Smackdown Live 4/16/19
The Superstar Shakeup has come and gone and the landscape of Smackdown Live has changed a little bit. The men coming on over to Tuesday nights are Finn Balor (and his Intercontinental Championship), Elias, Buddy Murphy, Chad Gable, Heavy Machinery, Apollo Crews, and Roman Reigns. Joining the Smackdown Live women’s roster are Bayley, Ember Moon, Liv Morgan, Mickie James, Nikki Cross, and Kairi Sane. Things have definitely been shaken up so let’s take a look at all that happened on the blue brand this week.
Big O
Kevin Owens opened the show with the Kevin Owens Show, including speaking Quebecois and mentioning that his family was there in the front row. His guests were Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods. Woods was very upset that Raw now has most of UpUpDownDown’s roster. Owens offered to take Big E’s place for the time being and was christened with a unicorn horn and crop top. While Woods’ concerns about his channel are valid and Owens has the same amount of rhythm as a white dad at a barbeque, this was truly a fun opening segment. I’m also a big softie for wrestlers speaking other languages fluently.
Grade: A
Finn Balor vs Mustafa Ali
Balor had his official Smackdown Live debut, complete with his blue trunks. This was a quickly paced match with a lot of good offense between both competitors. Ultimately Balor won the match his Coup de Grace after Ali missed the 054. This was a good debut match for Balor and I think this could easily develop into a feud for the Intercontinental Championship. Commentary was definitely hyping up Ali and getting to tangle with another popular superstar can only help his upward momentum.
Winner: Finn Balor
Grade: A-
Carmella vs Charlotte Flair
R-Truth was ringside for Carmella. Back from her vacation, Flair slapped Carmella around for a couple of minutes before locking in a figure eight and forcing Carmella to tap out. This is about what I expected from the match as Flair needed a rebound win after WrestleMania. Unfortunately it also kind of devalued Carmella’s battle royal win.
After the match, Lars Sullivan showed up and attacked Truth. He stared at Carmella for an uncomfortable amount of time before sauntering away. I guess he’s going to be wrecking people on both brands then? Okay.
Winner: Charlotte Flair
Grade: B-
All the Smackdown Ladies
Becky Lynch arrived and talked about taking challenges. Ember Moon interrupted and said she was going to make a name for herself. Bayley then showed up, said she’s now a singles competitor, and she wants Lynch’s titles. The IIconics showed up and mocked everyone. Paige comes out to introduce her new tag team but Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, who have seemingly fixed their issues, said that Absolution is here and they don’t need Paige. Paige instead introduced the team of Asuka and Kairi Sane. All the women brawled as Lynch looked on. I’m not always a fan of there being just one women’s segment with all the women on the roster in it, but I think it worked here and I found the constant interruptions to be kind of funny.
Grade: B+
Asuka, Kairi Sane, Bayley, and Ember Moon vs Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, and the IIconics
Following the women’s segment, we had this match made official during a commercial break. The IIconics’ selling throughout the match was hilarious, especially Billie Kay’s. Sane won the match for the face team with her insane elbow drop. After the last couple of months, this is exactly the reshuffle we needed for the women’s division. I’m all for Paige being a mouthpiece for Asuka and Kairi Sane as we know how Vince can be when it comes to superstars who don’t speak English at a certain level.
Winner: Asuka, Kairi Sane, Bayley, and Ember Moon
Grade: B
Kevin Owens, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods vs Rusev, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Cesaro
Owens did the Big E intro (which got a hilarious response pic from Big E himself) and this six-man tag match was very fun. A Trouble in Paradise and a stunner won the match for the New Day. I was expecting Owens to turn on Kingston and Woods but he didn’t and instead we got this wonderfully crowd-pleasing bout. Also I was expecting Owens to be in a crop top.
Winner: Kevin Owens, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods
Grade: B+
The Big Dog is Blue
Mr. McMahon tried to fake us out by bringing out Elias, which is a pretty good acquisition in and of itself, but to absolutely no one’s surprise it turned out to be Roman Reigns. Reigns then proceeded to beat up Elias before superman punching McMahon. Smackdown Live is the big dog’s yard now!
Grade: A-
Final Thoughts
Kevin Owens as Big O was a lot of fun. I enjoyed watching him eat pancakes and learn to do the New Day’s intro. I’m also in the minority, but I actually like the creepy puppet vignettes we’ve been getting from Bray Wyatt. In my opinion, Smackdown definitely struck big with the shakeup this year and there’s potential for a lot of new matchups now. Survivor Series this year is going to be stacked!
Overall Grade: A-
