Before I begin, I just have to say these Top Ramen Chicken flavored Pringles are fanatastic! They’re Kosher! Good thing I have two Dollar General stores nearby.
SmackDown turned out to be a really good show, seemed to be better organized and energized than RAW was last night. Evidenced with tonight’s opening United States Championship Match where A.J. Styles retained against Kevin Owens. Fantastic back-and-forth, with a screwy ending. Ref gets bumped, the makes a three-count while Owens had a shoulder up. AJ and KO hit high impact moves throughout the match, keeping the crowd lively.
After the match, Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan inform the ref of the bad call, however Owens storms in and rages all over. So Shane gives him a rematch at SummerSlam, but Owens demands a special ref who “won’t get bumped.” So, Daniel Bryan then names Shane as the guest ref. Owens rages on, which leads me to believe an inevitable feud between Owens and McMahon is brewing.
The Usos cut an alright promo on The New Day, trashing them last week. Not bad, they’ve done better recently.
Fashion Peaks airs this week, as Breezango continues as we get a trip as Fandango is missing, the Ascension get some airtime in a freaky bit involving a log and maple syrup. “No more metaphors” is the key to finding out who has behind everything.
Sami Zayn vs. Aiden English. I’m still bummed they dumped Simon Gotch. They could have at least sent him back to NXT if there wasn’t a use for him. The Vaudevillians were great on NXT, then main roster saw their demise. Much like American Alpha. We get a musical interlude which for some reason my wife is enjoying. Is this why WWE kept him? Because he can sing? Wasn’t this the gimmick of The Maestro back in WCW? I guess between Elias Samson and Aiden English, I’d pick English. He gets great heat. He rolls up Zayn in a few minutes, surprising everyone. Sad Sayn gets sadder when The Lovebirds Kanellis arrive to say they love the loss.
Becky Lynch and Naomi defeat Natalya and Carmella – I worry Natalya will get buried. She looked decent during the match, but the faces were highlighted and Carmella just irritates everyone.
Backstage: Jinder Mahal will sit in his personal skybox to watch the Dream Match.
Chad Gable uses real amateur wrestling to gain an upper hand over Rusev for a couple minutes, until Rusev launches the former Alpha with a huge suplex. I want Gable to succeed, but I have a hard time seeing it happen. Face value – Jason Jordan gets a push via gimmick with Kurt Angle, and Gable is pushing himself via Rolling Belly-to-Bellys, a MASSIVE German Suplex, followed by a BME! He escapes one Accolade and traps Rusev into the Ankle Lock, however Rusev manages an escape, superkick, Accolade, and it’s over.
Okay, so Chad Gable did a Kurt Angle impersonation tonight. Shame he had to lose to Rusev, but damn WWE, give Gable a chance!!!
After the match, Rusev claims he was promised competition, and his loss to Cena doesn’t count. Nearly losing to Gable didn’t count either. He wants a match at SummerSlam, and out comes Randy Orton. Good, a feud I don’t have to care about.
The Dream Match Taking Place on SmackDown Instead of a Pay-Per-View: John Cena vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Announce team pushes the “match we’d never thought we’d see bit” over and over. I get it, this is special, but man, this should have been a selling point for a PPV. Unless the ratings have been so low they needed something big. BIG! Having Nakamura nearly murder Cena with a cartwheeling back-drop suplex, followed by the Kinshasa to earn the pinfall.
I’ll be honest. The closing moments is what got me excited. No, not Cena nearly breaking his neck, but watching Nakamura win. The match itself was decent. It was mostly Nakamura going through all his moves, and Cena selling them. Cena then coming back with his signatures. It felt like Cena wasn’t putting his all into it though. Maybe I’m wrong.
Overall, really good show tonight, I have hopes for Gable, and hope Nakamura/Mahal isn’t a throwaway match for SummerSlam.
