No! Where’s My Main Event
I don’t understand WWE‘s rules of what is considered a main event. Apparently it’s whatever they call a main event, no matter where it is on the card. Fine, I’ll play by those rules. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still disappointed. I really think capitalizing this show with a really strong women’s title match would have left the viewers a lot happier.
Honestly, considering they’ve been building this for a month, we’re entitled to a match of a large magnitude. On the up side they spent most of the first hour hyping up the match and making it seem like it’s a big deal. Up to this point, Alexa has grown into her own more so than anybody else on either roster. They’ve made a lot of progress considering where she was when she was first called up.
The match was phenomenal for what it was. The chain wrestling at the beginning, and the pace looked great. Alexa Bliss working the Champ’s arm throughout the match should have led to something. I was expecting it to, but it didn’t. A fierce back and forth before the end of the match, and a nice barrage of offense from Bliss got me heated up. But then the end happened and all that was thrown out the window.
I understand that they are keeping this going through TLC or whatever, but like I said, we deserved a good match. Obviously the finish is crucial to how good a match is. The finish wasn’t bad on it’s own but considering the circumstances, it was just another mistake. Also it made no sense and it brings up an issue with the WWE booking that they revisit every week, damn near. The referee being too stupid to be cognizant of whats going on in the most crucial part of the match happens too damn often. It makes the whole point of this “sports entertainment” thing completely dull. It devalues the title and just makes everything that happens unimportant. Because apparently it’s ok. Plus Bliss didn’t even try to argue it, (she did later on Talking Smack) she just grabbed her arm and left. The match was great (even though it was barely 10 minutes) and the build was ok, but they just dropped the ball in the end.
I hate to be so cynical but this match was pretty important and we shouldn’t be ok with it. Also, a lot of us are a bit more forgiving for Smackdown because it’s usually better than Raw. We’re getting too forgiving because for the second week in a row there was a very small amount of good wrestling on the Blue Brand. But more on that later.
The Actual Main Event
The opening segment was standard for what we’ve been getting the past few weeks. The crowd was clearly on “chill mode” tonight, nobody really got a reaction. James Ellsworth did though. He’s the most over person on the roster (DBry is not on the roster) and they need to use it very soon. Perhaps have AJ Styles kill him to get some heat, but I digress. The New Wyatt family came down, I was hoping they’d do something, but they just stood there. Weirdly, I thought it was cool though. What was even cooler was Styles getting ready to jump Dean Ambrose with Baron Corbin and The Wyatts, but then Corbin just leaves without saying a word. Just awesome.
The GM made a 6-man tag between between The Wyatts Family and Ellsworth, Corbin and Ambrose. But Corbin backed the hell out because he doesn’t have time for this crap. Is Corbin the only actual superstar on the roster?
Kane replaced Corbin, and the 6 man tag was ok for the time it was given. Ambrose kicked everybody’s ass after getting the hot tag. I loved that bulldog clothesline combo. Having Ellsworth losing was the obvious choice, it just irks me that Ambrose died after a clothesline. It was all good though and AJ was awesome on commentary. Still should’ve planned this match an hour earlier but I guess I should let this go.
Oh Yea, Survivor Series
Shane is the fifth member of Smackdown. If you watch Talking Smack and have heard Daniel Bryan criticize Raw for using attitude era stars, you’d see this decision as a head scratcher to say the least. I’m done with it.
The Lone Superstar
Every single thing about Baren Corbin tonight is why I still love Smackdown. And in one night, he got all the heat he needed to make his fued with Kalisto interesting. The way Kalisto was presented and how the commentators talked about his actions helped get mad heat on him as well. Let these guys go! Also Kalisto’s fire is going to translate strong in his match with Brian Kendrick, and may have me believing he could walk away with the most important win at the event.
Breezango is Back!
Finally! The Vaudvillians had some nasty quick offense early on, and I hope they can finally figure out how to utilize these guys. The right team won though.
Crews is back too…
Yea, speaking of under-utilizing talent. Apollo Crews is dead in the water. It can’t all be creatives fault either. At some point Crews has to show us more than two face expressions.
Coach or Captain
Naomi is disappointing me too, but that’s not news. Neither was this segment. I do have to point out that I do favor this over the Raw women’s promo/match segment. There is a lot more concern for the beefs the divas have for each other than their Raw counterparts. Nikki Bella and Carmella hate each other and Nattie is just ridiculous. That’s more interesting than yelling at the tv. So I’ll take it.
I thought that Smackdown would go through the same motions that Raw went though with the Survivor Series buildup. But they weaved a lot of that in their storylines very effectively. Baron being taken out of the match and getting heat on that fued made me very happy. Also the news about the cruiserweight possibly coming to Raw is just too damn good to be true. They at least got a bit more excited about Survivor Series. But I’m still apathetic about the event in general, that’s just because I’m bitter. I’m also bitter about the lack of wrestling tonight. But Breezango is back and there was still a lot more to like about this imperfectly awesome show. That women’s match really pissed me off though.
My grade: a lower case B-
