Manchester, New Hampshire is the site of tonight’s SmackDown Live. Last week we saw a pretty bad episode of SmackDown. Hopefully, like this weeks Raw, we have a great rebound tonight for the go-home episode for Sunday’s Backlash. Tune in for my recap and reviews throughout the night, and of course, like, share, and follow me on Twitter @GeCWrestling. If you don’t, Kevin Owens will crush your throat with a chair.
Kevin Owens Highlight Reel
Oh. My. God. Yes. This is the best thing to happen in the history of the United States. The Kevin Owens’ Highlight Reel is a brilliant idea. I even love how they are maintaining the rivalry with KO and Jericho. SummerSlam return maybe? For now, I’m just loving this path that KO is taking. The Face of America, and new host of the Highlight Reel.
Kevin Owens begins introducing his guest in French because, well, because he can as he explains. The Phenomenal One, AJ Styles, interrupts him, and pokes fun at KO stealing Y2J’s gimmick, speaking French, and the two have a decent exchange.
Jinder Mahal comes out, claiming he was the guest for the Highlight Reel. Mahal claims he’ll beat Randy Orton, and I’m losing interest in this segment. I know Styles and Mahal have a match tonight, but they don’t need to try shoehorning every fucking feud into the same segment.
Love the idea of the Kevin Owens’ Highlight Reel being a regular segment this summer, just wish it didn’t have to pull Mahal into it, and even more than that, I wish they had just started the show with a match.
2.5 Chair Shots out of 5
AJ Styles vs Jinder Mahal
Ok, I express a lot of skepticism toward the Mahal push. That said, he isn’t the worst worker in the company. I actually think he could be a respectable midcard heel. The WWE Championship match is just a bit too much, too soon. To keep both looking strong though, they’ll need a sloppy finish. You can’t have AJ Styles lose clean to Jinder here, because he has to get back into the WWE Championship picture sooner than later.
Another observation; Kevin Owens is going to be a commentator ala Jerry Lawler one day. He just seems like he’ll be a fantastic heel commentator when his in ring career ends. That’s obviously way down the line, but I enjoy his commentary when he sits ringside.
The match itself is surprisingly good. Styles can really get something decent out of anyone, and Mahal looks more passionate than at any other point in his career. He looks stiff, but Mahal is improving weekly. Styles is AJ Styles. The best in the world right now. Even the finish is right; Kevin Owens uses a distraction and hits Styles in the knee with the US belt. This allows Mahal to hit his finisher and get the pinfall. It all makes sense from a booking standpoint in terms of keeping both strong.
I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
3.5 Chair Shots out of 5
Breezango vs The Colons
I really love The Fashion Police. They have done a fabulous job building them the last several weeks. They have a good balance of humor and talent, and they remind me a bit of Miz and Morrison when they were dominating the tag division. I know they’re probably a stopgap before The New Day return to likely dethrone The Usos, but I hope not. I guess we’ll see what happens Sunday.
On the other side, looks like The Colons have settled right back into jobbing territory. A short match ends with Fandango scoring the winning 3 count.
The Usos come out post-match to drop a promo insulting the fun that Breezango are having. Their promo is uncomfortable.
Everything here is right. The right outcome for the match. The right start with the Fashion Police Law and Order short. Right interruption by the heels to build to Sunday. Everything hit the right note.
3.5 Chair Shots out of 5
6 woman tag match contract signing
When Shane McMahon returned over a year ago (I was at the Raw in Detroit, and we lost our minds), I thought it would be a fun little walk down memory lane. Never thought he’d be here almost halfway through 2017. Not a bad thing. Not a good thing. Just a bit surprising.
Still won’t call them by their stable name or whatever it is. The Ellsworth Fan Club come down together, showing unity. The face team comes down one by one, making them seem less united. Interesting choice. Will dissension end their chances of victory Sunday?
I love Natalya the wrestler. I hate Natalya the talker. She is horrible on the mic. Turning Charlotte face creates a talent vacuum for the division when it comes to heels. Maybe the Ellsworthians need a valet to help them drop a promo.
Charlotte puts everyone to shame on the mic. Still think she could have a future in the men’s division if handled appropriately.
The segment ends with a near brawl, but Shane O’Mac intervenes and sets up a match between Naomi and Carmella.
Standard contract signing, duh.
2.5 Chair Shots out of 5
Naomi (w/Becky Lynch and Charlotte) vs Carmella (w/Tamina, Natalya, and James Ellsworth)
First part of the match is a snore. Looks like it’s setting up to be a squash, or devolve into a brawl between the teams. Ellsworth gets banned from ring side, and we hit a commercial. This segment really overstayed its welcome. Should’ve just let them brawl after the contract signing segment.
Carmella gets some offense in when we return, but still a bit off. Tamina and Natalya then get banned from ringside. As they begin leaving, a brawl breaks out between the two and Charlotte and Becky. This distracts Naomi, and Carmella gets a rollup win.
Well, I guess that kills some time. On the show that doesn’t need to kill time.
2 Chair Shots out of 5
Randy Orton vs Baron Corbin
Anyone else have a feeling we’re getting a Randy Orton mail-in match? He can put on a great match when he’s invested. He can also put you to sleep when he isn’t. He just never works well as a face to me.
There really isn’t much to say about this match. Corbin is getting better. Randy Orton is indeed turning in an uninspired match. It just seems to be there. Baron Corbin also looks like a rejected Wyatt Family member.
Orton hits an RKO after Corbin attempts a third slide, run around the post, run back for a clothesline and the match is over. Jinder Mahal comes out and tells Orton he’s going to beat him Sunday, and the Singh Brothers run in to try an Orton beatdown. Eventually the numbers game catches up, and Jinder Mahal and the Singh Brothers stand tall to close the show.
2.5 Chair Shots out of 5
Final Grade
The show started really strong, but fizzled out in the second hour. An overly long women’s segment killed about a half hour of time, and the main event was a snore. There was also supposed to be a Rusev return, which never happened. Still better than last weeks episode, but not necessarily anything special. For a show that started so strong, it’s disappointing that it closed so poorly, especially since it was a go-home episode. Looking forward to Backlash, but what a disappointing second half.
2.5 Chair Shots out of 5
Give 'em the Chair Wrestling 