We just had the worst Rusev Day ever! Randy Orton abuses a member of WWE staff - allegedly.
And Becky Lynch wants to be your queen. Bitch. I am “The Other One” Luke Owen, click
the i above my head to let me know what you thought of the show, where you can choose
from SmackDamn, SmackTastic, Smack Bang in the Middle, Ellsworthy and A Smack in the
Face. This is the 18th of September 2018 edition of Smackdown Live… in about 4 minutes.
The Miz opened this week’s show to announce that he will be facing Daniel Bryan at Super
Show Down to become the #1 contender to the WWE Championship. A match that was announced
quite some time ago, but was brand new news to the idiot announcers at ringside. Miz then
brings out his surprise guest for MizTV - his wife Maryse. They both made fun of Bryan and
Brie Bella which brought out Daniel to defend their honour. This led to a really great sequence
where Bryan dropkicked Miz into Maryse - who seemingly went down injured. They broughout
the stretcher, but it was all a ruse! Bryan evaded Miz’s attack, and threw him into
Maryse for real and the heels bailed up the ramp. A solid segment to keep the Bryan/Miz
plate spinning - but the announcement that they would be facing for the number one contendership
would have been more impactful if it wasn’t already common knowledge.
Look at this hero!
The New Day found themselves just about on the right side of obnoxious this week, with
Big E doing bad Australian accents - which he claimed The IIconics told him were good.
Cesaro told New Day they’re not funny, and then beat Kofii Kingston in a fun match.
Backstage Rusev was getting ready for his United States Championship match against Shinsuke
Nakamura, when Aiden English walked up to apologise for his actions at Hell in a Cell.
And when Rusev told him he wouldn’t be allowed at ringside tonight, English freaked out to
a stage hand about how Lana and Rusev wouldn’t be anything without him. Sadly for English,
Lana was listening and told him that she’d tell Rusev. What a snitch!
Elsewhere Randy Orton was telling an editor in a production truck to bring up images of
him putting a screwdriver in Jeff Hardy’s flesh tunnel at Hell in a Cell. He then started
to.. Ummm… seemingly get off on these images and forced the editor to look at them by grabbing
his face. This all seems out of character of the real-life Randy Orton.
Allegedly. He said that what he did to Jeff will pale
in comparison to his next victim. This was super creepy and very unsettling. I would
offer to shake Randy’s hand for that great performance but, you know.
Allegedly.
Despite telling him earlier that he wouldn’t be at ringside, Rusev asked Aiden English
to sing him out to the ring for his match against Shinsuke Nakamura before Lana could
tell him what she’d heard. English played a great cheerleader - leading the crowd in
Rusev Day chants throughout. This was a good match too, but just when it looked like Rusev
had the match won, English got too enthusiastic with his encouragement and distracted The
Bulgarian Brute - allowing Nakamura to get a roll-up victory. This was a bad Rusev Day.
But it became a worse Rusev Day when Aiden English attacked Rusev after the match and
left him laying! This has been a turn that was long time coming - but I can’t help
but wish they’d done more with this faction before splitting them up.
AJ Styles then took on Andrade “Cien” Almas in easily the best match on Raw and
Smackdown this week. The two worked around the two commercial breaks well, and had some
amazing back and forth action. Styles did a fantastic job of making Alamas look like
a top guy on the brand, and Andrade kept up his side of the bargain too. This guy needs
to be in the title picture moving forward and it’s a shame he hasn’t had a real
feud since his main roster call up. His one with Sin Cara doesn’t count. Styles hit
the Styles Clash for the win, but was then attacked by Samoa Joe from out of nowhere.
Styles made a comeback, and Joe bailed through the crowd. I was expecting more of a follow-up
to the terrific finish to their match at Hell in a Cell, but we’ve got a few more weeks
before Super Show Down.
Asuka quickly beat Billie Kay of IIconics, in a match where Kay took 95% of the offence
and Asuka won with the Asuka Lock from out of nowhere. This was no good.
What was good, however, was Becky Lynch being coronated as the Smackdown Women’s Champion.
Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton - the babyface commentators - told the audience at home that
what Becky did at Summerslam and Hell in a Cell was really horrible. The live crowd disagreed
and loudly chanted for Becky like that bad ass she is. Becky told Paige that she didn’t
need the whole division round ringside - she only wanted Charlotte Flair. Tom Phillips
and Byron Saxton - the babyface commentators - told the audience at home that Flair was
disrespected at Summerslam and Hell in a Cell by her former best friend. The live crowd
disagreed and loudly chanted for Becky like the bad ass she is. And why wouldn’t you?
Becky cut this awesome promo - cutting off Flair at every opportunity to say that she’s
the best female wrestler in WWE and her title proves that. She asked Flair to put the belt
round her waist, but then said she just wants Flair to call her Queen. When Charlotte didn’t,
Becky called her a bitch and they got into a scuffle - with Lynch locking in the Disarmer
and standing tall. Try as they might to get Charlotte over as the babyface who always
shows respect, and Becky as the disrespectful heel who threw away her friendship, this audience
just want to loudly chant for Lynch like the bad ass she is.
Aside from the Asuka and Billie Kay match, this was a really good episode of Smackdown
Live. The match between Styles and Almas really made me want to see a Championship feud between
the two of them on PPV, Randy was very creepy, and Becky Lynch is the absoulte best. This
week’s Smackdown Live is SmackTastic.
Watch Oli Davis and I review this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw by clicking the
image on screen right now. And come see us do a live episode of WrestleRamble at the
Prince Charles Cinema this November. I’ve been Luke Owen and that was wrestling.