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This week's episode of SmackDown Live continued the Wild Card rule that Vince McMahon initiated in the week prior. There was nothing particularly wrong with the whole episode but it just did not quite feel like it was must-see television.
I really think that this is the issue with the program now. Because the action is something that you can just catch on YouTube, a lot of people are just watching the show online leading to a big decline in viewership.
That said, I did like a few things from the show for sure and I will mention them for you in this article. I will also list out everything that I did not particularly care for.
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#1 Best: The tag team title match
This is what The Usos should be doing on a weekly basis. They should be taking on the best competitors in the world and proving why they're the best tag team in the business today. What they should not be doing is spying on other tag teams getting their backs shaved. What they should not be doing is slipping itchy cream everywhere.
They were clearly the ring generals in the match but Daniel Bryan and Erick Rowan kept up and the match was the best thing about the show. Even though they lost the match, The Usos made Daniel Bryan and Rowan seem like a credible threat. In so many ways, it was a passing of the torch.
And now we have brand new tag team champions. Will Bryan and Rowan be able to do wonders for the SmackDown Live Tag Team Championships like The Usos did?
Their first feud with Heavy Machinery should be a good indication.
#1 Worst: The pointless Wild Card rule
AJ Styles has hardly been gone from SmackDown Live and he is back in the brand already. I think that this nullified everything that the brand split had done and in many ways made AJ Styles feel less special than he ideally should be.
It would have been one thing had Braun Strowman or Seth Rollins come over to SmackDown Live from RAW. But we're a lot more used to seeing AJ Styles on SmackDown Live than RAW and therefore, it did not feel special at all.
The same can be said for The Usos and Sami Zayn as well who are all better known for their blue brand stints more than their runs on RAW, quite honestly. I am not a fan of the Wild Card rule and if you are, please let me know why in the comments section.
It's a silly rule.
#2 Best: Exciting main event match
It is easy to forget just how good Sami Zayn is when you haven't seen him in the ring in a while. And put him in the same ring as AJ Styles and Kofi Kingston and the match is guaranteed to be a good one. The three men competed for the biggest prize in the sport in a great contest.
There was interference from Kevin Owens through the course of the match. All of the pieces came together and the main event was one worthy of the title for sure. Kofi Kingston kicked out of multiple blue thunder bombs and established himself as a worthy champion with big victories on two consecutive nights.
I wonder if this main event match will help SmackDown Live bounce back in terms of ratings. Last week's show had the lowest viewership ever and WWE could do with some big numbers.
#2 Worst: Multiple top superstars not getting TV time
There is such a wealth of talent in the SmackDown Live roster that it's a real shame that only a certain percentage of Superstars eventually get showcased. When Superstars like Rusev and Nakamura don't get a chance to appear on television, there is a genuine problem.
I wonder if too many WWE Superstars get called up to the main roster from NXT when there is no necessity for them. Killian Dain hardly showed up through the duration of the previous year and there doesn't seem to be a spot for him right now either. The same is true of Superstars like Nikki Cross, because there's literally no clue about what's next for her.
Let's hope that the SmackDown Live roster can accommodate the talent it has or they may soon ask for their release. AEW may just start poaching this talent.
#3 Best: The RKOs
Isn't it simply amazing that after so many years in the business, Randy Orton still finds a way to make all his RKOs seem different from one another? We saw two more exciting RKOs this week that are certain to become GIF-worthy moments online.
Andrade took on Ali in a match that was just beginning to get interesting before Randy Orton interfered in the proceedings, taking the two men out. It would have otherwise made it to my worst column before I realized what a great advertisement this was for Money in the Bank.
I have interviewed Ricochet in the past and he has spoken about wanting to face Randy Orton someday. I wonder if there will be a high spot during the match that will involve Ricochet leaping off something high into an RKO.
Now I'm quite pumped about the match that's coming our way!
#3 Worst: Predictable outcomes
This was one of the central issues with SmackDown Live this week, in my opinion. While there were big matches, it was so easy to predict their outcome that I wasn't all that excited about them.
I knew that there was no way that AJ Styles or Sami Zayn would become WWE Champions because they were RAW Superstars and this was also true for The Usos. Therefore, even though there were 2 title matches, in name, and they were well worked too, they felt underwhelming.
I've been watching WWE for over two decades now and the 'anything can happen' vibe that used to exist back in the day is missing in today's product. Probably the only thing that I did not see coming was the interference by The Miz who chased after Shane McMahon.
Oh yeah, and of course, I didn't foresee the subsequent beatdown from the B-Team.
#4 Best/worst: The Lars Sullivan push
Lars Sullivan is doing everything right, climbing up the ranks with every given week. Only in his case, there's not the same sense of excitement that surrounded someone like Braun Strowman. It may be because he's not really wrestling in matches yet but just taking people out, knocking their lights out every week.
I think that unless he is booked in a meaningful program very soon indeed, he will lose a bit of his sheen. I'm guessing that working with veterans like Matt Hardy and R-Truth is certainly the way to go for him at this point. But it has to be in a match and not in random backstage segments.
The WWE Universe needs to see what the man is capable of inside the ring and for this to happen, he needs to be booked in matches. Whom would you like to see him face?
As is tradition, we end with The Goddess...
