Spoilers follow for the July 4th episode of Smackdown.
http://i55.servimg.com/u/f55/16/09/70/40/smackd10.png
After such a fantastic Raw, it's almost seems like it's going to be impossible for Smackdown to live up to what that brought us. But, I read that AJ and Eva Marie were going to be in a match, and that honestly makes the entire card. Everything else could suck, and we'd still have the AJ/Eva Marie match to make us feel good about life. I don't know why the WWE didn't promote that match, or put it in the main event slot, but such is life. As long as we're getting it, that's all that matters. This is the type of match that dreams are made of.
WWE United States Championship Match: Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio
Smackdown is airing on July 4th, which is a pretty important holiday in the United States of America. It's, like, Independence Day or something. As a result, we're getting a United States Championship match ... between two non-Americans. Explain that booking to me, WWE. Instead, we get a match we've seen approximately six thousand times before. The matches are never bad, and both competitors are good workers, but it would be nice to see something fresh, or at least something that makes a little more sense. An American going for the title on July 4th would make for a good story.
Regardless, Sheamus and Del Rio put on a good match ... until they try to do anything that's anywhere close to the ropes. There are two noticeable botches in the match, both involve the ropes or the turnbuckle. I suppose it kind of makes sense, given that neither of these men are high-flyers, but it's still disappointing to see a couple of big botches in an otherwise really solid match. Sheamus wins after a Brogue Kick following a missed moonsault. Man, when was the last time Del Rio tried a moonsault? I don't remember. This was a good brawl with a couple of good technical counters.
Match Rating: ***
Seth Rollins comes out after a Raw flashback. Rollins talks about how he almost cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Raw, but he didn't. But Cena's clock is ticking, he says. Dean Ambrose comes out to the stage. He reminds Rollins that he'll stop any cash-in attempt that Rollins has. Ambrose runs to the ring to beat up Rollins. Orton comes out for the save. Then Roman Reigns comes out for the second save. We're teasing a tag team match, but that never actually comes to fruition. Perhaps it'll happen next week on Raw. Triple H comes out after Rollins and Orton are chased from the ring. He announces the main event: Randy Orton vs. Dean Ambrose. Roman Reigns will be kicked out of the Battleground main event if he interferes.
A Stardust/Goldust promo follows the commercial break. They're trying to figure out a team name. They're so weird, and so great, and I love it. Roman Reigns is then intereviewed backstage. He hypes both tonight's main event and the Battleground main event. A Daniel Bryan flashback then occurs. Still no mention of AJ/Eva. Apparently WWE hates viewers and ratings.
Bo Dallas comes out next. He's going to have a match.
Bo Dallas vs. Diego (with El Torito)
Bo Dallas wins after a couple of moves and basically a non-match. Diego is a jobber, especially without his tag team partner.
Match Rating: *
Bo Dallas tells El Torito after the match that if he bolieves, he can grow taller. Torito gores Dallas. Dallas gets mad and slams Torito. Dallas gets the first true boos he's gotten. I struggle to know if the boos are real, though, given that Smackdown is taped and you can never know when WWE inserts the crowd reactions.
A Raw flashback regarding both The Miz's return and Chris Jericho's return is followed by Y2J himself coming out to address the crowd. Jericho talks about how great his return was, and then begins to talk about Bray Wyatt and his family. the Wyatt Family interrupts him on the Titantron. This looks like it'll be a fun feud. Jericho's great on the mic, and Wyatt is one of the current best. After the Wyatt Famil's promo, The Miz comes out. He's milking his "Hollywood" gimmick and getting a decent amount of boos. Miz asks Jericho how it feels to be interrupted. The Miz talks about last week while slowly walkingto the ring. As soon as he gets into the ring, he's hit with a Codebreaker and is knocked out.
Big E vs. Cesaro (with Paul Heyman)
The match never started. Cesaro beats up Big E outside the ring, just like he did with Kofi on Raw. Big E eventually retaliates, but by that point a bunch of referees came out to restrain him.
Match Rating: N/A
Eva Marie vs. Aj Lee
Paige is at ringside, but not on commentary. I've been wanting to see this match basically forever. AJ and Eva Marie should be feuding for the WWE Divas Championship, but I'll talk about that in another article.
Eva Marie dominates the early part of the match, showing an aggresive side that we haven't seen much of before. She shoves AJ, tosses her out of the ring, hits a big clothesline, and throws her into the turnbuckle. As Eva goes for a sidewalk slam, AJ counters into the Black Widow and makes Eva tap for the victory. We need a rematch, on a PPV, for the WWE Divas Championship, and it needs to be given more than two minutes of time. WWE creative: get it together.
Match Rating: ******
Paige goes to the ring after the match, shakes AJ's hand, claps for her, and then walks off as AJ continues to celebrate. I thought we were doing a heel turn for Paige? I guess we'll wait and see what happens on Raw.
Damien Sandow is out after the break dressed as Bruce Springsteen. Rusev and Lana come out. Sandow gets destroyed. Lana cuts an anti-America promo. Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter interrupt. Swagger and Colter are so over right now. They tease a Swagger/Rusev match, but it's not happening tonight. Big "USA" and "We the People" chants.
Randy Orton vs. Dean Ambrose
Seth Rollins is at ringside. Randy Orton and Dean Ambrose wrestle a solidly entertaining match. Ambrose dominates much of it, even with an "injured" shoulder. Orton barely got in any offense for most of the match. Midway through, Ambrose attacked Rollins at ringside. After that, Orton got a couple of moves in, but was still looking dominated. As Ambrose was going for a diving spot, Rollins hits him with the briefcase. Rollins and Orton beat up Ambrose after the match. Roman Reigns makes the save, and since the match was over, he won't be taken out of the Battleground main event (probably). This tag match is totally going to happen on Raw.
Match Rating: **1/2
The Good: AJ Lee vs. Eva Marie. Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio.
The Bad: Bo Dallas vs. Diego. Cesaro vs. Big E not happening.
Match of the Night: AJ Lee vs. Eva Marie.
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http://i55.servimg.com/u/f55/16/09/70/40/smackd10.png
After such a fantastic Raw, it's almost seems like it's going to be impossible for Smackdown to live up to what that brought us. But, I read that AJ and Eva Marie were going to be in a match, and that honestly makes the entire card. Everything else could suck, and we'd still have the AJ/Eva Marie match to make us feel good about life. I don't know why the WWE didn't promote that match, or put it in the main event slot, but such is life. As long as we're getting it, that's all that matters. This is the type of match that dreams are made of.
WWE United States Championship Match: Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio
Smackdown is airing on July 4th, which is a pretty important holiday in the United States of America. It's, like, Independence Day or something. As a result, we're getting a United States Championship match ... between two non-Americans. Explain that booking to me, WWE. Instead, we get a match we've seen approximately six thousand times before. The matches are never bad, and both competitors are good workers, but it would be nice to see something fresh, or at least something that makes a little more sense. An American going for the title on July 4th would make for a good story.
Regardless, Sheamus and Del Rio put on a good match ... until they try to do anything that's anywhere close to the ropes. There are two noticeable botches in the match, both involve the ropes or the turnbuckle. I suppose it kind of makes sense, given that neither of these men are high-flyers, but it's still disappointing to see a couple of big botches in an otherwise really solid match. Sheamus wins after a Brogue Kick following a missed moonsault. Man, when was the last time Del Rio tried a moonsault? I don't remember. This was a good brawl with a couple of good technical counters.
Match Rating: ***
Seth Rollins comes out after a Raw flashback. Rollins talks about how he almost cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Raw, but he didn't. But Cena's clock is ticking, he says. Dean Ambrose comes out to the stage. He reminds Rollins that he'll stop any cash-in attempt that Rollins has. Ambrose runs to the ring to beat up Rollins. Orton comes out for the save. Then Roman Reigns comes out for the second save. We're teasing a tag team match, but that never actually comes to fruition. Perhaps it'll happen next week on Raw. Triple H comes out after Rollins and Orton are chased from the ring. He announces the main event: Randy Orton vs. Dean Ambrose. Roman Reigns will be kicked out of the Battleground main event if he interferes.
A Stardust/Goldust promo follows the commercial break. They're trying to figure out a team name. They're so weird, and so great, and I love it. Roman Reigns is then intereviewed backstage. He hypes both tonight's main event and the Battleground main event. A Daniel Bryan flashback then occurs. Still no mention of AJ/Eva. Apparently WWE hates viewers and ratings.
Bo Dallas comes out next. He's going to have a match.
Bo Dallas vs. Diego (with El Torito)
Bo Dallas wins after a couple of moves and basically a non-match. Diego is a jobber, especially without his tag team partner.
Match Rating: *
Bo Dallas tells El Torito after the match that if he bolieves, he can grow taller. Torito gores Dallas. Dallas gets mad and slams Torito. Dallas gets the first true boos he's gotten. I struggle to know if the boos are real, though, given that Smackdown is taped and you can never know when WWE inserts the crowd reactions.
A Raw flashback regarding both The Miz's return and Chris Jericho's return is followed by Y2J himself coming out to address the crowd. Jericho talks about how great his return was, and then begins to talk about Bray Wyatt and his family. the Wyatt Family interrupts him on the Titantron. This looks like it'll be a fun feud. Jericho's great on the mic, and Wyatt is one of the current best. After the Wyatt Famil's promo, The Miz comes out. He's milking his "Hollywood" gimmick and getting a decent amount of boos. Miz asks Jericho how it feels to be interrupted. The Miz talks about last week while slowly walkingto the ring. As soon as he gets into the ring, he's hit with a Codebreaker and is knocked out.
Big E vs. Cesaro (with Paul Heyman)
The match never started. Cesaro beats up Big E outside the ring, just like he did with Kofi on Raw. Big E eventually retaliates, but by that point a bunch of referees came out to restrain him.
Match Rating: N/A
Eva Marie vs. Aj Lee
Paige is at ringside, but not on commentary. I've been wanting to see this match basically forever. AJ and Eva Marie should be feuding for the WWE Divas Championship, but I'll talk about that in another article.
Eva Marie dominates the early part of the match, showing an aggresive side that we haven't seen much of before. She shoves AJ, tosses her out of the ring, hits a big clothesline, and throws her into the turnbuckle. As Eva goes for a sidewalk slam, AJ counters into the Black Widow and makes Eva tap for the victory. We need a rematch, on a PPV, for the WWE Divas Championship, and it needs to be given more than two minutes of time. WWE creative: get it together.
Match Rating: ******
Paige goes to the ring after the match, shakes AJ's hand, claps for her, and then walks off as AJ continues to celebrate. I thought we were doing a heel turn for Paige? I guess we'll wait and see what happens on Raw.
Damien Sandow is out after the break dressed as Bruce Springsteen. Rusev and Lana come out. Sandow gets destroyed. Lana cuts an anti-America promo. Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter interrupt. Swagger and Colter are so over right now. They tease a Swagger/Rusev match, but it's not happening tonight. Big "USA" and "We the People" chants.
Randy Orton vs. Dean Ambrose
Seth Rollins is at ringside. Randy Orton and Dean Ambrose wrestle a solidly entertaining match. Ambrose dominates much of it, even with an "injured" shoulder. Orton barely got in any offense for most of the match. Midway through, Ambrose attacked Rollins at ringside. After that, Orton got a couple of moves in, but was still looking dominated. As Ambrose was going for a diving spot, Rollins hits him with the briefcase. Rollins and Orton beat up Ambrose after the match. Roman Reigns makes the save, and since the match was over, he won't be taken out of the Battleground main event (probably). This tag match is totally going to happen on Raw.
Match Rating: **1/2
The Good: AJ Lee vs. Eva Marie. Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio.
The Bad: Bo Dallas vs. Diego. Cesaro vs. Big E not happening.
Match of the Night: AJ Lee vs. Eva Marie.
<color=D6D9DA>_________________________________________________________________________________
If you wish to be notified whenever I post something new, please join this <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/2-50-Reviews>user group.
For an archive of all my previous WWE reviews, please go <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.846764-Marters-WWE-Reviews-Archive>here.
Talk to me on the Twitter, <url=https://twitter.com/martertweet>@martertweet.
