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.
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!
This year’s Backlash wasn’t great, but it did have some entertaining matches and a few mild surprises.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Though it felt long at two hours, the three matches helped make this a pretty good way to kick off the 2017 Royal Rumble.