Smackdown Review 07/19/2016

Finally! We are here! The long awaited WWE Draft is here! After weeks and weeks of WWE and even us hyping this, we are finally getting a Brand Split and weekly Smckadown Live! Can WWE deliver with this hugely hyped show? Let’s find out!

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Smackdown is LIVE in the USA Network and Fox Sports 2 in Latin America and comes to you from the DCU Arena in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Byron Saxton, Mauro Ranallo, Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler are all in the commentary table by the way.

The show starts with Daniel Bryan’s music. Bryan alongside Shane McMahon make their way out to the Smackdown podium. Stephanie McMahon is already in the Raw podium with Mick Foley. Steph cuts Daniel Bryan’s entrance and after insulting Shane and Bryan a bit, says that everyone is here tonight for one reason only, The Draft! She goes right away with Raw’s first Draft Pick.

Raw selects…Seth Rollins as their first draft pick!
Seth’s titantron and a graphic announcing him as a part of Raw’s roster is played.

Smackdown go the same route with their first pick being…Dean Ambrose!

After some words of the commissioners about who will leave Smackdown tonight as the WWE champion, Raw announces that they are looking to have a strong women’s divison, so their second pick is…The WWE Women’s champion, Charlotte.

Stephanie asks Shane if he is frustraded that she took one of his picks, Shane replies by saying that his second Draft Pick is Phenomenal, his second draft pick is AJ Styles!

Stephanie acknowledges that his pick was indeed phenomenal, Mick Foley says that Raw’s third pick is looking to the future so the third pick is an NXT Superstar, this gets a huge pop. After some silence, Foley announces Finn Balor as the third Raw Pick!

John Cena’s music hits and he comes down to the ring for the first match of the evening. AJ Styles’ music also hits comes out with a Smackdown shirt alongside The Club.

1) John Cena w/ Enzo & Cass vs Luke Gallows w/ Karl Anderson & AJ Styles.
John Cena defeated Luke Gallows by pinfall with an Attitude Adjustment. This was a pretty solid match but it got a boost from the hotness of the crowd, and even with Gallows being cleary much slower than Cena, Cena did a good job carrying the match but it was a pretty short match, about 10 minutes with a commercial break at the middle of it. The match was pretty much a way for Enzo & Cass to attack AJ & Anderson as Cena pinned Gallows so their team gets the upperhand before Battleground. Cena wore red and blue wristbands, if anyone cares.

Rollins vs Ambrose for the WWE Title is hyped for later on the show and a Champions vs Challengers match between Rusev & The Miz vs Zack Ryder & Darren Young is announced.

The show comes back from commercial with Stephanie and Foley talking about Foley not being a puppet and himself announcing that Raw’s fourth draft pick is…Roman Reigns! Holy crap!

Shane replies by announcing that their third pick (Called it second by some reason) is “The face that runs the place”, the 15 time World Champion, John Cena!

Foley gives the mic to Steph so she announces their fifth pick, and it is The Beast Incarnate, Brock Lesnar!

Now it’s Daniel Bryan’s turn to announce Smackdown’s fourth pick, and without mentioning their match at Summerslam, he announces the third generation superstar, Randy Orton!

Steph asks for a drumroll from Foley for their sixth pick, by saying their catchphrase, Steph announces The New Day as the 6th pick for Raw!

Rusev, The Miz, Darren Young and Zack Ryder are in the ring for their tag team match.

2) Champions vs Challengers. Rusev & The Miz vs Zack Ryder & Darren Young.
Zack Ryder & Darren Young defeated The Miz & Rusev by submission when Darren made The Miz tap out with the Crossface Chicken Wing. In a ridiculously short match, with a red hot crowd that kept chanting “We Want Backlund” I personally felt like we know what The Miz and Rusev can do but Darren and Zack really showed some star quality in this match that not a lot of people would consider in these two.

A handicap match between Sasha Banks vs Charlotte & Dana Brooke is announced followed by a graphic announcing Xavier Woods vs Bray Wyatt.

The New Day are in the ring as The Wyatt Family make their entrance.

3) Xavier Woods vs Bray Wyatt.
Bray Wyatt defeated Xavier Woods by pinfall. In a really good, story driven match, Xavier at one point in the match seemed mesmerized and even hypnotized by Bray Wyatt, Wyatt touched him as if he was one of them and Xavier’s “trance” broke. I’m really intrigued on where this thing with Xavier goes in Battleground and afterwards.

Kane is in the ring and Kevin Owens’ music hit to an awesomely big pop. Owens makes his way to the ring but he stops to yell at Shane, Bryan, Foley and Steph because he hasn’t been picked yet. As Owens walks to the ring, Sami Zayn’s music hit and attacks Owens. Owens gets the upperhand and throws Sami into the ring, he gest into the ring and throws Sami into Kane, Kane grabs Sami for a chokeslam and then grabs Owens as well and delivers a double chokeslam.

Raw gets back to the picking and select the “Underdog from the Underground”, Sami Zayn.

Shane selects Bray Wyatt (By himself) as Smackdown’s fifth pick!

Steph says she is glad Shane picked The Wyatt Family (What?) because they are too scary. Foley reminds the Smackdown guys that the draft also include women, so now, Raw will be Boss! Raw selects Sasha Banks!

Daniel Bryan says he is aware of Foley’s weird fascination with women and select the “Best female wrestler”(Debatable), The Lass Kicker, Becky Lynch!

After a little argument between Foley and Steph, Mick Foley announces Chris Jericho as Raw’s ninth pick!

We are at the halfway mark, so let’s recap a bit, shall we?
Raw: Seth Rollins, Charlotte, Finn Balor, Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, The New Day, Sami Zayn, Sasha Banks, Chris Jericho.
Smackdown: Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles, John Cena, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, Becky Lynch.

A graphic with the top superstars who haven’t been drafted yet is played which was pretty cool.

Charlotte and Dana Brooke come out, Charlotte wearing a Raw shirt. Sasha Banks comes out wearing a Raw shirt as well, the theme gets an okay ovation but when Boston Massachusets is announced as her hometwon, it gets a massive pop.

4) Sasha Banks vs Dana Brooke & Charlotte.
Charlotte and Dana Brooke defeat Sasha Banks by pinfall when Charlotte pinned Sasha with Natural Selection. This was a regular handicap match, where none of the competitors involved really shined or got much offense in, probably due to the time as it was a really short match.

Back in the podiums, Mick Foley announces the United States Champions Rusev and Lana as their pick for Raw!

Daniel Bryan says he hates to do it, but they need the Intercontinental Title, so he chooses The Miz and Maryse for Smackdown.

Stephanie now selects the “Prize Fighter” Kevin Owens for Raw.

Shane McMahon (Shockingly) selects Baron Corbin for Smackdown!

Mick Foley says he is a two time best selling autor, which means he gets a way with words and the Word he would use to describe Smacdown’s last pick is S-A-W-F-T. Raw select Enzo Amore and Coin Cassady!

Chris Jericho vs Cesaro is up next!

A graphic of both Brand’s top picks is shown. This gives a real Draft feeling, this is awesome!

5) Cesaro vs Chris Jericho.
Chris Jericho defeated Cesaro by pinfall with a mid-air Codebreaker. You know what you get watching these two, it was a really good match, it is awful that Cesaro picked up yet another loss but hopefully he gets back on track soon. The matches seem a little rushed by the way. I don’t know, that might be just me, comment below if they actually are or I’m being crazy.

The show comes back from comercial with Natalya and Becky Lynch brawling at ringside with no context whatsoever. Apparently, Becky Lynch attacked Natalya before her match with Alicia Fox.

The draft continues with Stephanie saying that Smackdown may have AJ Styles but now Raw selects two thirds of The Club, they select Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson!

Smackdown select AMERICAN ALPHA! Holy Crap! Can I mark out while writing a review? Well, I am! That was the biggest pop of the night by the way.

Mick Foley recognizes Smackdown made a great pick but Foley now selects a man who has been here for over 20 years, The Big Show for Raw! This pick was a little anti climatic.

Shane and Bryan make fun of Foley before announcing that they select a man who always deliver a phenomenal performance in the ring, Dolph Ziggler for Smackdown.

Stpehanie says their next pick is Big! She says there is no one quite like her, from NXT, Raw selects Nia Jax. A lot of boos fill the arena, a bit harsh in my opinión.

Seth Rollins is backstage being interviewed by Tom Phillips, Rollins just hypes the fact he was the overall number one pick and he will be bringing the WWE Championship to Raw and celebrate big time with Stephanie and Foley.

A video plays hyping the Shield triple threat match this sunday at Battleground.

Raw doesn’t go around the Bush, they just quickly select the returning Neville for the red brand!

Now Smackdown select the first third generation WWE female wrestler, Natalya for the blue brand.

Foley hypes the fact that his best moments apparently happened there in Massachusets, so he is selecting Cesaro for Raw! What does Massachusets have to do with it? Shut up we say.

Now Shane McMahon selects a former World Heavyweight Champion in Alberto Del Rio for Smackdown! We are BIG Del Rio fans, by the way.

Foley now selects the man he attacked at Wrestlemania, Sheamus for Raw!

Seth Rollins music hits, it’s time for our Main Event! He hugs Stephanie and Foley as he walks to the ring. Dean Ambrose comes out and blows kisses to Foley and Stephanie as he comes to the ring.

6) Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins. WWE Championship Match.
Dean Ambrose defeated Seth Rollins by pinfall with a Dirty Deeds, retaining the WWE Championship. This was a great, a fantastic, almost superb match, not as good as the Raw one, but still a really really quality match. Not much to say here, the match was awesome, the story they told was awesome, the crowd was awesome and the finish was specially awesome with the top rop suplex into Dirty Deeds.

Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan go down to the ring to celebrate with Dean Ambrose. What does it mean for both brands and the title? If Ambrose retains at Battleground again, what does that mean for Raw? Does the champion compete on both shows? I love how they left this all unanswered so we have to tune into Raw and Smackdown next week.

Dean Ambrose closes out the show celebrating his win over Seth Rollins.

Should we even rate this show? It’s a 10 out of 10 for sure, even if the wrestling was not as good for the most of the show. It was the suspense and draw of the draft that made this episode so entertaining throughout the entire show. I could honestly say that the Draft beats everything that has happened in the WWE this year. It was an awesome night, with an awesome main event, and a major change of the landscape of the WWE as a whole. Sorry if I’m overselling it but it just felt so big for me, specially with the Draft Centre, it felt like a legit sports draft. I’m genuinely excited about WWE’s future.

I know, I overused the word ‘Awesome’ in the main event and conclusion and probably wrote more than usual, but hopefully you’ll join us again next week for Smackdown’s first live show with a unique roster. Follow us on Instagram @WammysWrestlingUniverse and @TheWretlingClassic.