One of the biggest main events in Smackdown history, according to Tom Phillips!
Is Lana becoming a manager again?
And Baron Corbin cashes in his Money in the Bank briefcase!
I’m Oli Davis, and this is the - wait, did I mention it also has one of the biggest main
events in Smackdown history, according to Tom Phillips?
Good.
- This is the 15th August 2017 edition of Smackdown Live...in about 4 minutes.
Jinder Mahal’s Independence Day The show opened with Tom Phillips promising
us one of the biggest main events in Smackdown history - John Cena vs WWE Champion Jinder
Mahal.
To promote the match further, The Modern Day Maharaja staged an India-pendence Day celebration
in the ring with dancers, a lady singing the country’s national anthem and some sweets
moves from the Singh Brothers.
It walked the thin line between hero in India, and heel in the US - meaning Shinsuke Nakamura
received a thunderous babyface reaction when he interrupted, gurning that he’ll be winning
the title on Sunday.
But oh boy, before Summerslam we’ve got one of the BIGGEST MAIN EVENTS IN SMACKDOWN’S
HISTORY ACCORDING TO TOM PHILLIPS.
I CAN BARELY CONTAIN MYS- Natalya beat Becky Lynch
Natalya made Becky Lynch tap in a decent TV match, looking strong going into her Women’s
title shot at Summerslam.
But this Sunday’s winner might not matter, because as Carmella reminded everyone shortly
after, she’s Miss Money in the Bank.
Rusev vs Chad Gable After a very competitive showing several weeks
ago, Chad Gable only got a few suplexes in against Rusev this week.
The segment was far more about the angle, with Bulgarian George Clooney taking the countout
draw, beating down Gable outside the ring.
Even with the obvious set up, Orton still managed to appear FROM OUTTA NOWHERE, giving
Rusev a surprise RKO.
For all that’s been lacking from Orton’s 2017 main event run, that move is still damn
over.
Lana Managing Again?
Lana is glamorous, but can’t wrestle very well.
Tamina isn’t glamorous, but...oh no, wait, she also can’t wrestle very well either.
Their latest backstage encounter suggests Lana is transitioning back into a manager
role for her.
By the way - one of the biggest main events in Smackdown’s history, according to Tom
Phillips, is still coming.
AJ Styles Apologises For a feud based entirely around bad refereeing,
AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens has found its logical conclusion - a McMahon officiating their match.
AJ apologised for accidentally kicking Shane in the head last week, to which McMahon warned,
if that happens again, he’ll get physical in return.
But when Kevin Owens accidentally kicked him in the head to end the segment, he just sat
on the floor looking confused.
It’ll be interesting to see how they play their respective dynamics at Summerslam, as
Owens vs Shane appears to be the intended direction.
The Usos beat New Day Babyface Smackdown GM Daniel Bryan wants to
be a rapper so bad, he gave heel tag team The Usos a revenge match against The New Day
on this show.
It wasn’t an exact version of what we’ll see at Summerslam, with The Usos taking a
different New Day line up to Sunday, but this is still WWE using matches to build to the
same or very similar matches.
Every possible combination of The Usos vs New Day has been exhausted over the last few
months.
It’s amazing they can still have such entertaining matches, with The Usos going over here in
a fast-paced 5 minutes.
Fashion Peaks In the final Fashion Peaks segment (they’ll
hopefully find another cop show to parody next), Breezeango warned the entire tag division
was in danger.
It was announced they’d return in two weeks time, seemingly ruling out a Summerslam reveal.
John Cena beat Jinder Mahal It’s here!
It’s here!
One of the biggest main events in Smackdown history!
Calm down, Tom Phillips.
Funnily enough, it wasn’t really the match of John Cena vs Jinder Mahal that mattered
- even with the Singh Brothers being expelled from ringside and Jinder kicking out an AA.
It was the following angle that was most newsworthy.
After a second rope AA, Cena had Jinder beat - Mahal about to lose clean for the second
week in a row - but Baron Corbin broke up the pin.
He took out Cena with a Money in the Bank briefcase shot to the head and then realised,
wait a second - I could cash-in on Jinder and become the new WWE Champion.
Quicker than you can say ‘Damien Sandow’, the match was made official, the bell had
rung, and - thanks to a slight distraction from Cena on the apron - Jinder rolled up
Corbin and retained the title.
It was unexpected, exciting, and I can’t disagree with the decision to have Baron lose,
as I have no interest in seeing him as WWE Champion.
But was this the best use of a Money in the Bank cash-in?
It gives Cena and Corbin’s match at Summerslam a bit more heat, and Jinder looked kind of
strong - he’d have looked much stronger if he wasn’t practically beaten already
by Cena several minutes before.
But this ended up just being a moment rather than a way to elevate a new star - which is
one of the briefcase’s great strengths.
Cashing in on a new champion Nakamura at Summerslam, and for Shinsuke to come out victorious, would’ve
been far more effective.
So that was this week’s Smackdown Live in about 4 minutes, here’s the usual ratings
recap from top to bottom: SmackDamn, Smacktastic, Smack Bang In The Middle, Ellsworthy and 19
hour Summerslam.
I’ll reveal my score very shortly, but first, vote in the poll above my head to give it
your own rating.
I’ll announce the results in tomorrow’s WrestleTalk News.
The Money in the Bank cash-in certainly was a moment, but it feels like a waste in the
grander scheme.
Elsewhere, the show’s other go-home angles for Summerslam were nowhere near as hot as
they could’ve been.
This week’s Smackdown is Smack Bang in the Middle.
A huge ex-ROH star has signed with WWE!
And how can WWE save the Network?
Click the videos to the left to learn more, press subscribe and support WrestleTalk on
Patreon.
I’ve been Oli Davis and that was wrestling.