Smackdown Review 06/30/2016

Is it the Brand Split yet? No? Okay, we’re only about 2 and a half weeks away from the Brand Split on July 19 and about 3 weeks and a half to Battleground on July 24, so let’s get right into this week’s Smackdown!

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Smackdown comes to you this week on USA Network taped on tuesday in Miami, Florida at the American Airlines Arena.

Smackdown opens up with Mauro Ranallo plugging the fatal four way match between Cesaro, Apollo Crews, Sheamus and Alberto del Rio tonight to determine the new United States Title #1 contender.
All four men cut a promo about themselves, with Apollo Crews and Sheamus focusing more on getting each other rather than the U.S title, and Del Rio and Cesaro pretty focused and confident that one of them will be the next United States champion.

1) Cesaro vs Alberto del Rio vs Sheamus vs Apollo Crews.
In a really good match as expected, Cesaro defeated the other 3 when he made Alberto del Rio tap out with the Sharpshooter. As expected, Sheamus and Crews fought just between them for almost the entire match and Cesaro and Del Rio showed us why both these men deserve better when this brand split happens. And Alberto del Rio sold that Sharpshooter like a boss, by the way.

After the match, Alberto del Rio attacked Cesaro, giving him the double foot stomp on the apron of the ring to the floor. As the officials were checking on Cesaro, Rusev’s music hits and he comes down to the ring and cuts a brief promo stating that he was not going to wait, Cesaro’s title opportunity was happening right now.

2) Rusev vs Cesaro for the United States Title.
In a solid match where Cesaro sold his shoulder injury in a really convincing way, Rusev defeated Cesaro by submission with the Accolade to retain his United States Championship. Cesaro did a great job pulling double duty in back to back matches and Rusev plays an awesome monster heel. Oh, and Lana was looking gorgeous by the way.

Rusev is backstage with Renee Young where he tells her that Independence Day should be called “Rusev Day”. As Rusev was telling Renee that he was going to take the 4th of July off, Renee announces that he will have to defend the United States Championship against Titus O’ Neil on Monday Night Raw.

A video showing WWE’s partnership with the Specail Olympics is played.

3) Dana Brooke vs Billie Kay.
In an average match where Billie Kay did not get much offense in, Dana Brooke defeated Billie Kay by pinfall with a Samoan Driver. I wont stop complaining about this until someone comments I should stop. This 3 minute matches (literally) Do absolutely nothing for wrestlers in general and by having a recent call up in Dana Brooke, WWE is doing a grat job by putting her on TV each week, but 3 minutes? On previous weeks, it has been even less than that. It’s not enough time for any wrestler to show off what he or she has to offer. Also, the fact that Billie Kay only got this match because most of the roster was traveling to Hawaii kinda sucks.

Sasha Banks is being interviewed backstage where she says that “The Boss” is not only a nickname, it’s legit. Summer Rae interrupts her and a match between both of them is set for later on.

Maryse is in the ring introducing his husband The Miz for Miz TV. The Miz comes out and cuts a promo about how this could very well be the last ever Miz TV on Smackdown or the exclusive show for Smackdown. As he was about to introduce his guest Dean Ambrose, the Lunatic Fringe interrupts him and comes out with a lunch bag. He gets to the ring, apologizes to The Miz for being late and pulls out a sandwich from his bag, saying it was a Cuban because they were in Miami. They argue about the contents of the sandwich and Ambrose hypes the Battleground main event. They both argue about Miz TV, the Amrose Asylum, and who was better. Eventually, Ambrose cleaned his face with Miz’s white coat and The Miz attacked Ambrose. As The Miz walked away, Ambrose got up and took another bite of his sandwich.

4) Braun Stroman & Erick Rowan vs Local Competitors.
In about 30 seconds, The Wyatt Family defeated the local competitors in dominant fashion by pinfall by stacking one over the other one.

After the match, the New Day appeared on the Titantron and cut a promo mocking the Wyatt Family with Kofi and Big E joking and laughing but Xavier Woods just quiet. Bray Wyatt picked up the mic and asked them why Woods was not laughing. He tells Woods to tell the New Day what he already knows, The Devil is calling him.
Now, I know most people are hating on what they are doing with Xavier Woods but I’m genuenly intrigued on what he’ll do next. Will he costs the New Day the tag titles or join the Wyatts? It is intriguing.

5) Sasha Banks vs Summer Rae.
In a solid and longer match, Sasha Banks defeated Summer Rae by submission with the Bank Statement. Not much to say about this match, except maybe that hopefully Summer gets a bigger role after the Brand Split.

After a video package that recapped the Rollins vs Ambrose feud, Dean Ambrose makes his way to the ring to face The Miz in the main event.

6) Dean Ambrose vs The Miz.
In a really entertaining and well crafted true heel vs true babyface match, Dean Ambrose defeated The Miz by pinfall with a Dirty Deeds. This match stands out to me because the Miz is such a great heel and Ambrose is a great babyface so I felt these two had great chemistry and complemented each other in the ring.

The show ends with Dean Ambrose celebrating in the ring.

And that’s Smackdown for you guys! This time, we rate it a 8.5 out of 10 because we felt it had a great opening and closing matches and the Wyatt vs New Day and Rusev vs Cesaro were also entertaining. Our only complaints would be The Dana vs Billie match, the lack of continuation on the big feuds, and the announcement of yet another title shot for Titus.
Probabl y some of you will disagree with the final rating, so please, tell us about it in the comment section or on Instagram at @TheWrestlingClassic and yours truly @WammysWrestlingUniverse.

Thanks for reading, we’ll see you next week.