Smackdown Live Review 09/20/2016

Seth Rollins pretty much turned face, the cruiserweights arrived on Raw and Bayley vs Sasha vs Charlotte was announced for Clash of Champion. All of this happened last night at Monday Night Raw, how will the blue brand respond after being better since pretty much the brad split started? Let’s find out!

WWE Smackdown Live comes to you on the USA Network live from the Legacy Arena at Birmingham, Alabama.

Daniel Bryan opens the show with the usual ‘Yes’ chants. He hypes the No Mercy PPV coming up and announces a Women’s contract signing for tonight –Should we forget how the last one turned out?- and welcomes the Smackdown Women’s Champion, Becky Lynch. Becky comes out and Bryan now announces Alexa Bliss, who makes her way to the ring. Little side note, they both look stunning.
Becky and Alexa exchange some words with Alexa saying Becky was born to be a loser, Becky saying she wasn’t born to be a champion but she fought to be one. After this, Alexa punches Becky in the mouth, signs the contract and throws the table and contract on top of Becky. Alexa then leaves but Becky follows her, attacks her and then returns to the ring to sign the contract herself.
Opinion: Actually, a really strong opening segment. About 8 minutes, with a good insult trading. Alexa is being a good heel and Becky still playing her underdog role. Off to a good start… Oh, and the No Mercy graphics look terrible to honest.

After the commercial break is over, Daniel Bryan is walking backstage when The Miz confronts him about him having an issue with his Intercontinental Championship Match tonight. Daniel says if they cancel the match, The Miz loses the title and his lucrative contact.
Ok. Where is this storyline going?!

The Usos make their way to the ring with brand new gear, titantron and minitron. We see a clip of the Usos injuring chad Gable two weeks ago and American Alpha’s theme is played as both, Gable and Jordan come out.

1) American Alpha vs. The Usos in a #1 Contenders Match.
In a really good, story based, 11 minute match with Heath Slater and Rhyno watching, The Usos defeated American Alpha when…an Uso hit the Splash on Jason Jordan.
Opinion: Wow. Great match between these two teams. Jason Jordan played the fact Chad was injured and didn’t
want to tag him in which is a beginning of a great story and The Usos seem pretty good at their new heel roles.

Rhyno and Heath Slater are backstage talking about their new challengers and Heath tries to convince Rhyno to do what the Usos used to do by chanting Rhy-No. The Usos show up and tell them they cheated on Backlash to win the gold and if they don’t surrender the titles, they will just break Rhyno’s or Heath’s knee.

Randy Orton vs Erick Rowan is announced for later.

Jack Swagger is at the commentary table as Apollo Crews makes his entrance followed by Baron Corbin.

2) Baron Corbin vs. Apollo Crews. Again.
Apollo Crews just jobbed to Corbin in literally 2 minutes. So, Baron Corbin defeated Apollo Crews by pinfall with the End of Days. After the match, Corbin got into a little stare down with Jack Swagger.
Opinion: I get Baron needs to be built up but that’s no the way, jobbing a talented and young man like Apollo Crews is never the way. Also, please make this Swagger vs Corbin feud at least a little interesting, I really want to care.

A Curt Hawkins video is played, this time, himself stating some “Facts” about himself.

Naomi and Nikki Bella are interviewed backstage by this new random girl I can’t seem to remember. After their interview where they talk about Naomi’s glow and stuff, we cut to Dolph Ziggler being interviewed by Renee Young about his upcoming IC Title Match.

3) Dolph Ziggler vs the Miz for the Interconinental Title.
In pretty much the same match you saw at Backlash, The Miz defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain his Intercontinental Title after he sprayed Maryse’s thingy in Dolph’s face and hit the Skull Crushing Finale.
Opinion: Not bashing the match, it was alright but I just didn’t believe Dolph was winning and there was nothing special to it in my opinion.

4) Randy Orton vs Erick Rowan.
In yet another overly short match, Randy Orton defeated Erick Rowan by pinfall with an RKO.
After the match, the lights went out and when they came back up, Erick had disappeared and his mask was laying in the ring. Wyatt’s thingy happened and Bray Wyatt appeared on the titantron cutting a promo about being a god.
Opinion: Nothing noteworthy came from the match but Wyatt vs. Orton keeps dragging and dragging as I still don’t really get what they are fighting for so I don’t really feel invested in the story but I’m really looking forward the match itself. It’s nice to see Orton is officially cleared to wrestle.

5) Nikki Bella & Naomi vs. Natalya & Carmella.
So, the match started, Natalya locked the Sharpshooter on Nikki and Carmella pulled Nikki out and savagely attacked her and the match ended. Can we just say the match didn’t happen? Ok, cool.

AJ Styles is interviewed backstage about his upcoming match in three weeks against John Cena and Dean Ambrose, a cocky AJ Styles jst says he is the new Face that runs the Place, he beat both of those men already and he’ll watch Cena vs. Ambrose next.

6) John Cena vs Dean Ambrose.
So, we are building Ambrose back up aren’t we? Dean Ambrose defeated John Cena by pinfall with a quick roll up. After the match, Cena sat in the floor at ringside in shock as AJ Styles came out and attacked him with a Phenomenal Forearm from the barricade, he got into the ring and attacked Dean Ambrose.
Daniel Bryan then came out and announced that Dean Ambrose was getting his one on one title rematch, and that match will happen…NEXT WEEK! AJ turns around and Ambrose hits Dirty Deeds.
Opinion: I feel like Ambrose vs Cena was wasted for a Smackdown, 14 minute long match when it can easily main event a PPV. Nevertheless, it was a solid match that makes the feud a bit more intense. I can say AJ Styles is officially the face of Smackdown, no doubt about it, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

A graphic is shown hyping the No Mercy match between Cena, Styles and Ambrose which is still happening. Ambrose keeps celebrating to close out the show.

Final Thoughts
Wow! Another great week of Smackdown Live? In my opinion, it was a really complete show. We had a great opening segment that adds something to the Becky-Alexa feud, we had a title match, the announcement of a title match for next week, the return of American Alpha, I mean, it wasn’t by any means the best edition of Smackdown but it certainly was a positive one.
Final Rating: 7.2 out of 10.

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