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Prior to tonight’s Smackdown, WWE announced via their twitter that Kofi Kingston will defend his WWE Championship against Samoa Joe at Extreme Rules.
This came after Joe’s vicious attack on Kofi last night on Raw and the preview of tonight’s Smackdown focused largely on how Kofi would respond.
There was also speculation as to whether or not Kofi’s New Day brothers will be granted a tag team title shot after Big E & Xavier Woods pinned the current Smackdown Tag Team Champions, Daniel Bryan & Rowan, on Raw.
These questions, along with Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley looking for her next opponent, created the potential for some fresh, new storylines to begin on this week’s show.
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So would Smackdown Live deliver?
Let’s find out as we run through tonight’s show and assign each segment it’s own grade.
#1 Ziggler just won’t go away
New Day was out in full force on Smackdown Live as they came to the ring for a promo segment.
Kofi cut an impassioned promo about his WWE Championship reign thus far before throwing to a video package that recapped Samoa Joe’s attack on Raw.
But it wasn't long until the turd that just won’t flush, Dolph Ziggler, interrupted him.
Dolph spewed his typical “it should have been me” shtick before revealing that he’ll face Kofi again tonight in a 2-out-of-3 falls match, with the stipulation that if Dolph wins he will be added to the WWE Championship match at Extreme Rules.
WWE's new obsession with 2-out-of-3 falls matches is already starting to wear thin and this wouldn't be the last use of this stipulation on Smackdown.
This was hardly a hot start to the show, surely nobody wanted to see Dolph and Kofi square off for what feels like the millionth time in their careers.
Grade: D
See WWE Smackdown Results, Highlights of event, & more on WWE Smackdown Results page
#2 Smackdown Tag Team Division Reignited?
Big E & Xavier Woods stayed in the ring following Kofi's promo as they prepared to face Daniel Bryan and Rowan in a non-title match.
The majority of this match took place during a commercial break and ended not long after returning when Woods & Big E hit the 'Midnight Hour' on Bryan to pick up the win and pin the Smackdown tag team Champions for the second night in a row.
The real story came after the match though when Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn ran in through the crowd to attack the New Day. Heavy Machinery then came down to make the save and set up an impromptu 8-man tag team match.
Tucker was worked over by the heels for a large portion of this contest until he managed to make the hot tag to Otis.
Towards the end of the match, Kevin Owens would leave Sami, as well as Bryan & Rowan, to finish the match themselves and Heavy Machinery would take advantage by hitting their finisher on Zayn to pick up the victory.
This was a fun match and WWE deserve credit for how they have built up Heavy Machinery over the last couple of nights. Otis & Tucker along with the other tag teams in this match have added some much-needed life into Smackdown's tag team division and it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Grade: B+
#3 Miz-erable
The Miz attempted to confront Shane in his office but was stopped by Elias who warned that Shane was 'pissed off' after The Undertaker's return on Raw. Miz told Elias to pass a message to Shane and tell him that they still had unfinished business.
This led to yet another 2-out-of-3 falls match, this time between Miz and Elias, with the added stipulation that if Miz won he would receive a future match against Shane.
Elias was accompanied by Shane for this contest and he would play a crucial role in helping Elias to victory.
Shane interfered numerous times, most blatantly when he attacked Miz, with the help of Elias, prior to the third fall beginning.
In fact, Miz barely got any offence in during this whole segment and continued to be beating down by Shane and Elias after the match when Shane hit 'coast-to-coast' on the 'A-Lister'.
It was not a good night for The Miz and it may be a blessing in disguise that he will not have another match against Shane, who has halted any momentum Miz had following their original bout at WrestleMania 35.
Grade: C-
#4 Finn Balor vs. Shinsuke Nakamura?
Finn Balor returned to television for the first time since Super Showdown during a backstage interview, where he was asked who his next challenger will be for the Intercontinental Championship.
Before Finn could answer he was confronted by Shinsuke Nakamura who didn't utter a word but stared down his old rival, teasing a future match between the two.
It was a short and simple segment but could lead to an exciting summer feud for the former New Japan stars.
Grade: B+
#5 The 24/7 Title ruins lives
More 24/7 Championship shenanigans were up next as Drake Maverick once again confronted R-Truth.
Maverick was once again in a sombre mood as he confessed that his obsession with the 24/7 Title has ruined his life.
R-Truth appeared to offer an olive branch and told Drake to find a referee so they could once again do battle for the WWE's newest championship.
This turned out to be a ruse by Truth who exclaimed "SIKE! I love this championship more than you love your wife! Arrivederci!", before making a swift escape.
Grade: B
#6 Bayley vs. Bliss to do battle once more
Despite Bayley teasing matches against a whole of host of new challengers after her victory at Stomping Grounds, it was revealed on Smackdown that will once again be defending her championship against Alexa Bliss.
It was revealed earlier in the night that Bliss' new bestie, Nikki Cross, would be taking on Bayley in a one-on-one match and if Cross was victorious, Bliss would receive her rematch.
Obviously, Nikki was successful, much to her delight as she was desperate to make it up to Alexa after arguably causing her to lose against Bayley this past Sunday.
Cross and Bayley had a decent match but it was disappointing to see this lead to yet another rematch, which seems to be the norm in WWE nowadays.
Grade: C+
#7 Deville vs. Moon
Sonya Deville and Ember Moon finally squared off in the ring after weeks of feuding over magazine covers or doughnuts or whatever their issues with each other are.
Whatever the reason was, this turned out to be decent, albeit short, contest.
Both women were intense and connected with a number of hard-hitting strikes in an evenly matched bout. That was until Mandy Rose distracted Ember, allowing Deville to throw Moon into the ring post and roll her up for the win.
Grade: B-
#8 Knock, knock
Aleister Black once again begged for somebody to step up and challenge him, but even he looked as though he was ready to give up hope of finding an opponent.
But finally, somebody knocked on Aleister's door.
Who was it? ...Well, unfortunately, we don't know yet.
You've got to think that Aleister Black's first singles feud on the main roster will begin next week and fingers crossed it will be worth the wait.
Grade: C+
#9 Is Dolph finally done?
It felt like Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler were in for an uphill battle as they came out for their 2-out-of-3 falls main event match on Smackdown.
However, this turned out to be an excellent match in the end.
It got off to a slow start, but by the time the contest got to the final fall, the crowd were well into it and were cheering for every near fall.
This was by far the best match of Kofi and Dolph's most recent feud and looks to be the final match of their series as Kingston claimed the victory. He will now move on to defend his WWE Championship against Samoa Joe one-on-one at next month's Extreme Rules pay-per-view.
Grade: A-
Overall, Smackdown was an action-packed yet underwhelming show. The in-ring action was decent but there weren't any exciting developments in terms of storylines apart from a couple of teases for future matches.
Overall Grade: B-
