Smackdown Live Review 06/13/2017

Hello Misfits. Smackdown Live is only five days away from their next brand exclusive PPV “Money in the Bank.” It’s one of my favourite PPV’s because involves the Money in the Bank ladder matches and as well has been a night where many historic moments have taken place since its inception. This is the go home show heading into the event, so lets see how it went.

Smackdown comes to us live from Smoothie King Centre in New Orleans, Louisiana.

– Smackdown kicked off with a video package of last weeks announcement about the first ever Women’s MITB match.

New Day NOLA Segment
The New Day made their way to the ring accompanied by an amazing New Orleans street band playing a variation of their theme song. Xavier Woods thanked the band for their service and hyped up the crowd for next year’s WrestleMania. He claimed that they’ll win the Smackdown tag titles on Sunday and send The Usos back to their off-off-off-off Broadway version of Straight Outta Compton.
The Usos made their way to the ring screaming about the Straight Outta Compton reference. The two teams went back and forth on the mic until The Fashion Police cut them off and joined in the chaos. Tyler Breeze said their “Day One” is very not “H” and should be “Day One G” for “Gross”. The Colons were the next team to add to all the madness, calling The Fashion Police the worst detectives in history. Big E led the crowd in a “New Day Rocks” chant as they get ready for an 8-man tag team match.
Opinion
I liked The New Day’s special mardi gras style entrance to kick off this show with the jazz band. It’s fitting since they were in New Orleans. The segment overall seemed unnecessary though. I think The New Day making their special entrance and cutting a quick promo before the match could have got the job done. It was different though and had its moments.

The New Day & Breezango def. The Usos & The Colons
In a fun competitive tag match, The New Day and Breezango pick up the victory when Kofi and Woods hit the UpUpDwnDwn one of the Colons
Opinion
This was a competitive and fun match. It was a great way to get off the show and allowed The New Day to go into MITB with some momentum.

– Free Agent John Cena return promo. Supposedly this means he can work on either Raw or Smackdown when he returns.

-AJ and Nakamura talk backstage, and joke about Sami being a bit manic when it comes to these six man tag matches. Sami arrives and wants to talk strategy. Sami calmly asks for one of them to talk. Sami says they are three of the best, and then starts getting a bit insane as Nakamura looks on having no idea what is happening. Nakamura says he likes him and Styles says of course you do. I love these segments with Zayn acting manic trying to talk strategy with his partners.

-Mojo is interviewed about his loss to WWE Champion Jinder Mahal last week, and essentially said that he’s happy he lost because he knows how to handle adversity, and promises to bounce back bigger and stronger than ever. Zack Ryder then made a surprise return, and told Mojo that they had unfinished business as a tag team. Looks like the Hype Bros are back. Yippee Kiyay.

Naomi def. Tamina Snuka
Lana came down to ringside to get a closer look of this match. In a fairly quick match Naomi defeated Tamina after hitting the split legged moonsault. Following the match Lana attacked Naomi hitting a new spine buster like finisher. Lana posed with the title after.  
Opinion
This match was just slow and never really picked up. I totally forgot until writing this that Tamina and Naomi used to be partners in Team Bad. Tamina showed a lot more personality during that period and hope she can again soon. Lana’s attack after the match was great and it was awesome to see her actually get physical. The move looked cool but I’m still speculating to see what else Lana is capable of.

– Jinder Mahal and Singh Brothers walk towards the ring

Jinder Mahal & Randy Orton Segment
The Singh Brother introduce Jinder Mahal. Mahal demanded the fans show respect by standing for their WWE Champion. On Sunday he proves Orton is a coward, one who is afraid of disappointing his hometown and family. Orton’s father will be at ringside and will witness his son lose. Orton fears him, and has ever since he took the title from him. He will cut down Orton’s legacy until nothing is left of the Orton name. He is going to de-fang the Viper. The son has risen on a new era, the era of the modern day Maharaja. He then speaks to his people in his language of Punjabi. The fans start to chant USA. Orton’s music hit, and the Singhs looks to attack by the ramp, but Orton sneaks in from behind and RKOs Mahal. The Singhs then come to check on Mahal as Orton leaves.
Opinion
This was promoted to be a face to face confrontation but instead we had Mahal cut a promo until Orton attacked him from behind with a RKO out of nowhere. Orton letting his actions speak louder than words. Jinder Mahal every week is getting better and more comfortable with his entrance, promos and mannerisms over all. It’s only weird because you would think Mahal would attack Orton from behind but it was the other way around. It make sense though because its Orton and he’s the Viper. I’ve been enjoying this rivalry.

-United States Champion Kevin Owens was backstage with his partners for tonight, Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin. He doesn’t bother rallying the troops because he knows they all hate each other, but wonders if they can’t work together just this once. He tells Corbin he doesn’t like him, and tells Ziggler he likes him more than Corbin, but that really isn’t saying much. That being said, they could go out there and argue and not be on the same page, and probably get kicked in the face by Shinsuke Nakamura – and if that happens Owens would have no choice but to hit them all with powerbombs, just for good measure. OR….they can work together, and have a chance of going into Money in the Bank at 100% this Sunday. Owens says they can work together or they can be their own worst enemies.

– Renee Young interviews Randy Orton.A fired up Orton claimed he said everything he needed to say in the ring when he RKO’d the champion, and vowed to take his title back this Sunday at Money in the Bank.

Charlotte def. Natalya
In a great women’s match for Smackdown Live Charlotte defeated Natalya after she hit Natural Selection.
Opinion
This was a solid match where both women looked good. If booked correctly and given more time these two could have put on a classic but they did great with the time that was given to them. It seemed a little more than your average womens televison match. Charlotte is great.

 – It’s time for this weeks edition of The Fashion Files, with Fandango telling us his pecs look great. Breeze is laid out in their office. Fandango works up a sketch based on Breeze’s description, they were stick figures, but Breeze says that was them! Quality stuff. I loved Zayn being on the wall with “generic” labelled under him.

– An interviewer tried to get a word with Lana, but she said she doesn’t care what she, or anyone in the WWE Universe thinks or has to say about her. Lana claims she will shock the world on Sunday and become the first Ravishing WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion.

Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles & Sami Zayn def. Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler & Baron Corbin
In action packed back and fourth match Nakamura, AJ Styles & Zayn defeat Owens, Ziggler & Corbin after Zayn hit Corbin with a Helluva Kick following an assisting forearm from Styles.
Following the match,Owens immediately attacked Sami after the match. He rolled to the floor and brought a ladder into the ring, teaming with Ziggler to take out all three of the babyfaces. Predictably, Owens and Ziggler started arguing over who was going to win Money in the Bank, and Corbin took advantage by laying them both out from behind. The Lone Wolf set up the ladder and began to climb, but Nakamura rushed the ring and knocked him over, then destroyed him with the Kinshasa! Nakamura climbed the ladder and took down the MITB briefcase, posing atop the ladder as his music played around the arena.
Opinion
 This was a solid main event. Taking into consideration of the talent involved I would have expected any less. The finish was a creative with Zayn being the one getting beat down but overcoming the odds. It sounds basic but the way it went down was creative. The post match antics were entertaining but predictable. It was a given these guys weren’t going to get a long. It ended with Shinsuke on top of the ladder with the briefcase in hand. I wonder if thats what we’ll see this Sunday.

Final Thoughts
This was a solid episode of Smackdown that helped progress all the matches going into Money in the Bank. However, nothing really happened. I guess Zack Ryder returned but that was about it. All the matches on the show besides Naomi and Tamina are worth watching, mostly if you’re one of those fans who likes those multi-man tag matches. I’m looking forward to Money in the Bank but this episode of Smackdown didn’t do much to increase that excitement. Solid show though.
Rating – 6.5/10

https://media.go2speed.org/brand/files/ssi/1989/HPOL.PNG