless attitude, he has potentially been dragged right back into his story with Shorty G and now Apollo with potential 50/50 booking on the horizon in a 2 on 1 scenario. Both men should be looking to move on from this, starting new stories from what was already a very short storyline we needed to get past.
All pics and videos courtesy of WWE