SmackDown Live Recap & Review – Episode 962
This was a decent episode of SmackDown as the last stop before the Royal Rumble.
This was a decent episode of SmackDown as the last stop before the Royal Rumble.
This episode of SmackDown Live was (almost) all about the United States Title, and even though it didn’t feel as impromptu as it was written to be, it was still a nicely entertaining show.
Despite more of the same with the show’s main story, this episode of SmackDown Live had some entertaining matches a few interesting story moments.
The rift between Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan widens in a show that featured Kevin Owens being handcuffed to a ring rope and the team of Aiden English and Rusev making a statement.
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.
A night of unsurprising yet fairly entertaining surprises culminated in an expected brawl before Survivor Series.
AJ Styles attempts to take the WWE Title away from Jinder Mahal and head to Survivor Series to face Brock Lesnar in a good episode of SmackDown.
Bobby Roode, Dolph Ziggler, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Kevin Owens all attempt to get onto Team SmackDown in an entertaining episode of SmackDown Live.
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.
Vince McMahon confronts Kevin Owens in a good episode of SmackDown that featured three title matches.
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!
Chris Jericho makes a surprise return to SmackDown and to the US Title picture in a good episode of SmackDown that begins to set the stage for Summer Slam.
Tye Dillinger attempts to silence Aiden English in a surprsingly good warmup match on a decent pre-show for this year’s Battleground PPV.
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.
The Backlash 2017 Kickoff show was an average opener, featuring Aiden English versus Tye DIllinger.
On his first night as a member of SmackDown, Jericho must defend his US Title in a rematch against Kevin Owens.
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.
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.