Smackdown Live Review 02/14/2017

It’s only been days since the Elimination Chamber and the Road to Wrestlemania for Smackdown Live has no more big stops besides it’s weekly show. Bray Wyatt is the new WWE Champion and it had been advertised that he will be facing John Cena who has invoked his rematch clause with the title on the line. The Smackdown Live’s Women’s Division has been on fire and had quite the make over as well with Naomi becoming the Women’s Champion this past Sunday. It leaves one with a lot of questions. Such as whats next for AJ Styles? Will Alexa Bliss get her rematch? Will Randy Orton confront Bray Wyatt? Will Bray Wyatt walk out of Smackdown Live still WWE Champion? Whats next for Nikki Bella and Natalya? It’s the “Era of Wyatt” but will it last longer than a week? Lets get to the review.

Live from the Honda Centre in Anaheim California!

Our new WWE Champion, Bray Wyatt, makes his way to the ring and declares this the era of Wyatt. Bray offers everyone to stand beside him or be caught in the fire. John Cena interrupts and comes down to the ring. Cena claims Wyatt has brainwashed the crowd into worshiping him and wants his title match. AJ Styles comes out and mentions that he’s defeated Cena multiple times and never got a proper 1 vs 1 rematch for the title. Daniel Bryan comes out and announces Wyatt vs Styles vs Cena in the main event for the title.
Thoughts: Great opening promo to start Bray Wyatt’s title reign. He’s such a natural on the mic and in this position as champion, he’ll be getting mic time every week. I also appreciate that Smackdown’s opening promo never seems to go unnecessarily long.

Match #1
American Alpha vs The Ascension
Konnor and Viktor dominate Gable for a bit but after the hot tag to Jason Jordan, American Alpha gets the victory with Grand Amplitude. The Usos appear on the big screen after and taunt American Alpha.
Thoughts: Disappointing to see Ascension take another loss to American Alpha so quick. However, Usos vs Alpha should be great and I’m glad to see them finally transitioning to just two tag teams feuding. It will allow for things to get more personal. Meanwhile, perhaps Ascension can feud with Slater & Rhyno.

Dean Ambrose runs into Carmella & James Ellsworth backstage. Carmella and Ambrose exchange some funny banter and Daniel Bryan announces James Ellsworth vs Dean Ambrose for tonight.
Thoughts: Carmella is Smackdown’s best woman on the mic, in my opinion, and she was great in this segment. I suddenly want to see her and Ambrose together more.

Match #2
Dean Ambrose vs James Ellsworth
Ellsworth cuts a really funny promo in the ring before the match. As he’s waiting, Corbin comes out dragging Ambrose’s limp body with him. Corbin gives Ambrose the Deep Six into the production area causing sparks to fly.
Thoughts: This is going to be a great feud. Two wonderful brawlers that can both bring a lot of intensity to the table. And we’ve already seen two wonderful beatdowns from Corbin.

Nikki Bella is backstage with Daniel Bryan which leads to another fight between Nikki and Natalya. Bryan announces Nikki and Natalya in a falls count anywhere match for next week.
Thoughts: I think this will be a fantastic match and the stipulation itself fits the feud so well. I could see Maryse helping Nattie get the win.

Renee Young interviews Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler says he’s willing to wipe out the entire New Era one by one. Dolph says no one steals the show from him.
Thoughts: As someone that adores the generation where Dolph got big, I think I’ll be rooting for him in this storyline. It saddens me how many of those people are cast aside and this could be a great way of bringing that to life in a storyline. It could also be a great way to bring back the Swagger & Ziggler duo.

Match #3
Mickie James vs Becky Lynch
Becky and Mickie have a lengthy back and forth match before Mickie falls off the apron and sells her shoulder. The ref checks on Mickie and Becky’s momentum halts before Mickie pops back up and kicks Becky in the head, getting the win.
Thoughts: Pretty solid match, both of them looked good. I would take their Elimination Chamber match over it by a little bit but it’s nice to see them have two good matches and the score being even at 1-1.

Naomi, our new Smackdown Women’s Champion comes down to the ring for an interview with Renee Young. Naomi reveals that she suffered an injury in the title match Sunday but didn’t even realize it until she made it to the back. Alexa Bliss comes out and claims Naomi is lying about the injury as an excuse for when she loses the title. Bliss tells Naomi she’s going to give her a week and to hand over the title or she’ll beat her up and take it.
Thoughts: The injury angle makes me think it may be a way to take the title back off Naomi, which I think would be very disappointing. I would much rather see Natalya, Carmella or Mickie James as the heel going into Wrestlemania. The segment itself was pretty solid though.

Match #4 – WWE Championship
Bray Wyatt vs John Cena vs AJ Styles
As Bray makes his way to the ring, Luke Harper comes out of nowhere and attacks him! Harper superkicks Bray and leaves before the match begins. Bray Wyatt manages to retain the title in an action packed match, pinning John Cena for the second time in three days. After the match, Randy Orton comes out and pledges his undying allegiance to Bray Wyatt, saying he will not face him at Wrestlemania as long as he’s his understudy. Orton kneels before Wyatt to end the show.
Thoughts: This was a fantastic match with some great storytelling between all three men. I would actually consider it my third favorite match right now, after Zayn/Strowman’s Last Man Standing match and the chamber match. The segment after with Orton and Wyatt was very intriguing. It’s amazing that Orton & Wyatt have been working together since September and it hasn’t become stale once.

Overall:
Smackdown just understands how to book a show. They get the right amount of story advancement, promos, matches and backstage segments. Every match or segment has a reason behind it. Even if you don’t enjoy everything on the program, at the very least you can see where each segment is going.
Final Rating – 8/10