Smackdown Live has some big shoes to fill from the night before in which Raw was absolutely fantastic. I saw a lot of people down talking Raw and I’m not sure what they want from a late August Post Summerslam Raw. You had story progression, a turn and matches with significance. Looks like we have American Alpha 2.0, Breezeango return, AJ Styles open challenge and a tag team main event with Orton/Nakamura taking on Mahal/Rusev. I’m really hoping they take some of the chains off Mahal promo wise and let him evolve past the race stuff. The music has been cued my TV has turned blue and Smackdown Live is beginning so let’s go.
We open Smackdown Live with Jinder Mahal and the Singh Brothers and please help me if he talks about his people or skin color. He started his promo the way I want him too but immediately went to nationality and race. The Singh Brothers start overacting and apologizing for letting down Jinder Mahal last week. The night before we opened Raw with what I believe to have been a perfect opener and now we have this. I’ve never been so happy to hear Nakamura’s music as it interrupted the Singh Brothers going full fetish with Mahal’s feet. This leads to everyone in the main event coming down including a massive pop for Randy Orton. Rusev hits his awesome side kick on Orton to lay him out and the Singh Brothers setup Nakamura for Mahals finisher. The heels stand tall in the ring to close the opening segment. Next up we have American Alpha 2.0 and announced for next week is a number one contenders match with Nakamura and Randy Orton.
Benjamin and Gable are out to a new theme and it looks like they are taking on The Ascension. Shelton Benjamin looks to be in prime shape and this will elevate Gable in the long run. Gable hits a picture perfect belly to belly suplex and man I’m not sure who throws a better one him or Jordan. I love the split screen stuff with Smackdown Live as the Ascension get some good offense in that people overseas and in Canada won’t see. You know I like the Ascension for the same reason I like the Hype Bros as a tag team they play there part as the heel team that face teams beat to advance themselves. Benjamin gets his first hot tag and has a bit of a slip up but easily transitions. Gable and Benjamin get there first win together and they look very good together.
We have the AJ Styles US Open Challenge up next and I’m glad this open challenge has been brought back. I hope they allow all sorts of superstars to challenge him much like did Cena when he did this. Also I’m also glad that he’s getting over the chant of “House that A…J…. Styles…Built”. We get Tye Dillinger’s music and he’s out on the entrance ramp and this is exactly what I’m talking about. Baron Corbin stops him midway down the ramp and they get into it with Corbin laying Dillinger out and Tye taking a nasty bump on the apron. Dillinger fights off Corbin and we get Dillinger and Styles for the US title. We get some good quick back and forth offense before Styles reverses Dillinger and locks in the calf crusher for the win.
A backstage segment with Jinder Mahal and Rusev and my goodness I just fell in love with Rusev. He gets in listen to his promo. Bobby Roode appears to be taking on Mike Kanelis and I guess they are running with Roode as a face on Smackdown thinking he won’t get booed for a while. Bobby Roode has the crowd in his hands and he feels like such an old school wrestler it’s great. I can’t see him as a long term baby face however for sure right now he’s getting great reactions. Bobby Roode who has a great fired up baby face offense, hits the glorious DDT for the victory after everyone in the arena says glorious before hitting it.
Aiden English is out and he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time because an angry Kevin Owens is out to disparage the good name of Shane McMahon. Kevin Owens talks about wanting to be on Raw more than so on Smackdown because its fair. Uncle Shane comes out to talk some sense into Kevin Owens and apparently we are going to get Sami Zayn and Aiden English in a match. Sami Zayn is such a talented wrestler and the fans seem to always get behind him, I wonder why he doesn’t get more air time. Kevin Owens is now the referee for the match and he hits Zayn with a pop up powerbomb and Aiden English gets the win. What I learned from this is Aiden English’s music is absolutely atrocious.
Dolph Ziggler says a lot of nothing and up next is the Usos and New Day with the winner being able to determine the stipulation for the upcoming tag title match. I love the sign Xavier is holding saying “it’s sore”. I have a feeling nobody is complaining about seeing yet another Usos and New Day match because they have such great chemistry. I’m glad Xavier isn’t seriously hurt and we get some great back and forth. Kofi attempts an awesome looking dragon sleeper but the Usos catch them off guard with a roll up victory with tights for the win.
We get a backstage segment with Carmella and James Ellsworth and they tease some tension. Natalya tells Carmella that they have a match next week and Naomi then interrupts and says that she gets her rematch in two weeks for the title. I think Carmella is an absolute star and as much as I want to like Natalya everything looks so stiff and forced. In between the ropes she’s fantastic but in interview segments its tough.
Lana is in the ring to introduce Ruse….Tamina. She has a match with Tina McJobbera. Lana goes full Rusev manager and tells Tamina to crush the jobber. She throws her opponent around and lays into her with clotheslines. This just isn’t doing it for me, I see what they are going for but meh.
Fashion Files season two is up next and the board is field with B’s. Fandango makes an awesome comment about the belt being a title. HA! They do the arrows point in a circle gag however the clue points towards “Two B or not Two B”. They will now be looking into Aiden English. This is still great.
[irp posts=”29842″ name=”RAW August 28, 2017 Review & Instant Reaction – RawView”]
Kind of weird we come back from commercial and Nakamura is in mid entrance, Mahal and Rusev are already in the ring and we get Orton’s full entrance. Absolute chaos to start this match with the faces dominating the heels on the outside. These four are moving really fast right now and we come back from commercial with Nakamura looking to make the hot tag to Orton. Nakamura finally makes the hot tag and the crowd is excited to see Randy Orton in this match. I wonder what the chances are we end up with a triple threat with Mahal, Orton and Nakamura for the title at Hell in a Cell. I’m really digging Nakamura hits the Kinshasa for the victory. Orton hits an RKO on Nakamura as the show goes off air.