WWE SmackDown Live Review - June 11, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Miz Hosted Miz TV with Shane McMahon, Drew McIntyre and Elias; Miz def. Elias; McIntyre def. Miz; McMahon def. Miz

Yes, I realize I'm bunching four matches/segments into one paragraph here, but all of this happened within a half hour and bled together for me, so I said why the hell not. Miz TV starting the night off follows the same stagnant formula that has plagued Raw and SmackDown Live for years with the shows always opening with a talking segment. Shane told Miz that if he could beat Elias and McIntyre in back-to-back bouts, then they could face off. Miz vs. Elias was decent and Miz vs. McIntyre was a slight improvement, but Miz continues to come across like a loser, especially now that he's lost to Shane three times. Shenanigans or not, that's pretty bad. How can anyone in their right mind cheer for someone who can't beat a non-wrestler?

Heavy Machinery def. AJ Kirsch and Dave Dutra

For those who may not have recognized him (and I don't blame if you didn't because it's been years), Kirsch competed on the 2011 season of Tough Enough and did voice work for WWE 2K19. He and his partner were originally supposed to face Daniel Bryan and Rowan for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship but Bryan insisted that Heavy Machinery face the local athletes instead. It was a quick and painless squash that gave Heavy Machinery a necessary win.

Sonya Deville def. Carmella

Carmella has been feuding with Deville and Mandy Rose since Money in the Bank, but aside from Carmella costing Rose the briefcase at the pay-per-view, there has been zero development with this rivalry. The matches have been passable yet completely forgettable. Deville winning was the right call. The focus was mostly on Carmella locking R-Truth in a crate before the bout to ensure no one could go after his 24/7 Championship (and then Jinder Mahal impersonating Carmella to convince him to come out).

Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn Interrupted The New Day

I feel like I've seen this segment several times in recent weeks. It's great that Big E is back (and that dig at Charlotte Flair's many title reigns was hilarious), but the heels going off on New Day didn't mean anything because they've barely won up to this point. With these six stars already set to clash later in the night, I don't think there was any need for an entire segment to be devoted to them here, especially if they weren't going to offer anything of real substance on the mic. There's so many other people who could benefit from having that television time.

SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley def. Nikki Cross (Non-title)

The story here was that Alexa Bliss told Cross earlier in the evening that Bayley was disparaging Cross on social media, and being Bliss' "friend," Cross believed her crap. Obviously, Bliss is using Cross and is trying to turn her against Bayley. This was a good match while it lasted but could have been better with more time. With the win, Bayley was able to bounce back from the loss she suffered on Raw.

The New Day def. Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens and Kevin Owens

New Day are still a very popular act collectively and individually, but as I mentioned previously, we've seen just about every combination of these six guys against each other over the last month or so. From an in-ring standpoint, this was an entertaining main event and it's cool Kingston continues to be booked to look strong, but the bigger issue at hand here is that this Kingston vs. Ziggler feud has zero juice. I just can't bring myself to care about their Steel Cage match at Stomping Grounds.

Overall Show

Another edition of SmackDown, another night were nothing of note happened. Seriously, I can't think of a single highlight from this show. There wasn't anything terrible, but there wasn't anything out of the ordinary, either. It was simply a show. There's so much more talent on the blue brand you don't ever see because of the dumb Wild Card Rule. For example, Asuka and Kairi Sane, Finn Balor (the Intercontinental Champion!), Shinsuke Nakamura, and Aleister Black, just to name a few. SmackDown is officially as lifeless as Raw and it's sad to see.