Smackdown Live Review 08/09/2016

We are 12 days away from WWE Summerslam. The Orton vs Lesnar feud is hot, Ziggler is still facing Ambrose for the World Title and not much else is happening on Smackdown and we still haven’t been introduced a Smackdown Women’s title or Tag Team championships. Will this be the edition where we see them? Let’s find out!

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WWE Smackdown Live comes to you live on the USA Network and Fox Sports in Latin America from Bakersfield, California at the Rabobank Arena.

The show starts with Randy Orton backstage, he hypes his match with Brock Lesnar saying it will only take one RKO to take him into Viperville. Alberto del Rio walks up to him and says Viperville sounds like a joke, like Disneyland. Randy makes some roller coaster reference about the RKO being a bumpy ride and Del Rio threatens to break his arm.
Finally we’ll see some Del Rio!

After the Smackdown opening video and pyro, Bray Wyatt’s music hits and he comes out with Erick Rowan. He says that last week he didn’t fall to Ziggler, he was a victim of Dolph cheating. This was a pretty standard promo by Wyatt, he said he was a God and no one can kill a God. After he said this was his show now, Dean Ambrose came out and said this wasn’t his show, this is the fan’s and the WWE World Heavyweight Champion’s show. After this, Dolph Ziggler’s music hit and he immediately ran into the ring and took a beating from the Wyatts, after thinking about it for a bit, Ambrose ran into the ring as well and took a beating as well. As Ambrose was set up by Wyatt for Sister Abigail, Ziggler super kicked Ambrose after Wyatt pulled Ambrose in the way. Ziggler then kicked Rowan and took Sister Abigail as well. He segment ends with Wyatt standing tall in the ring.
Good segment, yet weird it is Wyatt that stands over the champion and the challenger.

Ambrose and Ziggler are arguing backstage with tension rising. Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon interrupt them and announce they’ll be tagging against Wyatt and Rowan later on the show.

American Alpha make their way to the ring with two local athletes waiting in the ring. The Ascension, the Vaudevillians and the Hype Bros also make their entrance and stay in ringside as the match takes place.

1) American Alpha vs. Local Athletes.
In a complete squash, American Alpha won by pinfall after they hit Great Amplitude.
The other teams rush the ring and try to attack Jordan and Gable but they clean house and stand tall.
American Alpha are just awesome in the ring and super over, they deserve the spot they are in right now.

The Miz and Maryse are in the “Talking Smack” set with Renee Young. The Miz and Maryse ignore Renee’s questioning and stare and talk about each other. A video showcasing Apollo Crews plays. As we come back, The Miz and Maryse lay on the table still just staring and talking about each other.
Pretty creepy segment.

Becky Lynch makes her way to the ring followed by Eva Marie’s elaborate entrance. As Eva is in the ring, her top comes off, the referee gets her a towel to cover up with and the match is once again, called off. Becky Lynch cuts an angry promo where she says she is frustrated with Eva and makes and open challenge which Alexa Bliss answers.

2) Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss.
In a decent debut for Alexa, Alexa Bliss defeated Becky Lynch by pinfall when she hit Twisted Bliss after Eva Marie came back and was announced she was ready to compete. This was a pretty back and forth match where both competitors got a lot of offense in. After the match, Eva was interviewed at the top of the ramp and said Alexa beat her to take the match but next week she’ll be ready to make her debut.
Becky Lynch is looking like a fool lately, with all these interferences and stuff, I don’t know, I’m starting to lose interest on Becky.

Randy Orton makes her to the ring followed by Alberto del Rio.

3) Randy Orton vs. Alberto del Rio.
In a good and surprisingly lengthy match, Randy Orton defeated Alberto del Rio by disqualification after Del Rio made himself get disqualified by hitting Orton with a chair. After the match, Del Rio kept hitting Orton and as he was setting up another chair shot, Orton hit an RKO outta nowhere.
Finally, finally we see some Del Rio! I can say he delivered. He is a legitimate athlete, a great wrestler with a ton of star power so he needs to be showcased far more.

Rhyno is working out backstage when Heath Slater walks up and tells him to help him out because he has kids and just bought a pool and stuff. After both talking for a bit, Rhyno just refused.

4) Heath Slater vs. Rhyno.
In a great showing from Heath Slater, Rhyno defeated Heath Slater by pinfall with a Gore. Rhyno dominated the match from the beginning thanks to a short arm clothesline. Slater got a two count and then applied a chin lock. Slater avoided a Gore attempt after a chain of chin locks, and tried to pick up the win using the ropes, but got caught by the ref. Slater argued, but turned around into a Gore.
It was a fairly predictable match but still a great showing from both men, considering Rhyno’s age. It still is an intriguing angle the “Hottest free agent in sports entertainment”. It would be awesome if Slater showed up on NXT.

The Wyatts are backstage with Erick reciting some poetry and Bray walking up to him and telling him he has always been a good soldier and to be ready to destroy.

Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon are backstage talking about signing Heath Slater even if he lost. Slater comes in and rants about being disrespected and Smackdown not deserving him, he just walks out. After he leaves, Shane and Bryan just don’t give him the contract they were holding.

Carmella is making her entrance as Natalya tries to attack but Carmella sees it coming and attacks her instead. They brawl for a bit until they get to the ring and the match is started.

5) Carmella vs. Natalya.
This was a pretty standard match, but again, another successful debut with Carmella defeating Natalya by submission.
Match begins with a dominating Natalya that keeps showing off her narcissism. Natalya goes for an abdominal stretch while trash talking, Carmella breaks free from the lock and Natalya responds with a clothesline and attempts a Sharpshooter with -you guessed it- more trash talking, Carmella escapes and applies the Code of Silence. Natalya taps out.
This was an average match, but it is awesome to see Carmella on the main roster and let’s see what’s in store for Natalya and her cockiness that has cost her so many matches.

We have a promotional video taking a look back at John Cena and AJ Styles’ feud for Summerslam

We see Baron Corbin beating up Kalisto just like a school bully does and makes a statement explaining that this was for costing him his intercontinental title shot last week

6) Dean Ambrose & Dolph Ziggler vs. Bray Wyatt & Erick Rowan.
In a fun match, Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose defeated the Wyatts by pinfall.
Ziggler and Bray start things up, Bray takes control and throws Dolph outside the ring. Dolph Ziggler dodges Bray and makes the tag with Dean, Dean beats up everyone until Bray beats him up while he was entering the ring. The match finishes with Dean Ambrose doing a dive to outside and Dolph delivering a Super Kick to Erick Rowan to take the win.

This main event really felt like the old Smackdown, with feuding wrestlers being forced to tag with each other in the main event against the brand’s top heel and at the end they both end up taking each other to continue the feud. And apparently WWE are trying to set up Ziggler’s Super Kick as his legit finisher.

Both men celebrate until Ambrose hits Dirty Deeds on Ziggler to close up the show.

That is it for Smackdown this week! Last night’s RAW was by far the worst in actually a really long time (If I recall correctly), so definitely Smackdown was the better show this week. This wasn’t by any means an awesome or great Smackdown but still better than Raw. I don’t feel like Smackdown has a lack of star power but they need to play to their advantages and they didn’t do so, with AJ Styles and John Cena not being in the show, with Baron Corbin and Kalisto not wrestling on the show and even The Miz, their only champion after Dean Ambrose just doing a lame segment with Maryse.
This show gets a final rating of 7.9 out of 10 just because the Del Rio big marks we are, the debuts of Alexa Bliss and Carmella, the showing by American Alpha, the strangely intriguing storyline with Heath Slater and the Dean Ambrose-Dolph Ziggler feud.

Do you disagree? Probably. Tell us about it(WhatCulture line not intended) in the comments or in our Instagram (@WammysWrestlingUniverse). Any feedback is welcomed and appreaciated.

We’ll see you again next week for Smackdown Live!
#TeamSmackdown.