SmackDown Live Recap & Review – Episode 951
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.
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.
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.
SmackDown fires the first shot on the road to Survivor Series in a good and entertaining (if, at times, inexplicable) episode of RAW!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.”
On his first night as a member of SmackDown, Jericho must defend his US Title in a rematch against Kevin Owens.
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.
Lots more talking on this episode of SmackDown, but the main event match worked to make this a show definitely worth watching.