Smackdown Live Review 10/04/2016

…And just like that, we are 5 days away from another WWE Pay-Per-View. This time, WWE No Mercy is coming this Sunday and if it’s half as good as Backlash we are in for one awesome night of wrestling! Will there be a final confrontation between Cena-Ambrose-Styles? Will there be any other match announced for this Sunday? Let’s find out!

WWE Smackdown Live comes to you live on the USA Network from San Diego, California at the Valley View Casino Center.

This week’s show opens up with Bray Wyatt making his ring entrance, the announce team is hyping his match with Randy Orton this Sunday and we go straight into a match.

1) Bray Wyatt vs. Kane.
In a fairly good opening segment, Kane defeated Bray Wyatt by Count out. During the match, Randy Orton appeared upside down on the Tron and cut a promo about seeing the world as Bray does, upside down. He also said he is playing Bray’s game better now and told Wyatt to come find him.
Opinion: You know exactly what you are getting with this two, a slow, methodical, storytelling match so in that sense it wasn’t a bad match nor a bad way to start the show but it wasn’t nothing special or new, really.

Baron Corbin is interviewed backstage about Jack Swagger being in Smackdown now. Baron said he didn’t know why Daniel Bryan signed him, as he was saying what he would do to him he got interrupted by Swagger. Swagger invited to end the conversation in the ring and Corbin agreed.

We see Bray Wyatt wandering backstage and muttering to Randy Orton who is clearly not there.

2) Alexa Bliss vs. Nikki Bella.
In a match where nothing was really happening, Nikki Bella defeated Alexa Bliss by Disqualification when Carmella got up from the announce table and attacked Nikki. As Alexa and Carmella where attacking Nikki, Becky Lynch came down to make the save. Tag team match incoming…

3) Alexa Bliss & Carmella vs. Nikki Bella & Becky Lynch.
In a match where Nikki and Alexa pretty much no sold everything that happened prior, Alexa Bliss & Carmella defeated Nikki & Becky when Alexa pinned Becky Lynch after a Twisted Bliss.
Opinion: It felt unnecessary for Becky to take the pin and especially to Alexa. I guess they’re trying to give the fans a sense that Alexa pinned the champion, but other than that it seemed unnecessary. This storyline is running out of steam pretty quickly and Alexa just being able to pin her, just doesn’t seem right in the feud for me. Enjoying heel Carmella more and more. The rivalry with Nikki is full of steam.

We go backstage yet again with Bray Wyatt when he finds an empty rocking chair. He yells to Randy Orton who runs out and slams an accordion door shut and locks Wyatt in the storage crate. Orton then asks how did it fell to be hunted and we could see Wyatt pounding the walls of the crate.

Daniel Bryan is out with the group of survivors from the Susan G. Komen organization. He talks about their relationship with Susan G. and the new “More Than Pink” campaign. After dropping some facts, he unveils Smackdown Women’s Championship pink replicas and gives them to the group of women.
Opinion: I don’t know much about the organization but if the stuff about them being a scam and having an awful code of ethics is true, it just feels wrong watching them so much in WWE TV.

As we come back from commercial break, The Vaudevillians are in the ring as the Hype Bros make their entrance.

4) The Vaudevillians vs. The Hype Bros.
In a good effort from both teams, The Hype Bros defeated The Vaudevillians when Ryder pinned Aiden English after a Hype Ryder.
Opinion: I’m getting tired of saying this. The Vaudevillians have potential to be a part of the top 3 teams in Smackdown. It feels like there is a big gap between the teams in Smackdown. WWE could just push Aiden and Simon as they can totally run with it but they’re still doing nothing with them. What WWE is doing right now is pushing them to leave the company and be TNA or ROH tag champs.

The Miz along with Maryse welcomes the WWE Universe to a very special edition of MizTV. He says Dolph Ziggler’s career might be over this Sunday so they were going to celebrate tonight. A video package is played pretty much mocking every failure in Dolph’s career. Dolph Ziggler came down an responded that the difference between them is that he loves it, every single match, moment, male-a-wish. The Miz said it didn’t matter if he loved it, it was all over this Sunday and he had the perfect thing to cheer him up. Kenny Dykstra and Mikey of the Spirit Squad ran down and did a rendition of their old routine. The two SS member, blindsided Dolph until he got the best of both f them. The Miz escaped before Dolph could hit him with a Superkick.
Opinion: Again, great segment. The video package was really well put together even thought it was false advertising and the documentary will never be a real thing. It was great seeing Kenny and Mikey again and pissed off Ziggler is a great fit for him. I’m really looking forward to their match, this segment did its job of keeping me interested.

Bray Wyatt is shown backstage getting more and more impatient in this shipping container.

5) Jason Jordan vs. Jey Uso.
In a surprisingly quick match, Jason Jordan defeated Jey Uso by pinfall. After the match, Jimmy Uso attacked Chad Gable on the outside and Jey attacked Jason Jordan. As the Usos kept going with their attack, Heath Slater’s music hit and him and Rhyno came down to make the save.

Bray is backstage, now singing to himself and shortly talking to Sister Abigail, saying he was glad she was back and ready to go home.
Randy Orton is opening the shipping container and Bray isn’t in it. Orton panics and throws the rocking chair against the walls.
Opinion: I’m really buying into the feud once again. This hunter vs. hunted concepts is really good, specially with this two excellent workers.

A new Curt Hawkins vignette is played where he makes the announcement that he will male his in-ring re-debut this Sunday at No Mercy!
Opinion: Fucking Awesome!

6) Jack Swagger vs. Baron Corbin.
After weeks of tension between these two, this is the match we get? Ok then. Jack Swagger defeated Baron Corbin by submission with an Ankle Lock. Swagger had Corbin in the Ankle Lock and as Corbin was reaching for the ropes, he tapped with his forearm unintentionally. After the match, Corbin went nuts and turned over the steps and the announce table.
Opinion: Disappointed with the match itself and the finish was even worse. It just looked dumb how unnatural the movement was that Corbin was trying to achieve. Probably we’ll see this match again at No Mercy. Corbin still has my favorite entrance though.

AJ Styles makes his way to the ring. He cuts a promo about having the chance of beating John Cena and becoming the new face that runs the place. He did that. He than talks about having the chance of beating Dean Ambrose and becoming WWE World Heavyweight Champion. He did that. Having the chance of beating both of them in the same match and gets interrupted by Dean Ambrose’s music.
Dean Ambrose comes out and makes some jokes about AJ. He then turns his attention to John Cena and starts taking some shots at him until his music hits. John Cena comes out and Styles tells Cena everyone knows what he’ll say so shut up. He mocks Cena and makes some comments about him not being in the same league as Ric Flair. As Cena tried to respond, he was interrupted by Ambrose now. Ambrose cuts a really good promo on Cena about not being one for kissing his ass, and being the hardest working guy in the whole company and went back to the argument of Cena being a part timer and only being around for awards shows when Ambrose was fighting wars.
Cena finally talks and says talk in cheap and tackles Ambrose. A little brawl between the three of them breaks out as Cena hits an Attitude Adjustment on Ambrose, and poses with the belt until AJ hit Cena with a Phenomenal Forearm. He grabbed his title and tried to leave but Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds on him on the ramp and got to stand tall as the show went off the air.
Opinion: What can I say? It was an awesome segment and an awesome way to get everyone hyped for No Mercy. Dean was on fire with his promo and AJ was also very good on the mic. They both shut Cena up which avoided us getting a typical inspirational John Cena promo about the fans, kids, charity, work ethic and all that crap. It was refreshing yet odd watching Ambrose and AJ just trash Cena completely and Cena just standing there. It was pure gold.

There you have it! The go-home show for WWE No Mercy! Personally, I enjoyed almost everything that happened on the show with the exception of the Corbin vs. Swagger thingy. Apart from that, it was an enjoyable night of wrestling.
Final Rating: 7.7 out of 10.

Do you have any predictions for this Sunday’s No Mercy? Let us know in the comments or on Instagram @TheWrestlingClassic and @WammysWrestlingUniverse! We’ll see you next week when we have a brand new Intercontinental Champion. *Wink*.