WWE SmackDown Live Review - June 18, 2019

​By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Dolph Ziggler def. Xavier Woods

I would have been all for the show starting with this match as opposed to a talking segment with The New Day and Ziggler... again. Seriously, we've heard it all from Kofi Kingston and Ziggler by this point in their feud and I couldn't care less about this "It should have been me" nonsense from Ziggler. On the bright side, the matchup that followed was well wrestled and received more time than I thought it would. Ziggler winning was obviously necessary seeing as how he hasn't won a single match in 2019 (yes, seriously).

Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross Attacked SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley on Moment of Bliss

I'm not going to lie, I was loathing this segment coming into this show. Not only does Moment of Bliss usually underwhelm, we've actually seen Bayley on the show before. However, this ended up being pretty great in my opinion with some of the best mic work I've heard from both women in a while. Hell, this was the best segment with the women I've seen on WWE TV since before WrestleMania 35. Both women played their roles well and they continue to tell the story that Cross doesn't like Bayley because she believes as disingenuous as Bliss claims she is.

Heavy Machinery def. The B-Team

As you would probably expect, this was a complete squash with Heavy Machinery going over in decisive fashion. In other words, it was exactly what it needed to be. Daniel Bryan and Rowan were also good on commentary. Speaking of whom, we found out during the match that Heavy Machinery will be challenging for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship this Sunday at Stomping Grounds.

Drew McIntyre and Elias def. The Miz and 24/7 Champion R-Truth in a tag Team Elimination Match

Miz's pre-match promo directed toward Shane McMahon was really well done, but it was all downhill from there for him. I'm convinced these elimination and 2-out-of-3 Falls matches are solely designed to kill television time, because this was total throwaway. Miz was once again made to look like a complete loser and I've pretty much lost all faith he'll be able to rebound as a babyface. What a wasted opportunity. Also, Truth went on to lose the 24/7 title later in the night to Drake Maverick before leaving the arena. The chase is over!

WWE Champion Kofi Kingston and Universal Champion Seth Rollins def. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match

This match wasn't given a ton of time to begin with, but as soon as Kingston pinned Zayn in the opening seconds, it was obvious that the heels were losing in two straight falls. What's worse is that Owens and Zayn have seemingly lost every match they've had against New Day for the last month. Needless to say, the stipulation didn't add to my enjoyment of this whatsoever. It was a fun main event from an in-ring standpoint, but from a booking standpoint, it was more of the same. 

Overall Show

Unlike the majority, I was not kind to Monday's Raw, but I did think this edition of SmackDown Live was significantly better and a step in the right direction until the second hour started. I immediately lose interest in anything involving Shane these days, while I've become numb to Owens and Zayn losing so damn much. The talking on this episode was better than usual, but I'm still not sold on Stomping Grounds in the slightest, making this show a failure in my eyes. Asuka and Kairi Sane showing up at long last was a pleasant surprise, but the lack of the Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor was shocking and sad.