After a humdinger edition of Monday Night Raw, Smackdown came out of their corner swingin' with a couple of fun Dean Ambrose/AJ Styles confrontation, some new feuds teased, and the continuation of the Smackdown tag title tournament.
First off, the women's divison on Smackdown is starting to define itself through some great character tweaks. Naomi's new look and entrance is very "fire", as the kids say, and hopefully that will help her stand out from the pack. Also, I just like glow in the dark stuff. Carmella's heel turn seems to be working, as picking on Nicki Bella week after week is slowing turning her into a heat magnet. They have an uphill battle ahead of them, with fan favorites like Bayley and Sasha Banks on Raw, but protraying these women as fierce competitors rather than eye candy is a good start. I'll admit I was worried the Smackdown divison was going to be the more "Total Divas" of the two, but there's some good rasslin' in there bah gawd.
Ziggler called out Miz while he continued his ranting that started on last week's headline-worthy edition of Talking Smack. Miz played his part perfectly, portraying the hypocritical heel while I *think* people still want to love Ziggler after his brief title feud with Dean. The Dean/Ziggler match never lived up to the build, but this is a good spot for him right now since Miz talking trash about the beloved Daniel Bryan makes him a hated man in the eyes of fans, and Ziggler's style represents the opposite of the "cowardly" style Miz has been accused of employing.
A little bit of 90's Attitude entered the tag title tourney this week in the form of the returning Headbangers. This is a tag team I'd forgotten about almost completely, but once they got in the ring and mixed it up with Slater and Rhyno, I was immediately transported back to the good old days, when all I had to worry about was a spelling test and whether daddy would come home drunk or not. Slater and Rhyno went over (as they should) and Heath's quest to earn a Smackdown contract continues. I said it last week, but I like what they're doing with Slater.
Apollo Crews challenged AJ Styles and came up short after a backstage confrontation. Crews is wasted potential at this point and I think he'd be better served by a character change, as his smiling babyface persona lacks intensity and he's building a losing streak. The point of all this is really just to put over the fact that AJ Styles wants to remind us every chance he can get that he sent John Cena packing at SummerSlam a la Paul Heyman when Brock broke The Undertaker's streak. I like the story, but the crowd loves AJ too much to ever boo him, as least for the time being.
Kane beat a jobber calling himself The Milkman. I'm loving the use of jobbers on both shows; that's another throwback and it's better than burying guys on your regular roster. He had a little staredown with Baron Corbin as they crossed paths on the ramp. They did pretty much the exact same thing with Corbin while he was on NXT. He likes to hit his music before the other guys have cleared the arena. Expect alpha male shenanigans to ensue.
Corbin's match with the champ Dean Ambrose was a timid affair compared to Raw's main event last night, but both guys put in some work. Styles was at ringside for this match and his attempted interference at the end concluded with him getting crotched and Dean mocking him with a handshake. It was a funny ending to a so-so match. I think these two are going to knock it out of the park when they finally meet, but for now everything they do is going to rest in the shadow of Owens surprise victory on monday.
In conclusion . . .
Smackdown tried valiantly, but I'd say Raw put on the better show this week with that huge four way main event and the surprise turn with Hunter and K.O. at the end. Still, both brands are doing things that make me happy as a viewer and the emphasis on both brands has been on WRESTLING. It's a good time to be a fan and a hard time to be a hater.
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