Backlash 2017 Kickoff Recap & Review
The Backlash 2017 Kickoff show was an average opener, featuring Aiden English versus Tye DIllinger.
The Backlash 2017 Kickoff show was an average opener, featuring Aiden English versus Tye DIllinger.
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!
This is a very long show, and with any show of this length, there are good and not so good parts. Overall, this is probably a middle-of-the-road Wrestlemania, but there is definitely some fun to be had here. Watching it all in one sitting might leave you a bit exhausted though.
With a lot of talking and three matches of varying quality, this was a pretty average kickoff show. Though the good parts were quite entertaining, there weren’t a ton of them considering the two-hour running time of the show.
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.
A pretty good show that god better towards the end. A few matches felt like they were looking past this show and towards Wrestlemania, but the last few matches of the night made up for that.
This was an okay way to start the night, complete with a Main Event quality match featuring Mojo Rawley versus Curt Hawkins.
While the results make this show feel like more of the same from WWE, the show itself was entertaining. It wasn’t the best Royal Rumble in history, but the Rumble match itself was fine, and Styles versus Cena stole the show.
Though it felt long at two hours, the three matches helped make this a pretty good way to kick off the 2017 Royal Rumble.
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.