Smackdown Live Review 09/27/2016

This may be highly debatable but apparently, WWE is stepping their game up with the red brand, with the addition of the Cruiserweight division, the Seth Rollins face turn and the women’s division at least being the a solid division. Yet, RAW still seems like the weakest show but it definitely is a bit more watchable. Now with all this in mind, can Smackdown keep their momentum as the better show for two months now? Let’s find out!

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WWE brings to you Smackdown Live at the Quicken Loans Arena at Cleveland, Ohio live on the USA Network.

A video is played hyping the main event of AJ Styles vs Dean Ambrose for the WWE World Heavyweight Title tonight followed by the normal Smackdown intro video.

Randy Orton’s music hits and he come out to open u the show properly. He starts talking about Bray Wyatt and says he knows why Bray likes to talk about fear and that is because he is afraid and apparently is nothing to be ashamed of and gives a couple examples of normal fears and says Bray is afraid of him and then challenges Bray to come down to the ring and face his fears. Bray appears on the titantron and gives a Hansel and Gretel reference for some reason. He tells Randy to follow the breadcrumbs to find Wyatt and if he wants to hurt him but to hurry because the sands of time wait for no man. He ends the promo by singing “He’s got the whole world in his hands”.

The announce team talks about the Styles vs Ambrose match and recap the events of Dean Ambrose pinning Cena clean last week.

Opinion: This slow build to the Orton-Wyatt feud is starting to feel stale, or maybe that’s just me but I feel like if we don’t see something new before No Mercy, this feud won’t feel as big but I’m still enjoying the feud and looking forward to the match.

The Ascension and Heath Slater and Rhyno are already in the ring as American Alpha and the Usos make their way to the ring.

2) American Alpha & Heath Slater and Rhyno vs. The Usos & The Ascension.
In a match completely driven by The Usos and American Alpha, The Usos & The Ascension defeated American Alpha and Heath Slater & Rhyno by submission when Jimmy Uso (I’m pretty sure it was Jimmy) made Heath Slater tap out with the Tequila Sunrise.
Opinion: This wasn’t a bad match at all, and I’m really happy that the Usos are getting some momentum and people actually like them now but it’s a little odd to me that Slater, the super over current Tag Team Champion was the one submitting.

John Cena is being interviewed backstage about his involvement in tonight’s main event. He says Styles is on top of hi game and Ambrose has guts but nothing will stop him from becoming a 16 time World Champion.

In another backstage area, Randy Orton is walking into a dark locker room where there is a crude arrow pointing in a direction stuck
Bray Wyatt is shown briefly talking about Randy Orton and how he was never one to take directions and his hourglass is running out.

Natalya and Carmella are in the ring as a pre-taped video from both of them is shown where they say Nikki Bella can’t hang with them in Smackdown because they are real women. Nikki Bella and Naomi make their entrance and the same style of video is played where Naomi talks about the Glow and Nikki about Carmella being her fuel.

2) Carmella & Natalya vs. Naomi & Nikki Bella.
In a good match, nothing too fancy or new really, Carmella & Natalya defeated Nikki Bella & Naomi by pinfall when Carmella pinned Nikki with a quick rollup.
Opinion: I think it’s awesome they are giving a spot in the card to women that are not in the title picture and Carmella is playing such a good heel right now and I feel like her rivalry with Nikki is actually going somewhere, but yet again, Nikki was beat by Carmella which to me, takes a little bit away from their upcoming singles match.

Randy Orton is backstage walking by a power box with “Only one way out. Choose Wisely” written on it. The doors had “Prey or Predator” written on them. Randy closed the door with a cardboard stand up of himself on it and seemed tempted to open the other one and Erick Rowan was standing behind that one but Orton didn’t fully open it and just walks away.
Opinion: Fuck yes! I write this reviews as the show goes on and I said earlier that this feud needed something and this creepy Orton wandering through the locker room guided by signs and stuff is it! It makes for a new thing on Wyatt’s role, it makes Orton look like the prey and makes Rowan look like a creepy bastard! I love it!

The Miz makes his entrance with Maryse. Maryse introduces him and a video of The Miz’s WWE career in retrospective is played. He welcomes himself to Cleveland, his hometown, where he puts over the fact that the Cavaliers won the NBA Championship. He talks about Lebron James being a traitor and even makes his parents stand up and says they are the only decent people in the building. He then makes Dolph Ziggler’s parents to stand up and says they must be ashamed of creating a world class loser. Ziggler comes out, The Miz hides behind Maryse and Ziggler tells Miz to not talk about his city or his family. After some intense and actually interesting insult trading, The Miz walks back to the locker room but Ziggler says he’ll put his career on the line for an IC Title match. The Miz stops and accepts.
Opinion: This show is on a roll! I don’t mind another Ziggler v Miz match but something needed to come up and boy it did! Ziggler’s career or Miz’s title? I genuinely feel split in half as I don’t want The Miz’s reign to end but I don’t wan to see Ziggler go to RAW or even being released as the rumors indicated a while back. Word has it is that Zigglers contract is up to expire soon as well.

Backstage, Bray Wyatt tells Randy Orton that when a door closes, another one opens and the door is open so to choose wisely and be careful. He then just laughs.

Becky Lynch is making her way to the ring but gets attacked by Alexa Bliss who slams Becky a few times on the floor. Alexa grabs the title and says Becky doesn’t deserve it, before walking to the back.

A Curt Hawkins vignette is played where and announcement is advertised for next week.

Bray Wyatt is shown backstage wondering where Randy Orton was. He said he was disappointed Randy didn’t show up but Orton sneaks behind him with the sheep mask on. Orton takes off the mask and puts a beating on Wyatt. He sends Wyatt on the run and he puts the sheep mask back on and does a rendition of “He’s got the whole world in his hands”.
Opinion: This series of clips with Orton and Wyatt really sold to the feud even more. I wasn’t uninterested but I wasn’t really feeling it but his series of clips really changed my mind. Kudos WWE. There seemed to be a production botch where Wyatt appeared again at the end but it appeared to be a mishap.

3) AJ Styles vs Dean Ambrose. WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
In a really, really (trust me, really) good match, AJ Styles defeated Dean Ambrose by pinfall with a rollup while holding the tights after Dean Ambrose got distracted by running to the outside to hit John Cena.
Opinion: I felt like this match had a better rhythm and even chemistry than their Backslash bout. I loved the ending as Styles outsmarting both Cena and Ambrose to retain is exactly what he needed to do and even Cena’s involvement in the match added an extra factor that made the match better and continued the feud.

After the match, John Cena hit an Attitude Adjustment on both Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles. He then poses with the WWE World Title, walks back up the ramp, signals the No Mercy advertisement and says he will be the 16 time World Champion to close out the show.

Final Thoughts
Ok, wow! A lot of thins to say about this week’s Smackdown Live. Let’s start with the obvious. I know people are going to complain about this 2 hour show having only three matches, but the three matches had a purpose, the main event was great and I take only 3 matches in two hours over 10 matches with 4 squash matches in 3 hours any day of the week.

Quick Side Note: Where the Vaudevillians at?

The other thing, the feuds in Smackdown are incredible! Nikki Bella vs Carmella is moving forward nicely, Alexa Bliss vs Becky Lynch seems like a great underdog vs underdog confrontation, the Usos picking so much momentum up is great and now represent a serious threat to Rhyno and Slater without the fans being mad, Wyatt vs Orton took a turn for the better this week and finally, Cena vs Ambrose vs Styles is just great, with all three men great wrestlers and great mic workers, this just seem like the perfect main event scene.

Final Rating: 8.8 out of 10.

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