Smackdown Live 26-7-2016

Adiboo

Cheese Wagstaff wrote: »

That vocal introduction for Eva Marie was one of the strangest things ever. And the boos were deafening also, wow.

That's the point.

Mr.Nice Guy

connemara man wrote: »

Based on that are they going to fight for the sake of fighting?

Like is Becky Smackdowns no 1 woman wrestler and they are coming after her?

In all fairness though after the lads in the 6 Pak challenge del Rio Orton an miz then minis corbyn not much star power there.

Like I'd put Ziggler corbyn and crews at intercontinental level.

It would be strange if the women on Smackdown didn't have a title to fight for. I just hope they don't resurrect the Divas Title since a lot of these Smackdown women were either involved in Total Divas, or look like they could have been on the show.

Cheese Wagstaff

Adiboo wrote: »

That's the point.

What's the point? For the vocal introduction to be strange?

martyos121

Thought he was brining back the punt for a minute there.

Utopia Parkway

Heath Slater is oddly entertaining.

Furious-Red

So Rhyno for Smackdown

Cheese Wagstaff

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Heath Slater is oddly entertaining.

Watching him destroy that random jobber was absolutely money.

Scorpion Sting

I did not see that finish coming!

martyos121

What a joke.

ricero

****ing hell ziggler !

martyos121

At least they stopped burying the superkick.

rafi bomb

ricero wrote: »

****ing hell ziggler !

Im delighted for him

martyos121

Needless to say, 1-0 to Raw.

ricero

Dolph should of superkicked ambrose at the end

Ridley

I can't get on with those camera angles.

shineon23

martyos121 wrote:

At least they stopped burying the superkick.

It'll always be a Stevie-kick to me!

764dak

It's funny how Daniel Bryan said that it wasn't about him but the first thing that happens is the playing of his theme, then a showing of a past WWE moment about him and then he comes out to lift the hands of the Ambrose and Ziggler.

Ben Gadot

martyos121 wrote: »

Needless to say, 1-0 to Raw.

Well given they handicapped SD from the start and now also with bizarre booking, hardly surprising is it.

CSF

They made a balls of booking that, you've a small roster without that much depth. Don't expose that by having a battle royal and a 6man. They could have done much better by starting feuds with what they do have from the get go. The women's bit after the Becky match was just bizarre.

I'll hold my damning until after they start arranging everyone's storylines from here but not a good start at all.

Thought the whole show was woeful TBH.

Nothing worse than a battle royal to waste a good 15 mins at the start of a show. Showed how terrible the roster is.

Happy Becky won but again the womens roster as well looks terrible.

Really hope Shelton is brought in to put people over cause I was never a fan.

Getting sick of miz tv and highlight reel segments at this point.

Dolph getting a title shot. Actually one of my most hated guys on the roster these days.

Camera angles. Hope they get rid of the close shot of the ring.

Commentary. Thought JBL and Otunga were rubbish, constanly talking over each other and Mauro.

I know its only the first week but it was a dreadful start IMO.

Lord TSC

That was disappointing, and I know part of that is because it was impossible not to compare it to Raw.

Raw felt like a New Era. Unlike when they usually say it, Raw actually made very notable changes to the product, not just in terms of who won matches but in terms of the writing, the production....Raw felt like someone new was running it.

Smackdown didn't.

Sure, Dolph won, but it felt more like "We need to make it look like a new era" rather than "We need to make this a new era". The set being the exact same, the fact that they tell us management isn't important when we start and end the show with Bryan screaming YES. I hope the Bryan element is actually them working towards some hypocrite story with him or something, because otherwise, he's completely and deliberately overshadowing the rest of the roster.

It's also an issue that...how many times have we been down this road with Dolph before? Finn benefited massively on Raw from the fact he didn't have a corrupted history in WWE, but I've been burned way too often by Dolph to care bout this run. But they really didn't have anyone else on that midcard level waiting to be elevated to show it's a"New Era". (I personally think that Owens should have been there on Smackdown, and that Owens/Ambrose for the title would have achieved the same message to the fans, while being a far better story/match as well).

I still think Smackdown has a stronger roster in terms of "top guys", but they effectively reduced them all to a single segment tonight, and it hurt the show a bit. They seem to be adding to the midcard though; Rhyno is a solid guy to fill space, and Shelton returning is awesome. Plus I thought Slater did a great job elevating himself with his mic time.

Don't, personally, have an issue with the women's division, given it's 5 or 6 girls competing for one spot a week, and it looks clear that it's "Becky + 1" each week. They do need a title or something to be fighting over though.

But yeah. Not a great start. Raw is what I thought Smackdown would be, and Smackdown is what I thought Raw would be.

Lithium93_

Ambrose to comfortably retain against Ziggler at Summerslam.

Meh show, nothing special..

PTH2009

Terrible booking by the SD team

Ziggler is average, the only way to get him over is that he loses unfairly too Ambrose and flips out and beats him up turning mega heel

Why not go for An AJ Styles win.

Summerslam of Lesner vs Orton, Finn vs Rollins and Styles vs Ambrose would of been awsome

SureYWouldntYa

PTH2009 wrote: »

Terrible booking by the SD team

Ziggler is average, the only way to get him over is that he loses unfairly too Ambrose and flips out and beats him up turning mega heel

Why not go for An AJ Styles win.

Summerslam of Lesner vs Orton, Finn vs Rollins and Styles vs Ambrose would of been awsome

I suppose they'll be going for Styles vs Cena, that would be my thinking

Lithium93_

ricero wrote: »

Dolph should of superkicked ambrose at the end

No Dean should've hit Dirty Deeds on Ziggler instead..

ERG89

PTH2009 wrote: »

Terrible booking by the SD team

Ziggler is average, the only way to get him over is that he loses unfairly too Ambrose and flips out and beats him up turning mega heel

Why not go for An AJ Styles win.

Summerslam of Lesner vs Orton, Finn vs Rollins and Styles vs Ambrose would of been awsome

Smackdown doesn't have a separate booking team.
Styles will likely be busy losing to Cena.
What a balls they made of the draft. Smackdown essentially has no midcard & a poor roster.
Ziggler winning already shows to me a lack of thought beyond a week & a lack depth to have 2 world titles. Gonna be worse with all the extra ppv's going forward

sky88

When he is actually pushed ziggler can get over and can always put on a good match. id actually rather ziggler as champ then ambrose. In the last year ive just not enjoyed ambrose at all be it bad booking or whatever i think he has definitly cooled since the break up of the shield and id honestly rather watch a reigns match then ambrose at the minute.

Mr.Nice Guy

This show didn't do it for me.

And Ziggler getting the title shot is a joke. They have made it quite clear to the audience that he is nobody special, having to do jobs to Corbin, and now because it's the 'new era' Vince has had one of his 'let's push Ziggler' whims which will last about a month or two before he annoys everyone again.

I would be willing to give up on Smackdown already if not for the fact I want to see Shelton return.

Thumbs down.

Bounty Hunter

It wasn't booked very well that is for sure as yeah it def highlighted how small the roster is especially when on show 1 they are adding in Rhyno & Shelton.

That said I am really happy that Shelton is coming back and unlike a poster above I actually hope he isn't there just to put over people as that role can be filled by someone like the aforementioned Rhyno just like he was doing in NXT with people like Corbin.

I actually had Ziggler down as the winner once they announced the 6 pack challenge as it'd be a bit of a surprise, allow them to suggest they are pushing fan favs who aren't usually pushed and it allows Cena & AJ to go one on one again to end their feud before one of them starts a main event program with (most likely) Ambrose. AJ vs Ambrose is what I am expecting.

Yes the womans roster does look very thin but simply adding Bayley to it would make a huge difference as Bayley, Becky, Natalya & even Naomi can all go in the ring. Plus with Cena & Bryan on the show Smackdown would also be the likely home for a returning Nikki Bella. Eva Marie's voiceover intro got the biggest reaction of the night from me, a proper laugh out loud moment. One would think she will need some muscle with her in the future though, Tamina maybe when she is back.

PTH2009

Daniel Bryan and Shano are starting to grate on me abit already. So positive and loud.

Thepoet85

Daniel Bryan: "It's not about me, it's about the superstars"

Cue minutes of Yes chanting.

I love Bryan, I just hope he doesn't over shadow the rest of the roster like The Rock tends to do at WM every year.

JesterWX58

Did anyone else catch the reference to Rhyno being a former SCW and NWA World Champion? It must have been a slip-up as WWE have never acknowledged any titles won at TNA. Even AJ Styles time there is never mentioned.

Itssoeasy

So didn't watch smackdown last night but read this thread first thing this morning and would it be fair to say that it didn't click ?

Itssoeasy

JesterWX58 wrote: »

Did anyone else catch the reference to Rhyno being a former SCW and NWA World Champion? It must have been a slip-up as WWE have never acknowledged any titles won at TNA. Even AJ Styles time there is never mentioned.

It wasn't the slip up if they said nwa and the nwa is the organisation that was founded in 1948 and has been used by several companies down the years. The domed globe belt was used by tna but was the nwa title not the tna title.

Blue_Dabadee

It really goes to show that Raw set the bar very high this week.

I will still give Smackdown a chance though.

JesterWX58

Itssoeasy wrote: »

It wasn't the slip up if they said nwa and the nwa is the organisation that was founded in 1948 and has been used by several companies down the years. The domed globe belt was used by tna but was the nwa title not the tna title.

They acknowledge NWA up to the WCW years but have never acknowledged anything to do with TNA (e.g., Christian, Ron Killings, Dudley Boyz, etc) and Rhyno's championship run was with TNA.

Itssoeasy

JesterWX58 wrote: »

They acknowledge NWA up to the WCW years but have never acknowledged anything to do with TNA (e.g., Christian, Ron Killings, Dudley Boyz, etc) and Rhyno's championship run was with TNA.

Yes rhyno's run was with TNA but not the TNA world title. Rhyno has never held the TNA world title but he did hold the NWA world title in TNA. That's a good reason why they can say he won the NWA title but not mention where he won it.

JesterWX58

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Yes rhyno's run was with TNA but not the TNA world title. Rhyno has never held the TNA world title but he did hold the NWA world title in TNA. That's a good reason why they can say he won the NWA title but not mention where he won it.

Similarly Styles, Ron Killings (R-Truth)and Christian all held the NWA belt (and the NWA Tag Belts as well in the case of Styles and Truth) but their reigns are never mentioned or counted.

Unless it predates the start of WWF/E or they own the tape rights, WWE never mention any other US organisation.

Loughc

Lord TSC made two excellent points in Raw was the start of a new era while smackdown seemed like let's make it look like a new agree.

I agree with Owens should have been drafted to SD and in Zigglers position.

And was anyone else annoyed they had AJ eat the pin as well? Surely Corbin was the better choice there and it plays into Ziggler/Corbin's feud.

Loughc

Also Slater was the star of the night for me

CSF

I think the criticism is overly harsh, particularly in terms of Ziggler who has been much worse affected by terrible booking than anything he ever did badly. If Bryan has any sway outside storyline world he might look at Ziggler's situation to date and see parallel's with his own.

The format of last night's Smackdown was a trainwreck, but there's promise there. Had they gone with an 8 man tournament to determine the number one contender, while Ambrose kept Orton busy in the run up to his match with Lesnar, you could have had 4 matches containing Ziggler, Cena, Styles, Corbin, Wyatt, Crews, Kane and Del Rio. Would have filled the time much more effectively and who would have seen say Wyatt v Crews, Ziggler v Kane, Cena v Corbin and Styles v Del Rio. Solid TV without really using up any of your money matches either. Shenanigans in the Cena v Corbin match builds your Cena v Styles feud too.

Itssoeasy

Personally I'm delighted that Ziggler is the no1 contender. The guy is the second coming on mr perfect in ring wise. That pop the night he cashed in against del rio is still one of the loudest I've ever heard. They dropped the ball with him and hopefully if he doesn't win he stays in the title picture going forward.

Adiboo

JesterWX58 wrote: »

Similarly Styles, Ron Killings (R-Truth)and Christian all held the NWA belt (and the NWA Tag Belts as well in the case of Styles and Truth) but their reigns are never mentioned or counted.

Unless it predates the start of WWF/E or they own the tape rights, WWE never mention any other US organisation.

They have mentioned TNA on AJ Styles episode of Austin's podcast and on the Dudley Boyz DVD so far.

DM_7

WWE needed to stop the damage to the workhorses of their show. People like Ziggler were floundering due to the lack of top spots and ended up in no mans land.

By doing the brand split they created new spots and opportunities for guys like Dolph to reinvigorate themselves.

Its great that in the first week the Draft opened up a spot for an NXT grad and a chance for a proven workhorse to get a top spot at Summerslam.

For Smackdown overall, I think they could have got there a bit better overall but they have a lot to build on.

The bulking up of the roster with free agents is good. Keeping American Alpha back could prove wise as anything they did this week would look poor compared to Finn. Giving Apollo a boost through the battle royal should help him.

I wonder what wacky storyline Bryan will end up in. They need his star power. He has some wacky stugg before, the Vegan and Virgin confusion with Bella's, Gail Kim, AJ Lee love triangle, Team Hell No (Hug it out, Dr Shelby), the affair story during rehab etc.

CastorTroy

Well that was certainly a lot more talky than Raw. And Raw is the one that usually feels padded out.

Think the strangest things about the women's bit was how it just ended abruptly. Like did they all just walk to the back during the break? I do have to laugh at the fact that they actually use the heat Eva Marie gets even though it's pretty much the exact same as Reigns' reaction.

Heath is definitely the hottest free agent.

Why even bother with the draft when they're just going to bring in guys like Rhyno, Shelton and others?

Mr.Nice Guy

CastorTroy wrote: »

Why even bother with the draft when they're just going to bring in guys like Rhyno, Shelton and others?

They have to bring them in as the roster would be too thin if they didn't.

Itssoeasy

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

They have to bring them in as the roster would be too thin if they didn't.

Yeah I saw the smackdown roster on the ring aprons and it was as thin as cenas hair. I noticed it when watching parts of battleground. Jesus a few tiles on the roof and a few more are slipping.

511

Furious-Red wrote: »

So Rhyno for Smackdown

Anyone notice how freakishly short his forearms are? He kind of looks like a dwarf, except he's of average height.

shineon23

511 wrote: »

He kind of looks like a dwarf, except he's of average height.

I think the same about myself sometimes as well when I see a very tall person

Omackeral

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

This show didn't do it for me.

And Ziggler getting the title shot is a joke. They have made it quite clear to the audience that he is nobody special, having to do jobs to Corbin, and now because it's the 'new era' Vince has had one of his 'let's push Ziggler' whims which will last about a month or two before he annoys everyone again.

I would be willing to give up on Smackdown already if not for the fact I want to see Shelton return.

Thumbs down.

Spot on, he's been Corbin's b*tch on TV on and every preshow. I couldn't give a rats about him anymore, and I used to be a major fan.