AJ Styles battles Chad Gable to determine who will enter an Independence Day battle royal, The Usos face New Day in a surprisingly entertaining rap battle, Lana gets another title shot, and John Cena returns on a good episode of SmackDown Live!
The women’s Money in the Bank contract is put up for grabs once again as they redo the MitB ladder match that was ruined by James Ellsworth at the PPV.
Daniel Bryan makes a decision about the “controversial” women’s Money in the Bank match, Kevin Owens issues and open challenge, Dolph Ziggler takes on Shinsuke Nakamura, and more take place on this pretty good (sometimes very good) episode of SmackDown Live.
The last stop before Money in the Bank had four good matches and some nice buildup for the show.
This was a good show that featured the SmackDown Live debut of Lana, a rematch between Styles and Ziggler, and a first time on SmackDown bout between Owens and Nakamura!
Money in the Bank continues to get shaped as Shane McMahon makes a historic announcement, New Day makes their SmackDown Live debut, and the competitors in the WWE Title Contract Money in the Bank match clash once again.
Even though half the matches on this show were nearly exactly the same, I enjoyed this show. The competitors for the 2017 Money in the Bank match are named (and fight) and Breezango works their way into a tag title rematch!
The last SmackDown before Backlash didn’t provide anything new, but it had a pretty good opening match and a fun new episode of Breezango’s “Fashion Files.”
A big six-man tag match highlights a pretty good episode of SmackDown that also featured a special London edition of “Fashion Files” and a great promo from The Usos.
On his first night as a member of SmackDown, Jericho must defend his US Title in a rematch against Kevin Owens.
This was an okay show with some interesting moves from certain superstars.
This pretty good episode of SmackDown set up two title matches, one surprising and one not so much.
SmackDown had the same level of minimal excitement as RAW for its portion of the Superstar Shakeup, but two great matches on this episode with title implications make this a show worth watching.
The first SmackDown Live after a Wrestlemania was good. It might not have felt quite as energetic as RAW, but it had quite possibly the best moment of the past few days with the extremely exciting debut of Shinsuke Nakamura!
Lots more talking on this episode of SmackDown, but the main event match worked to make this a show definitely worth watching.
Last week, no one was set to face Bray Wyatt at Wrestlemania, but with this week’s SmackDown two people have a claim to a title match. Also, John Cena makes the best of a less than ideal situation (for everyone involved), Becky Lynch and Mickie James manage to squeeze three tiny matches into one normal match, Apollo Crews and Dolph Ziggler get really angry with each other, and more on this okay, but less than ideal episode of SmackDown.
This was a SmackDown with potential, but unfortunately the execution wasn’t there.
Bray Wyatt is forced to give both AJ Styles and John Cena a title match in an episode of SmackDown that was entertaining more for the few good matches than the rather forgettable talking segments.
Team SmackDown gets shaken up less than two weeks before Survivor Series, and Becky Lynch puts her title on the line against Alexa Bliss.
This episode of SmackDown had a good main event with Dean Ambrose’s last chance to get a World Title shot, but the rest of the show felt a little lacking.