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Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 7.19.16

July 19, 2016 | Posted by Larry Csonka
5.5
The 411 Rating
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Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 7.19.16  

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Csonka’s WWE Smackdown 7.19.16

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– John Cena defeated Luke Gallows @ 5:28 via pin [**]
– Darren Young and Zack Ryder defeated Rusev and The Miz @ 4:11via submission [**¼]
– Bray Wyatt defeated Xavier Woods @ 4:55 via pin []
Handicap Match: Charlotte and Dana Brooke defeated Sasha Banks @ 2:20 via pin [NR]
– Chris Jericho defeated Cesaro @ 5:03 via pin [**¾]
WWE Title Match: WWE Champion Dean Ambrose defeated Seth Rollins @ 12:04 via pin [***½]


DRAFT MADNESS: Shane, Bryan, Stephanie and Foley are all out to kick off the show with draft picks. They played to the crowd a bit, and Raw made their first pick. Raw picks Seth Rollins. Shane joked with them for picking Crossfit Jesus. Smackdown then picked WWE Champion Dean Ambrose. The second Raw pick was Women’s Champion Charlotte. The second Smackdown pick was AJ Styles. Raw’s third pick was Finn Balor. John Cena then arrived, and we went to the ring for the first match of the night.

– Enzo and Cass made their way out to do their usual entrance shtick and back up Cena

John Cena w/Enzo and Cass vs. Luke Gallows w/Anderson and Styles: They wrestled for 20-seconds and then went to the commercial, but USA as trying to make this special and gave us Smackdown in the min screen during the commercial (picture in picture). Gallows beat down Cena in the min-screen with basic slow big man offense. When we came back, Cena tried to fight back but ate a slam from Gallows, who covered for 2. Cena again started a comeback, hitting the proto bomb and the five-knuckle shuffle. Gallows escaped he AA and then hit the big boot for the double down. Everyone then got in the ring, Enzo and Cass sent Styles and Anderson to the floor. AA on Gallows and Cena wins. This was a very basic (and bland) match to get Cena’s crew momentum after the loss on Raw.

MORE DRAFT PICKS: Back to draft picks. Raw’s 4th pick is Roman Reigns. Smackdown’s first second round pick is John Cena. Raw’s next pick Brock Lesnar (can’t wait t see him after his two year USADA suspension). Smackdown’s next pick is Randy Orton. Raw then picked The New Day.

Darren Young and Zack Ryder w/Bob Backlund vs. Rusev and The Miz w/Lana and Maryse: Rusev kicked things off by kicking the shit out of Young. Miz tagged in, but couldn’t keep control. Ryder got the tag, and had control until Rusev distracted him, allowing Miz to finally score with some offense. Rusev and Miz worked a short heat, Ryder hit a neck breaker and then Young got the tag. Young ran wild on Miz to almost no reaction. Hit the gut check and Rusev made the save. Ryder hit the rough Ryder on Miz, Rusev sent to the floor and Ryder took him out with the dropkick to the floor. Young got the cross face chicken wing on Miz, which actually got a good reaction, and he picks up the win for his team. This was again solid, but the crowd was not interested until the finish. The good news is that it was designed to hype PPV matches, and Young got a much-needed win and the chicken wing got a good reaction.

Xavier Woods w/Kofi and Big E vs. Bray Wyatt w/Rowan and Strowman: Woods was still selling fear of Wyatt and the swamp monsters. They did a lot of stalling in the first minute or se, Wyatt dared Woods to come to him with his open arms gesture. Woods walked to him, Wyatt caressed his shoulder and spoke in hushed tones and then attacked him. Wyatt slowly beat down Woods, using his power and hitting a nice uranage. The running sentons followed, and he continued to talk trash to Kofi and Big E. This allowed Woods to rally and connect with rights and then a jumping knee strike. Woods went for his rolling clothesline, but Wyatt scared him with the spider walk and hit sister Abigail for the win. There wasn’t much to this match either; it was more about angle, which is fine. The match is part of the PPV build, but the wrestling tonight feels like an inconvenience in between the picks.

– On the way to the ring, Owens bitched out the GMs and commissioners for not being picked. Sami Zayn attacked and they brawled to the ring, where Kane was waiting. Owens tried to get Kane to help him, so Kane choelsammed them both and stood tall. Yes, Kane stood tall in 2016.

MORE DRAFT PICKS: After getting his ass kicked, Sami Zayn was picked by Raw, because fuck you that’s why. Smackdown then picked Bray Wyatt. Raw responded with Sasha Banks. Bryan then mocked Foley for his weird fascination with the women, and then Smackdown picked Becky Lynch. To close out this round, Raw picked Chris Jericho. Man, those secondary champions are looking really important right now.

Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte and Dana Brooke: Sasha slammed Dana into Charlotte, and took control. She worked over Dana, and then hit meteora on the floor on Charlotte. Dana cut off Sasha with a stiff lariat and rolled her back into the ring. Not much of a heat for Dana as Sasha fought back and again sent Charlotte to the floor. Sasha went for the Banks statement, but Charlotte made the save after the blind tag, hit natural selection and Sasha was done.

BACK TO DRAFT CENTRAL: Raw selects US Champion Rusev w/Lana. Smackdown hen picks IC Champion The Miz w/Maryse. Kevin Owens finally gets drafted by Raw, while Smackdown answers with Baron Corbin. Raw closes out the round by picking Enzo and Cass.

Cesaro vs. Chris Jericho: Jericho was showing off his Raw shirt and slapped Cesaro. This was not a good plan, because Cesaro worked him over, sent him to the floor and hit the cannonball and the big uppercut. Back in the ring Cesaro hit the high cross for a near fall. Jericho finally connected with an enziguri, which led to the two trading pinning combos. Cesaro went up top; Jericho cut him off and hit a RANA off the ropes for a near fall. Jericho went for the code breaker, but Cesaro caught him and tossed him to the corner and then worked him over with uppercuts. Jericho managed to cut off the running uppercuts, but Cesaro cornered the lionsaut with a Russian leg sweep and the big swing. Neutralizer cantered by Jericho, Cesaro went for the springboard uppercut and jumped right into the code breaker and Jericho picked up the win. It was a little clunky, but was an overall nice little sprint with a cool finish; it wasn’t great, but this was the best thing on the show so far.

– For the second time tonight, a scheduled match was nixed as Becky Lynch got some revenge by attacking Natalya. Becky got the best of things and had to be separated by officials.

DRAFT CENTRAL TIME: Raw now drafts The Club (Anderson and Gallows). Smackdown heads to NXT and picks American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan). Raw retaliates by picking The Big Show. Smackdown then picks Dolph Ziggler. Raw closes the round by drafting Nia Jax.

ONE MORE ROUND OF PICKS: Raw chooses Neville. Smackdown answered with Natalya. Foley spoke about the best moment of his career happening in this building, and then picked Cesaro. Smackdown then picked Alberto Del Rio. To close out the TV portion of the draft, Raw picked Sheamus.

WWE Title Match: Champion Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins: Rollins attacked Ambrose during the opening announcements. He pulled Ambrose to the floor and posted him. We took a commercial break, as the title match had not officially started yet. After the break, they officially started the match with Rollins hitting a flacon arrow (HE DID THE DEAL) for an early near fall. Rollins worked the heat from there, dominating after the pre-match attack, breaking Ambrose down and going for near falls. The action went to the floor, where Ambrose was able to fight back and send Rollins over the barricade he then tried to run off the announce table and attack, but missed and ate the barricade. Back in the ring Rollins scored with the knee off the ropes and a superkick for a near fall. We then went to a commercial break. Post break, Rollins maintained control, hitting a series of corner forearms. Ambrose again started to make a comeback, ran wild and the headed up top but jumped into a boot and buckle bomb from Rollins. The high fly flow missed for Rollins and Ambrose got a cradle for 2. The ref tried to separate them, Rollins eye poked Ambrose, but Ambrose fought back and sent him to the floor and followed with a suicide dive. Ambrose then hit his wacky elbow drop to the floor. Back in Rollins connected with the superplex, rolled for another suplex but Ambrose countered and hit dirty deeds for the win. Well, Ambrose won clean here so I have the feeling that he loses on Sunday. I felt that this was easily a better match than the Raw encounter, it was shorter, more focused and it had a better layout.

– Ambrose celebrated with Shane and Bryan to close the show.

RAW DRAFT PICKS
* Seth Rollins
* Women’s Champion Charlotte
* Finn Balor
* Roman Reigns
* Brock Lesnar
* The New Day
* Sami Zayn
* Sasha Banks
* Chris Jericho
* US Champion Rusev w/Lana
* Kevin Owens
* Enzo and Cass
* The Club (Anderson and Gallows)
* The Big Show
* Nia Jax
* Neville
* Cesaro
* Sheamus

SMACKDOWN DRAFT PICKS
* WWE Champion Dean Ambrose
* AJ Styles
* John Cena
* Randy Orton
* Bray Wyatt
* Becky Lynch
* IC Champion Miz w/Maryse
* Baron Corbin
* American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan)
* Dolph Ziggler
* Natalya
* Alberto Del Rio

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

5.5
The final score: review Not So Good
The 411
The “new Smackdown” will officially kick off next week, but I felt that this Draft episode fell completely flat. Most of the wrestling was “just there,” and while there was some solid build to the PPV, the show had no juice. There was nothing special about the draft process, there was no energy to it, and most of it felt simply based off of current feuds heading into the PPV rather than making the shows “better” than the other one. Also, we hear all of this news about them making Smackdown feel important, special and or different, and as of tonight it still feels like the “B-Show.” They did nothing to get me excited about the brand split or the shows going forward. Hopefully that changes but tonight did not come across as important or game changing in any way. This was more than a regular show, it was a go home show for a PPV and the big draft special; unfortunately it only felt like a variation on the same thing we always get.
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