Smackdown Live Review 09/06/2016

Finally we are 5 days away from the first Smackdown Live exclusive PPV! We know we’ll be seeing AJ Styles vs Dean Ambrose, the women’s six pack challenge, Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt and Ziggler v Miz but tonight we find out which tag teams go to the final at Backlash. What other storylines will continue? Raw had a pretty good episode last night, can Smackdown beat them yet again? Let’s find out!

---

Tonight’s Smackdown Live comes to you on the USA Network at the Pinnacle Bank Arena from Lincoln, Nebraska.

The show opens up with Daniel Bryan standing in the ring with a characteristic “Yes!” chant. The Smackdown Women’s Championship was in a podium in the ring with Bryan. Bryan hypes the six pack challenge for Sunday and explains the rules of the match and once he is done explaining what an elimination match is, he announces a six man tag team match for tonight. Bryan introduces Becky Lynch, and as they joked a bit bout Nikki Bella, Bryan plugged the premiere of Total Bella’s. Natalya came out and argued a bit with Becky, claiming she’s sick of Becky Lynch. Alexa Bliss came out and made fun of those two and Bryan for being a trophy husband. Carmella also came out and attacked Lynch with the other heels until Naomi and Nikki Bella came to the rescue and cleared the ring.
Opinion: This was a good way to hype even more the title match for Sunday and even show character development for Alexa Bliss, Carmella and Becky Lynch. It sucks we’re getting the Summerslam match with Nikki and Carmella switching sides, it’s hard to be excited about it. When Bryan plugged Total Bella’s, people booed and Bryan looked hilariously surprised.

Dean Ambrose is backstage complaining about his coffee.

Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon are talking backstage about the women’s match and The Miz and Maryse walk in and The Miz complains about Shane and Bryan being more concerned with the women’s title than the IC Title. Bryan replies that the women are willing to fight whereas The Miz walked away from Ziggler next week and he’ll be facing Ziggler this Sunday.

1) The Miz vs Apollo Crews.
In a 10 minute match, The Miz defeated Apollo Crews by pinfall after hitting the Skull Crushing Finale following The Miz making Apollo crash into Dolph Ziggler who was at commentary.
Opinion: This was a really good match, The Miz is super solid in the ring and Apollo seems to be getting better every week.

The Usos cut a backstage promo saying they respect American Alpha but they run this tag division.

Bray Wyatt cuts a backstage pre-taped promo where he sat in his rocking chair talking about being a god, the evolution of a man and Randy Orton being the prey.
Opinion: This was a surprisingly good promo from Wyatt, still would have preferred a new confrontation.

2) Nikki Bella, Naomi and Becky Lynch vs. Carmella, Natalya and Alexa Bliss.
In 12 minutes, Carmella, Alexa and Natalya defeated Nikki, Becky and Naomi when Carmella made Nikki tap out with the Code of Silence.
Opinion: The match wasn’t great, it wasn’t nothing new but it wasn’t bad either, but it didn’t really make anything for me as I don’t feel more excited for this Sunday’s match than I felt before this match.

3) American Alpha vs. The Usos. Tag Team Tournament Semi-Finals.
Now this was new. American Alpha defeated the Usos in 30 goddamn seconds by pinfall after Chad Gable pinned Jimmy Usos with Grand Amplitude.
After the match, the Usos shook hands with Jordan and Gable but The Usos attacked them with some hits to Gable’s leg and a Samoan Splash.
Opinion: Again, wow. I was looking forward to the match but I don’t feel extremely disappointed as finally The Usos are turning hell which is awesome!

Backstage, Randy Orton cuts a promo about him being the predator. He told a story about a snake, a rabbit and a man which he carried on with to make a point that he is the predator and knows when to strike. It wasn’t a bad promo, but still, a confrontation would be better.

Fandango stands in the ring and says his partner Tyler Breeze isn’t here tonight as he is in Dubai, he says he found someone to tango with and and woman with tattoos joins the ring. They awkwardly danced for a bit until Fandango said he was disappointed and asked if someone else wanted to dance. Kane came out and chokeslamed Fandango.
Opinion: Useless segment much? I mean, Kane is just floating and Fandango and Breeze could be in a better position.

AJ Styles is walking backstage as he walks passed two men. He asked them if they were taking a picture of him, AJ took the phone, saw it was the man’s family and threw it against the wall and told the man to pick it up.

A Curt Hawkins vignette is played. Curt Hawkins returns…Next Week!

4) Heath Slater & Rhino vs. the Hype Bros.
In a solid match, Slater and Rhyno defeated the Hype Bros when Rhyno pinned Mojo after a Gore. Heath’s “wife” and “kids” sat at ringside for the match and celebrated with them after the match.
Opinion: WWE keeps going with this redneck gimmick for Slater which is a bit unfitting but my guess is that Slater and Rhyno are winning the titles this Sunday as Chad Gable is kayfabe injured and Heath’s wife and kids thing will probably be revealed as fake and lead to him getting beat by Rhyno or something like that.

On the set of Talking Smack, The Usos explain their actions by saying the fans turned on them and all the years they have been busting their asses receiving nothing for it.
Opinion: This was an extremely solid promo, they look like they could work as heels. Why didn’t they turn with Roman exactly?

Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles make their entrances for their confrontation.
They talked to each other about trophies as Ambrose brought a bowling trophy and said it was a participation trophy for Astyles. Styles claimed the John Cena armband he wears is his trophy but the WWE World Title is the trophy he will take on Sunday. After some jokes from Ambrose and Styles being mad at Ambrose for taking everything as a joke, Ambrose said he drags men through their breaking point and the only time they have been in the same ring, Dean won. After this, AJ kicked Ambrose in the balls and broke the trophy.
The show ends with AJ leaving Ambrose in the ring.
Opinion: Like I said last week, this feud needed some serious stuff and they delivered, this feels a bit more personal now that both have something to fight for besides the title. I’m still rotting for Ambrose and realistically, Ambrose is walking away with the title.

That’s the Smackdown Live go-home show for Backlash! What did you thin of the show? This definitely was a better show than last week’s and I dare to say, it was even better than last night’s Raw. We give this edition a 8.2 out of 10.

Who do you think will leave Backlash as WWE, Women’s and Tag champs? Be sure to tell us in the comments or on Instagram @TheWrestlingClassic and yours truly, @WammysWrestlingUniverse. We’ll see you next week!