Last night's Smackdown Live was a decent go home show ; but predictably not nearly as good as Raw . First thing is the complete racial insensitivity at the opening of the show . Having American pro wrestling fans seeming like simpletons by booing , ans coming across hostile toward a cultural celebration that not their own .
The shocking moment of the night was after the main event ; Baron Corbin came out and attacked Cena . Following that he made an attempt to cash in his newly MIB contract on Mahal ; and for the 3rd time in history it was unsuccessful . I'm hesitant to endorse this move , or be very critical of it . I'm going to take a wait a see approach on this decision .
The Final noteworthy segment of the show was between Owens-Styles-Shane . Good segment , minus the timing issue , in terms of setting the stage for how all three volatile personalties could play off of each other and react to various twists and turns and misunderstandings . The downside is that Styles was supposed to fear Shane retaliating . Shane is a 47 year old civilian who plays wrestler now and then . Styles is a full-time World Champion level wrestler WWE needs to be perceived as a star , not a guy who is scared of the gray haired non-wrestler fantasy camp son-of-the-promoter stunt man .
Author: Machen
Track Of The Day
“Born Sinner” is a tremendous track; and well deserving of Track of the day. With a very elegant beat; carefully thoughtful lyrics, and a tasteful chorus. J Cole is making a serious argument for top artist this decade. As a stand alone this song is very inclusive as something everyone understands. Enjoy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR3ITE967mM
Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins(Quickview)
The Raw Tag Team Titles will be on the line of this year’s Summerslam when the Champs Sheamus-Cesaro face off against ex-shield brethren Rollins-Ambrose . This is one of the best in depth programs done in quite some time . History is a huge factor , back in November 2012 . The Shield made its debut , and for the next 2 plus years were filled with memorable 3 on 1 attacks and 4 star matches . The Shield was sophisticated faction in industry that tends to book to the lowest common dominanter . They weren’t your traditional but effective , coming through the crowd on their entrance to differentiate themselves from the norm . Six-man tag matches were obsolete until The Shield made them much see matches . All good things had to come to an end , shortly after defeating Evolution in a program ; Rollins turned on his brothers and ended a memorable run . The follow up wasn’t half bad either , Rollins-Ambrose had countless of matches for the next 2 years , until Rollins turned back Babyface . The last month the two have been trying going back and forth to get on the same page with minimal success , but because of their history being told in such a believable manner the fans have eaten this up.
The Tag Champs not nearly as much history; but there is some. Nearly one year ago Cesaro-Sheamus were opponents in a best of 7 series. Most people hated the idea and had no idea why WWE was subjecting the fans to that. Maybe WWE was planning ahead, after the 7th and final match ended as a no contest; WWE made them a tag team. As expected it started off as the two as adversaries, however as time went along the predictable friendship followed. The noteworthy moment for the 2 was the heel turn couple months back on the Hardys. Since then it’s been your traditional heel tag team bully character, which are perfect foils for Ambrose-Rollins.
My prediction is that this should be a really good match most likely ending with the Shield members becoming Champs again . I do get this odd feeling that’s this could lead to Ambrose turning on Rollins to bring the entire story full circle . It may not happen and honestly I’m not sure it’s best way to go ; after WWE has done such an effective job making fans want to see them back together . Enjoy
Monday Night Raw Review(8/14/17)
Take a moment to give WWE 2 thumbs from last night’s final Monday Night Raw . Definitely was more to like on the show than not .
The show closed with the final confrontation between the 4 contests in Universal Championship match . Heyman cut another Heyman promo getting across that Lesnar does not have to be pinned to loose the title . Joe , Strowman , and Reigns played their roles adequately . The final pull apart was a nice visual to really sell The Main Event .
Weeks I’ve lamented The Womens Division on Raw and Smackdown , but last night Sasha Banks in her hometown of Boston stole the show . The hardest matches to sell are when there is noticeable size difference . This was one of the best women matches of the year and definitely worth seeking out . Hats go off to Nia Jaxx ; who inexperience was not a factor last night .
I was really curious about the follow up on Rollins-Ambrose saga last week . While personally I thought there performances were a little underwhelming ; the live crowd ate it up . Button line a significant reason why this has worked so well is because of the cache The Shield still has . Shield reuniting is a big card WWE has left to play , but the slow burn of getting two of the members back together are a nice appetizer for now .
Head scratching moments of the night was WWE giving away two SS matches away for free . Bray vs Balor had very little juice behind simply because there is no real story here . Bray won clean followed buy pouring blood all over Fin ; while a different visual than usual I’m not sure it got anyone excited for the rematch Sunday . We had a Cruiserweight title change last night as Neville nearly year long title reign was ended . While some might see this out of nowhere ; the positives are giving The Cruiserweights a spot light they would not receive on Sunday . Also Neville to me as proven his heel character is ready to be in more important programs than currently
Finally even for the talent not on the card had a good night as well. Not going to review any of it because of its irrelevance. Enjoy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xuRCvuuGHM
Smackdown(Quickview)
The Go- Home show for Smackdown Live will take place from Providence , RI . By the shear amount of talent Raw has compared to SD ; their will be less big matches on the blue side this year . First will be the final build to the championship match between Nakamura-Mahal , so far they have done zero to get you excited about this match up . The main event is a big one Cena vs Mahal ; which is another test for Mahal . This should be the SS title match , however for reasons not known there giving away this tonight for free . Mahal took a clean loss last week , another one this week would be idiotic unless the goal is for your Champion to frail . Most likely there will be some type of retaliation for Styles accidental kick on Shane last week , the goal will be to create some legitimacy to the idea Shane will get involved on Sunday . Not sure there is much more you can add to Cena-Corbin , I think it’s a huge down grade to have Cena in this match . While Corbin has showed a steady progression since his debut ; but he’s still far from where he needs to as a character or in ring to live up to a big time Cena match . A nice bright spot has been New Day-Usos with the stark contrast between the fun loving behavior of New Day , and the rough , gritty , character the Usos are playing . I hope WWE takes a real good look at the SD roster and see all the untapped talent that at time of this writing is not on the SS card . I have already chronicled the ridiculousness of Charlotte , and Becky Lynch being left off ; not having Sami Sayan is another noticeable omission . Tonight is the go home show , Let’s see if WWE followed by a strong Raw . Enjoy