SmackDown Live Recap & Review – Episode 954
New Day takes on Benjamin and Gable, and Styles faces The Singh Brothers in a good, not great, episode of SmackDown Live.
New Day takes on Benjamin and Gable, and Styles faces The Singh Brothers in a good, not great, episode of SmackDown Live.
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens serve as the punching bags for SmackDown’s collective disappointment with the outcome of Survivor Series, and NXT continues to funnel females onto the main roster this week.
This was a long Kickoff and wasn’t necessary for watching Survivor Series, but it did have three decent matches which is nice.
A night of unsurprising yet fairly entertaining surprises culminated in an expected brawl before Survivor Series.
Bobby Roode, Dolph Ziggler, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Kevin Owens all attempt to get onto Team SmackDown in an entertaining episode of SmackDown Live.
One night after putting RAW under siege, Shane McMahon returns to SmackDown and, along with Daniel Bryan, begins to build his teams for Survivor Series.
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens team up to face a duo of Daniel Bryan’s choosing in an okay, but rather forgettable, episode of SmackDown Live.
Fallout from Hell in a Cell takes precedence on an alright, but no great, episode of SmackDown Live.
With a couple of non-title matches and a lot of talking, this week’s SmackDown was pretty good, but not as good as last week.
Styles puts his newly won US Title on the line against Owens and Cena faces Nakamura to see who will challenge for the WWE Title at Summer Slam in a good episode of SmackDown!
There were ups and downs, but overall Battleground 2017 was a good show with at least one great match!
The final SmackDown Live before Battleground managed to build some nice interest in the PPV and contained a few enjoyable matches.
AJ Styles is the new United States champ after a win at a live event at Madison Square Garden, but Owens doesn’t like it when Styles issues an open challenge for his new title. Also, with less than two weeks until Battleground, the card continues to form in an episode of SmackDown that feels rather forgettable, but sets up some matches and story lines heading into the big show.
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.
Despite some good action, the overall feeling of this year’s Money in the Bank felt a little disappointing on multiple levels.
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!