Smackdown Live Review 07/25/2017

Hello Misfits. It’s time for this weeks Smackdown Live review. Its the first Smackdown Live since the train wreck which was Battleground. The beautiful thing is we get to move forward and we’re officially on the road to Summerslam. Lets see how Smackdown turns things around heading into the biggest party of the Summer.

Smackdown comes to us live from Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, VA.

– Smackdown kicked off with Phillips, Saxton and JBL on commentary.

The Return of Jericho…WELCOME BACK MAAAN
Owens walked out in a suit and he had the US Title on his shoulder. The announce team of Tom Phillips, John Bradshaw Layfield and Byron Saxton welcomed us to the show. Owens said this just feels right because he is once again the United States Champion. Owens said if your heart is pure and you’re a good person, then good things will happen because he took back what is his from that thief AJ Styles. Owens tried to talk some more and the crowd chanted “AJ Styles” at him. Owens said he is re-instating the Kevin Owens United States Title Open Challenge and it begins…next week. The crowd booed. Owens said that there is no way, under any circumstance that he would defend his title in front of a bunch of hicks from Richmond, Virginia. AJ Styles made his entrance. Big ovation for Styles as usual. Styles went into the ring. Styles said he’s there to get his rematch for that United States Championship. Owens said he’s not defending this title against Styles or anyone.
BREAK THE WALLS DOWN! Surprise! Chris Jericho’s music hit as Jericho walked out in a leather jacket, the scarf and the List of Jericho in his hands. What a nice surprise! Huge ovation for Jericho. Crowd was going wild for him. Owens had a shocked look on his face.
Jericho in the ring: “It’s the return of Jericho…welcome back, maaaaaaan!” Owens kept asking what Jericho is doing there, so Jericho said “quiet” repeatedly and he yelled “quiet” at him. Jericho told Owens to shut his mouth because it’s not Montreal, this is America, man. Jericho said the last time on Smackdown he left on a stretcher because of Owens, but now he’s back. Jericho said he’s back for his rematch at the US Title.
Styles said they are all glad he’s back and his sense of humor is back, but a lot of things have happened. Styles said the next guy in line for that US Championship is him. Jericho wondered if Styles was going to jump in line ahead of him. Jericho asked “you know what happens” and the crowd cheered leading to Jericho’s list bit. Jericho told some story about a guy jumping him in line at the grocery store, so he beat him up and put him in the Walls of Jericho instead of the list. Owens left the ring and walked up the ramp. Jericho to Styles: “You just made the list!” Big pop for that. Jericho asked where the “stupid idiot” Owens was going. Owens was at the top of the ramp and there’s Shane McMahon’s music.
Shane O-Mac, the Commissioner of Smackdown, stood beside Owens on top of the ramp. Shane asked the crowd how they were doing, so they cheered. Shane said that both guys have a legit shot at a rematch at the US Title. Shane said they will get the opportunity at the same time because it will be a triple threat match between Owens, Jericho and Styles for the US Title. Shane said it’s not going to be at WrestleMania or even SummerSlam, it’s going to happen tonight on Smackdown. Owens was angry about it while the crowd loved it.
Opinion
This was a great way to kick off the show and to keep people tuned in. THE RETURN OF JERICHOOOO MAAAAAN. I loved it and it wasn’t expected. I don’t even think Jericho’s return was spoiled or rumoured anywhere which made it so much more special that he returned like that. I have to say I appreciate how much Jericho likes to keep his returns surprises. Both Jericho and Styles were entitled for US Title rematches against Owens so I liked the idea behind this and that the WWE writers didn’t think us fans were too stupid to remember that Jericho never used his rematch clause in his contract either. The pop for Jericho was great and his return really brought life back into Smackdown Live right off the bat. Right when everything felt very routine and stale, Jericho returned to save the show.

Shinsuke Nakamura def. Baron Corbin
In a competitive match Shinsuke Nakamurka defeated Baron Corbin after hitting him with a Kinshasa.
Opinion
This was better than their match from Battleground. I thought they wanted to protect both guys and not go the typical route of the Money in the Bank holder picking up a bunch losses before cashing in but that is what it seems like they’re doing here. Shinsuke is still undefeated and looked like he worked to get this victory but personally I don’t think these two mesh well together so hopefully this was the last bout between the two.

– WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion Naomi was backstage for interview. She put over Natalya as one of the best in the world but considered her refusal to shake hands at Battleground a sign of disrespect. Nattie interrupted her and said Naomi turned the title into a toy and has tarnished everything people like her have worked to preserve. Naomi told her to keep throwing shade because she clearly doesn’t understand what the here and now is all about. Carmella made an appearance to remind the champion that she still has the Money in the Bank contract.

Charlotte & Becky Lynch def. Tamina Snuka & Lana
It fairly quick match Charlotte and Becky Lynch defeated Tamina Snuka and Lana after Lana tagged herself in and ate a big boot from Charlotte.
Opinion
Well Lana got “you can’t wrestle” chants and I actually felt bad for her. I mean the poor girl is trying. I’d like to point out if she didn’t update her wrestling gear to cover the cheeks the fans might have been more respectful towards her…how ironic. LOL Anyway the match was decent and what you would expect. The lack of Lana’s skills did slow it down a little but thats alright. I think it served its purpose and it left more questions rather than answers for whats next for these four ladies.

Jinder Mahal/John Cena
Jinder Mahal makes his way to the ring without The Singh Brothers or Great Khali. Mahal explains that Orton underestimated him, just like the fans, and he not only won but will stay champion as long as he desires. He wants to know who his Summerslam opponent will be, but first speaks to his people in Punjabi. He mentions John Cena before the fact by the way. Rude American John Cena interrupts Mahal as he talks to his people. As most expected, the new and improved, Mr. Murica John Cena was all about setting up this match. The Maharaja shuts down Cena right away, noting that he already knows what Cena will say. Cena calls him a piece of crap, but then congratulated Mahal. He respects that Mahal is in shape and does whatever is needed to keep his title. Cena then introduces himself, and doesn’t care about Khali, The Singhs or anything else, because at Summerslam, Mahal will be facing Super Cena, and he will walk out the 17-time champion. And that’s that… or is it? Daniel Bryan decided to show up for work as well, and congratulates both men on their wins at Battleground. Bryan says Cena doesn’t make the matches, and says he has to earn his opportunity. Next week, Cena will face Shinsuke Nakamura and the winner will go to Summerslam and challenge Mahal.
Opinion
There were no Singh Brothers, Great Khali or Randy Orton in this segment or on this show at all which was quite surprising. I think we all expected “MURICA, FUCK YEAH” Cena to come out to challenge Jinder Mahal for Summerslam but I like that they threw a curve ball at us and stated that they don’t just let Cena book his own matches. I do feel like they should have set this match between Cena and Nakamura for Battleground instead of what we got because it really is a dream match. Yet its a dream match they’re giving away on free television. I think Jinder Mahal held his own and I agreed with what he thought Cena was going to say which to me threw Cena off his game plan. I do see it being Cena vs Mahal at Summerslam and it would be mind-blowing for Mahal to go over. I’m still shocked that they’re giving us Nakamura vs Cena on free tv instead of having a proper build to a PPV for it. They arent in midst of a ratings war right now so they must really just want people tune into Smackdown.

-After a commercial break we see Shane McMahon talking on the phone backstage. Kevin Owens came in to complain about having to face AJ Styles and Chris Jericho in the same night because it wasn’t fair. Shane correctly stated that both men were owed contractual rematches and he doesn’t care who the champion is, as long as it’s defended on Smackdown for the fans. Owens said he doesn’t care about the fans, and if he weren’t the Commissioner he wouldn’t give a damn about him either.

Sami Zayn & Tye Dillinger def. Aiden English & Mike Kanellis w/ Maria Kanellis
Zayn and Dillinger pick up the victory in the formulaic match after Sami Zayn delivered a Helluva Kick to Kanellis.
Opinion
The babyfaces went over and that was that. I feel bad for Mike because he deserves so much more and I feel so far things aren’t panning out for him. I hope he just doesnt end up being Maria’s wife on the lower to mid card.

– The New Day were to come out and celebrate their tag team title win.The Usos attacked Big E during the intro and then kicked the shit out of Woods. They then slammed Kofi into the LED board and dragged him to the ring. Big E failed to make the save, eating a super kick. Quality stuff to get their angle on TV without using too much time.

–  Shinsuke Nakamura was asked by Renee Young on how he’s feeling about facing John Cena in a dream match next week on Smackdown. Nakamura told Cena that next week he won’t be able to see him, which means he’ll see Jinder Mahal at SummerSlam for the WWE Championship.

Final Thoughts
This Smackdown was the best one in weeks. It really was must watch TV with the Jericho return and the main event. It also did a really well job of getting people hyped to tune in next week. There was no Orton, Rusev, Khali, Singh Brother or Fashion Poikice but that is alright because I’d rather them not be on TV if they had nothing for them to do this week than just being on TV for the sake of being on TV. This was a top notch quality episode of Smackdown. It left us with more questions than answers and I feel like thats always a good thing for the television shows.
Rating – 8/10

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