What’s up, wrestling fam? It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time to talk about last night’s Smackdown Live episode. Smackdown aired from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, with a much more lively crowd I might add. We’re officially on the move to FastLane so let’s take a look at what went down on the blue brand.
Shane McMahon opened the show and talked about the debut of the NXT stars on Raw the previous night and said we were getting a six-man tag match with the participants of the men’s elimination chamber match. The Miz showed up and admitted that he used McMahon to try to make his dad proud. He apologized and said he can make it up, saying that Shane can make an automatic rematch happen. Then the Usos rolled up and called The Miz a “wannabe A-Lister with C-List skills”. Shane didn’t take too kindly to that and announced the rematch is on for FastLane.
Thoughts: The Miz and Shane McMahon plot thickens. I thought there would be some type of betrayal or something here, but alas the two are still together. The Usos were gold on the mic as always.
Grade: B+
Aleister Black vs Andrade
The two started with some standard grappling. Andrade got in a nice knee to the chin. Black did his usual cross-legged sitting taunt. There was a lot of good back and forth in this match. Andrade did go for his hammerlock DDT, but Black swiftly turned it into a roll-up before hitting a German suplex. Andrade hit Black with the double knees in the corner, but ultimately Black won the match with a surprise Black Mass.
Winner: Aleister Black
Thoughts: Props to Aleister Black for stoically sitting cross-legged in the ring for an entire commercial break. I liked the history repeat as Black vs Almas was a fantastic match at NXT Takeover: New Orleans last year. I don’t think we needed to saddle Andrade with another loss, however.
Grade: B+
Backstage: Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa and The Bar have a standoff. They’re gonna “break the bar.” Kofi Kingston extends a pancake peace offering to AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy as they’re going to team up tonight.
Thoughts: I didn’t know Xavier Woods was strong enough to carry Big E bridal style. Also AJ Styles eating a pancake was amusing to me.
Grade: Not Graded
The Bar vs Evil DIY
Sheamus and Ciampa started off, Ciampa looking incredibly small in comparison to the Irishman. Cesaro was in the background, shouting at Sheamus to do better. Cesaro and Gargano got in the match and went at it. After the commercial break, we returned to Cesaro and Ciampa. Ciampa got uppercutted while Sheamus took care of Gargano and then it was back to Ciampa and Sheamus. Ciampa performed a sunset flip powerbomb with a bad landing for both participants. There was more trash talking, a series of fast moves, and Gargano rolled up Cesaro for the win.
Winner: Evil DIY
Thoughts: First and foremost, I hope that both Ciampa and Sheamus are okay. Ciampa doesn’t need any more knee injuries and Sheamus already has spinal stenosis. I’m also enjoying Evil DIY (Johnny’s new angry emoji face is so cute!) more so than I ever liked them as a face team.
Grade: A-
Asuka vs Mandy Rose
Asuka came out to the ring and said she was tired of hearing about Becky and Charlotte. She wanted to know who was ready for Asuka. Out came Mandy Rose, saying that she should take notes from her. Lacy Evans strutted out, but Sonya Deville sent her away. Rose took advantage and hit Asuka with a Russian leg sweep. Asuka kicked Rose’s face off for a near-fall. Rose fires back with a German suplex and shining wizard, but only gets a two-count. Rose then sells an eye injury, tricking the referee, and rolls up Asuka for the win.
Winner: Mandy Rose
Thoughts: Lacey’s doing a rehash of that “here to wrestle, but not really” shtick that Eva Marie did a few years ago, but it’s kind of working for her. I’m a little annoyed with this middle school mess of Mandy telling people they’ll never look like her. And I really, truly hope that Rose is not Asuka’s WrestleMania opponent.
Grade: D
Ricochet vs Eric Young
This match actually started during the commercial break. Ricochet did some cool flips, including a standing shooting star press for a two-count. Young got busted open around his eyebrow. A kick followed by a 630 wins the match for Ricochet.
Winner: Ricochet
Thoughts: It was a standard match. Ricochet is a flippy boy. Still waiting on that Sanity tag team championship match.
Grade: C
Kofi Kingston, AJ Styles, and Jeff Hardy vs Samoa Joe, Randy Orton, and Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan did another promo about how he is morally and intellectually superior before the match started. Joe and Kingston started the match before Hardy tagged in to unleash some offense. Orton got in the match and did some damage before Kingston got back in and went after him. Orton then decided to casually murder Kingston by doing two back suplexes on the announce table. Bryan and Styles get tagged into the match, Styles locking in the calf crusher until Joe breaks it up. There were a couple of other break-ups before Kingston finally won the match with a Trouble in Paradise to Bryan.
Afterwards, Shane McMahon announced that Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan will face each other for the WWE Championship at FastLane.
Winner: Kofi Kingston, AJ Styles, and Jeff Hardy
Thoughts: KofiMania is running wild! I liked the mix of guys in this match as they all have somewhat unfinished business with each other, but it still worked. It was a fun match and I loved that we got a live announcement of the FastLane match as opposed to a Twitter announcement.
Grade: A-
Final Thoughts: Smackdown definitely got the memo on building up the NXT guys as there was a lot more pomp and circumstance about their arrival. I’m not sure where I want them go, especially as the call-ups before them haven’t even been assigned brands yet. This was a solid show, spawning two matches for the upcoming pay-per-view. And Ciampa’s theme is a banger.
Overall Grade: B
-Wynter
