Csonka’s Smackdown Review 5.23.17

Csonka’s Smackdown Review 5.23.17

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Charlotte & Becky Lynch defeated Carmella & Natalya @ 7:40 via submission [**]
– Sami Zayn defeated Baron Corbin @ 0:15 via pin [NR]
– Tyler Breeze defeated Jey Uso @ 0:24 via pin [NR]
– Fandango defeated Jimmy Uso @ 0:30 via pin [NR]
– Smackdown Tag Team Title Match: Champions The Usos defeated Fandango & Tyler Breeze @ 3:13 via pin [**¾]
– AJ Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Kevin Owens & Dolph Ziggler @ 24:45 via pin [**¾]

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– We get highlights of Mahal’s WWE Title win; he then arrives in a limo.

Shane McMahon Announces Money in The Bank: Shane announced that Orton vs. Mahal will have their rematch for the title at MITB. Also, Styles, Corbin, Ziggler, Zayn, Owens and Nakamura are in the MITB match. Owens was left out, protested (noting that guys that lost at the PPV were in the match) and Shane then put him in the match. After they all banter back and forth, Shane books Corbin vs. Zayn and Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. AJ Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura for tonight. Solid opening segment to set up the main matches at MITB.

Charlotte & Becky Lynch vs. Carmella & Natalya: Naomi, Tamina & Ellsworth are at ringside. Becky and Carmella to begin. Becky takes her down and controls early. Carmella fights back, mocks Becky, who then gets a sunset flip for 2. Charlotte in and takes out Natalya. We get screen in screen with the commercial, with Carmella and Natalya bailing to the floor. Becky rolls Carmella back in, Natalya trips Becky up and Carmella celebrates. She then works over Becky in the corner, and hits the broncobuster. Tag to Natalya, who takes the heat on Becky and grounds her. They then work over Becky in their corner. Natalya then grounds her again, and gets in a cheap shot on Charlotte. Natalya then cuts off the tag, looks for the sharp shooter, but Becky escapes and runs wild off of the hot tag. The big boot connects for 2 on Natalya. Natalya up top now, Tamina distracts her but Naomi takes her out. Natalya hits a German on Charlotte, but Becky tags in and hits a missile dropkick. Carmella tags in, Naomi cuts off Ellsworth and Becky locks in the disarmher and Carmella taps. Charlotte & Becky Lynch defeated Carmella & Natalya @ 7:40 via submission [**] Solid opening match, with a really dull middle portion. Nice to see Becky actually pick up a win. Unfortunately the 50-50 booking really helps no one at this point, Carmella had two wins over Naomi, and now that momentum is gone.

Baron Corbin vs. Sami Zayn: Corbin looks to overpower Sami to begin, tosses him across the ring, but Sami then rolls him up for the win. Sami Zayn defeated Baron Corbin @ 0:15 via pin [NR] Well that’s one way to do it, at least they didn’t trade wins.

– Post match, Corbin beats down Sami, tossing him to the floor and then into the crowd. Corbin then lays Sami on the barricade and rains down with punches. Sami is stretchered out. We’ll see if this signals a change in direction for Corbin or if it is just WWE’s beat a guy down with losses prior to a MITB win.

– Nakamura & AJ meet backstage and AJ welcomes him to Smackdown. He knows they have had their battles and respect each other, and tonight they team. AJ tells Nakamura to follow his lead. Nakamura says at MITB, he will win and turn AJ’s house into his playground.

– Fashion Files time. Shane is in their office, and Fandango & Breeze arrive, and think Shane wants them to turn in their badges. Shane says they aren’t real cops, and Breeze asks if he wants their guns as well. They give up their toy guns and fashion accessories. Shane says they have proven themselves. They will have singles matches tonight against the Usos. Fandango steals a doughnut on the way out. Fandango & Breeze are not only still on the case, but continue to be a ton of fun.

– The ring is prepped for Mahal’s Punjabi celebration.

Let the #PunjabiCelebration BEGIN, because here comes the NEW @WWE Champion @JinderMahal! #SDLive #JinderMahal pic.twitter.com/gJKjNiigdx

— WWE (@WWE) May 24, 2017

Jinder Mahal’s Punjabi Celebration: A drummer and dancers do a routine prior to the entrance of The Maharaja & WWE Champion makes his entrance. The Singhs arrive first, and then Mahal, who is sporting a spiffy suit. Mahal says the crowd can hate on him, but in India, 1.3 billion are celebrating his victory. He’s booed because he looks & talks different, but now they boo him because he exposed them for fools when he defeated Orton. He enlightened them all, Orton is like American, on the decline. He is already the greatest WWE champion of all time. The people cannot ruin his celebration and hijack his crowning. This is about him celebrating his accomplishment; he celebrates for himself, Punjab & India. He speaks to his people in his language of Punjabi. The segment ends with fireworks. Solid but unspectacular segment, Mahal is carrying himself like a star, but I didn’t feel that it was a homerun segment. But I am glad that it went uninterrupted to really give him a chance.

– We get a dancing Lana promo; she’s allegedly coming soon.

Tyler Breeze w/Fandango vs. Jey Uso w/Jimmy: Jey is not thrilled with the match, cutting a promo. Fandango squirts him with water and Breeze rolls him up for the win. Tyler Breeze defeated Jey Uso @ 0:24 via pin [NR] Yup.

Fandango w/Tyler Breeze vs. Jimmy Uso w/Jey: Jimmy attacks at the bell Jey chases Breeze around and Fandango then rolls up Jimmy for the win. Fandango defeated Jimmy Uso @ 0:30 via pin [NR] This would have meant more if Sami hadn’t done the quick win earlier tonight, this feels like they are trying to rehab Fabreeze in five-minutes.

– After the matches, FaBreeze cuts a promo, asking for a tag team rematch. The Usos accept

Champions The Usos vs. Fandango & Tyler Breeze: JIP as the Usos work the heat on Breeze. Breeze fights back, sending an Uso to the floor and tags on Fandango. Fandango runs wild, hits Jey with the spin kick and then hits the tornado DDT for 2. The falcon arrow is countered (he didn’t do the deal) and the Usos followed with superkicks, but Fandango blocks the top rope splash and cradles an Uso for 2. Fandango up top, Jey distracts him and that allows Jimmy to fight with Fandango up top, Fandango knocks him off but the Usos worked a blind tag, Jey hits the top rope splash and the Usos retain. Champions The Usos defeated Fandango & Tyler Breeze @ 3:13 via pin [**¾] It was short, but action packed and fun with an invested crowd. This should set up the Usos to feud with the returning New Day.

SAMOAN SPLASH!!! @WWEUsos RETAINS THE #SDLive TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP!!! #TagTeamTiltes pic.twitter.com/XxB8ykB5OA

— Italo Santana (@BulletClubItal) May 24, 2017

– Shane is on the phone and Natalya arrives and says she is asking for her title shot, considering she won at the PPV. Carmella disputes this since she beat Naomi twice. Becky arrives, disputes and then Tamina says they all had chances and failed, and she wants a chance. Charlotte arrives and says the only reason the welcoming committee is a thing is because they wanted to stop her. Shane books a five-way elimination match between the five, with the winner challenging Naomi at MITB. Everyone needs to shut up and learn not to talk over each other.

– Kendrick hypes his street fight with Tozawa on 205 Live tonight.

Kevin Owens & Dolph Ziggler vs. AJ Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura: Ziggler and Styles worked a fun and fast paced back and forth, I guess Styles’ leg is ok now. Nakamura and Owens tag in, Owens talks trash but Nakamura lights him up with strikes, teases the Kinshasa, but Owens rolls to the floor. It’s odd that they wouldn’t save the screen in screen for the main event. Anyway, post break Nakamura frustrates Owens, works him over and then hits good vibrations in the corner. Owens fights back, lays the boots to Nakamura, and follows with rights. Ziggler tags in, and he grinds Nakamura’s face on the top rope and follows with chops in the corner. The neck breaker follows, and Ziggler covers for 2. Ziggler then locks in a body scissors and rear naked choke. Nakamura escapes, but Ziggler slams him back to the mat. Owens tags in, works over Nakamura in the corner and then hits the snap mare, kick to the back and then applies the chinlock. The crowd chants for Styles as Owens continues his attack on Owens. Ziggler tags in, but Nakamura fires up with strikes and kicks, but Ziggler cuts him off. Owens takes out Styles, hits the cannonball on Nakamura for the near fall as we take a commercial. Post break, and Ziggler hits a dropkick on Nakamura for 2. Owens tags in, keeps the heat on Nakamura and then works quick tags with Ziggler. Nakamura fights back with strikes, sidesteps Ziggler and he posts himself. Tag to Styles, he runs wild and works over Ziggler. The sliding forearm connects for 2, and then takes Owens to the floor. The ushigoroshi on Ziggler connects for 2. Styles looked for the clash, but Owens distracted him, allowing Ziggler to toss him to the floor. Owens hits the senton, and they tease another countout with Styles. Owens then works the headlock, and then hits a big backdrop and covers for 2. Owens then lays in clubbing strikes, Ziggler back in and he takes Styles up top, but Styles escapes the superplex, takes down Ziggler and Styles then gets the hot tag to Nakamura. He runs wild on both, and hits the corner knee on Owens for 2. The spin kick follows and Nakamura covers for 2. The reverse XPLODER follows to Ziggler, it breaks down, and finally Nakamura hits Owens with Kinshasa and picks up the win. AJ Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Kevin Owens & Dolph Ziggler @ 24:45 via pin [**¾] If you would have told me that I would get these four in a 25-minutre match I would have been thrilled, but potential doesn’t always equal what we end up getting. These are four really talented people, but I felt that the match felt largely lethargic, and went too long. There was no real energy or sense of urgency, I kept waiting for them to kick it up a notch, but it just never happened. It wasn’t bad in anyway, but for the most part, they worked a very basic and safe house show style match. It was pretty good, but left a lot to be desired. Nakamura got the win over the US Champion, which is all well and good, but much like his PPV debut, I don’t feel that the match layout and work did anything to present him as anything other than just another guy. The good news is that the win by Nakamura, and backstage interaction with Styles is already laying groundwork for them to feud, which I am all for.

– Where was Rusev?

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.2

The final score: review Average

The 411

The post-Backlash episode of Smackdown was a solid, but unspectacular show. I actually liked that there was no Randy Orton, as it allowed Mahal to have his celebration uninterrupted. I also liked that they set the top two matches for MITB, and started the work to set up the women’s match. The Fashion Police got another week, playing off of their positive crowd reactions, but I fear the moment New Day is back, that they will be forgotten. There was a lot of solid stuff, but nothing must see. Also, where was Rusev?