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 March 2018

This week's SmackDown Live was the go-home episode for Fastlane and saw the final piece of build for the Six-Pack Challenge for the WWE Championship act as the main story. WWE Champion AJ Styles was originally scheduled to face Dolph Ziggler in the main event, but the pair would eventually find themselves in a show-closing teaser Fatal Five-way match as Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Baron Corbin joined the fray. But how did it all go down in Green Bay? Lets take a look! 

Commentary - Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves & Bobby Roode
Ring Announcer - Greg Hamilton
Interviewers - Dasha Fuentes

AJ Styles & Dolph Ziggler segment 

Before the segment - - Sami Zayn repeated his pledge to lie down for Kevin Owens in the six-pack challenge at Fastlane, whilst it was more than hinted at that there were underlying issues between the pair - Baron Corbin cut a handheld promo promising to put a stop to John Cena's Road to WrestleMania, referencing their rivalry from last summer as the reason. 

Leading into their match, AJ Styles and Dolph Ziggler clashed on the microphone in a solid segment that added depth to their bout, as well as clearing up their relationship ahead of the Six-pack challenge. Styles initial promo was decent, as he addressed John Cena's points from RAW, discussing how much he and the fans wanted to see Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania, letting us know he was "fighting for us". The content was a little cheesy, but Styles managed to just about make it work. Where the segment picked up was once Ziggler made his entrance and cut a passionate promo on Styles and the WWE Universe. It went over some old ground as Ziggler discussed his Money in the Bank cash-in and his love/hate relationship with the audience, but his stuff trying to warn Styles against relying on the crowd was well-reasoned. The Show-Off discussing never having a singles match at WrestleMania almost certainly came from a real place of frustration as there's no chance that Nick Nemeth is happy with his highest profile Mania bout including Snooki. All this lead to the match between the pair that had been scheduled for the main event happening straight away after Styles laid down the challenge. 

AJ Styles vs. Dolph Ziggler

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn would eventually get involved in this one causing the DQ, which is always going to feel like a letdown, but Ziggler and Styles still had about twelve minutes of television time to put on their match. For me, considering the pair had just had a heated exchange on the microphone, the match had a surprising lack of intensity, with portions of the match feeling a little flat. The two bought a sense of urgency with a couple of finisher attempts, but whilst the next sequence of amateur style wrestling was lovely, it went against the initial immediate feel. Elsewhere there was a nice spot with Ziggler knocking Styles off the apron with a hip attack, alongside Styles' gorgeous Phenomenal Blitz strike combination, before the two had a really well-done back and forth sequence, featuring various signature move attempts being smoothly reversed, before Ziggler blocked a superkick by swinging Styles' leg onto the middle rope and hitting a ZigZag for a good near fall. This is where Owens & Zayn joined proceedings, meaning the 4th TV bout between Styles and Ziggler was left without a winner.

After the match - With Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn putting the boots to AJ Styles & Dolph Ziggler, SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon made an appearance to book the four in Fatal Five-Way also including Baron Corbin to happen straight-away.

AJ Styles vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin 

A very good main event this week, concluded with a shocking victory for Sami Zayn after he nailed his best friend Kevin Owens with a Helluva Kick for the pinfall and a shit-tonne of momentum heading into the WWE Championship match at Fastlane. The five-way was a good advertisement for the six-pack challenge on Sunday with the five men putting in a great effort in a well-structured multi-man collision. This included Baron Corbin dominating, which made sense with the Lone Wolf being the freshest man in the match, whilst Owens & Zayn also controlled portions of the contest through teamwork. With the WWE Champion spending most of the match as sweeper, breaking up pinfalls, the bout introduced an interesting concept that could provide some dramatic moments come Sunday. The action was fast-paced throughout with a number of sequences involving multiple competitors going back and forth, including a one in, one out section that lead into the advert break, a cute sequence in the turnbuckles with Ziggler, Zayn and Corbin that concluded with a Blue Thunder Bomb near fall for Zayn on Ziggler and Owens flying into a Deep Six from Corbin. The finish was lovely stuff, with a good sense of energy and movement, bringing up Styles' sweep as role, as he set-up for a Phenomenal Forearm, only to have to fight off Corbin and Ziggler, before Owens knocked the champion off the apron and found himself in the perfect position for a surprise boot to the face from Zayn for the pin. With John Cena added to the mix on Sunday, it will be interesting to see how the lads use this match and build upon it to create a higher level bout and how each competitor comes out with just four more SmackDown's before WrestleMania.

After the match - Sami Zayn spoke about why he turned on Kevin Owens, with the former NXT Champion launching into an angry speech about being overlooked and the victory proving that he was the best.

Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal (with Sunil Singh)

In a poor match, Jinder Mahal got another victory over Randy Orton, putting away the 9 time WWE Champion with the Khallas, after Bobby Roode attempted to get involved from his position on commentary. Seriously, this was not good at all, with mostly dull plodding action during the ad-break, being followed up by an Orton comeback sequence that saw Mahal struggle taking almost every single move, with Orton's inverted headlock backbreaker looking particularly weak. The fact that these two have had 23 matches since May 2017 on TV and live events and are still putting on matches this sloppy makes Mahal's WWE title run even more baffling. To his credit, Orton at least tried to bring some intensity to the bout later on, attempting to get the crowd into the match and firing up, but it wasn't enough to save this. The highlight was Sunil Singh reprising his ridiculous release backdrop driver spot on the announce table, before some generic guest commentary spots resulted in Roode distracting Orton by trying to get in the ring for the finish. Orton vs. Roode has potential at Fastlane, but if both are unmotivated and tread water before a Jinder Mahal interference spot then it could end up being an insomniacs dream. 

Becky Lynch vs. "Ms. Money in the Bank" Carmella

Before the match - From last week on WWE.com, Becky Lynch asked Twitter if they wanted to see her face Carmella as the pair sat with Natalya in the lockerroom. 

Carmella continued to have no win since the start of October, as she tapped to Becky Lynch's Disarmer in a short but fun contest. Whilst the booking of Ms. Money in the Bank continues to leave a lot to be desired, this match (Mella's first televised singles match in 2018) was much better than I had expecting it to be, with Carmella showing off a range of impressive offence in a bout that was dominated by the Princess of Staten Island. The turnbuckle handstand frankensteiner looked lovely, whilst Carmella also did a sound job of getting the crowd involved in what felt like a throwaway bout, with some hair pulling on the outside before some smack talk with ringside. A superkick near fall with a foot on the ropes was followed by nice little sequence, that whilst it could have been smoother, had a number of nice ideas and resulted in Lynch rolling through into the Disarmer for the submission victory. The finish was mildly spoiled by referee Mike Chioda loudly calling "One minute", precisely one minute before the tap out! 

After the match - After Natalya mouthed off backstage, Naomi challenged the Queen of Harts and Carmella to tag team match against her and Becky Lynch on Sunday.

Charlotte Flair, Riott Squad & Bobby Roode segment

It was wonderful to actually hear the women speak on this episodes, after weeks and weeks of paper-thin storyline and repetitive matches. We finally got to find out what the Riott Squad was all about as we got some Storytime with Ruby Riott as the former AAW star put in a solid performance on the mic, letting us know that the Riott Squad was originally formed to take down Flair, because of some perceived myth surrounding her. Flair's promo, however well performed, felt misguided as she talked about the struggles of having a famous father and how "I have to be transcendent". As a heel promo (with a few tweaks) it actually would've worked pretty well, as Flair came across as a little entitled and the word "transcendent" isn't particularly one you'd expect from a babyface when talking about themselves. Riott closed with a fairly generic sounding "You're just going to be another bleached blonde failure with a famous last name" line, before United States Champion Bobby Roode's entrance was enough to stop Riott, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan from circling Flair, in a nice nod to their Mixed Match Challenge partnership. Whilst the feud still doesn't have the depth it could've needed heading into the PPV, Flair vs. Riott has potential to produce some top level action on Sunday if given the chance. 

Also this week

- A superb hype package looking at the history of The Usos and The New Day, using last week's fire promos from the two teams. 

- Rusev challenged Shinsuke Nakamura to a match at Fastlane in another entertaining performing from the Bulgarian Brute, as he compared Aiden English to Billy Joel, before Nakkers warmed up his pipes to sing "Nakamura Day". 

- We saw a cameraman fall over in the snow, what a dork. 

ATPW Scale Rating // 4.88 out of 10 

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale