Smackdown Live Review 08/14/2018

Hello Misfits. It is time for this weeks Smackdown Live review. It is the go-home show for Smackdown Live heading into this Sunday’s Summerslam. Summerslam is hosted by both brands. Smackdown Live’s contribution to Summerslam has been more appealing to me than Raw contributions to the show by a long shot. Daniel Bryan will finally be able to get his hands on The Miz and finally shut his mouth. Samoa Joe and AJ Styles had words for each other these past couple of works but havent had a face to face confrontation in two weeks. Carmella has her hardest test yet, as she doesn’t have one opponent at Summerslam but two when she has to defend her championship against BFF’s Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair. Shinsuke Nakamura is set to defend his championship against Jeff Hardy again but will Randy Orton find a way to be involved in this match. Will the Bar find a way into the tag team match or are we going with The New Day vs. The Blugdeon Brothers again. Its the final stop for the blue brand before Summerslam so lets find out how they cap things off.

Smackdown comes to us live from the Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.

–  Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton and Corey Graves are on commentary.

Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and Carmella
Carmella says she is tired of Lynch and Charlotte’s faces. Carmella is also tired of being punished for being such a good champion. Carmella tells Lynch that everyone is thinking “poor Becky Lynch”. Lynch has no chance this Sunday because Charlotte is now in the match. Lynch says she is human so of course she wasn’t happy when Charlotte was added to the match. Lynch was losing sleep thinking about dismantling Carmella one-on-one. Now Lynch is going to beat Carmella and whip Charlotte. Carmella tries to stir the pot between Charlotte and Lynch.
Charlotte tells Carmella that’s enough. Charlotte tells Carmella the reason the fans don’t respect her is because Carmella is a Diva living in a Women’s division. Carmella says she is a Diva and she is damn proud of it. Carmella yells that everything about her is better than Lynch and Charlotte. Charlotte and Lynch start to close in on Carmella. Paige comes out and tells everyone that her job is to make the best matches so that’s why Charlotte was added to the match. Paige tells Carmella to go to the commentary desk. Paige tells Lynch and Charlotte that they have a tag team match right now.
Opinion
This was a great way to kick off the show putting the highlight on the Women’s Championship triple threat match this Sunday. Charlotte calling Carmella a diva in a womens evolution was great because there is an argument to be made there by the casual fan. I enjoyed Carmella instigating and stirring the pot between Lynch and Flair as that would only benefit her in the match this Sunday. This laid out the story perfectly heading into Summerslam.

Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair def. Mandy Sacs & Sonya Deville
In a quality tag match, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch defeated Mandy Sacs and Sonya Deville when Lynch made Sacs tap out to the disarm-her. Carmella was on commentary again this week for the tag match.
Opinion
Similar to how they defeated the IIconics last week, Lynch and Flair defeated Deville and Sacs this week. However, this week Lynch chose not to tag Charlotte in and get the job done her self once we got back from break. If you remember last week Charlotte tagged herself in to pick up the win, this week Becky wanted to show she could do it herself. Quality stuff in building tension between the two.

– Backstage, via a video, Miz and Maryse announce that their show has been picked up a second season.

-Backstage, Charlotte tells Lynch she didn’t have to do that all on her own. Lynch says she was in the zone. Charlotte tells Lynch good luck. Lynch says she doesn’t need it and neither does Charlotte. The best woman will win. Charlotte agrees.

The Bludgeon Brothers vs. Triple Threat
The match never began as the Bludgeon Brothers just destroyed all three local talent jobbers, leading the match to end in a no contest.
Opinion
This was what it was and made the Bludgeon Brothers look real strong heading into Summerslam and their match against The New Day.

– The announcers lead us to the first of a three-part look at The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan, focusing on their time in the early days of WWE NXT, the Rookies & Pros version

The New Day def. SanIty
In a really good competitive match, The New Day defeated Sanity when they hit a UpUpDwnDwn on Killian Dain.
Opinion
Its Kofi Kingston’s birthday, so there was a loud “Happy Birthday Kofi” chant. This was one helluva match and I personally think that these two stables should still be feuding over the New Day getting another championship opportunity. I would have loved to have seen The Bar vs The Bludgeon Brothers at Summerslam while The New Day continued going to war with SanIty. This match was fun and gave The New Day one last big win before Sunday.

– The announcers lead us to part two of the special look at the rivalry between The Miz and Daniel Bryan, which includes footage of their infamous Talking Smack exchange.

– Backstage, Paige points out that Samoa refused to address the Smackdown crowd tonight. AJ Styles will be in the ring and Paige needs Joe to be professional. Joe says when Paige first choose Joe to face Styles she did it because he is predictable. Joe is going to do whatever he damn well pleases and Paige will just have to sit back and deal with the consequences. OR Joe can just sit in the back and enjoy Paige’s hard work.

Andrade “Cien” Almas w/ Zelina Vega def. Aiden English
Before the match, Aiden English sigs an apology song to Rusev and Lana who are watching from backstage.
In a quick match. Almas defeated Aiden English after catching him with a hammerlock DDT.
After the match Zelina Vega and Almas cut a promo on Rusev and Lana saying they will end Rusev Day. Rusev and Lana come out on the ramp. Rusev says Vega is going to learn why Lana is the best and Lana is number one. Lana says they are going to crush Vega and Alams because this year SummerSlam falls Rusev Day
Opinion
Finally Almas and Vega put the spotlight back on them with their post match promo. They almost felt like irrelevant pawns for a feud with the Rusev Day camp. I feel as if English is going to try to avenge his loss here by trying to help this Sunday and its going to backfire. Regardless, I’m looking forward to the two guys everyone claims I look like and their female mangers to face off this Sunday.

-Backstage, Paige tells Styles she needs Joe and Styles to stay professional so the Smackdown main event stays intact. Styles says he made a promise to his wife and he plans on keeping it. Styles walks away.

— Back from the break and we get the final part of the three-part look at the feud between Daniel Bryan and The Miz. The announcers hype their SummerSlam match.

Jeff Hardy def. Shelton Benjamin
In a solid match, Jeff Hardy defeated Shelton Benjamin after hitting him with a twist-of-fate.
After the match, Shinsuke Nakamura walks down to the ring. After a distraction from Benjamin, Nakamura drops Hardy with a knee to the back of the head. Nakamura tries the Kinshasa but Hardy avoids it. Hardy hits the Swanton Bomb. Orton is shown watching Hardy from behind the stage.
Opinion
This was Jeff Hardy’s redemption before going into his US Championship match this Sunday. He even got one over on Nakamura being able to hit him with a swanton bomb as well. Orton creeping on him from behind the stage almost validates that he will make his presence known this Sunday. I was curious to see if he would be added to the match but I guess that won’t be the case.

AJ Styles/Samoa Joe
Styles says for almost 20 years Styles has been able to travel the world and compete against the best. Styles has learned a lot. No lesson more important than the lesson Styles learned after winning the WWE title. It’s way harder to hold onto the title than it is to win it. Right when Styles thought he knew Joe, Joe stabbed Styles in the back, and then the heart. Styles shows footage of Joe talking about Styles’ family. Styles says Joe got him. Styles lost his cool. Styles went to a place he didn’t want to go. A dark place. A place where Styles wanted to rip Joe’s head off.
Styles wife told him that he can’t lose his cool like that. You have to stay focused. Joe walks out on the ramp. Joe has a piece of paper in his hands. Joe calls Styles a liar. Joe says it’s a letter from a member of the WWE Universe. Joe read the letter. It says Joe’s words last week were disgusting because they are true. Styles never wanted a wife or kids. Styles is such a good champion because Styles doesn’t care about his family. The person who wrote the letter says she hopes Styles loses this Sunday so Styles can know what it’s like to lose the only thing he cares about. Sincerely, Wendy Styles … Joe smiles and walks away.
Opinion
They wanted to make this rivalry more personal and with this being their final week to do so, they did. AJ Styles tried being the better person but Samoa Joe continues to attack Styles character as a father and husband. This was perfect way to get us intrigued to see Styles not only fight to retain his WWE Championship but to fight for his pride and reputation this Sunday. The question now is if Joe has gotten Styles off his game with all these mind games and emotional attacks.

Final Thoughts
Smackdown Live put on a great go-home show for Summerslam focusing on all their matches they have booked for this Sunday. Its a shame that we only got video packages for the Miz/Bryan rivalry tonight and nothing between the two live on TV. It was nice to revisit their history. Smackdown has so much talent and its unfortunate that they all can’t be featured on Summerslam since its a joint PPV and there no longer are brand specific PPVs. I think if you weren’t excited for this Sunday after watching Raw, definitely tune into this weeks episode of Smackdown and see what they have to offer. I feel like you might get a little more excited for this Sunday’s biggest party of the Summer.
Rating – 7/10