 Sheamus takes the fight to Batista. By Graham "GSM" Matthews
Triple H Addressed The Shield Nothing ever important happens on SmackDown when it comes to furthering big angles, but this was a nice way of addressing the events that occurred on this week's Raw without having another confrontation between Evolution and The Shield. Triple H cut a good promo on the motivation behind his and Evolution's actions and made their six-man tag team match official for Extreme Rules. It was the biggest talking point coming out of Raw, so it made sense for this promo to kick off the show. Intercontinental Champion Big E def. Alberto Del Rio by Disqualification (Non-title) These two always work well together and this match was no different, but I must question why they even face off if Big E isn't allowed to win cleanly. It isn't like Del Rio is involved in any top-tier feud right now, so why does he have to lose? Isn't this the same guy that lost clean to Sin Cara of all people a few months ago? Big E has been struggling as champion as of late, but the problem doesn't lie within him, it lies within the booking of his title run. He is yet another victim of the curse when it comes to losing non-title matches when holding a midcard strap. Granted, he picked up a victory here, but the way it came about (via disqualification) hindered it a bit.
0 Comments
 By Graham "GSM" Matthews
Intercontinental Champion Big E def. Titus O'Neil (Non-title) I was worried this match won't be that good considering both guys tend to have better matches when working with opponents that can carry them, but it was a pleasantly surprising bout. That's not to say they're bad in the ring, but they're still works in progress. Their two similar styles meshed nicely and made for a decent outing. To my memory, this is Big E's first singles non-title victory in a while, thought it doesn't matter much considering it happened on Superstars. I've said it before and I'll say it again: What was the point in breaking O'Neil away from Darren Young (who's now injured anyway) if they weren't going to do anything substantial with either guy? Los Matadores def. 3MB Everyone involved in the match is a good worker and are capable of having decent matches, and while this match was fine for what it was, we've seen it so many times before that it's just annoying at this point. The ending result is never any different, so why should anyone care? The only thing worth noting about this match was that Heath Slater was in 3MB's corner, yet he was replaced by Hornswoggle on WWE Main Event this week. I'm not sure what the reasoning behind that was, nor can I say I really care.  Eric Young retains his TNA title against Abyss. By Graham "GSM" Matthews
Dixie Carter Interrupted TNA World Heavyweight Champion Eric Young Please don't tell me that Dixie is back as a regular on-air character. I realize she is still in charge of the company and not wrestling operations, but then what was the point of her being fired at Lockdown if that was going to be the case? The show was so much easier to watch when she wasn't around. She was fine here with Young, even if Young's championship celebration felt a lot like Daniel Bryan's the night after he won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Bully Ray was good here as well, but is he supposed to be feuding with Dixie? I fear that means Dixie is here to stay. Oh lord. Knockouts Champion Madison Rayne def. Velvet Sky in a Street Fight Of course, Sky isn't the best in-ring worker, but Rayne carried her to a good match here. However, why was the Street Fight stipulation necessary? It made the interference from Angelina Love at ringside obvious and it didn't even matter in the end since Rayne overcame the odds and won anyway. It wasn't a culmination of the feud or anything, so the stipulation was pointless even if it made the match more entertaining. The Beautiful People will get their heat back next week I'm sure, but this was a bit odd.  The Great Khali prepares to chop CJ Parker. By Graham "GSM" Matthews
Aiden English def. Colin Cassady Both Cassady and English are entertaining acts, but much like when they feuded a few months, their matches are uninteresting. They are both good workers, but they just don't have great chemistry together. Cassady has potential as a singles act, but he's been floundering since Enzo Amore was sidelined with an injury. He's been booked badly by losing every match he's been involved in and the win doesn't do much for English. He's beaten Cassady multiple times before and he hasn't done anything of note since. Both guys need wins at the moment, so this was a lose-lose situation. Camacho def. Oliver Grey Similar to the last match, both of these guys were in need of wins coming of their respective hiatuses. This was especially true for Grey considering he's been out of action for a year. After seeing Camacho in a suit during a backstage segment last week, I expected him to be repackaged in some way, but I was disappointed to see him out to his old stereotypical entrance music without any kind of gimmick change. The match was decent enough, but the crowd didn't have any reason to care about either guy because they have yet to be properly introduced. The finish came out of nowhere and having Camacho go over Grey was questionable. I have no idea how Camacho will fare on his own, but I'd much rather see Grey get the push over Camacho.  Big Show knocks out Jack Swagger with a WMD. By Graham "GSM" Matthews
Los Matadores vs. 3MB Went to a No Contest Not only have we seen the match countless times in the past, but it never serves any purpose. This match was more meaningless than usual given the involvement of Hornswoggle and El Toritro and how their brawling in the ring somehow led to the match being called by the referee. I guess the upside is that we didn't have to sit through yet another match between these two teams, but I couldn't care less about a possible feud between two of the WWE's biggest jokes. Does the younger audience even find this remotely entertaining? Bad News Barrett def. Sin Cara It's nice to see Barrett garner good reactions from live crowds despite being a heel, but it will be interesting to see if this continues in other future cities. The match was a complete squash that was designed to put Barrett over. Sin Cara scored some offense, but that was about it. There's nothing for him to do at the moment anyway, so I don't mind him being used as an enhancement talent. I'm very glad to see Barrett back in the ring and here's hoping his involvement in the Intercontinental Championship tournament will only boost his profile. |
Categories
All
Archives
July 2026
|
RSS Feed