WrestleRant
  • Home
  • Columnist Corner
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Audio
  • Videos
  • Store
  • About
  • Contact
Picture

WWE SmackDown Review - June 16, 2016

6/16/2016

0 Comments

 
PictureDean Ambrose attempts to reek havoc.
By Graham "GSM" Matthews

​Chris Jericho Hosted 'The Highlight Reel' with Dean Ambrose

Jericho and Ambrose have been in a number of segments together over the past few months as part of their feud, so you'd think their interactions would have grown tiresome by now. However, they still have awesome chemistry together and Ambrose threatening (and ultimately doing so) spilling coffee on Jericho's super expensive rug had me in stitches. The rest of the Money in the Bank combatants were equally entertaining, and thus this segment did a solid job of setting up the six-man tag team match for the main event.


WWE Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston def. Aiden English, Luke Gallows and Big Cass in a Fatal 4-Way Match

The match itself was well-wrestled and good while it lasted albeit nothing memorable. Thankfully, Xavier Woods and Enzo Amore going back and forth on commentary and resuming their war of words from Raw kept me laughing throughout. Kingston was a logical winner given he is easily the most established singles Superstar of the four and it gave New Day their win back following their loss on Monday night. This should be an extremely fun Fatal 4-Way tag team matchup at Money in the Bank.

PictureBig Cass levels Aiden English.
​Baron Corbin def. Zack Ryder

There truly isn't much to say about this bout other than it was a standard squash match that was over within mere minutes. Ryder scored a measure of offense over Corbin, but otherwise, it was all The Lone Wolf. As I've expressed in the past, I remain a big advocate of Corbin's and his potential, but this program with Dolph Ziggler has done him no favors. Here's hoping their rivalry reaches its end Sunday on the Kickoff show.

​
United States Champion Rusev vs. Kalisto Went to a No Contest


Rusev attacking Kalisto before the bell even rang was much more effective in helping him elicit heat than if simply squashed Kalisto. Granted, The Lucha Dragons didn't come out of this looking too good, but do they really have a lot to lose at this point? Titus O'Neil making the save was a straightforward way of furthering their feud heading into their upcoming United States Championship match.


AJ Styles def. WWE Tag Team Champion Xavier Woods

Woods rarely wrestles in tag team competition let alone on his own. Thus, I don't think people were aware of how skilled he was in the ring until now. Styles referred to this as a "tune-up" match beforehand in the backstage interview, but I saw this as more of a breakout performance for Woods than anything else. He busted out more moves from his arsenal than what we're used to and had a strong showing in defeat against Styles. Speaking of whom, his post-match message to John Cena was short and sweet.


WWE Women's Champion Charlotte def. Natalya (Non-title)

This was along the same lines as their most recent in-ring encounters in that it was a good match yet muddled by interference and chaos at ringside. That was the case at both Payback and Extreme Rules as well. Notice how their best bouts to date (NXT TakeOver from May 2014 and Roadblock from earlier this year) didn't feature anyone getting involved at all. It also didn't make sense to me how Natalya wasn't able to get one over on the champ here but Paige, who isn't in the title picture right now, could on Raw. I'm not suggesting Charlotte should have lost two non-title matches in one week, but I would have switched those results around.


Dean Ambrose, Cesaro and Sami Zayn def. Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho and Alberto Del Rio

Similar to the six-man tag team match featuring these same six Superstars from a few weeks ago on Raw, everyone involved played their part well and the in-ring action was enjoyable. I liked how they switched it up a bit by teasing tension among everyone and Owens turning on his partners toward the end. Ambrose as the last man standing for the second straight week was interesting given all the teases on Monday with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, so we'll see if that leads to anything substantial or that was merely meant to be a red herring.


​Overall Show

SmackDown has been a blast to watch all year round, but the past few weeks of programming have been especially excellent. This was another quality show from start to finish with plenty of hype for Money in the Bank, which of course has the potential to be a phenomenal event if booked properly. Even the briefer bouts on this edition of SmackDown served a purpose, so the two hours are worth watching as always.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Categories

    All
    #AskGSM
    Battle Of The Belts
    Cruiserweight Classic
    Halftime Heat
    Hidden Gems
    Interviews
    Lists/Rankings
    Mae Young Classic
    Mixed Match Challenge
    News
    NJPW
    NWA Shockwave
    NXT PLEs
    Opinion
    Previews
    Retro Reviews
    Reviews
    RJ's Two Cents
    Satire
    Slammy Awards
    SNME
    SummerSlam Recall
    The Deadly Draw
    The World Is A Vampire
    Tribute To The Troops
    Women's Eliminator
    Worlds Collide
    WrestleMania Recall
    WWE Draft
    WWE Network Specials
    WWE PLEs
    WWE Starrcade


    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010

    RSS Feed

©2025 WrestleRant. All Rights Reserved.
  • Home
  • Columnist Corner
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Audio
  • Videos
  • Store
  • About
  • Contact