1) We kickoff Smackdown Live with the Singh brothers introducing Jinder Mahal and his dope theme music. The Singh brothers explain how panic room doors work on the Punjabi Prison cage? Is it a cage? I guess it’s a cage… we’re going with a cage. Jinder cuts a promo without saying that people despise the way he looks and the way he talks. Say what you will about Mahal he is garning massive heat and Randy Orton is being cheered as a massive baby face. Honestly if it were me I’d flip the title back to Orton this Sunday, it won’t happen but if I had the book that’s what I would do. Orton interrupts Jinder and calls him his favorite SOB and warns Mahal he will be locked in with the viper. Orton claims he has nothing to lose and Mahal has everything to lose…. I disagree this is likely Orton’s last title shot for a while if he loses. Orton hits pose on top of the Punjabi Prison and that’s still probably the best taunt in all of WWE. Decent segment building to the main event of this weekend’s network special I’ll be giving all my predictions later this week in a predictions article.
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2) I didn’t realize until now that Wale wore a wolfpac shirt during the rap battle. The audience is pretty flat for the New Day entrance. We have Kofi Kingston taking on Jimmy Usos tonight. If you had to choose would you rather have the Headshrinkers or the Usos on your fantasy roster of tag teams? Did I just witness Kofi Kingston twerk in front of Jimmy Uso before a commercial break? Is it me or are the commercial breaks longer during the split screen? That’s too many questions in a row for you guys I’m sure I’ll try and chill out. These two guys get quite a bit of time before the finish with Jimmy Uso rolling through a high cross body pin attempt by Kofi Kingston. Jimmy Uso picks up the pin-fall victory after an entertaining TV match.
3) Shane McMahon kind of looks like that old guy that at the gym who constantly looks at himself in the mirror after doing three reps on the bench press. We get the traditional Smackdown Live women’s promo with Charlotte starting, Natayla cutting her off, then Becky Lynch jumping in before Tamina starts yelling. Rinse and repeat. This promo leads to Charlotte and Becky with Charlotte explaining to Becky how much better she is than Becky.
4) Kurt Angle is Jason Jordan’s father are we good here do we need to say anything else? Ok cool let’s move on. Chad Gable gets a backstage interview to explain how this has changed his life and he wishes Jordan would’ve given him a head’s up. Gable teases that he has some ideas about what’s next for his career and teases a single’s career.
5) The happiest most in love couple ever is making their way down to the ring and looks like we are going to get the in ring debut of Mike Kanelis. Oh wow we are getting Kanelis vs. Zayn tonight and not on Sunday? That’s uh… odd. This crowd is the opposite of the crowd last night for Raw. LAME! I still can’t believe how much bigger Zayn looks than Kanelis. Maria comes into the ring to protect Kanelis during the match from a Helluva kick and that allows Kanelis to take a cheap shot and then hit the power of love finisher. Maria has some GREAT facial expressions on the outside after Mike picks up the win. This has to continue this Sunday… right? Right?
6) John Cena comes out to wake the crowd up and make them remember they are at a wrestling event. Battleground has a couple of stipulation matches that aren’t traditionally very good and I’m interested to see if they will outperform expectations. Cena does his best Paul Heyman impression in promoting the event except he doesn’t have a client named Brock Lesner to promote as the headliner. Cena tells everyone that you will remember the flag match out of everything this Sunday, certainly sounds like he plans on stealing the show. Loud USA chants breakout as Smackdown is the land of America vs. Other Countries. There are few people better than passionate Cena on the microphone all time. We get Cena and Rusev brawling with Rusev locking Cena in the accolade and Cena not able to break the hold. Rusev looks strong before the network special this Sunday…. You know what that means?
7) Becky vs. Charlotte should be the women’s title match at Summerslam. Natty is out to do commentary and that is not utilizing her talents to the maximum. These two women have extremely good chemistry and in my opinion Charlotte is already the greatest women’s wrestler of all time. This is a very good match and it ends with a missed moonsault and Becky locking in the DisArmHer. Charlotte TAPS CLEAN wow that’s incredible. After the match we get a melee with Lana, Tamina and Natty. Tamina and Lana stand tall to close the segment.\
8) Naomi has a glow title but who cares it’s the Fashion X Files! Tyler Breeze is Scully and Fandango is Mulder I can’t even deal. Breeze gets spooked with Aiden English is practicing his vocals and sounds like a ghost. A MAX MOON REFERENCE! Breeze and Fandango get a package in the mail and it’s the stuff ponies head. It will continue and be concluded it appears at Battleground. With American Alpha no longer being a thing and it not being the Ascension who could it be? Who? Who? Who? Who?
9) AJ Styles and Nakamura headline tonight’s Smackdown Live against Kevin Owens and Baron Corbin. It’s crazy that you can make an argument that AJ Styles and Samoa Joe are the top two talents in the WWE right now. Nakamura learns his lesson as he knows Corbin hates strobe lights and as Corbin attempts to attack him Nakamura cuts him off. This turns into a brawl on the entrance ramp with all four men throwing haymakers. There is little doubt in my mind that AJ Styles and Kevin Owens will have the match of the night Sunday at Battleground. Kevin Owens and Baron Corbin is as equally great talking smack in the ring as Nakamura and Styles are competing in the ring. The Deep Six is the best signature move in all of WWE right now he hits that so amazing every time. Corbin and Owens dump Nakamura into the time keepers area and Styles hits some awesome reversals on Corbin before catching a Owens sidekick and a popup powerbomb for the win. This was a really good tag team main event to end Smackdown Live.
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Battleground is right around the corner and I will be putting out a predictions article later this week. Also if you haven’t yet and you like AJ Styles and Kevin Owens funko pops WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Go to my pinned tweet follow the instructions and enter to win. Did you enjoy Smackdown Live this week what are you most looking forward to on Sunday? This card while not as stacked on paper like Great Balls of Fire was has the opportunity to outperform expectations. Also thanks for everyone for sharing my articles at an incredible rate as of late it’s greatly appreciated. Until next time be awesome.