Another week of Smackdown is in the history books and it was the first Smackdown after WWEs highly successful PPV Backlash. Still things are a bit slow on Smackdown with storyline development after the draft as things are still assembling into place after a lot of confusion with the superstar shake up. Let’s see what happened on this weeks edition.
5 Baron Corbin Buried
Baron Corbin had a match on Smackdown this week.. that lasted all of about 5 seconds. Before the bell rang for his match with Cameron Grimes, Corbin cut a promo saying he was going to dispose of Grimes quickly. As soon as the bell rang, Grimes hit his finish and pinned Corbin to continue his very obvious burial on Tv. Whether they’ve completely given up on him, or Vince finds it funny, or whatever the reason, but Corbin has been portrayed as an absolute loser, which ironically could potentially get him over.
4 Bianca v Asuka Lined Up?
Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair came out for her record setting championship celebration in her home town and was confronted by Asuka who looked to also congratulate Bianca. However, The Empress ended up spraying the mist in The Champs face which cut the celebration very short. Bianca sold it like she’d been hit with grade A pepper spray but that looks to be her first feud and Smackdown, and with the two as talented as they are, it should culminate in a great match like at Wrestlemania.
3 Styles Advances
AJ Styles was the winner of the Smackdown side of the tournament and will advance to Night Of Champions to face Seth Rollins, where the winner will become the new World Heavyweight Champion. The triple threat against Edge and Mysterio was a good one, the three meshed well together, had good chemistry and utilised good triple threat spots to keep the crowd engaged. The match with Lashley wasn’t quite on that level as the two didn’t have the chemistry and there was an obvious styles clash, no pun intended, but the two still put on a competitive main event and Styles feels like the right guy to face Rollins as the two should have a banger in the ring.
2 Tournament Still Doesn’t Make Sense
While we’ve got some good matches out of this tournament, it still is very confusing. The idea that Smackdown superstars can even compete for the Raw exclusive World Championship, is silly and makes it obvious that Seth is winning no matter who the representative from Smackdown was. Also the idea of two triple threats and a final match feels clunky and rushed, whereas a straightforward 8 man knockout tournament would’ve sufficed, one featuring only Raw guys.. on Raw. The creative has felt a bit off since Wrestlemania and the booking of this tournament has been no exception.
1 Things Feel Bigger When Roman Is In Town
Roman Reigns made his return to Smackdown this past week, the first time in a few weeks that we’ve seen him. His presence, star aura and ability to get the crowd to pay attention to anything he does is certainly very obvious and just feels different from anything else. Roman was brutal in his promo, praising Solo and essentially completely demeaning and degrading the Usos to the point where they looked helpless. He’s brilliant at playing the abusive heel, trying to manipulate The Usos to do his bidding while punishing them when they mess anything up. And the big announcement coming out of it is that it’ll be Roman and Solo challenging KO & Sami for the Tag Straps at Night Of Champions, not The Usos, which also begs the question, will Roman defend his Undisputed Universal WWE Championship against anyone?
1st round World Title tournament match:
AJ Styles def. Edge and Rey Mysterio 3.5*
1st round World Title tournament match:
Bobby Lashley def. Austin Theory and Sheamus 3.25*
Cameron Grimes def. Baron Corbin 0*
Women’s Tag Team Championship Match:
Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan def. Bayley & Dakota Kai 1.5*
World Title tournament semi final:
AJ Styles def. Bobby Lashley 2.5*
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
Author: Alex Bakothanasis
Photo Credit: WWE
One Stop Wrestling 