Hey, Blue Team.
This week’s Smackdown is a good one. After a long week in Dallas, WWE wraps it up with Smackdown — the best Smackdown in a long time, to be more specific. This week’s show is packed full of matches, has some great promos, and was especially well paced.
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And now without further ado, here is The Best and Worst of Smackdown for April 7, 2016.
Best: Acceptance
Smackdown opens with your new WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Roman Reigns, trying out some new catchphrases. And you know what? It’s pretty good. On the Road to Wrestlemania, I fought the good fight against the inevitable. But now that Mania is over, I am learning to accept Roman Reigns as my robot overlord. Watching him on Raw and Smackdown this week was like one nail on a chalkboard instead of five.
Roman’s music hits to a mixed reaction. He comes down to the ring, gets on the mic, and runs through what happened last Sunday. He says he took back his WWE World Heavyweight Championship and when you have it, everybody wants it, so it’s one against all. If they truly stick with the one against all storyline, then I think we could have a good summer with Roman Reigns. But they really have to go full speed ahead with it. Don’t book Roman in any tag matches. Have him stop hanging out with Ambrose. Keep him away from the Usos. Roman follows that up by reiterating what he said on Monday night. “I’m not a bad guy, I’m not a good guy, I’m THE guy.” But it doesn’t have the same effect here as it did on Raw. I really like it as a mission statement, as a declaration of a new direction for Roman. But I absolutely hate it as a catchphrase. I hope this isn’t on T-shirts next week. Show and not tell. I want to see Roman act like that every week instead of saying it. I love the idea of a WWE World Heavyweight Champion who fights anyone no matter if they are a face, a heel, or Big Show. It helps keep things fresh when you can’t see who the number one contender is going be from a mile away. I don’t know about you, but I had no idea AJ Styles was winning that match on Monday, and we need more of that.
Speaking of AJ, it doesn’t take Roman long to bring up the next thing he’s going to do: beat AJ Styles. This of course summons AJ to appear, due to how space and time works in the WWE Universe. AJ says he has been all over the world, he has beaten the best, and he’s held a title. If has to beat “the guy,” so be it. Roman tells Styles that he will never beat Roman Reigns and then literally drops the mic before patting AJ on the arm condescendingly. Sure, some of what he said didn’t make sense. But the end really sold it for me, and it’s so much better than what we’ve gotten out of Roman in the past month. I never believed Roman as the underdog with the deck stacked against him. But I completely buy him as an overconfident prick who would be condescending to AJ Styles.
Best: Some Say New Day Started The Tag Team Revolution
Now that the Women’s Division is on its way to being fixed, it’s time to do the same thing with the tag-team division. Since the announcement on Monday of the Vaudevillains making their main roster debut on Smackdown only days after Anzo and Cass showed up on Raw, people have been worried about Simon Gotch and Aiden English getting overshadowed by the realest guys in the room. After all, unlike some other teams, the Vaudevillains could legitimately be called “an acquired taste.” I think it’s great that both teams got called up at the same time. Why not bring up Blake and Murphy too? We need every tag team we can get. The main roster debut of the Vaudevillains and Enzo and Cass, the impending debut of Anderson and Gallows, along with the return of the Colons and the eventual teaming of Goldust and R-Truth means pretty soon, the WWE main roster will have almost double the amount of active tag teams that they had at the start of the year. The majority of those teams are actual tag teams and not just randomly thrown together pairings. That’s a big leap forward.
The Vaudevillains main roster debut starts off with the same familiar introduction they had in NXT. Their opponents are the Lucha Dragons and even though we have seen this match in NXT, it still feels new. It’s a fun match that really seems like a breath of fresh air. Both teams looked great with fast paced back and forth action. There is a fantastic moment in the middle of the match where Sin Cara clotheslines English to the outside, then proceeds to attempt a suicide dive, but Gotch comes charging across the ring apron and nails Sin Cara with a knee as he’s diving through the rope. Later in the match, Sin Cara throws Aiden to the outside and attempts the suicide dive once again, this time connecting. The finish sees Kalisto go for Salida Del Sol on Gotch, but English reaches in from the ring apron and puts a stop to it. while tagging himself in. The Vaudevillains hit the Whirling Dervish to wrap up a great debut.
A supplemental best goes out to announce team for doing a spectacular job not only putting the Vaudevillains over, but also explaining them to the audience. There are so many ways this could have gone wrong. Can you even imagine what Michael Cole and JBL are going to say about these guys. Remember how they treated The Ascension? Yeah, not a pretty thought.
Best: No Divas Here
Maybe I was wrong earlier when I said the Women’s Division is on its way to being fixed. Maybe it’s fixed already.
The second match of the night is Natalya vs. Summer Rae with the Flairs on commentary, and it’s another good match. It starts off with something that was a novelty in the Divas Division: wrestling. As soon as the bell rings, Nattie immediately attempts to roll up Summer for the win, but only gets a one count. This leads to Summer getting Nattie in a waist lock, but she reverses into a fireman’s carry takeover, and then into an arm bar. It all looks great. We then get an awesome series where Summer misses a hard running clothesline into the corner, allowing Natalya to come up from behind Summer, pick her up like she’s going to do a back body drop, but instead bounces her off the top rope and drops her on her butt. Nattie then follows it up with what almost looked like a curb stomp and then a basement drop kick. My favorite part of the match takes place when Nattie goes for a German Suplex, but Summer runs to the ropes and holds onto them. Nattie then lets go and rolls down to the mat, then does a kip up only to have Summer slap her across the face as soon as she was back up. The end comes when Nattie catches a spinning heel kick from Summer and turns it into a sharpshooter. The Women’s Division is off to a great start. Please keep them all looking, acting, and feeling like athletes instead of reality TV stars.
Worst: Boo Boo Boo
I have a hard time watching Zack Ryder matches because his mere presence makes me sad. Mojo Rawley can’t even stay hyped when he starts thinking about Zack Ryder’s career. I have a theory that Zack Ryder won the Intercontinental Championship as WrestleMania because Neville was supposed to win the match. When Neville got injured and Zack replaced him in the match, they just kept the same ending. That’s the only logical explanation, right? Don’t get me wrong, I like Zack. I was happy to see him win on Sunday. But I fear that this is the beginning of him rejoining Sandow in catering and not being seen on the main roster for another six months.
Best: The Match Itself Though
Putting aside the dark look into Zack Ryder’s future, The Miz vs. Zack Ryder was a great match — the best one-on-one Zack Ryder match that’s been on the USA network in years. I know that’s not saying much, but this still shows exactly why Zack should stay in front of the curtain and not behind it. Much like the first two matches of the night, it’s a fast-paced back and forth. How could they still have the energy for these matches after the week they’ve gone through?
The segment starts with Ryder in the ring, waiting on The Miz. But The Miz’ music doesn’t hit just yet. Maryse’s music hits instead. She is out first to reintroduce herself to the WWE Universe, then she brings out The Miz. The whole package looks great. They look great together and Miz looks great with that IC Title. There’s a lot of potential in The Miz and Maryse as an on air pair. Miz and Ryder lock up, and Miz gets Zack into a side headlock, but Ryder pushes him off into the ropes. The Miz then drops him with a shoulder tackle. Miz hits the setup for the Hangman’s Neckbreaker, but Ryder counts before Miz can complete it. We get a few pin attempts from both men, and then a very impressive slingshot crossbody from Ryder. Soon after, Zack hits a great dropkick off the ring apron, sending Miz into the barricade. When we come back from a commercial break, The Miz is in control. Zack battles back with a neckbreaker and a leaping lariet, but is soon caught by Miz as he attempts the Zack Attack. Ryder goes for another slingshot crossbody, but this time Miz gets his knees up. Ryder goes for the Broski Boot in the ring corner, but Miz rolls to the outside, where Ryder hits him with the Broski Boot anyway. The end involves some pretty classic heel team cheating. Maryse removes the turnbuckle pad and throws it in the ring. This distracts Ryder and the ref and allows Miz a chance to thumb Ryder in the eye and hit the Skull Crushing Finale. Good work Zack. I hope to see you again some day.
Best: Over An Hour Into The Show And I’m Still Enjoying It
Just when I thought I couldn’t enjoy Smackdown more, the Social Outcasts play a game of Rock Paper Scissors to see who gets to face Apollo Crews tonight in his Smackdown debut. Curtis Axel wins when he makes his hand into an axe and claims that axe beats rock, paper, and scissors. As the rest of the Outcasts try to explain to Axel that that’s not a thing, Apollo Crews comes to the ring and we have our next match. Apollo Crews vs. Curtis Axel. Before they can lockup. Curtis rolls out of the ring and leads the Outcasts in a Bo Train. Axel gets back in the ring, but Crews sends him back out with one punch. The rest of the match is pretty much all Crews, despite interference from everyone at ringside. Apollo hits a perfect spinout powerbomb for the win, and boy does he look impressive. I’m down for a full fledged feud between Apollo Crews and the Social Outcasts. Maybe next time, it’s Apollo Crews vs. Curtis Axel in a game of Rock Paper Scissors. I think Axel would have a better chance at winning that.
Best: So Much Best
My favorite part of this week’s show is Becky Lynch being interviewed backstage by Renee Young. We get a real good look at just how banged up Becky’s eye is coming out of Mania. It looks awesome. She talks about the Women’s Title Match at WrestleMania being the most brutal match of her life. She says she will never lose her passion, she will never lose the reason she came to WWE. Becky says she gave it everything she had at WrestleMania and she has the scar to prove it. And that is what the new WWE Women’s Championship is all about. She promises that she will soon be back in the title picture and that she owes Charlotte for what she did to her. That’s about the time Emma shows up.
It’s official: Emma is back. I loved seeing her at Mania, but I was totally afraid that she was only there to fill out the Tag Team match and would be back in NXT this week. Emma deserves a good main roster run. She got royally screwed the first time around. She deserves better. She tells Becky that she kind of likes what Charlotte did to her eye. Emma says that Becky has been given opportunities that she doesn’t deserve while Emma was put at the back of the line. Emma and Becky work great together. A feud with each other could be the perfect thing for both of them right now. Could we actually have two good women’s storylines happening at once on the main roster? Stories about competition, athleticism, and heart? Stories that don’t involve jealousy or love triangles? I honestly never thought this day would come.
Worst: Of All The Gin Joints In All The Towns
I wasn’t ready to see Dean Ambrose yet. I could have used about a month, maybe more. It’s like running into an ex right after a breakup. An ex you were madly in love with who hurt you right down to the core of your soul. Don’t look at me like that, Dean Ambrose. I know you’re sorry, but I’m not ready to accept your apology. The wound is too fresh. I’m still hurt. Maybe we can be friends one day, but I’m not ready for that yet. I need time. In 25 years of watching WWE, I have never been as let down by a match as I was with Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. I know it’s not Dean’s fault. I’m not blaming him, it’s just so disappointing. I liked WrestleMania overall. The only thing that didn’t live up to my expectations was that match. And boy did that hurt. I really liked Smackdown and Raw this week, and WWE seems to be heading in a great direction. But it’s going to take some time to shake off the utter disappointment of that match. Dean and I need a break.
To make things worse, Dean Ambrose is here to completely squash Tyler Breeze. Ambrose kicks him in the stomach, chops him, elbows him, hits him with a lariat, then Dirty Deeds. I know this is how this had to go down after what happened at Mania. I know Dean has to look strong again. But why did it have to be Tyler? I’m sure Jack Swagger was right there. I should probably just be happy that Breeze is on TV at all. But I can’t help thinking about what a good match Dean Ambrose vs. Tyler Breeze could be if it was given time. They had a good match back on Raw in November before they threw in the towel on Tyler, and I know these guys could have an even better one. I think they’re also perfect candidates to have a great feud with each other. The segment ends with another tease of a feud between Dean and Chris Jericho. I’m sure that will be good. Actually, maybe I’m not sure. I don’t know anymore. I’m sorry, but I can’t keep talking about Ambrose. It hurts too much. I need to move on.
What if they never become a tag team and these sketches just go on forever?
Best: Everything Works Out In The End
Smackdown comes to a close with a good tag team match. Cesaro and AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho. Styles and Jericho start things off, but keep it short before AJ tags in Cesaro, who comes into the match with a big double axe handle off the middle rope to Jericho. After an upper cut and a double foot stomp, AJ is back in with a knee drop. Jericho rolls out of the ring and things break down as we head into commercial break, with Chris throwing a fit on the outside, and Kevin backing him up by flipping the steel steps over. When we come back, Cesaro and AJ are back in control until Jericho sends Cesaro to the outside and Owens sends him into the announce table. It’s all Owens and Jericho for a long stretch, until AJ gets the tag and comes in with a fury, taking out both Owens and Jericho; Jericho with an Ushigorshi and Owens with a front-face buster. Styles attempts a springboard moonsault but Owens catches him with a superkick. A pele kick takes Owens back down, Styles then goes for the forearm but Jericho shoves him off the top rope. Owens hits AJ with a package powerbomb and out comes Sami Zayn. No music. No pyro. Just a dude looking for a fight. As officials hold back Sami, AJ rolls up Kevin for the win. Owens gets up and goes right after Zayn. WrestleMania weeks ends with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn hitting each other with pretty stiff blows as Jamie Noble, Mike Rotunda, Kidman, and a bunch of refs try to pull them apart. I couldn’t ask for a better ending or a better way to start the Road to Wrestlemania 33.
Until next week, I’m Justin Donaldson, and I should probably start making my way to Orlando.
