Previously on Smackdown Live…
Asuka became number one contender for The Smackdown’s Women’s Championship, Lucha House Party became number one contenders for The Smackdown Tag Team Championships, & AJ Styles tried to find a number one contender with his number one ranking analytics.
This was the last show before Summerslam this Sunday as well as the debut of WWE THUNDERDOME, so Smackdown loaded up with a couple title matches & some big showdowns. Did any championships change hands? Who Built Momentum™ heading into the weekend? Did Teddy Long show up & make anybody go one on one with Da Thundatakah?? Let’s get to it & find out.
First Things First:
No, wait, not that one…
The Thunderdome is a lot. I’m not quite sure if I’d land it in Pop or Botch territory yet as it’s just so new & any compliments I have could fade or any criticisms could be unfair just because I’m not used to it.
The Good: Anything is better than The Performance Center at this point. That scenario with tired PC recruits masked up with muffled cheering or light banging on the plexiglass was only a slight step up from them wrestling in front of nobody at all. The Amway Center definitely makes the show feel like a big deal. RAW & Smackdown are by design supposed to be a big spectacle. Scaling it down detracts from the what makes the show work best, so adding pyro, light shows, a big entrance ramp & “fans” back into the equation adds much needed life that’s been lacking the last few months. The fan screens were particularly cool when utilized during entrances, especially for the The Fiend. That being said, there were issues…
The Bad: The “fan” screens are wildly distracting. During any promo & parts of matches, I kept looking at all these zoomed in faces just to see what people were doing. Again, that could be because it’s new & I haven’t learned to tune it out yet, but it was hard to not notice. And what were they doing? Nothing. Unless you’re reeeaaaallly into to what’s going on, you’re not exactly going to be animatedly cheering or booing when you’re alone in your living room, so everybody was just stoically watching in the background. It looked like a tired second hour RAW crowd. Additionally, you clearly can’t record audio through hundreds of people’s Zoom calls, so the fake cheering/booing they piped in was somehow worse & more glaring than before. I have no idea how you fix it (maybe make it so painfully less obvious?), but something has got to be adjusted. I half expected a laugh track during Miz & Morrison’s dad jokes.
Overall, I’d say it’s good thing, but it definitely is going to take some getting used to. I’m thinking that this was treated as more or less a test run, so they can hopefully address complaints & make improvements going forward.
POP: Everybody Into The Dome
After Vinnie Mac opens the show looking fresh off a trip from a Lazarus Pit, Smackdown leans hard into one of the best things they’ve been doing lately: Interconnecting several stories & making the show coalesce in a way it always should be. I’ll point parts of it out in more detail as we go along, but from that one segment they connected The Fiend & Braun Stroman, Retribution, Sheamus & Big E, Riddle & Corbin, as well as Styles & Hardy all in the span of ten minutes.
Speaking of Retribution, they’ve apparently reached N.W.O. status with their numbers now. Am I going to have to do another article about who could be in Retribution Wolfpac? By my count, there’s at least fourteen masked attackers in the video above. I really don’t think that will be how Retribution plays out, but it’s also something they’ll need to address once the big reveal hits. I’m assuming they’ll have about a half dozen real members tops, so where are the rest going to go? Will Retribution have layoffs or will some of them be henching from home via the Thunderdome fan screen?
Two extra Pops go to The Fiend & The Miz. First, The Fiend gets one for not trying to deal with The Damn Numbers Game© & teleporting out of dodge. Smart in that he doesn’t have to take any damage heading into Summerslam while his opponent takes all of it. Secondly, Miz running down to the ring after Retribution was chased off is so perfectly in character. Never change, Mike. I hope the pH issues in your bidet have been resolved.
POP: E Sees Ws
The Big E train keeps a-rollin’ with a victory over Sheamus. Not the most convincing effort given Sheamus was distracted by Matt Riddle & King Corbin at ringside. I feel like distraction roll-up victories should only count for half a win at this point, but I’ll hardly complain about a Big E winning streak. I’m sure it’s just a talking point to get us to the inevitable rematch either on the preshow at Summerslam or in the coming weeks. I had assumed Big E was on a collision course with Styles for the Intercontinental Championship, but that’s clearly out the window now. I don’t think they’re going to run him up against Jeff Hardy, but we’ll see. Also, please enjoy this ridiculously wonderful human:
What I like also is how we get to these things happening. As previously mentioned, the opening segment informs a lot of what happens on the entire show. Here, the Smackdown locker room empties out to chase Retribution off, so Sheamus & Big E get in each other’s face about it afterward & decide to do their scheduled match right then & there. Riddle & Corbin also get into it since most of the locker room stays at ringside to prevent any more Retribution interference. I enjoy that little wrinkle added. Yeah, “The Enemy Of My Enemy” stuff works, but let’s not forget that most of these people still have long standing rivalries that shouldn’t just be forgotten because a bunch of randoms start messing with the light switches. How great would it have been if Retribution squarely focused on Matt Riddle & we got a post credits scene of them spending King Corbin’s Ransom on some outdoor dining Avengers style? Now I’m upset this isn’t happening.
BOTCH: Bad, Bad Lucha Things
The Smackdown Tag Team Championship match could have been a great, but gets severely hampered for a few reasons. First, Cesaro & Nakamura jump LHP backstage beforehand, so they’re already at an assumed advantage. Kalisto makes sure to help out by making frowny faces instead of fighting back. Thanks, guy! Glad to have you back! This doesn’t really work when you’re already running the same angle with much more nuance & depth in the Jeff Hardy/AJ Styles feud throughout the show. They also tease some tension between Kalisto & Lince Dorado after the match, which, okay, I guess? Kalisto literally just got back, so I don’t know why these guys are at each other’s throats all of a sudden.
The main thing that goes wrong is at 1:18 in that video above with Gran Metalik crashing & burning REAL HARD on a dive to the outside. It looks like he’s trying to hurdle the top rope & connect with a hurricanrana on Cesaro standing on the floor on the outside & he either doesn’t get enough air on his jump, causing him to fall short or Cesaro is a step behind where he should’ve been. I’m thinking the former, given the guy taking the move rarely misfires. I’ve seen Metalik do that move when the opponent is standing on apron (it rules), so maybe he was just trying to up the ante & paid for it hard.
Sometimes bad botches completely take you out of a match that otherwise was pretty good (Aleister Black/Lars Sullivan comes to mind) & that very much happens here. And Michael Cole, STOP trying to sell moves when they’re botched. I get that you have to say something, but screaming how Metalik took out Cesaro when everybody sees all he did was powerbomb himself to the outside isn’t helping anything. Anyway, unfortunate since I think all of the wrestlers involved have the ability to put on a great match together, so hopefully they’ll get a retry unless Lucha House Party is all of a sudden breaking up. Who gets custody of Pepe The Pinata if they do?
BOTCH: Beat The Glow Challenge
Professional Sasha Banks hater Corey Graves shows up before Sasha & Bayley’s matches to interview them, while simultaneously doing his best shit stirring & attempting to sow discord between them. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the character consistency since NXT, but at the same time stop trying to break up this glorious duo. Graves’ needling should also have little impact on them because 1) they already have all the titles & shouldn’t have any animosity towards each other until either of them drops one & 2) Bayley volunteered this past Monday on Raw to face Asuka first at Summerslam. Bayley tries to retcon it by saying it was a “suggestion”, but instead of coming off as being a scared heel, it feels more like they’re just shoehorning strife between the two. There’s no need to force it when it can occur naturally after Sunday, when presumably one of them drops a title & would want to start gunning for the other’s championship out of jealousy.
But since I guess they now have to battle it out to determine the order in which they face Asuka, Corey Graves adds more reason for me to want him to go away by suggesting one of WWE’s worst match ideas in the form of a Beat The Clock Challenge. It’s one of those concepts that sounds alright on paper, but in practice rarely works, especially with only two people involved. At it’s peak, a BTCC works best over multiple matches, typically if you’re trying to determine a number one contender. The first match sets the pace & then hopefully each competitor gets a win in shorter & shorter times as the matches progress, with the last person beating the previous record in the nick of time. That’s at it’s best. Usually they’ll have people not beat the clock & a match will just sort of end with everybody just walking away, which is not exactly what fans are trying to see.
That’s why here it’s so out of place. Like said, the first match in a BTCC only exists for the winner to set the pace. It’s Sasha vs Bayley as far as the times are concerned, so Naomi doesn’t even factor into the challenge & has nothing to gain from winning. Sasha goes first, so her winning is 100% guaranteed. If she loses, then there’s no need for a second match or you do it & Bayley either just has to win or lose in less time? But then the clock never mattered to begin with? See? Way more complicated than it has to be.
The kicker of the whole thing is that Bayley ultimately loses to Naomi anyway, bringing us right back to where we started. She has to face Asuka first at Summerslam, which is exactly what she said she was going to do four days ago. Nothing’s changed. The only real talking point out of the whole thing is Naomi pinning Bayley in a non-title match, but even that can’t be capitalized on since Payback is next week & they’ll be focusing on the Women’s Tag Team Championships, so the earliest we’ll see something come out of that, if anything, is in two weeks minimum.
I do want to point out that I’m only Botching the part of the story that happened on tonight’s show. The entire Bayley, Sasha & Asuka plot line has been very interesting this past month & I’m genuinely curious where it goes on Sunday. Something has got to give, right? The only thing that would disappoint, I think, would be both champs retaining or if Asuka wins both. I’d probably still like those two things anyway, but storywise they wouldn’t really track. I originally thought Sasha would face Asuka first & be the one to drop the RAW Championship since Shayna/Asuka is right there, but now with Bayley going first & Shayna tied up with Nia Jax, they have me second guessing. Sasha ain’t scared. Smackdown’s women’s roster is also pretty light & they’re potentially losing a member, so moving Asuka over isn’t the worst idea in the world, especially with Sasha being moved to RAW if Bayley loses. A lot of possibilities heading in. Excited to see how it plays out.
POP: This Dome Ain’t Big Enough For The Two Of Us
Heads up, there’s a lot to unpack here, so apologies in advance that not a lot of joking will be in this portion of the column. There’s a pee joke to start off the next section, if that’s what you’re looking for.
I’m not exactly sure where to even start on this whole thing, both in & out of kayfabe. For those unaware, Daria Berenato (WWE’s Sonya Deville) in real life had a stalker break into her home this week in an attempt to kidnap her alongside who knows what other kinds of nefarious things. Amanda Saccomanno (Mandy Rose) was also present during the intrusion & luckily the two were able to escape before anything truly diabolical happened. I can’t imagine having to go through something like that, being with your friend, who just so happens to be your Summerslam opponent when it occurs, & then have to pretend to hate them on television days later when all you probably want to do is console them. Major props to Sonya Deville for being a absolute professional during all of it.
There’s also the idea of WWE turning it into a worked shoot, hinting at it during the Dana Brooke segment, which just feels unseemly. Maybe it can be cathartic for the people involved, I wouldn’t know, but I doubt it’s something she’s adamant about broadcasting to millions of people having just dealt with it. I’ve seen elsewhere it being compared to Jeff Hardy, who used his real life issues with addiction recently in a WWE feud. Here’s the thing about that though: First, Jeff Hardy getting a DUI, as sad as that is, is still him doing that to himself & secondly, that didn’t happen this week. Jeff’s had ample time to process what happened, learn from it, & put enough time between it happening to be in a proper head space about playing that role for an audience. Asking Sonya to do that so quickly just feels wrong in my opinion. At the very least, I really don’t see what’s to be gained from introducing it to the story.
That brings us to the actual wrestling portion of everything. From last week’s post:
…Hair vs. Hair Match is just so, so stupid… also, Mandy just lost half her hair a couple weeks back, so her winning this match feels painfully obvious.
Well I guess somebody saw that & decided to raise the stakes a boatload, huh? A no DQ match AND loser leaves town? Sheesh. I’m assuming they ditched the hair thing as either of them showing up to a deposition a week later in court might be a giant red flag or maybe they realized it’s a dumb stipulation to begin with. Either way, this match was already a pretty big deal heading into Sunday. It’s a one on one women’s match. Without a title involved. At Summerslam. That’s pretty rare air these two are in, so good for them. Now the intensity has definitely been ratcheted up a notch. Sadly, I still think Mandy Rose is due for the win. They’ve kind of backed off her & Otis, so I guess maybe you could make an argument the other way, but I don’t see it. Sonya’s also mentioned in the past that she has interests in other areas, so maybe coupled with recent events, she’s decided it’s just her time. Which stinks too because Sonya has been on fire these past few months & I really wanted to see her move up in the card. It’s a shame she specifically said “Leaves WWE“, so it’s not like she can show up on RAW or NXT & still be involved. Or maybe they’ll pull a John Cena getting “fired” where she just shows up every week anyway despite the loss. In any outcome, I just hope Sonya & Mandy are doing okay & wish them the best going forward, both in & out of WWE if either of them is truly leaving.
POP: Ur In Trouble
I was wondering why this match was announced last week for the go home show when your second biggest event of the year was on Sunday. This was before Thunderdome was a thing, so I just assumed a false finish was in the cards & they’d string it along until then. They still might, but we should’ve known the second WWE put it out there a big television event was happening, they’d pull the trigger on a title change.
Once again, we’re met with a part of the show that ties back to the opening segment. Outside of the women’s portions of the show, this entire Smackdown revolved around what happened in the first ten minutes. That’s great. After the Big E/Sheamus match, Jeff Hardy is laid up in the trainer’s room with a knee injury that we assume happened during the Retribution brawl. Come to find out that’s exactly what happened, but it was Styles who cheap shotted him from behind during the melee in order to snake his way out of their match, so Jeff has to go it in a knee brace. To say Styles’ plan falls flat, would be like saying his idea about the Earth’s shape is.. Alright enough of that! You hit your quota on those!
The AJ Styles Match Of The Night Redemption Tour rolls on as his bout with Hardy is a lot better than I assumed it would be & especially after adding something that would slow down Jeff even more. Happy to be wrong here however, as the knee injury played a pivotal role in telling the story of the match & working it’s way into the finish. Styles was great at focusing on the knee the entire contest & Hardy made it look like that affected him throughout. That’s a couple of pros right there. Also, check out one of the best worked botches I think I’ve ever seen:
More like Miss-per In The Wind, am I right?
I think the best part is that if Styles just played it straight, he certainly doesn’t catch a knee brace to the jaw & is still probably Intercontinental Champion. It’s also nice to see a heel be shitty & get what they deserve for it. Simple cause & effect. I’m not sure if this means we’re not getting anything out of this for Summerslam (Joseph Park, crunch those PISS numbers stat!), but I’m very much hoping that Styles continues the awesome run he’s been on over the last month even without a title around his waist.
POP: Call The Choke-Slambulance
Finally, we boomerang back to the beginning of the show with the actual showdown between Braun Strowman & Bray Wyatt before their Universal Championship Match heading into Sunday, presented without Retribution interruption. I’m not entirely sure how Braun Strowman managed to infiltrate The Firefly Funhouse as Corey Graves mentions it exists “in another dimension”. Maybe there’s a little door somewhere Being John Malkovich-style that leads to Bray’s psyche located Beyond Thunderdome.
Speaking of the Funhouse, possibly the highlight of the evening belongs to “Braun Strowman & Alexa Bliss: A Love Story”, performed by Huskus The Pig Boy & Ramblin’ Rabbit:
I don’t think it’s physically possible to hate a pig puppet wearing a “GET THESE HOOVES” shirt.
Braun drags Funhouse Bray into the backstage area leading to a chokeslam off a loading dock onto some cement flooring. Shout out to the EMTs on the scene for not immobilizing somebody with a potential neck/spinal injury before loading them onto a stretcher. The lack or real journalisms & medicals around here is alarming. This of course leads to what I imagine inside of The Mystery Machine looks like, with creepy masks & billows of smoke from Shaggy pouring out as The Fiend emerges. One quick gripe: Can we stop with The Fiend sticking out the tongue thing? I don’t know if they think it’s creepy or scary or what, but it comes off as cartoon-y more than anything else.
Not a whole lot added to this story heading in Summerslam on this show, but honestly, it doesn’t really need much more. Bray has done a great job & the Alexa Bliss factor I imagine is going to have a big payoff. Anything less than The Fiend & Blisster Abigail standing over the corpse of Braun Strowman will be considered a major letdown in The Birdman Household.
So that’s our go home show for Summerslam. I think overall there’s a lot to look forward to, which is not something I would’ve said a month ago, but good job by Smackdown for righting the ship & making it a fun watch these past few weeks. Let us know what you’re thinking heading into Sunday by dropping a comment here or on our Discord. And be sure to stop by throughout the weekend for our Summerslam & Takeover XXX coverage.
