WWE SmackDown Live Review // 20th March 2018

With three weeks until WrestleMania, this week's SmackDown was perhaps the most important episode on the road to WrestleMania and will almost certainly prove to be the most memorable for the majority of the fanbase. This week saw Daniel Bryan announce his return to in-ring competition and call out Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn for their assault on Shane McMahon last week, Charlotte Flair and Natalya renew their rivalry, SmackDown Tag Team Champion Jimmy Uso go one on one with the Bludgeon Brother's Harper, Shinsuke Nakamura face Rusev in a rematch from Fastlane and Jinder Mahal talk about being added to the United States title match at WrestleMania...but was it any good? Here's our review. 

Daniel Bryan addresses being cleared to compete 

If it's possible to feel all of the emotions at the same time, then that's exactly what I experienced whilst watching Daniel Bryan speak about being able to wrestle again on SmackDown this week. Honestly, Bryan could have come out and said absolutely anything and everyone would have been over the moon because he can wrestle again, but what happened on 20th March was so much more than that. Obviously this being a very real situation helped a lot, but listening to the emotion in Bryan's voice as he talked about how his wife, Brie Bella, had helped him to keep fighting and to keep pushing to get back in the ring, as well as the passion with which he talked about professional wrestling was wonderful and left me somewhere between being one big pimpley goose and a human tear. Whatever happens next is a bonus for me, as the story of Bryan's return is strong enough to drive multiple storylines for years and I'm not sure it will ever be matched. Also all the crowd pointing at the WrestleMania sign when Bryan said he didn't know when he'd get to wrestle his first match might be my favourite thing that has ever happened inside a wrestling arena. 

After the segment - Charles Robinson congratulated Daniel Bryan on his return, before Dolph Ziggler told Bryan that he couldn't wait to beat him - Daniel Bryan was informed that Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn had arrived at the building.

Daniel Bryan calls out Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn 

Wow, what a rollercoaster this segment was, moving from comedy heat for Kevin Owens saying "everyone's dumber in Texas" to a vicious assault on Daniel Bryan on his first night back as an active competitor all within the space of ten or fifteen minutes. There was a lot packed into the fifteen minutes, but the segment essentially boiled down to Owens & Zayn assaulting Bryan because he was forced to fire them for attacking Shane McMahon on last week's episode, but because of Bryan's lengthy absence from anything resembling physicality it ended up being so much more than the sum of its parts. Watching Bryan nailing running dropkicks in the corner, like he'd never been away became an emotional experience the likes of which I never thought I'd experience watching some hit a dropkick or two, whilst the beatdown from Owens and Zayn that came after the pair had regained control got a great deal of heat as they threw punches at the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The conclusion with Owens hitting a powerbomb onto the apron was difficult to watch, a good piece of booking to throw doubt over Bryan will be able to compete at WrestleMania, with the whole picture involving the three and Shane McMahon being wide open at the conclusion of the show. A special note on Owens performance here, as as always Kevin's attention to detail was wonderful and him screaming repeatedly, showing confliction and frustration with his action was a lovely touch that added to an already brilliant segment.

SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair vs. Natalya

Before the match - We got a hype package for Asuka, who seemingly isn't on the show tonight - Natalya tried to wind up Charlotte Flair, saying she was scared about facing Asuka at WrestleMania, with Flair agreeing to a match with Natty later on the show. 

An intriguing development at the end of a good match between Natalya and Charlotte Flair saw Carmella attempt to cash in her Money in the Bank briefcase and whilst Flair nailed Carmella with the Queen's Boot before the cash-in could occur it did allow Natalya to pick up a surprise victory with a school-boy roll up. I'm not quite sure how this factors into Flair's match with Asuka at WrestleMania, but its at least WWE trying to do something different on SmackDown, rather than what could have been a paint-by-numbers victory for Flair. The match itself took a while to get into, mostly because there was a feeling that I'd seen it all before, with the having competed in eleven TV singles matches in the last two years, but the build towards the interference featured some lovely action between the pair. Natalya pulled out a gorgeous spinning sit-out powerbomb, but the highlight was a superb sequence involving the figure four leglock, that would conclude with Flair holding onto the move whilst hanging outside of the ring, after the two had rolled to the ropes. I would suspect we could see Natty & Carmella vs. Flair & Asuka at some point over the next two weeks, with Natalya's victory perhaps being used to make her Asuka's first challenger after the Empress wins the belt at WrestleMania.

Jimmy Uso (with Jey Uso) vs. Harper (with Rowan) 

Before the match - The Usos cut one of signature fiery promos, promising to not lie down when faced with the threat of the Bludgeon Brothers as they looked for their first match on the main card of a WrestleMania. 

The match was a fairly straight-forward affair with Jimmy Uso able to stay in the match by using his speed, before Harper put him away with a pretty weak looking lariat. The match was raised past a regular squash thanks to a stellar near fall from Uso, which saw the SmackDown Tag Team Champion able to dodge distraction from Rowan, before that same distraction allowed for both Usos to hit superkicks for a long two count on Harper

Rusev (with Aiden English) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Whilst not as good as their clash at Fastlane, Shinsuke Nakamura's victory over Rusev with a roll-up still provided a solid slice of television wrestling. The match ended up coming up a little short time-wise, with only around five minutes airing on TV, but still got a few decent moments and sequences in there. A lot of it was either going over ground covered in the PPV bout and using a couple of signature spots like the "Come on" thing that Nakkers does, but there was also a nice forearm sequence and a surprising amount of dominance from the Bulgarian Brute, including a near fall off a big kick after Nakamura escaped the Accolade. The finishing sequence was very well done, with Nakamura missing a couple of roundhouse kicks, before going for his rolling crossarmbreaker and then being able to reverse a Rusev roll-up (major alliteration scenes) to pick up a straight-forward victory. Not quite good enough to go out of your way to see, but enjoyable if you're a regular watcher of the product nonetheless. 

After the match - Rusev & Aiden English assaulted Shinsuke Nakamura, with AJ Styles taking so long to make the save from the guest commentary position that Nakamura ended up being able to fight off both of his attackers - Backstage, Shinsuke Nakamura told AJ Styles that he didn't need his help and that he'd beat him at WrestleMania with a "knee to face" 

Jinder Mahal addresses his United States title shot at WrestleMania

More of the same from Jinder Mahal, Bobby Roode and Untied States Champion Randy Orton this week, after Mahal had addressed being added to the US title match at WrestleMania. Honestly, I was over this storyline about a month ago and I'm looking forward to being able to move passed it in April, because the booking continues to be lazy, the writing continues to be juvenile and the performers continue to look like they'd rather be doing anything else (well, Roode and Orton do, I suppose Mahal is just buzzing to still be riding the wave of his awful WWE title run). Mahal left Sunil Singh to Roode & Orton, with Singh taking DDTs rope-hung and Glorious, before Orton and Roode tried to hit their finishers on each other and still nobody gave a fuck. 

Also on the show

- Baron Corbin squashed Tye Dillinger in a few minutes, with the match going a little longer because Corbin botched his own finish and they had to do it again. 

- Becky Lynch & Naomi squashed the Riott Squad's Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan with Lynch tapping out Morgan with the Dis-armer after a nothing match 

- The "Hungry for Mania" moment was the entirety of WrestleMania I.

ATPW Scale Rating // 

5.88 out of 10 

Written by James Marston //

@IAmNotAlanDale

WWE SmackDown Live Review // 13th March 2018

2 days after Fastlane, WWE's SmackDown brand set its sight on WrestleMania. AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura came face to face before Styles took on Rusev, Shane McMahon had an announcement to make about WrestleMania, Randy Orton celebrated his first WWE United States Championship before Jinder Mahal faced former champion Bobby Roode, The Bludgeon Brothers challenged any fit members of The New Day and The Usos to a match, SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair shared a ring with WrestleMania opponent Asuka and "Ms. Money in the Bank" Carmella went one on one with Naomi. But was the Indianapolis show any good? Lets take a look!

On-Air Personnel 

Commentary - Corey Graves, Byron Saxton & Tom Phillips 

Interviewers - Dasha Fuentes & Renee Young

Ring Announcer - Greg Hamilton

Order 

1. Face-to-Face: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles vs. Rusev

2. Shane McMahon's WrestleMania Announcement 

3. Randy Orton's US title Celebration and Bobby Roode vs. Jinder Mahal 

4. The Bludgeon Brothers vs. Big E & Jimmy Uso 

5. Face-to-Face: Charlotte Flair and Asuka

6. Carmella vs. Naomi

Face-to-Face: AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura

A solid opening segment between the competitors in SmackDown's main event at WrestleMania, as Shinsuke Nakamura interrupted WWE Champion AJ Styles. We didn't really learn a lot from either man's promo, but it was cool to see the two finally share the ring, after their WrestleMania match had been rumoured for so long. In fact, I think it was the fact that we've waited so long to see it that actually managed to carry the segment, because the crowd was super hyped for it, with duelling chants and all that jazz. Styles' promo went over some old ground about his road to get to WWE and what it means to go into WrestleMania as champion, whilst Nakamura's was limited to explaining his dream was to knee Styles in the face and become champion, whilst the crowd "What"'ed him because English isn't his first language. The interruption by Rusev just as things looked to be escalating between Nakamura and Styles was well-placed and should help to rise the interest in the WWE title match at WrestleMania a little more as we begin to anticipate what the clash might look like when it finally happens. 

AJ Styles vs. Rusev (with Aiden English)

AJ Styles and Rusev battled in a good match, until Aiden English interfered to give Styles the disqualification win as Styles looked to locking in the Calf Crusher on Rusev. This a physical clash with slight elements of power vs. speed in places, but was mostly centered around the pairs various strike based offence, with plenty of forearms and kicks in this one. The best stuff of the match was a minute or so that was used to build for the Ushigoroshi from Styles, with the Phenomenal One attempting the move three or four times, before a Pele Kick would eventually allow him to it, only for Rusev's weight across Styles' knee meaning he couldn't get a pinfall. This was a nice example of making a signature move mean something and there was even a good near fall thrown into the mix when RuRu dropped off Styles' shoulders for a Roundhouse Kick that looked super snug. The little sequence before the interference was also quite lovely with Styles going for what would have been an impressive Styles Clash, Rusev escaping and going for the Accolade and Styles reversing and eventually being able to roll-through into a Styles Clash. A bit more time and bit more importance and these two could have a great match together. The finish seems to be to extend the feud a little and pad sometime for WrestleMania, because of what would follow.

After the match - Rusev & Aiden English attempted to beatdown AJ Styles, before Shinsuke Nakamura would make the save with a pair of Kinshasas, I guess we'll see Styles & Nakamura vs. Rusev & English next week - Backstage, Shinsuke Nakamura told AJ Styles he would protect him til WrestleMania so he could beat him with "Knee to face" 

Shane McMahon's WrestleMania announcement

Before the segment - Sami Zayn blamed Shane McMahon's obsession with Kevin Owens for him not being WWE Champion right now, before promising to never be guilty by association to Owens ever again. - Kevin Owens replied to Sami Zayn, blaming Shane McMahon and calling Zayn a liar and delusional. 

A surprisingly violent angle to close the show as Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens' hatred for Shane McMahon united them once more as they laid waste to the SmackDown Commissioner, moments after McMahon had announced he was taking time away from the position and placed Owens against Zayn at WrestleMania. McMahon's promo was a little rambling, seemingly thinking out loud as he wondered whether he crossed the line at Fastlane and honestly lacked the emotion that it needed to be genuinely interesting. However, once we got past McMahon's detached rhetoric and we got two performers out there in Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn the segment was energised and became a fascinating and uncomfortable piece of television. Owens & Zayn taking out referees (including a ridiculous bump to the floor by Ryan Tran) got a great shocked pop from the Bankers Life Fieldhouse and the vicious assault including a Pop-up Powerbomb and McMahon getting sent into the post with a steel chair around his neck, grabbed you and made you pay attention, because it felt different to the usual WWE beatdown. But the most bracing moment came when Owens & Zayn began dragging McMahon up the ramp and into the back, with an increasing sense of foreboding that some real shit was about to go down. That real shit was a nasty looking powerbomb onto some big hunk of metal, that looked super painful to take for McMahon. If you look past the fact that no one came to McMahon's aid apart from a few referees, this was a great angle, that opened up a number of questions to be answered over the next three weeks. How will McMahon look to gain his revenge? What does this mean for Owens & Zayn's friendship, that appeared to be in tatters? Will we get Owens vs. Zayn on the biggest stage? 

Randy Orton celebrates United States Championship win 

A thoroughly unnecessary segment here, as no one said anything and Jinder Mahal continued to be a drag on the blue brand's product. Out of the three promos, Randy Orton's had the most behind it as he gave Bobby Roode props after their US title match, whilst also putting over what it meant to be a grand slam champion. Roode's promo revealed that he wanted his title rematch at WrestleMania, so at least there was that development, I suppose, even if it easily could've been handled in a thirty second backstage interview. Then we get to Jinder Mahal, who manages to make me want to turn off the TV every time he pops up, especially during this storyline. Why is his character that of a school boy? The quality of the writing for Mahal here has been especially poor, but he's not exactly blessed with great promo skills either. This segment saw Mahal try to stir the pot again between Orton and Roode, by mentioning that Roode had held the US title before Orton and that was something Orton was never going to change. Why the fuck would 13 time World Champion Randy Orton give a fuck that Bobby Roode had held the United States title before he did? Get in a bin, Jinder. Get in a bin, whoever "wrote" that promo. 

"The Glorious" Bobby Roode vs. "The Modern Day Maharajah" Jinder Mahal (with Sunil Singh) 

Not much to talk about in this match, as Jinder Mahal managed to beat the former WWE United States Champion, to supposedly set-up a triple threat at WrestleMania, after Sunil Singh had provided the distraction. There was one nice sequence here with the pair reversing each other's signatures, with Roode managing to counter a counter with a sunset flip for a decent near fall. 


After the match - Randy Orton gave Jinder Mahal an RKO.

Jimmy Uso & Big E vs. Harper & Rowan

Before the match - Big E & Jimmy Uso cut a pair of very good promos about the Bludgeon Brothers attack at Fastlane, as they spoke about Harper & Rowan had taken away from them  and promising to bring the attack to the pair tonight - Absolute chaos before the match began as Big E & Jimmy Uso attacked Harper & Rowan as they tried to take their jackets off, but the Bludgeon Brothers were able to take control later on despite Big E & Uso holding steel chairs.

The match itself was absolute domination from The Bludgeon Brothers, as they controlled the whole match, before sending Big E into the steel steps and pinning Uso with a Harper powerbomb. 

After the match - The Bludgeon Brothers went back after Big E, with Harper throwing E into a Rowan crossbody on the floor.

Face-to-Face: Charlotte Flair and Asuka

Similar to the Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles segment earlier in the night, this segment held the attention because it had been so anticipated. The two women arguably did a better job than the men did with their promos, but this was more about introducing the match scheduled for WrestleMania, rather than anything too complex or creative. Flair's promo in particular was laden with cliches, like "iron sharpens iron" and "I've never anyone like you, but you have never faced anyone like me", which she performed well, but it was hardly to get anything excited about. Asuka's performance was a step above, as she overcame the language barrier and had the crowd reacting nicely as she explained she "bows to no one". Having the two interrupt by Randy Orton as he came to the ring for his match was a strange decision and gives out the wrong signals regarding how WWE views its women's division. Had Randy had enough of the women talking about their match and decided to hit the ring so he could talk? I get that WWE needed a way to finish the segment without the women coming to blows and it would've been weird to have just cut away without any action, but was this the only way to reach that point? I'm not convinced.

Naomi vs. "Ms. Money in the Bank" Carmella

Before the match - Carmella announced that she'd be taking part in the Fabulous Moolah battle royal at WrestleMania, declaring herself the modern day equivalent to Moolah...perhaps not the person you want to be comparing yourself to, Mella. 

Carmella picked up a big win over Naomi in a disappointingly short match, that the pair managed to fill with physicality and a couple of really nice sequences. Carmella repeatedly ducking roundhouse kicks, only for Naomi to counter a forth duck with a massive knee to the face was particularly well done, before a creative finish was Mella trip Naomi as she went for a springboard, before hitting a hair-aided rope-hung neckbreaker for the win. 

Also on the show

- Kid Rock is going into the WWE Hall of Fame and we get the same look at his relationship with WWE that was aired on RAW. 

- WWE played the promo package for the Fabulous Moolah Battle Royal again...will they actually keep the name?

- Rusev & Lana and Bobby Roode & Charlotte Flair cut promos ahead of their Quarter Final match in the Mixed Match Challenge.

ATPW Scale Rating // 4.79 out of 10

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale

WWE SmackDown Live Review // 6th February 2018

For the first time since May 2016, SmackDown returned to Kansas City, Missouri on 6th Feburary 2018, as the building blocks for Fastlane began to be laid down. The show featured best pals Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn battling each other to become #1 Contender to AJ Styles' WWE Championship in the main event, as well as Bobby Roode putting the WWE United States Championship on the line against Rusev. Lets take a look at how it all went down at the Sprint Center Arena. 

Shane McMahon & Daniel Bryan clashed over Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn

then...

WWE Championship #1 Contendership // Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn // No Contest

The AJ Styles/Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens/Daniel Bryan/Shane McMahon saga rolls on for another week and supposedly onto 11th March's Fastlane PPV at the very least. This week we began with an overly long chatter segment featuring McMahon, Bryan and Styles. This included the line "the stakes have epic implications of what's going to happen" from McMahon when discussing the main event between Owens and Zayn. That line isn't far behind Michael McGillicutty's classic "Genesis of McGillicutty" promo from NXT Season 2. Both Bryan and McMahon struggled saying the word "ripping" for some reason and the crowd mostly just allowed them to have a conversation. That is until McMahon threw a barb Bryan's way about vicariously living through Owens and Zayn, because the former WWE Champion was desperate to get back in the ring. The crowd gave the moment the reaction it deserved, making note of the tension between the two and the apparent sign that an in-ring return for Bryan could be on its way. Seemingly because creative couldn't come up with a way to end the segment effectively, AJ Styles came out to interrupt, cut a decent travelling champion style promo, before telling the Commissioner and General Manager to stop obsessing over Owens and Zayn.

The main event between Zayn and Owens resulted in a no contest, after Zayn got into the face of guest commentator AJ Styles and the WWE Champion teed off on both competitors. Daniel Bryan then confirmed that Styles would have to defend against Owens and Zayn at Fastlane, this time in a triple threat match. Despite the non-finish, the clash between Zayn and Owens was actually pretty damn good, telling a quality story of two friends wanting to remain respectful but soon getting out of hand. It was a relatable narrative, that was driven by the vocalisations of both men, but in particular Kevin Owens. K.O. ducking to the floor after a particularly spicy strike from Zayn and yelling "calm down" at his pal was brilliant stuff, because we all know that it never works, whilst Owens' "I'm the one that wins the titles" after the aggression had heightened told of just how far the match had come as the pairs true characters began to show through. The wrestling action was great also, complimenting the story with the pair able to counter a number of their signature moves, before the highlight of the match came when Zayn slickly escaped a Pop-Up Powerbomb attempt and nailed a half and half suplex and blue thunder bomb for a decent near fall. It's a shame that this story has been going on so long, because I'm not sure how they're going to fill the next four episode of SmackDown Live before Fastlane and as good as the triple threat has potential to be, it really should have happened at Royal Rumble instead.  

WWE United States Championship // Bobby Roode (C) def. Rusev // Pinfall

Bobby Roode picked up his second successful United States title defence with a clean win over Rusev, following the Glorious DDT, in a good TV bout. Following the match, Randy Orton flew through the air to deliver an RKO to Roode and then Aiden English and Rusev got on a piece for good measure. Where this is going I'm not sure, but RKOs are fun, so why not? Rusev gave Roode a much better challenge than that of Mojo Rawley at Royal Rumble, moving from a nice amateur style opening section to a stellar back and forth closing stretch. The Bulgarian controlled long stretches of the match, with Roode making comebacks after both commercial breaks. Before the finish, the highlight for me was a strong near fall for Rusev, that came bang in the middle of a supposed comeback from Roode, with English acting as a distraction, allowing Rusev to recover and nail a Machka Kick for a long two count. It seemed that more than a few members of the crowd bought in the false finish as well, as they looked for the uber popular founder of Rusev Day to pick up the upset. It was pleasing to see the Bulgarian Brute back in a top slot on SmackDown and hopefully he'll be given some more big matches soon.

Charlotte Flair def. Liv Morgan // Submission

The only women's match on the card saw Charlotte Flair remain undefeated since July, after the SmackDown Women's Champion bested Liv Morgan with the Figure Eight. This was a basic match, boosted by a spot where Morgan's Riott Squad partners Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan were removed from ringside for interference and held back the occasional sloppy moment. This was particularly prevalent in the finish, when after Riott and Logan had been chucked out, the finishing sequence was a bit awkward in how it was put together, even if the moves themselves were relatively well performed. Flair spearing the fuck out of the sub-eight stone Morgan was unarguably the highlight for me, whilst Flair's aggression at the start following the Squad's attack on her last week was also rather nice. The commentary team kept discussing the "rumours" that Flair had asked for this match herself, I'm not sure what this was supposed to mean or how I was supposed to feel about it.

Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable def. Konnor & Viktor // Pinfall

After cutting a hand-held promo about wanting to bring prestige back to the tag team division, Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable continued their rebuild following their loss at Royal Rumble with a swift victory over The Ascension, with the Powerbomb/Diving Clothesline combination, in a fun squash. The crowd wasn't all that bothered, mostly because the Ascension haven't won a straight tag team match on TV in two years (12th February 2016 episode of Superstars - vs. Fandango & Damien Sandow), but the bout did it's job and featured some enjoyable action. Viktor's energetic hot tag was the peak of the contest as he got to show off just a little of what he's capable of, before the finish ended up being a bit messy and lacked the finesse we've seen from the promising Benjamin & Gable tandem in a recent months. 

The Usos killed it on the mic

The Usos are bloody brilliant and their promo outlining their "Street Code" was another example of that brilliance. The concept really shouldn't have worked and quite honestly sounded a bit lame, but I never should have doubt Jimmy & Jey because they're are high calibre dons that should be respected at all costs. The two brought passion and charisma to their lines, coming across with their natural chemistry, whilst discussing the changes they've gone through over the last 18 months. Referencing how fan opinion had changed and getting a great reaction when they mentioned that they'd gone from "Yeah, they might be alright" to having match of the night, the two closed with their paranoia catchphrase before leaving unchallenged. A confrontation beforehand would seem to hint that future challengers could be...

Harper & Rowan def. Mat Fitchett & Kenny Alfonso // Pinfall

Now undefeated in nine match, The Bludgeon Brothers ran through AAW's Mat Fitchett and a lad without a cagematch profile called Kenny Alfonso, winning with a double crucifix powerbomb. Big lads squashing small lads is almost always a cool thing to watch and this was no different, as Harper & Rowan lobbed Fitchett & Alfonso all over the place en route to taking the victory.

Also this week...

- The New Day larked around backstage apparently answering questions on Twitter, but mostly making tongue in cheek references to the Corey Graves-Booker T feud.

- Daniel Bryan unveiled the first SmackDown Top 10, which was as follows: #10 - Tye Dillinger, #9 - Randy Orton, #8 - Becky Lynch, #7 - The Usos, #6 - The New Day, #5 - Bobby Roode, #4 - Naomi, #3 - Shinsuke Nakamura, #2 - Charlotte Flair, #1 - AJ Styles.

-  For Black History Month , Roman Reigns and Titus O'Neil discussed the Memphis Sanitation Strike.

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.71/10 

Written by James Marston (@IAmNotAlanDale)

WWE SmackDown Live 959 Review // 2nd January 2018 // AJ Styles vs. Sami Zayn

It was the first SmackDown of 2018, so it was bound to be freaking amazing, right? WWE lined up a main event featuring WWE Champion AJ Styles taking on Sami Zayn whilst Kevin Owens, Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan hung out at ringside. The episode also saw the return of Becky Lynch, as she joined SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair and Naomi in confronting The Riott Squad, following their match with The Welcoming Committee. Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable, Xavier Woods, The Bludgeon Brother, Breezango and The Usos were all also featured. 

Let's talk a look, pals and see how it all went down at the Amway Center in Orlando.

AJ Styles called out Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon

then...

Sami Zayn def. AJ Styles // Pinfall

Rightio, this storyline is getting old already and following how the show ended I'm not sure that it can recover. More on that in a moment. Firstly, lets talk about the opening segment, as AJ Styles kicked the show off, before being joined by General Manager Daniel Bryan and Commissioner Shane McMahon. This was a convoluted way of getting Bryan and McMahon to be ringside for the main event between AJ Styles and Sami Zayn later on. McMahon was worried that Bryan would allow Kevin Owens to be ringside for the match, so instead of just banning Owens from ringside himself (because he's Bryan's boss and surely that means Bryan can't overturn his decisions), McMahon said he'd be at ringside and Bryan said he'd be there too. The only thing that I kinda dug about the segment was McMahon asking Bryan a question and then cutting off the answer by saying "I wasn't finished talking", because I thought it was a cool way to show the development in their relationship and actually showed a little bit of thought behind it. 

I think my main issue with this storyline is that it is being hilariously over-booked for the wrestler that are actually involved directly in it. AJ Styles and Sami Zayn have the ability to put on a really good television match (see their April 2016 RAW match for details), whilst also having the ability to carry an interesting storyline. With Kevin Owens thrown into the mix, this should be a no-brainer. Yet, the match ended up being just alright, showing flashes of what the pair can do together, but being constantly undermined by whatever is going on between Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan at ringside meant that they didn't get reach even half of the level that you would expect. A couple of nice near falls for each man and great little sequence with Zayn getting caught in the Calf Crusher after Styles ducked a Helluva Kick meant that this wasn't a complete waste of time, however. The finish featured much fannying around as McMahon tried to get Owens removed from ringside and Bryan tried to do the same to Shane, before Zayn picked up the win with a Helluva Kick after Styles had knocked Owens off the apron. I was pretty buzzed that Zayn had picked up such a big win, but man, the finish was lame. 

The post-match stuff somehow manage to get more over-complicated. A furious Styles got the mic and demanded a match with both Owens and Zayn, with Bryan booking a Handicap match for the Royal Rumble, with the WWE Championship on the line. Like what is happening here? Has Bryan turned heel now? He was pretty buzzing to book the match and then started yesing like fuck all over the announce table. Who thought this was a good idea? Is this happening? Surely, Shane is the villain here? Why are we having this feud at all? I have so many questions and not in a "Man, I can't wait to find out the answer to these questions on next week's SmackDown LIVE" kind of way. Less of this please.

Ruby Riott & Sarah Logan & Liv Morgan def. Natalya & Carmella & Tamina // Pinfall 

then...

Becky Lynch returned alongside Charlotte Flair & Naomi 

Before the return of Becky Lynch, the Riott Squad vs. The Welcoming Commitee featured some more confusing booking, as it played out in front of a dead crowd. I suppose the match itself wasn't that confusing, but more the fact it was taking place in the first place, without any clear character shift for either Natalya, Carmella or Tamina. Two heel trios facing off didn't really do anything for anyone and I quickly found myself drifting from the contest, especially when it continued through the commercials (American adverts are very distracting). There was a nice exchange between Liv Morgan and Natalya at the very beginning and Sarah Logan's new Kentucky Knee finisher is pretty sweet as well. Having a three person faction with such a small roster doesn't seem to be conducive to varied television on either SmackDown or RAW at the moment. 

The segment that came after the match was definitely a step upwards as Ruby Riott and Charlotte Flair cut two solid promos, before Becky Lynch made her first appearance since getting crushed by a door on 20th November. After seeing Logan and Morgan stumble through promos in previous weeks, it was certainly a wise decision to keep the mic in Riott's hands here and she ended up doing a good job. Riott bought a good intensity as she ripped on Orlando and actually made some suspect content about magic seem remotely interesting, before Flair's interruption (sans SmackDown Women's title) bringing out Naomi and then Lynch. Personally, I'm not sure what having Flair, Naomi and Lynch dominate the whole Riott Squad in their first confrontation does for this long-term, because surely the interest is in having Lynch still searching for revenge after the Riott Squad (or at least Riott) dodge the attack, but it was still a fun watch.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship // Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso (C) def. Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable // Pinfall

The first SmackDown title match of the year, followed the pattern of having questionable booking as we saw a dusty finish between The Usos and Benjamin & Gable. The thing here is that the first part of the match was actually very good, full of energy and with a shocking conclusion, because of the sheer dominance of the challengers. Benjamin and Gable continued to impress here and we didn't even see Gable pull out any Chaos Theories! The opening got the crowd pumped as Benjamin jumped up to meet an Uso on the top rope and nail a throw, before Gable nailed a moonsault for an early near fall. A lot of the action took place during the break with Benjamin & Gable working the leg and then when we came back it was straight into one of those wicked Uso hot tags. The spirited hot tag being cut off with one Uso getting thrown shoulder first into the barricade, followed by the other taking the Powerbomb/Double clothesline combination for the pinfall. It was refreshing to see such a major swerve from the regular format and also to see such a dominant win. I was considering the possibilities for the next few weeks as The Usos, who have previously been presented as the best tag team in WWE, looked to regain the belts and recover from being run over by a relatively new tag team. But then...

Basically, the pinfall happened between the two illegal competitors (which makes Benjamin look a little dim for not knowing he was the legal man) and then after an awkward moment with another referee coming out, the match restarted. The rest of the match was fine, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, but it just wasn't the same. The energy wasn't quite there, my excitement had kind died down thanks to the whole restart angle. The actual finish was pretty cool with whichever Uso it was managing to block Benjamin & Gable's finisher by dropping down into a rana position from the powerbomb, leading to Gable jumping straight into a superkick from the other Uso, before multiple superkicks and a Superfly Splash meant the Usos held onto the belt. I guess that Benjamin & Gable's decisive victory first time around will mean that we'll get another title match between the two teams, that will hopefully keep things simple. 

United States Championship Tournament // First Round // Xavier Woods def. Aiden English // Pinfall 

This clash was probably my favourite of the night, mostly due to it's lack of shenanigans, which considering Big E, Kofi Kingston and Rusev were at ringside for the entirety is pretty impressive. The match was a little short, but English and Woods worked a good pace from the off and included a few creative spots that helped the contest stand out. The opening back and forth section was very well put together as the pair slickly exchanged a number of holds, whilst the handful of spots on the outside, highlighted by Woods colliding with the steps after missing an Honor Roll, made for a delightful first few minutes. A near fall a piece, including a lovely Torture Rack backbreaker from Woods, kept the good times coming, before Woods picked up the win after escaping a potential avalanche piledriver with a back body drop and nailing Limit Break for the victory. Following this contest, I'm pretty sure Woods and English are two of the more underrated singles guys in WWE, right now. To top things off we also got Rusev singing before the match, which was wonderful.

Also this week...Bludgeon Brothers vs. Breezango didn't happen because Harper & Rowan started beating up Fandango & Tyler Breeze before the bout and then battered The Ascension as well after they tried to help...The commentary team did rundown of the Royal Rumble card so far, which seemed a little early, but whatever...Baron Corbin revealed that he'll be participating in the Men's Royal Rumble...Former Basketball player Karl Malone was shown in the crowd...

Finally... 

The first SmackDown of 2018 wasn't a great one, for me. This was mostly down to some weak booking and ongoing storylines that just seem unnecessary. Daniel Bryan's supposed heel turn is baffling, an all heel trios match struggled to hold the attention and whilst the dusty finish in the Tag Team title match wasn't awful, it wasn't as good as the first part of the match on it's own would've been! There were some positives though with Aiden English and Xavier Woods having a fun and creative bout and Becky Lynch's return helping keep the show's head above water. 

Review by James Marston (@IAmNotAlanDale)

SmackDown #944 Review - Charlotte Flair Returns

On 19th September 2017, WWE aired the 944th episode of SmackDown, live on the USA Network, from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA. The show featured Charlotte Flair returning to talk about Ric Flair's recent illness and more antics from Dolph Ziggler, as well as appearances from Randy Orton, United States Champion AJ Styles, General Manager Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens & Tag Team Champion The New Day. But was it any good? Let's take a look, eh?!

In-Ring- Commissioner Shane McMahon - (2:58)

The show begins with a previously, showing how Kevin Owens attacked Mr. McMahon on last week's Sin City SmackDown special. This is followed up by a promo in the ring from Shane McMahon, who vows "as a family we will strike out with massive vengeance" in what was a strong, emotionally driven performance from the SmackDown commissioner.

Singles Match - Randy Orton def. Aiden English - (3:47)

I was expecting a straight up squash match for this opening contest, so it was quite nice to see English get in some offence and control portions of the match, especially after a well-worked sequence on the outside that resulted in English hitting Orton's signature back suplex onto the announce. A classic Orton out of nowhere finish put the Maestro of Mayhem to bed though as a he jumped off the second rope and straight into an RKO. Post-match, Rusev interrupt the Viper's celebration, saying that he wanted revenge for Orton making him a joke in Bulgaria after the ten second loss at SummerSlam in August. This, somehow, lead to a match, with The Bulgarian Brute picking up a swift victory with a superkick after English had distracted Orton. Backstage, this interestingly paced rivalry continued as Renee Young spoke to Rusev in an incredibly entertaining interview that concluded with a chant of "Rusev Numer One", in which it was very clear that Rusev was having a tonne of fun jerking around.

In-Ring - The Singh Brothers and WWE Champion Jinder Mahal - (4:53)

If I wasn't reviewing this, I would've turned over the channel for this after last week's effort and I kind of wish I had, because this effort from Jinder Mahal was somehow worse. At least it was shorter I guess, but Mahal running through a series of Japanese and general East Asian stereotypes, whilst showing the same picture of Nakamura showing a face didn't get anymore entertaining ("Shinsuke, you always rook the same", not a typo, he said "rook"), it just made me wish we could move on as quickly as possible from this fiasco. Nakamura did a get chance to reply though...in a thirty second backstage interview with Renee Young, instead of, you know...beating the shit into Jinder, which would be the logical conclusion.

In-Ring - United States Champion AJ Styles, Baron Corbin and Tye Dillinger - (2:40)

Weirdly, a lot of AJ Styles' pre-match promo was taken up by pushing the upcoming Shane McMahon v Kevin Owens Hell in a Cell bout, but he did also talk about Baron Corbin being a failure and riffed off his Lone Wolf nickname, telling him he couldn't blow down the house that AJ Styles built. Their United States Championship match ended up not happening as Corbin attacked Styles before the bell, with Tye Dillinger making the save, leading to Corbin kayfabe injuring his knee before ending up in the Calf Crusher from Styles.

Recap - Money in the Bank 2010 - Highlights of Daniel Bryan winning the Money in the Bank briefcase in 2010, against Kane, Cody Rhodes, Sheamus, Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Sin Cara and Justin Gabreil for some sponsorship reason.

Backstage - Baron Corbin and Renee Young - Corbin sold his knee injury well whilst hobbling backstage and got a laugh when he said he felt violated.

In-Ring - Charlotte Flair, Women's Champion Natalya, Becky Lynch, Tamina, Lana and General Manager Daniel Bryan - (7:32)

After a month or so off, Charlotte Flair returned to talk about her Dad, Ric Flair's recent illness, saying it had taught her that "Life is fragile and it's unexpected, so you have make the most of every moment". It was a nice heartfelt speech from Flair, which was used to fuel her characters motivations and allowed for some nice heat when she interrupted by Natalya. I've always found it easy to dislike Natalya and this promo was her at her most cringeworthy as she seems to really have embraced her annoying, yet entertaining, heel side during this championship run. Pushing a "Celebration of Women" that involved mentioning Florence Nightingale, Amelia Earheart, Operah Winfrey and the competitors of the Mae Young, before unveiling a print of her winning the Women's championship was maybe a little heavy handed, but non the less still an enjoyable skit that got over the character and her ideas well. Once, Flair mentioned Natalya's title, out came Becky Lynch, Naomi and Tamina (with Lana) to state their cases for a shot at the belt in a cliche that has been done to death in the women's division on both brands lately, before General Manager Daniel Bryan made a Fatal Four Way with a shot at the Women's Championship at Hell in a Cell on the line.

Tag Team Match - The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) def. The Hype Bros (3:15) - A pretty straight forward victory for the new Tag Team champions, as they ran through a series of signature moves and we got a Big E hot tag. Kingston's wicked fosbury flop dive was the highlight, as New Day picked up the win with a Midnight Hour on Ryder.

Via Satellite - Kevin Owens - (2:42)

Before we heard from Owens, it was time for another replay of him beating the shit into Vince last week, I've a feeling we'll be seeing this footage a lot over the coming weeks. Owens then cut a brilliant promo, initially apologising for the attack and then ripping into Shane for making him do it, with loads of delicious little touches that make him the captivating performer he is, before closing with "For what I'm about to do to you, Shane, people like me don't go to hell, people like me go to heaven".

Backstage - The Hype Bros - "If we want things to change, we're going to have to do something drastic" says Rawley as the two look sad about being a bit shit.

In Arena - Dolph Ziggler - (6:09)

This gimmick is really starting to grow on me, as Ziggler once again did multiple entrances and cut promos on whoever he came out as. The entrances I could give or take, to be honest, but the speeches are getting better and more confident by the week and I'm steadily starting to come around to how The Show Off is performing them. This week, it was a D-Generation X special, as we first got Ziggler as Triple H, then Shawn Michaels and then a 2010 version of the duo, if they were one person. Ziggler asking "Can I run NXT now?" when as Triple H and "I can actually feel myself losing my smile" actually got a little chuckle from me and the fact he's targeting two men who have consistently produced matches on a level above Ziggler's best, as he claims he's "the greatest in-ring performer in WWE history" is what's making his heel gimmick work now, as opposed to him dressing up like Naomi. It's obvious this is leading to a feud with Bobby Roode sooner rather than later and hopefully Ziggler comes out better in that feud than his snorefest with Shinsuke Nakamura earlier in the year. 

Commentary Desk - Corey Graves, Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton - WWE Network push with a focus at the matches for RAW's No Mercy on Sunday. 

Fatal Four-Way for a shot at the Women's Championship - Charlotte Flair def. Becky Lynch, Naomi & Tamina - (6:00) 

An unspectacular and disjointed closing match, as the SmackDown Women's division struggled with a lack of direction, despite creating a handful of decent sequences. In terms of the action there wasn't much wrong with it, the girls worked well together and a few awkward moments aside, produced some well-crafted moments with each other. Flair blocking Lynch's corner springboard side kick and then nailing a spear to Tamina was the best block of activity and was followed up with an attractive moonsault from Flair to both Tamina and Naomi moments later. The movement however wasn't good enough to get away with not having any kind of narrative to drive it, leaving the women feeling interchangeable and lacking direction. It continues to be the case that if you aren't challenging for the title then you're in a faceless block of women with no discerning character, storyline or path forward. The finish could have been cleaner as well with Naomi being pulling out of the ring by Lana after breaking up Tamina's pin on Lynch following a Superfly Splash and with Naomi busy kicking Lana's head off on the outside, Flair picked up the inevitable win with a big boot. It's not a finisher that I buy into and the fact that Flair doesn't use it regularly makes every match she wins it with feel flat come the ending. 

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.31/10 

This week's SmackDown was highlighted by a handful of strong promos, with Shane McMahon, Natalya and especially Kevin Owens impressing with their efforts on the microphone and keeping the show's head above water. It's a shame that Jinder Mahal has neither the skills nor the content to join them and once again his appearance was the worst thing about this week's episode. The action was not terrible, with Randy Orton v Aiden English probably being the strongest outing for just being short and entertaining, whilst the Women's four way dissapointed in it's slot with a lack of story and only minimal creativity.

Review by James Marston