WWE TV July 25 - July 31

[goc]

He's going to rebound lariat off of a superkick.

Do those sites that let you bet on WWE take prop bets? Because I would seriously put money on this happening.

[El Dragon]

I'll up that bet. Dolph will hit him with a Superkick, Dean will go for a Rebound Lariat, only for Dolph to Superkick him again.

[goc]

I'll up that bet. Dolph will hit him with a Superkick, Dean will go for a Rebound Lariat, only for Dolph to Superkick him again.

Maybe they'll get caught in a loop and just keep doing it over and over since that's 90% of their offense anyway.

[Parties]

Let the biennial month of Dolph fever begin.

 

I know Strummer already said this, but it bears repeating: if you correctly predicted Summerslam's top 3 matches as Rollins-Balor for the new Puerto Rican championship, Ziggler-Ambrose, and a returning Orton vs. newly UFC-victorious/UFC-litigious Brock, you win the goddamned Powerball.

[goc]

Orton barely survived a match with The Miz without getting injured I suspect he'll wind up in a full body cast after a match with Lesnar.

 

[Parties]

At this rate we stand a chance of seeing a 2016 PPV headlined by the Ambrose-Tyler Breeze hair vs. hair match that I fantasy booked to run halfway through this year's Mania as a Piper tribute.

[sek69]

Orton barely survived a match with The Miz without getting injured I suspect he'll wind up in a full body cast after a match with Lesnar.

 

 

Of all the baffling choices WWE has made recently, this has been by far the most puzzling.

 

Of all people to put in with Lesnar, why the guy who's shoulder collapsed under the weight of taking the garbage out?

[Alucard]

I can't imagine a worse possible match up than babyface Dolph vs. babyface Ambrose. I look forward to the battle of 100 superkicks vs. 100 rebound lariats. At least the question of "Who has the worst offense in WWE?" will finally be decided.

 

Best thing about tonight was I think Ziggler only hit one superkick - and won with it. Battle of 100 superkicks is what I feel like I was watching Kevin Owens in on Sunday.

[Jimmy Redman]

First impressions aren't going to be as important as long-term follow through, so I'm not going all crazy about the future of either Raw or Smackdown off the back of one show, but just in terms of one's viewing pleasure this week, as a burnout who chose this week to watch the TV in full for the first time in months, man...this was a tale of two shows.

 

Smackdown somehow managed to combine every single used, worn out trope that both shows need to run like hell from into one package:

 

- Kane beating the shit out of so much fresher talent in the battle royal.

- Randy Orton pinning a midcard champion clean and easily for no reason.

- Cena FUing everyone on earth in the main event.

- The women's promo train that gets everyone in the shot but you come away with no actual direction.

- Holding off on your hot new tag team but instead debuting an old guy, who beats the hell out of a younger guy who finally has an interesting role.

- Putting a "young" guy "over" by having him shockingly win a big match out of nowhere where it looks like a random fluke, instead of a concerted push. (Compare and contrast Dolph vs Balor - not only in how they won their title shots, but also in the relative freshness of who they chose as well.)

- No tag team presence.

- Shane and Bryan stealing the spotlight from the wrestlers to close the show.

- JBL still yelling.

- Nobody given a chance to have a great match.

 

Individually some of those things were fun or fine, but taken all together it came off as all of the worst tendencies of the last 8 years rolled into one. Not a good look in comparison to such a fresh and reinvigorated Raw.

 

Having said all that, history shows us that Smackdown always comes through in the end, no matter how bad the hand it is dealt in drafts, timeslots, roster depth, interest, etc. Every year it would get raped in the Draft, and by the next month or so would seamlessly morph back into the wrestling show. The roster dearth means people will have to step up. Nobody should give up on the show just yet.

[EricR]

As the battle royal started, Otunga said "Now THIS is how you start off Smackdown Live!" No. No it isn't.

[Johnny Sorrow]

If you didn't think Russo was stupid enough, he hates squash matches too.

His criticism that Balor didn't do his Demon entrance for the main event is the stupidest fucking thing the dummy said in that whole thing. Jesus Christ, how bad are you at this, Russo?

[The Chief]

I must be an idiot because I liked Smackdown a lot better than Raw, until the Dolph win at least.

[PeteF3]

 

If you didn't think Russo was stupid enough, he hates squash matches too.

His criticism that Balor didn't do his Demon entrance for the main event is the stupidest fucking thing the dummy said in that whole thing. Jesus Christ, how bad are you at this, Russo?

 

 

It's stupid enough leaving aside the fact that it takes like 4 hours to apply the demon paint.

[sek69]

There wasn't anything particularly bad about Smackdown, but starting off with a battle royale that exposed how thin the roster is was a really bad idea.

[NotJayTabb]

Ambrose v Ziggler sounds like an utter trainwreck. I think Ambrose is at his most effective fighting from beneath - he's not the biggest or the strongest guy, but he's a scrappy fighter and he works well as a never-say-die type fighter. He's best paired with a Rusev or Reigns character, someone who can overwhelm him, forcing him to sell and make well-timed comebacks. It's why he was so effective as FIP in the Shield/Wyatts matches. Ziggler has really shitty looking offence, which will give Ambrose nothing to work with in that department. Even worse, Ziggler is incapable of actually selling any damage beyond a big bump, so we're going to get them spamming superkicks/rebound lariats for 10-15 mins. In terms of match quality, Ziggler is maybe the worst possible match for Ambrose on the roster.

[El-P]

You totally don't make me want to check that out.

[Stiva]

I can sort of see the Ziggler as challenger logic as a way for Ambrose to get a good solid first win as champ on Smackdown before moving to Styles/Cena but it happening at Summerslam is the weird bit.

[FMKK]

I can sort of see the Ziggler as challenger logic as a way for Ambrose to get a good solid first win as champ on Smackdown before moving to Styles/Cena but it happening at Summerslam is the weird bit.

 

Other than the fact that beating Ziggler has no credibility. He's the stalest guy on the roster and needs to go away for 6 months and come back with a new gimmick, new look etc. I think he needs to go heel on Ambrose in the build-up to this show at least. But having him as the no.1 contender really exposes the dearth of talent on the Smackdown roster. The whole draft was completely baffling when you look at the story they're trying to tell with the GMs. Shane and Bryan are talking about offering new people opportunities and their big stars are Cena and Orton with Ziggler getting a title shot while the evil Stephanie's show pushes an NXT call-up to the moon on his first night. If they wanted to go down that route with Shane and Bryan, the least they could have done was put Zayn and Cesaro on Smackdown.

[DMJ]

Definitely a strange choice. I didn't watch and haven't watched regularly in awhile, but is Del Rio injured? Isn't he on SD?

 

I'm actually a bigger Ziggler fan than a Del Rio one, but Del Rio was my pick to challenge Ambrose for a number of reasons.

 

I'm guessing Ziggler is turning heel in the build, but it won't freshen him up unless they really alter just about everything about him. Maybe even give him a bodyguard like Nash suggested.

[The Chief]

Definitely a strange choice. I didn't watch and haven't watched regularly in awhile, but is Del Rio injured? Isn't he on SD?

 

I'm actually a bigger Ziggler fan than a Del Rio one, but Del Rio was my pick to challenge Ambrose for a number of reasons.

 

I'm guessing Ziggler is turning heel in the build, but it won't freshen him up unless they really alter just about everything about him. Maybe even give him a bodyguard like Nash suggested.

 

Del Rio was in the battle royal.

[Alucard]

I must be an idiot because I liked Smackdown a lot better than Raw, until the Dolph win at least.

 

I'm with you, but including the Dolph win for me.

[sek69]

Del Rio is apparently already in burysville and counting the days until his contract expires.

[Russellmania]

man the Smackdown roster kinda sucks, but if they were to add Joe, Nakamura, Itami, Aires & Roode to it in the next year it would look so much better.

 

Joe and Shinsuke in particular are really intriguing matchups for Cena, Bray, Ambrose, and Styles.

[Jimmy James]

I can't imagine a worse possible match up than babyface Dolph vs. babyface Ambrose. I look forward to the battle of 100 superkicks vs. 100 rebound lariats. At least the question of "Who has the worst offense in WWE?" will finally be decided.

This would be a solid match stip if it was decided by a run-in by a returning RVD.

[sek69]

At this point I'm thinking the big guns from NXT have to be going to Smackdown. If not, it makes no sense for them to do the whole draft/brand split with the supposed intention of Making Smackdown Great Again only to kneecap them with this roster.