So excited for Smackdown, the opening package smacks you in the face with how much better of a roster it has now.

Then I hear JBL…

Charlotte opened the show and came out looking amazing to a huge reaction. Her smile beautifully faded into a ‘Queen scorned’ promo, even cracking a ‘Fastly getting Furious’ joke.

She complained of not getting a title match yet, echoing Strowman’s RAW storyline in a way. She went into Ric registers right before Naomi’s music hit.

Naomi went for the cheap pop saying the show’s name. The crowd cheered, confirming they went to the right event. She called Charlotte a beggar, took the belt off, and leapt on Flair, getting the upper hand.

They brawled until Shane danced out to set up a no.1 contender match between the two.

During the broadcaster’s chat Charlotte ran back in for a sneak attack and to hold the belt up, before Naomi returned the favor and also held the belt up. Who will get to hold the belt up next week?Speaking of the commentators, why do they all smile? Do the heel broadcasters know what their role is? Have any of these guys gone back to watch the GOAT Bobby Heenan? JBL adds nothing and subtracts my enjoyment immensely.

Natty surprises Shane in his office and he gives us a side-eye saying “call security”. She’s jealous of Charlotte and expresses that she should be Smackdown Champion. They both rush through their lines like they got the 30 second warning before CarmEllsworth interrupt and lend their support to Natty.

Tamina shows up to prove her appearance last week was more than just a punchline to Shane’s second-generation star joke but nothing much happens.

I’m not sure what Natty’s role is. She seems to be permanently in the middle of the card and the face/heel role. She’s used when needed but never gets traction. She seems well-spoken but hasn’t shown a personality other than feeling disrespected. Has the tools but needs some space.

Six-Pack for No.1 Contender

Luke Harper vs Sami Zayn vs Erik Rowan vs Dolph Ziggler vs Jinder Mahal vs Mojo Rawley

JBL praises Luke Harper during his entrance…who is the heel announcer!? The announcing is so bland. He continues to promote Harper throughout the match (who is awesome) but it’s incredibly ineffective to not have a dedicated heel commentator.

The six-pack feels more like a Royal Rumble than a fatal-four-way with the wrestlers pairing off rather than dumping them to the outside for an injury. This lasts two minutes before Harper takes center stage with a great boot. He beats down Dolph and then Rowan, showing off great offense including a spinning elbow and a nice aerial move over the top rope.

They come back from commercial to show off three consecutive super-plex attempts, although Sami Zayn reverses Mahal’s into a sunset flip. He’ll pay for that later.

The crowd is teased with a fired-up Zayn ready to grab the win but Mahal’s Bollywood buddies interfere to help Mahal to the surprise victory.

Mahal asks the crowd if they boo him because he isn’t an All-American, when it’s actually because he gave the much-loved Finn Balor a concussion.

I get the feeling they wanted Mahal to face Orton to try and get the crowd on Randy Bore-ton’s side. Orton comes out to say ‘blah blah RKO’ to Mahal before immediately addressing Wyatt since the WWE really doesn’t want us to think they messed up the end of this feud with a poorly planned superstar shakeup.

Orton says he doesn’t know what a House of Horror’s match is, and I’ve never felt more connected to him.

Wyatt appears on the screen for another random promo. Orton even turns his back to Mahal (watch out for a vicious elbow to the back of the head!). That should be his new finisher. “The Concusser”.

They cut away after the promo and I assume Mahal and Orton left together to get ice cream.

A graphic of Nakamura and his music comes on to the kind of pop WWE would love Roman to get.

AJ Styles and Baron Corbin interview-off

Styles says he doesn’t care which one of Jericho or Owens stays and Corbin interrupts to accuse Styles of riding his coattails to the three-way no.1 contender match last week.

Styles welcomes Corbin to try again tonight, and the match is set because apparently wrestlers make the matches now.

Naomi vs Charlotte

Charlotte starts strong, tossing her around in the ring and locking on a nice sleeper saying “too easy” until Naomi reverses it. Flair executes a kip up, lifts out of a bridge, does a cartwheel, and gets most of the good spots early. She locks her legs around Naomi’s neck for even more punishment, shoving Naomi’s head into the mat and spinning around to impressively flip the Champ over several times.

The crowd starts to get on Naomi’s side though she hasn’t had much chance to shine. She gets in a quick-kicking combination she must have learned from Chun-Li but Charlotte breaks the eventual pin with a hand to the face. Great heel move.

They goto commercial of course, killing all momentum in the match. We come back to see the finish, with the usual amount of reversals and Charlotte hitting the Natural Selection for the win.

The finish was obvious as soon as they made it a non-title match, but the content was enjoyable enough. Charlotte proved again she’s one of the best workers on the roster with her usual impressive array of moves, psychology and personality.

Naomi is serviceable but doesn’t scream star to me. It was nice for her to win the championship in her hometown at ‘Mania, but is a local pop enough reason to put her at the top of the card? She can hold her own on the mic and connects with the audience enough to remain useful, but I expect Charlotte to replace her at the top next week.

American Alpha vs Primo and Epico

An odd match. Primo and Epico picked up an incredibly quick win after an impressive display of offense. The broadcasters mentioned several times how great they were and mentioned this was the second big statement they’ve made in a row. They also teased a possible problem with American Alpha struggling in the division.

P and E certainly seem able to handle a big push, and the Smackdown tag division will need more big pairs, but the way it was done felt like a squash and didn’t help AA at all.

Lana Video

A Lana ‘coming soon’ video featuring her dancing around a stool is confusing. Did market research find a huge cross-over between wrestling and ballroom dancing? Or is Vince going after any type of sports entertainment?

Tye Dillinger backstage interview

Dillinger talks about the WWE Universe making their voices heard and then runs a video package of his exploits. Very odd.

 Owens Face of America

Owens hilariously cuts off the announcer saying “you’re not good at this, get out!”. He then introduces himself and asks his jobber opponent who he is, which pumps up the crowd.

This is exactly the kind of squash Owens needed to build up his mean image again after his light-hearted comedic turn with Jericho. He can still be funny, but needs to prioritize his dark side.

Emphasizing the foreigner holding the US championship is a cheap idea, but it’s a good start to hopefully get KO back to the top.

He sits in on commentary for the Corbin/Styles match.

Baron Corbin vs AJ Styles

AJ can have a great match with anyone but Corbin sizes up quite well as an imposing figure getting the upper hand on Styles with strikes and power…like Shane McMahon did.

These commercial breaks during the matches are detrimental. Why not cut out a few video packages or lame acting segments?

The two have a strong enough match but the ending outside the ring is a bit clunky. Styles has his Styles Clash reversed and Owens jumps out of his seat to either save Styles from injury or get hit to progress the storyline. It’s not explained and Owen looks angry to end the segment.

Styles sends Corbin into the crowd and sneaks back in to beat the ten-count for the win. The silly crowd yelled “ten” for every other count except the actual “ten” that decided the match.

Overall

A more consistent show than RAW, with the best male and female workers on the roster. The Corbin/Styles angle seems under-written, and it’s not clear where they’re going with some of the storylines. Charlotte, Owens, and Primo/Epico came out the strongest, setting up their future spots on the brand.

Mahal’s win was surprising but being pushed into a Championship match so fast as a generic non-American heel will only kill his momentum.

It looks like it’ll be Styles and Owens moving forward, which could provide a great SummerSlam climax.

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Mathew is a huge fan of Space, Strategy, and Shadowrun (Genesis version is #1). When it comes to games and films, he’d much rather experience a 10/10 classic from yesteryear than a 6/10 modern blandfest. He does feel we’re living in a gaming golden age with the power of indie developers at an all-time high, but wishes AAA publishers would take more risks. Mat believes it’s only a matter of time before the pendulum swings the other way and new ideas take their rightful place above reboots.

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