Hey, Blue Team.
This week’s column was a hard one to get through because Netflix just released season two of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and I’m writing this instead of watching it. The things I do for you people. Anyway, everything worked out in the end, because this week’s Smackdown is great. It opens with our announce team letting us know that tonight is a night of firsts. It’s the first one-on-one match between AJ Styles and Alberto Del Rio, and the first match between Sami Zayn and Chris Jericho. On top of those first time matches, we also have the main roster in ring debut of Enzo and Cass.
In recent months, my main complaint about Smackdown and WWE in general has been the repetition of it all. I’m pretty sure Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio was on every Smackdown from November to April. Almost everything on this week’s show that wasn’t a Raw Rebound felt fresh. And we didn’t have any re-dos of Raw segments. Years of Smackdown history made me assume this week’s main event would be Roman Reigns and two Wyatts vs. the League of Nations. And as much as I liked Raw’s main event this week, I don’t need to see its alternative version on Smackdown.
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And now without further ado, here is The Best and Worst of Smackdown for April 15, 2016.
Best: The Sports Entertainers They Are A-Changin’
Our first segment this week is Miz TV with special guest the Miz’ wife, Maryse. WWE’s IT couple are here to talk about how great they are and how much they love each other. Miz calls Maryse his muse, says her presence inspires him, and she makes him a better man each and every day of his life. It’s actually kind of cute. Maryse calls them the real life People Magazine and tells Miz this is the year he will be named Sexiest Man Alive. Before too long, they’re interrupted by Zack Ryder. I know. I’m as surprised as you are to see Zack still on television. Ryder cracks some lame insults about The Miz, but Maryse comes to his defense, telling Zack that he is jealous because the Miz is a real man, and that he killed Zack’s WrestleMania moment in less than 24 hours. Zack says The Miz may have beaten him for the Intercontinental Title, but he had his WrestleMania moment and that’s something The Miz can’t take away from him. Zack challenges Miz to an IC Title match, right here, right now. Maryse asks the audience if they want to see that match and hypes it up before her and The Miz pull the rug out and tell Zack that he is already scheduled for a match against Baron Corbin.
This is not the same Zack Ryder who was the Snapchat Champion or whatever he was. This is a more serious version of Ryder than we have ever seen before. Tasting the Intercontinental Championship only to lose it the next night seems to have finally given his character motivation to change. It’s lit a fire in him that we haven’t seen in maybe ever. There’s not a “Woo Woo Woo” in sight, and he only calls Miz “Bro” once. Zack’s promos used to have a five Bro minimum. Zack Ryder has had a very long career in WWE and the only way for him to stick around longer is to change, is to evolve. Zack Ryder, the struggling underdog who appreciates what he’s been given, but longs for more is a much more relatable character than Zack Ryder, Broski.
Speaking of character progression, Maryse continues to give The Miz that extra added element he has needed. I’ve enjoyed The Miz’ Hollywood character these past few years, but I never really believed it. He had a tendency to come off as a wannabe Hollywood celebrity instead of a real one. The addition of Maryse makes the whole thing feel more believable. I can totally picture the two of them together, living the People magazine lifestyle that Maryse spoke about earlier.
Best: Sure, Why Not
WWE went through a period when their way of introducing a big tough heel character was to have them squash everybody from the mid-card down in seconds. I feel like not too long ago, this match would have just been Corbin hitting End of Days and that’s it. I completely believed that Corbin could beat his early Full Sail opponents in seconds because those guys were developmental Jabronies. But Zack Ryder is a multi-time former champion. It shouldn’t be that easy for Corbin to beat him and in a welcome change of pace, it’s not. Baron Corbin vs. Zack Ryder is a good match that manages to make Corbin look dominant, but still makes Ryder look not-half-bad. The match starts with them locking up and Baron using his size and strength to drive Zack face first into the mat. Zack gets back up right away, just to have Corbin send him right back down with a shoulder. Ryder comes back with a boot and a face buster, and it’s pretty back and forth from there. That is until Ryder misses a clothesline, allowing Corbin to grab him and hit End of Days. After the match, Baron throws Ryder over the rope to the outside like garbage. He heads outside to continue punishing Ryder, but before he gets a chance, out comes Dolph Ziggler. Corbin rolls back in the ring and readies himself for Ziggler. Dolph ducks a clothesline and attempts a boot to the mid section, but Corbin catches him. Corbin attempts another clothesline, but Ziggler ducks it again, and follows it up with a superkick that Corbin manages to avoid. Baron rolls out of the ring, wanting no more of Ziggler. Dolph is a great opponent for Corbin. I’m looking forward to seeing more of these guys together. And I’m also extremely curious to see where Zack Ryder goes from here.
Best: Gloves? Check. Glasses? Check.
I was a little upset last week when Emma showed up to interrupt Becky Lynch’s interview because she wasn’t wearing her gloves and glasses. But luckily this week, she has righted that egregious wrong. The second match of the night is Emma vs. Paige, and it’s the best Emma has ever looked on the main roster. On Emma’s way to the ring, they play a pre-taped interview with her where she perfectly explains her change of character and return to the main roster. She says she used to be the quirky, lovable girl next door until she was rejected. Then Becky Lynch gets called up and everybody loves her. She’s going to show Becky that nice girls finish last. But first she has to face Paige, and right from the start, these two women come after each other with purpose. They lock up and end up in the corner where the referee breaks them up. And when he does, Emma slaps Paige. Paige fights back, stomping Emma into the corner and down to the mat where Emma grabs Paige’s foot, pulling her down and hitting the back of her head on the turnbuckle. Emma hits the Emma Sandwich, then unleashes on Paige with blows before grabbing Paige’s head and slamming it over and over again into the turnbuckle.
The whole match does a great job of showing you the person Emma has become. She’s so aggressive. She looks like she’s out for blood. Paige gets in a bit of offense, but it’s not enough to stop Emma. Late in the match, Paige attempts a superplex but Emma slips through her legs and pulls her down face first into the turnbuckle. Emma gets the win, and looks evil doing it. Maybe it’s time for Paige to go back to NXT and get a refresh too. Emma has become a real character with an origin story and a purpose. From what I can tell, at this point Paige’s character is a screaming person who thinks every place she goes is her house.
Best: TAG TEAM WRESTLING!!!
Last week I talked about the golden opportunity WWE has to rebuild the tag-team division. And BOOM! This week they take a big step forward with a Number One Contender’s Tag Team Tournament. Tonight on Smackdown, we get two first-round match-ups.
First up, the NXT team who made the best main roster transition meets the NXT team that made the worst main roster transition. The match is Enzo & Cass vs. The Ascension, but the stiffest shot wasn’t in the match. After going through most of their regular spiel, Enzo says he could give you soundbites or he can give you substance, and he has a million and one things to say about The Ascension. But the absolute worst thing he can think of to say is that they are The Ascension. The man tells the truth. Even on a night where we have seen people like Emma and Zack Ryder back in the mix when just a year ago it looked like they were on their way to meet Jinder Mahal. It still feels like there is no hope for The Ascension, and they’ve never even shoplifted from Walmart. Maybe they can catch a ride with Paige back to NXT and all get repackaged together. What follows is your standard Enzo & Cass match, which is a great thing. We have a tendency to forget that way more people watch Smackdown than watch NXT. And this is the first time those people are seeing the realest guys in the room in action. It can be easy to write Enzo & Cass off as a novelty act before you see them in the ring.
The second match of the tournament was scheduled to be Golden Truth vs. The Vaudevillains, but in a stroke of genius, Golden Truth still doesn’t tag up. Backstage before the match, in what I like to call the “Skit Room,” Goldust tells R-Truth that tonight is not the night that Golden Truth happens. He has gone to management and R-Truth is being replaced in the match with Fandango. Fandango comes in, and him and Goldust awkwardly dance while R-Truth looks on. It’s actually a really fun segment and a great move. After almost four months of will they or won’t they, I didn’t want this storyline to culminate in their first match being a loss. And there was no way these guys were beating the Vaudevillains on this night. Now that they’ve let this go this long, they have to keep this going. Let’s hold off on them tagging together until SummerSlam. They should keep having Goldust bring in new partners every week. Sandow, Swagger, is Eugene still alive? Not only would that be a great way to keep the storyline going, but it would also give teams like The Vaudevillains and Enzo & Cass more teams to defeat while saving matches for them against established teams for further down the line. Also, it’s just great to see Fandango again. I missed you Fandango. The Vaudevillains looks good again this week in a match that was pretty similar to last week’s. A lot of people still think the Vaudevillains are going to fail on the main roster, and I think those people are wrong.
The Vaudevillains now move on to face the Usos in Round 2, while Enzo & Cass move on to meet the Dudley Boyz. Both of those matches feel like they take place in some kind of alternate reality. The Dudleys vs. Enzo & Cass? The Usos vs. the Vaudevillains? What? How is this happening? I love this so much, and I honestly don’t know who wins those matches. On top of that, it’s hard to tell who’s going to win the whole tournament. One thing we learned from the thankfully now defunct Diva’s Revolution is how hard it can be to rebuild a division. I would love to see them hold off on Enzo & Cass vs. the New Day and build to them facing each other for the first time at next year’s WrestleMania. But I also don’t want to see the Dudleys or Usos against New Day on a pay-per-view again any time soon. Do the Vaudevillains win? Having them win the tournament would make them look great and establish them as a credible main roster team even when they lose to New Day in the end. I don’t know, and I love it.
Best: This Show Is So Good, I Don’t Even Dislike Del Rio
From his forever feud with Kalisto, we all know Alberto Del Rio’s hatred of people who are shorter than him. So he has it out for AJ Styles. This week’s Smackdown was taped in San Diego, California, which is Del Rio country. So tonight we get fully awake Del Rio. He doesn’t phone it in in San Diego. AJ Styles vs. Alberto Del Rio was a great match. With the exception of that one part I’m sure you read about already, these guys worked really well together. You’d never know it was their first one-on-one match. AJ has not had a bad performance since arriving in WWE, and tonight his streak continues. And I have to give it up to Del Rio for looking particularly sharp. About midway through the match, he hits an absolutely perfect enziguri that was an absolute thing of beauty, and follows it up with a spot-on wrecking ball dropkick. Styles and Del Rio aggressively go after each other throughout the match. Their styles really complement each other. Alberto hits one of the best backstabbers I’ve ever seen and AJ sells it perfectly. Del Rio follows it up by warming up the band to a chant of “Si” by the audience, but he misses the kick allowing Styles to hit the pele kick instead. The end is great too. After simply just moving out of the way to avoid Del Rio’s double foot stomp, y’know, like everyone should, Styles attempts the Phenomenal Forearm, but he misses, allowing Del Rio to set him up for the arm breaker. But Styles rolls through, and rolls up Del Rio for the pinfall. A great performance by both men, and by far the match of the night.
Worst: So Close
Somewhere down the line, Chris Jericho and Sami Zayn are going to put on a classic. But tonight’s not that night. Sami Zayn vs. Chris Jericho is not a bad match. It’s not the match that earns this segment a worst, nor is the worst earned by Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose who both come out to join in on commentary. I’m giving it a worst because after a night of fresh new match-ups, characters, and storylines, Smackdown ends the way most Smackdowns end; with a DQ. The rest of the show being so original makes the ending exceptionally disappointing. Why not give Sami the victory? I would have even settled for a distraction roll-up. Why do the same DQ ending we’ve seen on so many Smackdowns?
Another slight worst is Dean Ambrose passing out fliers to the audience to promote the Ambrose Asylum. After months of Grade A pitch perfect work from Ambrose, we’re already getting dangerously close to exploding television again. It’s also never easy to fully get into a match when the camera keeps cutting to the commentary team. In theory, I like the idea of two guests on commentary, each one feuding with one of the individuals on the match. But you can have them do that without constantly cutting to them. We hear them on commentary, so we know they’re there. You don’t feel compelled to cut to the regular commentators all the time, so why do you have to do it when the Superstars join in.
The audience in the arena was super into the match. They got to enjoy it without watching the constant cuts to the announce table. It’s not all doom and gloom. Like I said, the match itself was good. Owens is great on commentary and there’s a fun spot where Zayn back body drops Jericho into Owens. But the DQ ending really hurts it for me. I understand why they did it, they successfully got more heat on Owens by having him interfere in the match, and it definitely felt like the match ended with the crowd wanting more. I just wish they could have fund another way to accomplish this without the same old Smackdown DQ ending. Maybe I’m just being nit-picky, maybe I should just be happy that Sami Zayn vs. Chris Jericho is our main event. After all, I once sat through a Smackdown main-evented by Matt Hardy vs. the Great Khali. But how good the rest of the show was proves how good the whole show could be from top to finish. They just need to come up with some new finishes.
Overall, great job Smackdown. The show keeps getting better. I’m excited to see what happens next week.
Until next week, I’m Justin Donaldson and that last match left me with blue thunder balls.
Ugh. That was a bad joke.
