The End of the Glow Era

Smackdown opened this week on a depressing note as Naomi was forced to relinquish her title at the request of Daniel Bryan. This was made even more depressing given Bryan’s history of injuries stopping him short. The promo delivered by Naomi in light of this situation was both passionate and heartbreaking as you could tell this was largely a shoot. There is little to say here other than I hope that Naomi is healthy soon and able to return by WrestleMania.

Overall Score: 5/5

 

The Women’s Title is Back Where it Belongs(?)

With a vacant title, a new champion is clearly needed and thus a match between Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss is set up by Daniel Bryan right away. This match was honestly underwhelming and seemed shoved in just so a new champ could be crowned as it was over pretty quick with Bliss winning after a cheap shot to the throat and a rollup.

I can’t tell if these two just don’t gel well together in the ring or if Bliss isn’t on Becky’s level and it makes her look weak but I can’t remember a great match between these two in the past few months. Despite this, I’m happy that Bliss has the title back as she owned it when she had it, and without Naomi it makes sense to put it on a heel for a feel good win for either Lynch or (hopefully) Naomi at Mania.

Overall Score: 2/5

Smackdown’s Tag Division: The Unfunniest Joke

American Alpha took on the comedy duo of Breezango in what was essentially another Alpha squash match which makes the rest of the tag division look like a cakewalk. This not only undermines them as champs but makes the confrontation with the Usos which followed all the more indicative of it’s staleness.

The aforementioned confrontation did however showcase how far the Usos have come as heels as they were surprisingly terrific on the mic with great pace and substance, incredible style that is a far cry from their face paint gimmick of last year, and a passion that is unrivaled in the division. It’s just too bad that this is being directed towards American Alpha, a team whom they have already fought before and simply feels like a retread. I certainly hope the Usos win the titles at Mania as they need some title credibility to go with their heel act or they will just become The Club of Smackdown.

Overall Score: 3/5

 

Nikki Bella Steals the Show(!)

The blowoff match between Nikki Bella and Natalya finally arrived next and despite their great match at Elimination Chamber, I assumed that was something of a fluke as I wasn’t expecting anything nearly that good again. Thankfully, story concerns aside, I was proven wrong again.

This match was a barn burner and the two women went across the arena beating each other up like it was WWE 2k17 and they wanted to hit all the special finishers. High spot after high spot kept this match moving forward and a surprisingly level of brutality kept it compelling. Natalya eventually went over after Maryse got involved and attacked Nikki with a pipe to assumedly set up the rumored tag match between Miz and Cena and their respective women and this is where my one complaint lies with this match. With Maryse getting involved, the win by Natalya is somewhat tainted and not really fitting of a blowoff.

Regardless, Nikki Bella continues to impress and I am almost sad she is retiring soon allegedly. What a strange day it is.

Overall Score: 4/5

 

That Could’ve Gone Better

The main event to determine who will main event WrestleMania in the place of Randy Orton followed in what was a very light Smackdown in terms of segments. Despite about half the participants not being ready for the main event scene, they were eliminated early enough and their stories were progressed in the process that their place was certainly not a waste (ignore the fact that their are no alternatives). The match really kicked off when the genuine contenders were all that remained and the Road to WrestleMania became a bit more clear. Tensions were raised between Corbin and Ambrose again as they led to each other’s eliminations, the Miz eliminated a distracted John Cena to further set up the aforementioned rumored intergender tag match at Mania, and when Harper and Styles were the only ones left in the ring, two different narratives presented themselves as options.

While AJ Styles against Bray Wyatt at Mania would be a great match between two heels that would inevitably see one make a face turn, Luke Harper against Bray would perhaps be underwhelming in terms of starpower but amazing in terms of narrative climax as the Wyatt family would come to blows on the grandest stage. Given how tantalizing both these options are, I’m glad that they decided to have the match end in a draw to make the audience consider that when both men hit the floor at the same time. The only problem is in doing this spot, Styles clearly hit the ground first and they decided to still run with the idea that he had hit at the same time as Harper. Not only does this make the audience feel like idiots but spits in the face of the rules established. I can’t imagine this spot would be too hard to pull off but Styles and Harper seemed to make it harder than it needed to be for the sake of spectacle and as a result the main event scene is muddied. Apparently a match will decide who is the winner next week but, I hope that they will address the controversy in a way that explains it better and doesn’t insult the audience.

Overall Score: 3/5

Average Total Score: 3/5

Smackdown was a surprisingly lightweight show this week and with almost the entirety of the upper and mid-card in the main event it is easy to see why. Even then there was a questionable lack of Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton outside of a small pre taped promo. When your Champion seems like an afterthought on his own show, you know something is wrong.

Winner this Week: Monday Night Raw

Raw continues it’s warpath through Smackdown as Raw delivered another show which felt important and action packed with few bad segments at all. Smackdown on the other hand felt really small and hard to take serious in light of all Raw is doing that feels creative and new. Smackdown is seemingly in a rut right now that contrasts greatly with how they were performing last year and Raw is now as good as it is an important show.

Till next time,

Lucas