Smackdown Live Review 08/30/2016

It’s Tuesday night again, and we are on our way to Backlash as the card is starting to fill up. Smackdown has been miles better from Raw since the Draft but last night with the return of Triple H, his turn on Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens winning the Universal Championship, can Smackdown be superior again? Can Smackdown 2 hour show beat Raw’s 20 awesome minutes? Let’s find out!

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Smackdown Live comes to you on the USA Network at the American Airlines Center from Dallas, Texas.

This week’s show opens up with footage from last week’s Talking Smack’s confrontation between Daniel Bryan and The Miz. It was an awesome promo by the way.
Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon are backstage as Shane tells Bryan to apologize to The Miz and try not to get on wrestler’s faces again. Bryan responds he won’t be that honest next time but it’s a bit ironic to receive that advice from someone who has beef with Brock Lesnar.

After the normal Smackdown intro, The Miz heads to the ring alongside Maryse. I could write the entire promo but all you need to know is that this was an awesome, intense and pretty real promo where The Miz who legitimately is a great worker in the ring and on the mic, talked about his struggles, the start of his career and even his “Soft Wrestling Style”. It truly was a great promo that got The Miz a bunch of heat at the end where Dolph Ziggler came out and after insulting him for a bit regarding his promo, challenged him for an Intercontinental Title Match that after considering it and taking his suit off, The Miz declined and stated that Ziggler did not deserve it.
Opinion: The Miz is just awesome on the mic, he cut a great and intense promo but I don’t really know how to feel about Ziggler v Miz, but I guess we can give the feud a shot.

Dean Ambrose v Baron Corbin and a challenge from Bray Wyatt to Randy Orton are announced for later.

The Hype Bros make their to the ring followed by The Vaudevillians.

1) The Hype Bros vs. The Vaudevillians.
In a brief but somewhat fun match, the Hype Bros defeated The Vaudevillians by pinfall when they hit Hype Rider on Aiden English.
Opinion: The Vaudevillians are heading absolutely nowhere and it’s such a shame considering their ability on the ring and on the mic.

AJ Styles is walking backstage still wearing the John Cena headband and telling everyone he is the “Face that Runs the Place”. He bumps into Apollo Crews and pretends to not know who he is. Apollo then spells his name out for him and Styles responds this is not a spelling bee but he is the face that runs the P-L-A-C-E.

AJ Styles comes down to the ring and cuts a brief promo about beating John Cena at Summerslam and becoming WWE Champion in two weeks at Backlash until Apollo Crews interrupts him. AJ asks Apollo if he is out there to challenge him for a spelling bee, and Apollo responds he got the permission from Daniel Bryan for a match, right now!

2) AJ Styles vs. Apollo Crews.
In a match that was shorter tan expected, AJ Styles defeated Apollo Crews by pinfall with a Phenomenal Forearm.
Opinion: AJ Styles is still probably the best wrestler on WWE’s entire roster but Apollo Crews desperately needs a shake up on his character as right now he is incredibly talented in the ring but I don’t fell invested in him.

Renee Young conducts a random interview with Heath Slater at Slater’s home. Slater’s home is a single wide trailer and his wife which clearly is not his real wife was introduced. Slater feeds her crackers and canned cheese, so Slater is now a stereotypical redneck. Renee tried to ask Slater about being undrafted some weeks ago and and Rhyno about being Slater’s new partner. At the end, it was pretty much a recap of Slater’s moments since the draft.
Opinion: Slater has been incredibly entertaining since the Brand Split but this segment seemed so unfunny and just uncomfortable as every fat joke about Slater’s wife and redneck references just seemed uncomfortable.

Bray Wyatt makes his entrance and proceeds to cut a promo about him being the fear, and not fearing anything or anyone. He also talks about Randy Orton’s defeat at Summerslam at the hands of Brock Lesnar until Randy interrupts him. They both have a Word Exchange about both being damaged and being predators. Wyatt finally issues the challenge to Orton for Backlash which Orton accepts and then tries to attack Wyatt but Bray just disappears.
Opinion: I’m really looking forward to this match and this feud for a long term program but right now, I don’t see their motivations to be fighting and frankly I don’t see why I should root for anyone of them.

Nikki Bella is at commentary for the next match, followed by the entrances of Natalya, Alexa Bliss, Naomi and Becky Lynch.

3) Becky Lynch & Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss & Natalya.
In a mess of a match, Alexa Bliss and Natalya defeated Becky and Naomi when Alexa pinned Becky with a quick roll up after Becky got distracted yelling at Carmella who ran in to attack Nikki Bella.
Opinion: If anyone still reads this, you know my issues with the Women’s division. I’m really sorry to say this but Alexa just keeps disappointing as her character is uninteresting and her selling isn’t as good. Becky Lynch also still seems uninteresting as she has the in ring ability but I just don’t feel invested in her as a character. I’m really starting to get behind this heel Carmella btw.

A video hyping the return of the Headbangers is played.

4) The Headbangers vs Heath Slater & Rhyno.
In a brief and predictable yet enjoyable match, Slater & Rhino won when Rhyno pinned Mosh with a Gore for the win.
Opinion: The Headbangers did a good job for being their first WWE match in 16 years but hopefully they are not a regular tag team as I don’t think anyone wants to actually see them each week. It was a good nostalgia act though.

AJ Styles is at commentary for the main event but a man called Gary “The Milkman” Milliman is in the ring saying he got a license to wrestle and wasn’t going to leave the ring until he got a match. He stripped down and waited for someone until Kane made his entrance and chokeslam him.
Opinion: Why? Just why?

Baron Corbin makes his way to the ring and crosses paths with Kane in the ramp.

5) Baron Corbin vs. Dean Ambrose.
In a decent main event, Baron Corbin defeated Dean Ambrose by DQ when AJ Styles kicked Baron Corbin by accident.
Once the match ended, Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds on Corbin and Styles then tried to hit a Phenomenal Forearm on Ambrose but Ambrose crotched him on the top rope. Styles stayed in shock there in the top rope as Ambrose shook his hand and bounced him a couple of times. Ambrose then left with the title to close the show.
Opinion: I personally feel it was a terrible idea to give that comedic ending to Styles v Ambrose for tonight. You only have one more week to build this up and it definitely deserves better. Baron did good being in the main event.

There you go, that’s Smackdown Live trying to compete with Raw’s great 20 minutes. I personally felt like it didn’t deliver, and dare to say this was the worst Smackdown episode since the Draft. I rate this show a 6.8 out of 10 because of the comedy attempt at a feud that should be dead serious, the women’s division not delivering again, the Headbangers not being relevant and the Vaudevillians role. The Miz-Ziggler segment and AJ in ring phenomenal (Pun intended) ability pretty much saved the show.

Does anybody have a different opinion? Hopefully, I want some positive feedback on Smackdown. Please comment what you thought of this week’s Smackdown either here at Instagram @TheWrestlingClassic and @WammysWrestlingUniverse.
We’ll see you next week!