Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 9.20.16

Csonka’s WWE Smackdown 9.20.16

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– #1 Contender’s Match: The Usos defeated American Alpha @ 10:25 via pin [***¼]
– Baron Corbin defeated Apollo Crews @ 2:45 via pin [NR]
– IC Title Match: IC Champion The Miz defeated Dolph Ziggler @ 15:58 via pin [***¾]
– Randy Orton defeated Erick Rowan @ 2:15 via pin [NR]
– Naomi and Nikki Bella defeated Carmella and Natalya @ 0:36 via DQ [NR]
– Dean Ambrose defeated John Cena @ 10:20 via pin [**½]

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– We get highlights from last week’s show.

Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss Contract Signing: Daniel Bryan is in the ring and is here for the Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss contract signing for their No Mercy title match. Bryan says we all know how things go, but they will keep this civil. The crowd booed and he told them not to boo civility. Becky is out first and promises to behave and have thick skin tonight. Bliss then arrived and made moisturizer jokes. Bliss ran down Becky, saying that her role in life is not to be a champion; she’s there to be the lovable superstar that never quote gets it. Bliss then flat out said Becky was born to be a loser. Becky says she agrees, she was not born to be the champion, she was born to live in a small house in Dublin and work jobs she did not like. But she believed when she heard if she tried she could be anything she wanted to be, and she wanted to be champion and she did it. She may not have been born to be champion, but she wants it way more then Bliss, and she fought to be a champion. Bliss completely mocked her for her motivational speech and said that she WAS born to be a champion, and she will take the title and expose Becky as a one hit wonder. Bliss signed and shoved the table on top of Becky. Becky fired the hell up and attacked her on the floor, leading to Bliss bailing. Becky then signed to the delight of the crowd. That was a hell of a babyface promo from Becky Lynch, and Bliss played her role of the entitled bully extremely well. That was a very good opening segment that didn’t go too long, actually felt like it meant something and showed some real emotion.

– Bryan walks backstage and runs into Miz and Maryse. Miz says he has a problem, and it is about his IC title defense tonight. Bryan says they can cancel the match and cancel the contract. Apparently the contract says that Miz has to defend the title because of the new deal. Bryan asked if there was a problem, and Miz said no.

#1 Contender’s Match: The Usos vs. American Alpha: The winners get the tag title shot at No Mercy. Alpha is also looking for revenge, since the Usos injured Gable and took Alpha out of the tag title tournament. Gable attacked right away and not only kicked ass, but attacked the knee of Jimmy. Rhyno and Slater watched on, enjoying some crackers and cheese wiz. Alpha maintained control, sending Jimmy to the floor but Jey tried to attack the knee. Jimmy then tripped him up in the ropes, allowing Jey to dropkick the knee. We went to break. Post break, The Usos had the heat, working the knee of Gable and working quick tags as they kept Gable in their corner. Gable eventually sent them to the floor and crawled for the tag, and got it. Jordan then ran wild, tossing Usos around with ease. STRAPS ARE DOWN as he hit corner spears and another overhead belly to belly for a near fall. he tried a suplex off the ropes, but Jimmy fought him off and hit the superkick, Jey hit the top rope splash but Gable made the diving save. Gable was tossed to the floor, still favoring the knee. Jordan hit another suplex, but ran into a superkick. He rebounded with a lariat, and both were down. Gable tried to pull himself up but fell on the apron. Jordan then refused to tag out, and got a sunset flip for the near fall. They again took out the knee of Gable, and stereo superkicks leveled Jordan. The top rope splash finished it. That was a good, and smartly worked match. He Usos were the opportunistic heels that attacked the pre-existing injury, and Jordan had to make the difficult decision to not tag out because Gable was too hurt. They played this very well, and the Usos winning the titles to set up the Alpha chase makes perfect sense.

– Slater and Rhyno ate and discussed their tag title defense. Slater said that they beat the Usos once and can do it again. Slater was discussing his plan to get the fans behind them and Rhyno was not impressed. The Usos arrived and said they got lucky at Backlash, and at No Mercy they would take the titles. They threatened the crackers, and then told them to handover the titles, or they would take out Slater’s knee. This did not make Rhyno happy.

– Jack Swagger joins commentary.

Baron Corbin vs. Apollo Crews: This is the match that was supposed to take place last week, but Corbin attacked Crews and was saved by the debuting Swagger. They talked trash right away and Crews fired away with rights and the Samoan drop for a near fall. They brawled to the floor, where Crews slammed Corbin to the barricade. An enziguri followed and Crews tossed Corbin back in and covered for 2. Corbin fired back with uppercuts and sent Crews back to the floor, where he laid in stiff forearms to the head of Crews. Corbin then laid in kicks as he trapped Crews against the post. Corbin then hit end of days for the win. Crews showed good fire early, but Corbin was made to look like an ass kicker to set him for the feud with Swagger. I really wish that they had some sort of direction for Crews, but unfortunately he was only here to make Corbin look good, which he did. Crews was really brought up too early, in ring he is ready, but he has no character or personality at all. He’s just the athletic black man that smiles, which to Kevin Dunn may in fact be a character, but is a large part as to why he has failed, there is nothing to connect to.

– Post match Corbin and Swagger had a stare down.

– Dean Ambrose prepares for his match with John Cena.

– We get a ridiculous Curt Hawkins video package; he did a bunch of silly voices.

– Naomi and Nikki Bella walk. They get interviewed about their match with Natalya and Carmella. Naomi says the glow is about being yourself and overcoming, and says Nikki also has the glow. Natalya’s glow fizzled out a long time ago as she is corrupt now. Nikki says she had to overcome a horrible injury and is a different person now. They plan to take out Natalya and Carmella tonight.

– Renee Young speaks with Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler admits that he has been winning lately, and needs to do whatever it takes to win. He runs down Miz, but he is the champion, but he is desperate. Ziggler needs to prove to himself that he belongs. He wasn’t supposed to be a world champion or Kent State hall of famer, but he did those things. All he has to do now is win the whole damn thing (nice PG shout out to Major League).

IC Champion The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler: Ziggler attacked and tried to take the battle to the mat, playing off of his amateur background. Miz bailed, they did the around the ring chase and Ziggler laid in some ground and pound, leading to Miz running again. Ziggler kept control and sent Miz back into the ring. Maryse then distracted Ziggler enough for Miz to dropkick him to the floor. Miz followed and worked him over, slamming him to the barricade. Back in, Miz hit the double axe handle off the top and went for the skull-crushing finale. Ziggler countered, but Miz kept control hitting a flapjack and the mocked Bryan with the yes gesture and kicks to the chest. Ziggler fired up and hit some rights, but got too overzealous and posted himself when Miz sidestepped the charge. Miz got a near fall off of the running kick to the face. Miz tried to ground Ziggler, but Ziggler as able to fight to his feet and escape. Ziggler then picked up the pacing; hitting the corner splash, but Miz again sent Ziggler to the post to take control back. Miz then hit the shotgun dropkicks in the corner, went up top but when he came off Ziggler countered with a dropkick for the double down. They fought to their feet; Ziggler escaped the powerbomb and scored with a DDT for a near fall. Ziggler missed the superkick and then ht the clothesline to send both to the floor for a commercial break. Post break the battled up top and Miz tried the sunset flip powerbomb, Ziggler fought, but Miz hit the slingshot sitout powerbomb for the near fall. Miz then started to work the leg, went for a figure four, but Ziggler got a rear naked choke; Miz got the ropes for the break. Ziggler again countered the skull-crushing finale and then hit the fameasser for a great near fall. Miz fought off the zigzag, but ran into an uppercut. Maryse was about to use her hairspray on Ziggler again, but she got caught and the ref tossed her to the back. Miz argued with the ref, and Ziggler got a rollup but Miz countered, but Ziggler hit the zigzag, and Miz survived! He then rolled to the floor and looked to grab the title and bail out. Ziggler cut him off and slammed Miz to the steps. Miz managed to grab the spray as the ref was getting rid of the IC title, and used it to blind the Miz, and hit the skull-crushing finale for the win. This was another great outing from these two, playing off of what worked in the Backlash match and providing good overall action as well as some strong near falls. Miz using Daniel Bryan spots to piss off Bryan and still managing to steal a win without Maryse again makes him completely unlikable and adds to Bryan’s frustration with his IC Champion.

Randy Orton vs. Erick Rowan: For some reason, Rowan has painted his sheep mask like a clown. It looks like someone’s kid got loose backstage and decorated it. Orton tried for an RKO right away, but got cut off and Rowan hit a powerslam and repeated elbows to take control. Rowan hit a dropkick and sent Orton to the floor, where Rowan kept attacking, slamming Orton to the steps. Back in the ring, Orton caught Rowan with the hangman’s DDT and then the RKO for the win. This was a quick win to get Orton back on TV and to continue the Wyatt feud. I think Rowan got too much in, as he took 90% of the match and then Orton hits two moves and wins. Orton is a star, Rowan is a henchman; a more dominant win for Orton, especially in the fallout of the Lesnar ass beating, would have fit better. It’s a small complaint though.

– Post match, the Wyatt’s gimmick hit and Rowan had disappeared bray then appeared on the careen and clapped for Orton. He said the fans loved Orton, and added that they wee connected and Orton is just a man while he is a God. A man can die but a God can’t. Run.

Naomi and Nikki Bella vs. Carmella and Natalya: Naomi was the only one that got an entrance. Natalya attacked Naomi at the bell to send her to the floor, leaving Nikki alone. Natalya got the sharp shooter but Carmella pulled Nikki out of it and to the floor, and… that was a DQ. Naomi took out Natalya and then ran off Carmella. This felt as if they were running out of time and had to cut the hell out of this. At the very least they got to do a little set up for the two feuds underneath Alexa and Becky.

– AJ Styles shined up the WWE title, and when he was interviewed about his rivals, he claimed he had none because he defeated Ambrose and Cena. He says the only way he can lose the title is in a triple threat match, because he doesn’t have to be beaten in that type of match. The champ is here and he plans to watch Cena and Ambrose tear each other apart tonight.

John Cena vs. Dean Ambrose: After some basic back and forth for the first two-minutes, Ambrose avoided a charge and Cena posted himself to send up to the break. Post break, Ambrose was running wild with forearms ad clotheslines. The bulldog followed, Cena managed tonight off dirty deeds and locked in the STF. Ambrose made the ropes, and then sent Cena to the floor. Ambrose then followed with the suicide dive and kept control. Back in the ring, Ambrose went up top and hit a high cross, but Cena rolled through and hit the AA, but Ambrose kicked out. Ambrose then countered the second AA and hit dirty deeds, but Cena kicked out. They traded strikes center ring, Ambrose then escaped an AA and got a sunset flip on Cena for the win. This was a fine, but average outing. They did nothing prior to the break, then they did some heat, finisher kick outs and then a weak counter finish. Not bad, just average

– Cena then sat there and did the sad loss face while holding up three fingers.

– Post match Styles hit the forearm smash on Cena, and then a PELE on Ambrose. Daniel Bryan then appeared and said that was “phenomenal.” He then announced that, as promised, Ambrose would get his one on one title match next week on Smackdown. Ambrose then hit dirty deeds on Styles to stand tall.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

I know that the two hours vs. three hours is part of it, but Smackdown was not only a better show, but it was extremely focused this week. Every segment meant something, they set up matches for the No Mercy PPV, they continued build for other matches and feuds and the Miz vs. Ziggler match was great. Add in the fact that they announced another big match for next week, and set that up with the Ambrose win and this was a very good show.