TV Review: WWE Smackdown Live #886 - Dolph Ziggler & Dean Ambrose v The Wyatt Family

With World Champion Dean Ambrose teaming with Dolph Ziggler against The Wyatt Family and Alberto Del Rio taking on Randy Orton providing two marquee matches for Tuesday night, would the penultimate Smackdown Live before SummerSlam be affected by the absence of AJ Styles and John Cena?

Opening and closing Smackdown Live this week, we had the on-going feud involving World Champion Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler and Wyatt Family members, Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan. The curtain up was arguably the strongest part of the show, starting with an intense promo from Wyatt covering Ziggler's victory over him on #885, as well as his desire to make Smackdown Live "his show". The Eater of World's looked like he believed everyone of his words and built the promo towards a crescendo, for Ambrose to interrupted him. The difference that are being show between The Lunatic Fringe and The Show-Off, like Ambrose being reluctant to fight Wyatt Family, whilst Ziggler rushed into the action, are what's keeping their feud interesting. The segment concluded with Wyatt standing tall after throwing Ambrose into a superkick from Ziggler, before finishing off the #1 Contender with Sister Abigail. Having Wyatt show intelligence to use the two World title rivals against each other in the scrap added an extra depth to their tag match that was later booked by Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan. 

The tag match between the two was a simple tag bout, again used to showcase the relationship between Ziggler and Ambrose and the capabilities of Wyatt. Ambrose worked the lunatic in peril role, taking a prolonged beating from Wyatt and Rowan, but the best action of the contest actually came in a sequence between Ziggler and Big Red following the hot tag. The #1 Contender attempting to knock Rowan off his feet was a cool twist on two wrestling cliches and carried the contest towards it's finish well. Ziggler would pick up the pin on Rowan following a superkick, but the closing sequence was damaged by Ambrose slipping when hitting Wyatt with a suicide dive. A respectable main event, but nothing that's worth seeking out. Ambrose hitting Dirty Deeds on Ziggler following the bell felt a little tacked on, but I'll reserve judgement completely until next week's show and wait to see how the storyline plays out.

Randy Orton's disqualification victory over Alberto Del Rio was the strongest match this week, but like the main event, hardly pulled up any trees. It was weird seeing ADR placed in such a high profile match, after the first two week's of the re-formatted Smackdown Live, have seen him exit a Battle Royal early and then not even feature on last week's outing. He did, however, put in a strong enough performance for him to be considered for a more prominent role on the show going forward. He produced a spirited and technically sound approach to the match, targeting Orton's arm and bringing a concentration to the contest that has been too few and far between since his WWE return last October. It was the first time he'd got to work a TV match with Orton in over three years, so perhaps getting to face a formerly familiar opponent, as well as the jump up the card motivated him to bring a little more to his game here. 

The finish felt a little out of place, as ADR took a chair to Orton's arm (which he'd sold terrifically all match) after being thrown into the time keeper's area, causing the DQ. Perhaps it was to show how much of a beating that The Viper can take and still manage to spring up for an RKO, ahead of his 21st August match with Brock Lesnar. However, considering how ADR has been presented on programming over the last month and half, with only four singles matches since June, with only one victory and losing to Cesaro and Darren Young, it felt odd for WWE to protect him from the pinfall victory, against an Orton who has a major match coming up on the companies second biggest show of 2016. Perhaps it was to set up a bigger No DQ bout between the two on next week's episode, which I'd look forward too, especially with the prospect of a much cleaner finish than this. 

In the lower half of the card, Alexa Bliss would take advantage of Eva Marie's distraction to upset Becky Lynch in a brief but well-worked debut. Bliss didn't have much time to make an impression on the new audience in the ring, but got her character over nicely in short promo when accepting Lynch's open challenge. The main storyline however, was Marie initially being unable to compete for the second week running, because the straps on her top came untied, which got one of the biggest pops on the show, because yanno breasts. I'm feeling like Marie's various excuses to not compete are going to become my favourite part of Tuesday nights, as it's only going to make portions of the audience hate her even more. It also means that when Marie finally ties it up with someone in the ring that the match will be a much bigger contest than it would have been last week or this week. Lynch presents a nice juxtaposition to Marie and extenuated this well with her promo issuing the open challenge. 

Also in the Women's division, Carmella got revenge on Natalya with another short but solid debut clash. Rabobank Arena seemed to quickly warm to The Princess of Staten Island and began to get behind her, as she battled against her rival, who has taken on the role of a cocky veteran bully. I feel like Natalya's performance had a lot to do with keeping the crowd warm, as she was constantly posturing, mouthing off to the fans whilst locking in wear down holds and putting on purposefully lackadaisical pins. Whilst it gives Carmella some huge momentum straight off the bat, I was disappointed to see her pick up a four minutes submission victory with the Code of Silence, as I was hoping that the contest would go for another five minutes or so and such a conclusive finish seems to put to bed any momentum that the feud itself could have picked up after just two weeks.  

Rounding off the most notable action, Rhyno picked up his first (non-NXT) WWE singles win since a victory over Simon Dean on Sunday Night Heat in February 2005, to deny Heath Slater a Smackdown Live contract. The Bakersfield crowd was pretty mild for another short encounter, which lacked urgency and any of the entertaining antics that Slater brings to his mic work. It's an odd storyline to expect an audience to get behind, Slater is working as a comedy heel trying to earn a job, are the crowd supposed to be against him being hired by anyone and cheer for his opponent (a guy who has only just returned to WWE) to keep him out of the company? It was a strange decision to have Rhyno reveal that he'd already been given a contract in a backstage skit beforehand, as if both had been fighting for a contract then we might have had an interesting contest that the crowd could have got behind.

Best of the Rest 

• American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad Gable) picked up a squash victory over California duo Mike Vega and Mikey O'Shea, before fending off The Vaudevillains (Aiden English & Simon Gotch), The Hype Bros (Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder) and The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor).
• A preview for AJ Styles v John Cena at SummerSlam on 21st August aired.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.29/10

Watchable is probably the word I'd use to describe this week's edition of Smackdown Live. The two top matches were both decent encounter, offering storyline development in the main event and solid action in the Orton v ADR match (which admittedly seemed to be just treading water for Orton before SummerSlam). In mid-card was entertaining again for the most part, expanding a couple of storylines (especially in the women's division) but not giving enough time or space for the action to develop into anything significant. Putting on match on Smackdown and the other on Main Event would have allowed for them both to be much more satisfying encounters. 

With just one more episode til SummerSlam, I'd be expecting next week's go-home edition to have a lot more to offer.

All content - James Marston

TV Review: WWE Smackdown Live #884 - Bray Wyatt v Apollo Crews v Baron Corbin v Dolph Ziggler v AJ Styles v John Cena

Just like Monday Night RAW the night previous, Smackdown Live recieved a relaunch of sorts, with a brand new set, a new commentary team and it's own distinct roster. With a six pack challenge to crown a #1 contender to Dean Ambrose's WWE Championship, the wrestling return of Randy Orton, debuts from Alexa Bliss and Carmella, returns from Rhyno and Eva Marie, could Smackdown Live out do it's Monday night counterpart at the first attempt? 

If Finn Balor getting a shot at becoming the first Universal Champion was shocking on RAW, then Dolph Ziggler becoming Number One contender to Dean Ambrose's WWE Championship was equally so, if not. Ziggler would come out the winner in a six pack challenge, that also included John Cena, AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Apollo Crews and Bray Wyatt in a rollercoaster of a main event. I'd even noted when Ziggler had been announced for the match, that he was there to make up the numbers and take some bumps for the others who have all been pushed stronger than he over the last six months. I suppose it could have felt like a let down when he won, but because of the nature of the contest it actually felt like a refreshing flash finish, that bought the match to a satisfying sudden halt. Ziggler taking on Ambrose for the belt at SummerSlam, creates space for another big match on the card, in a way that someone like Cena, Styles or Wyatt winning wouldn't have, so it could prove to be a savvy piece of booking over the next three weeks. Also fingers crossed for Ziggler heel turn as the promo possibility would make for an awesome feud.

Taking a similar route to what was seen on RAW, Smackdown used it's first show to showcase as many of it's wrestlers as possible, whilst also putting a meaning behind the multi-man madness. This is a pretty sound strategy, as it says to the audience, these are our top guys and allows each talent to show what they have to offer all at the same time. Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin were both elevated from being involved, with Crews especially impressing, whilst simultaneously getting pushed heavily in the booking. The sequence between the two showed they both have more potential than they have shown since being called up, whilst having Wyatt pull the ref out of the ring to deny a Crews victory will do the former Uhaa Nation wonders going forward. This was a great TV main event, that was full of excitement from the ring bell, went at a lightning quick pace, had a number of huge false finishes and provided a shock victory, a superb end to the first episode of the re-launch. 

Taking up the semi-main duties for the night was Randy Orton's wrestling return as he defeated Intercontinental Champion The Miz clean in less than five minutes, with a pair of RKOs. This was an enjoyable bout, that had the beginning of a great story and some world class selling from "The Viper", but two things bugged me. Firstly, Orton sitting around for ages after hitting the first RKO, whilst the commentators talked about Orton going to a place that he'd not been for a long time. I sat watching just a bit confused, thinking that "The Apex Predator" was going to punt the fuck out of Miz's skull, but he just hit a second RKO. Secondly, The Miz looked a complete chump in the finish. He's the Intercontinental Champion for fuck sake, if you want to use him this way then take the belt off him and give it someone else! Everytime the belt is treated like this, it makes it harder to give a shit when someone wins the title, which in turns means that WWE then gives less of a shit about the belt and does more things like this. Good TV bout, with strong performances, but weak booking. 

Before the match, Orton was crowned in the undisputed champion of chat show guests as he made an appearance on Miz TV in a decent segment, that the crowd were hot for. The gimmick of Miz interviewing himself, after teasing Orton as a guest, has been done to death over the last few years and whilst it did get some heat, as a home viewer I was hoping to see something a bit fresher. Orton's charisma has really shone through in this run of chat show segments and he was on form here, having fun with the crowd and generally looking like he was having a good time. When you watching someone enjoying themselves, it's difficult not to like observing. The jokes about Miz touching himself and potentially getting bummed by Maryse weren't my cup of tea, but were delivered well and the crowd seemed to be down for that type of tomfoolery. Of course, the segment lead into the match with Maryse accepting Orton's challenge on behalf of her husband. 

A re-match for two night's earlier, would see a reverse of the result as Becky Lynch was able to gain some revenge on Natalya by tapping her out with the Dis-Armer after a decent, but unspectacular match. Of course, it was nowhere near the level of Charlotte and Sasha Banks' epic the night before., but it was crisp throughout and was probably a step up from the previous night as pulled out some bigger moves, like Lynch's diving leg drop and a big german suplex from Natalya and put together clever sequences of reversals that weren't all based around their submission holds.  It was however just a set-up to introduce Smackdown Live's new roster of women, as a Lynch interview with Renee Young was interrupted by Alexa Bliss, Naomi, Carmella and finally, Eva Marie. Bliss probably did the strongest job with her promo and seemed to get over quickly with the crowd. Marie's entrance was an interesting one with an over-the-top announcer listing her achievements, before the show cut to elsewhere. As cool as Marie's entrance was and the heat that she got, it felt more like a coma, than a full-stop or exclamation point. 

In the show's opening match, Apollo Crews would earn his place in the show's main event, by defeating Aiden English, Alberto Del Rio, Erick Rowan, Fandango, Jey Uso, Kalisto, Kane, Konnor, Mojo Rawley, Simon Gotch, Tyler Breeze, Viktor and Zack Ryder in a battle royal that was as flat as a witches tit. Before the field had been wittled down to the final four, the bout was so dull to watch, with Kane's dominance and ADR being eliminated so early being the only notable occurrences. With Kane, Crews, Kalisto and Zack Ryder left, the crowd was solidly behind Ryder, with loud cheers and chants for the Long Island Iced Z. So what did the lad do? Botch everything he hit from then on. His diving elbow drop was a thing of perverse beauty, as he landed on his feet after a stumble and then hit the elbow drop anyway. Kane being booked so strong was beginning to annoy me a little, however with it being used to give Crews the rub, after he flipped out of a chokeslam and eliminated the veteran to win, I was much happier by the end of the night. Compared with RAW's two matches that set-up their main event this battle royal was more than a bit of a shambles.

With an opening segment akin to the previous night, the show began with Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan addressing the roster about their plans for the show. Obviously, we know that he announced they announce the six pack challenge and the battle royal, but there was also some particularly interesting wording in there from Shane O'Mac. He mentioned more than a few times that Ambrose was the only top champion in WWE, a nice reference to RAW launching the Universal Championship, without whacking the audience over the head with the RAW v Smackdown Live rivalry. I did think it was a shame that McMahon and Bryan didn't address anything to do with the women, who had to stand awkwardly around the ring as the men talked about the men. After the major women's match on RAW, I was expecting something to be made of Smackdown Live's roster here. 

In an oddly entertaining segment, Rhyno returned to WWE by goreing Heath Slater, after Slater had been canvassing Shane McMahon for a job with the brand.

Results 

Fourteen Man Over-the-Top Rope Battle Royal to earn a slot in the Six Pack Challenge Main Event: Apollo Crews def. Aiden English and Alberto Del Rio and Erick Rowan and Fandango and Jey Uso and Kalisto and Kane and Konnor and Mojo Rawley and Simon Gotch and Tyler Breeze and Viktor and Zack Ryder in 12 minutes, 42 seconds

Singles Match: Becky Lynch def. Natalya in 10 minutes, 21 seconds

Singles Match: Randy Orton def. Intercontinental Champion The Miz in 4 minutes, 54 seconds 

Six Pack Challenge Match for the #1 Contendership to the World Championship: Dolph Ziggler def. AJ Styles and Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin and Bray Wyatt and John Cena in 16 minutes, 5 seconds.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.97/10

With RAW truly knocking it for six on Monday, Smackdown replied by getting a couple of runs the day after. The main event was a great piece of television, that ended the show on a real highnote, but the rest of the show seemed to be scratching around with a couple of ideas that didn't completely come off.

It's way too early to call which show is the better one just yet, with neither brand getting into feuds or storylines too heavily in the first week, but on evidence of these two episodes alone, Monday Night RAW has the upper hand for now.

All content - James Marston 

TV Review: WWE NXT #188 (Asuka & Bayley vs. Eva & Nia)

On 16th March 2016 , WWE aired the 188th edition of NXT on the WWE Network, having been taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, USA on 27th January 2016. With 16 days until Takeover: Dallas, the show featured Asuka teaming with WWE NXT Women's Champion Bayley to take on Eva Marie and Nia Jax...but was it any good? Let's find out!

nxt #188 match card

Match 1 - Tag Team - Angelo Dawkins & Kenneth Crawford vs. The Hype Bros

Match 2 - Singles - Deanno Purazzo vs. Emma w/Dana Brooke

Match 3 - Singles - Jesse Sorenson vs. Tommaso Ciampa

Match 4 - Tag Team - Asuka & Bayley vs. Eva Marie & Nia Jax

Match 5 - WWE NXT Tag Team Championship #1 Contender's - American Alpha vs. The Vaudevillains

fast-forward...A recap of Samoa Joe defeating Sami Zayn in a Two Out of Three Falls Match to become Number 1 Contender to Finn Balor's WWE NXT Championship from NXT #187 aired...

william regal announces sami zayn's opponent for takeover: dallas

Sami Zayn kicked off this week's show with a solid promo putting over his match from last week with Samoa Joe as a war. The promo worked nicely as a way of allowing Zayn to gain a little bit of momentum, despite losing last week's match, it's a skill that could serve him well on the main roster. NXT General Manager William Regal coming out to interrupt Zayn was a cool moment, but was topped when 3 time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura appeared on screen and was revealed as Zayn's opponent in 16 days at Takeover: Dallas. Seeing Nakamura finally make his debut on WWE television was a special moment for sure, that bolstered an already strong looking card in Dallas. 

the hype bros. defeat angelo dawkins and kenneth crawford

I've made it pretty clear over the last few months that I am not a fan of Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder's Hype Bros team, and this match did little to change my mind. This was a fairly straight-forward squash for Rawley & Ryder, as they dominated Angelo Dawkins and Kenneth Crawford for just over 3 minutes. What did surprise me was just how over the Hype Bros are with the Full Sail University crowd, like at least 65% of them were shouting along with all their cheesy as fuck catch phrases. I guess these lads just aren't for me and there's really little that they can do to change my stance on them, because no matter how go the matches they have they'll always have those annoying gimmicks.

fast-forward...A look at NXT's at the Arnold Classic in Cleveland, Ohio on 5th & 6th March, as well as NXT live events in Columbus & Cleveland, Ohio on 3rd & 4th March...Emma and Dana Brooke bumped into Deanno Purrazo backstage, with Deanno seemingly holding back a laugh throughout the entire segment...

emma defeats deanno purazzo

Emma picked up her second win a row as she made quick work of Deanno Purazzo. Similar to the previous bout, this was pretty much all Emma as she ran through a number of her signature moves before locking in the Emma Lock to pick the submission victory. Not much to really get excited about here, but it was nice to Emma presented so strongly throughout the bout, as she is someone for me who doesn't get enough screen time on the show. It would appear that Emma's recent run of victories has been to set up her up for a rematch with Asuka on NXT #189 as was announced later in this show.

fast-forward...Tommaso Ciampa continued his recent undefeated streak by destroying Jesse Sorenson and winning by submission in just over two minutes...

asuka and bayley defeat eva maria and nia jax

Whilst this match didn't quite stand up against the NXT #185 tag match that had Carmella in the place of Asuka, it was clear that this bout had a much different aim. That aim was to continue to build towards an WWE NXT Women's Championship match at Takeover: Dallas between Bayley and Asuka, with the bout being announced by NXT General Manager William Regal after this bout had finished. Both Bayley and Asuka looked dominant in their four minute win, with the pair clearly being given the spotlight for the majority of the contest. The finish was the strongest part of the match for me, as Nia Jax ended up nailing Eva Marie with a leg drop in attempt to save her from a pinfall, before Asuka nailed Eva with a kick from the apron and Bayley got the pin with a Bayley to Belly. It will interesting to see where NXT takes both Asuka and Bayley over the next two episodes before we get the highly anticipated clash at Takeover: Dallas.

fast-forward...The commentary team interviewed Austin Aries, with the former 2 time ROH World Champion cutting a decent promo on his match with Baron Corbin on 1st April...

american alpha defeat the vaudevillains to become the number one contender's to the wwe nxt tag team championship

The final match on the show was a pacy tag team encounter between American Alpha and The Vaudevillains to decide who would face The Revival at Takeover: Dallas. Jason Jordan and Chad Gable looked fantastic as they claimed their victory, but the bout was still a competitive and entertaining watch. Fairly basic in it's structure, all four competitors managed to fill the bout with moments of excitement that went beyond the simple set-up. Jason Jordan's excellent comeback sequence, a superbly executed high-angle German Suplex from Gable taken with skill by Aiden English, a brilliant near-fall from a Sitout Powerbomb from English, before American Alpha took the win with their Grand Amplitude finish, all made this contest stand-out on the show. With American Alpha now scheduled to face The Revival at Takeover: Dallas they have the biggest stage to show off their act and I expect them to take full advantage of it.

finally...

atpw scale rating - 4.95/10

Obviously this episode was always going to struggle in comparison to last week's epic, however it was used to firm up the card for Takeover: Dallas in just 16 days time. For me, the opening segment was the strongest part of the show with Sami Zayn expertly shuffling past his loss to Samoa Joe before being thrown into a bout with Shinsuke Nakamura in 16 days. Bayley and Asuka's main event tag bout didn't offer anything special, but the prospect of the two tangling over the WWE NXT Women's Championship in Dallas is just that, special. American Alpha and The Vaudevillains offered the best action of the show in the final match, whilst Emma's squash victory did a lot more for me than The Hype Bros' counterpart.