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Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 8.14.18

August 14, 2018 | Posted by Larry Csonka
WWE Smackdown Review 8.14.18
6.8
The 411 Rating
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Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 8.14.18  

Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 8.14.18

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Charlotte & Becky Lynch defeated Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville @ 11:03 via submission [**¾]
– New Day defeated Sanity @ 11:10 via pin [***½]
– Andrade “Cien” Almas defeated Aiden English @ 1:30 via pin [NR]
– Jeff Hardy defeated Shelton Benjamin @ 4:33 via pin [**¼]


– Follow all of my reviews at this link.

– I looked at “6 Ideas For Extra WWE Programming on The Fox Networks” at this link.

– You can check out my top 31 matches of JULY list at this link.

MY LATEST APPEARANCE ON SUNDAY NIGHT’S MAIN EVENT!

It’s Ladies Night: Charlotte, Becky Lynch, & Carmella make their way to the ring. Charlotte & Becky are in their gear, Carmella is not. Carmella complains about being forced into a triple threat match, is sick of her opponents faces, and is sick that she’s punished for being so great, She then runs down Becky and says she can’t win at Summerslam. Becky admits that she didn’t want Charlotte in the Summerslam match, only because she’s such an amazing athlete. Carmella reminds us that she beat Charlotte twice. Carmella praises al of Charlotte’s accomplishments, but says Becky only won the title because Charlotte was on Raw. Charlotte says that Carmella’s run ends on Sunday, she pulled out all of the tricks and is a diva living in a women’s era. Carmella says she’s proud to be a divas because she has things they don’t have, her looks, body, and charisma, and of course the championship. Paige arrives and says they owe her for losing to Charlotte, adding her to the Summerslam match. Paige sends Carmella to commentary and books a tag team match with Charlotte & Becky teaming, against Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. This was a solid segment to add to the build for Sunday’s title match.

Charlotte & Becky Lynch vs. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville: Charlotte and Deville to begin. Deville looks to ground things early, but Charlotte fights out and back to her feet. Deville fights off the figure four and we get a stand off until Charlotte lays in chops. Lynch tags in and maintains control, hitting leg drops and covering for 2. Mandy tags in and takes control, grounding Becky, but Becky quickly fights back, hits a dropkick and tags in Charlotte. Rose quickly slams her down by her hair, Deville back in and Charlotte avoids the knee strike and hits an XPLODER. Lynch tags in and attacks Deville on the floor. Back in and Charlotte covers for 2. Charlotte takes out Rose, and Deville cuts off Charlotte with kicks, and Mandy rushes in off the blind tags with a knee strike. We go screen in screen as Mandy takes the heat on Charlotte, laying the boots to her in the corner. Deville back in as they work quick tags, isolating Charlotte, but Charlotte fights them off and tags in Lynch. Dropkick by Lynch, but Deville is in to cut her off. Rose tags back in and grounds Lynch, Mandy lays in strikes and Deville is in for double teams. Deville follows with knee strikes and covers for 2. Deville grounds the action, working a body scissors. Back to full screen and Deville works her over in the corner and tags in Mandy. Lynch fights her off with kicks, but Mandy hits a slam and tags in Deville. Lynch hits an enziguri and both are down. Lynch looks for a tag, Rose in and Lynch cuts her off with clotheslines and fires up with uppercuts and an XPLODER. Deville in and she takes her out and knocks her to the floor. The disarmher finishes Mandy. Charlotte & Becky Lynch defeated Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville @ 11:03 via submission [**¾] This was a pretty good match, with the twist of Becky refusing to tag in Charlotte and picking up the win to prove herself ahead of Summerslam.

– Miz & Maryse hype Miz & Mrs, and announces that their show is getting a second season.

– Charlotte & Becky celebrate and Charlotte says Becky didn’t have to do it all on her own. Charlotte wishes her luck and Becky says she doesn’t need it. Charlotte says may the best woman win and Becky says, “she will.”

The Bludgeon Brothers vs. Jimmy, Johnny, & Joey Boots & Tights: The Bludgeons attack and the bludgeoning has begun. They kick the shit out of them on the floor, and back in, the doomsday device connects. The match just stops as commentary says it never officially started. BLUDGEONING!

– We now get a video package, looking at the start of the Miz vs. Bryan feud in the original NXT, 8-years ago. This was spectacular stuff, and as usual, a tremendous video package from WWE.

The New Day (Woods, Kofi, & Big E) vs. Sanity (Young, Dain, & Wolfe): Vince McMahon has officially discovered Killian Dain as he’s now wearing a singlet. Big E and Young to begin. They work into some back and forth until Big E hits a belly to belly for 2. Kofi tags in and Big E and he work double teams and Kofi covers for 2. Wolfe low bridges Kofi to the floor and then slams him off of the apron. Back in and Wolfe covers for 2. Sanity maintains control, with Dain tagging in. They work up top and Kofi fights him off until Dain hits a dropkick. The fisherman’s buster follows. Wolf tags in and hits a flying uppercut for 2. Post break and Kofi hits a desperation DDT. Hit tag to Woods, he runs wild and works over Wolfe with strikes. The dropkick follows. Wood shits an enziguri and tornado DDT for 2 as Young flies in to make the save. Dain takes out Big E & Kofi, and Young tags in and Sanity hits a DVD/back breaker combo for 2. Dain tags in and Woods counters back with chops but Dain hits the divide for 2. Big E makes the save and starts tossing bodies around as it completely breaks down as Kofi hits a dive to the floor. Midnight hour finishes Dain. New Day defeated Sanity @ 11:10 via pin [***½] This was an overall very good match with a hot closing stretch and New Day picking up momentum ahead of Sunday’s title match. It was a ton of fun, but it sucks for Sanity though.

– We now get a video package, looking at the start of the Miz vs. Bryan feud, their separate paths to the top, Bryan’s retirement, his run as Smackdown GM, and then the famed Talking Smack incident. This was another great video package, and the added comments from both again added a ton to it. The WWE production crew deserves a raise for this high quality work, but they also had tremendous material to work with.

– Paige meets with Samoa Joe and she tells him not to ruin her Summerslam main event tonight, and asks him to be professional. Joe says he loved his aggression and unpredictability. He promises to do what he damn well pleases, when he damn well wants to. Or, he could just hang out back here, and then tells Paige to enjoy her night. Joe is awesome.

Andrade “Cien” Almas w/Zelina Vega vs. Aiden English: English is here to make things up to Rusev & Lana for his recent mistakes, and even sings a song about it. JIP with Almas in control, sending English to the buckles. English cuts off the double knees with a lariat and the frog splash gets 2. Almas stuns him off toe ropes, hits a back elbow and double knees. The hammerlock DDT finishes it. Andrade “Cien” Almas defeated Aiden English @ 1:30 via pin [NR] This was exactly what it needed to be.

– Vega and Almas plan to end Rusev Day & Lana Day on Sunday. Vega calls Lana dead weight that’s weighing down Rusev. Rusev & Lana arrive and Rusev says their luck runs out on Sunday and that Vega will learn why Lana is the best and Lana is number 1. Because Summerslam falls on Rusev Day.

– Paige meets with AJ, and she also asks him to be professional tonight. AJ says he made his wife a promise he plans to keep.

– We get a flashback to the famous “who pied Kevin Owens” food fight.

– We get the final installment of the Miz vs. Bryan series, looking at Bryan’s return and how we got to our Summerslam match. These videos have easily been the best parts of the show; just excellent stuff overall with Miz coming off as the most spectacular of assholes and Bryan as the valiant babyface. Someone set these clips to My Way, stat!

Jeff Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin: JIP as Benjamin is in control. He grounds the action, Jeff fights to his feet only for Benjamin to take him back down. Jeff fights back, hits a jawbreaker, and then follows with whisper in the wind for 2. Jeff lays in rights, an atomic drop, leg drop to the balls and a basement dropkick or 2. Jeff hits the mule kick but Benjamin counters the corner dropkick only for Jeff to hit an inverted twist of fate. Jeff up top, Benjamin cuts him off with a knee strike and superplex for 2. Jeff hits sling blade and the twist of fate and the standing splash for the win. Jeff Hardy defeated Shelton Benjamin @ 4:33 via pin [**¼] This was short but ok as Jeff gets momentum ahead of Summerslam.

– Post match, Nakamura attacks, but Jeff hits twist of fate and the swanton to stand tall. Randy Orton watches on…

AJ Styles’ Summerslam Promise: Styles arrives for our main event angle. The crowd loves Styles tonight, and he thanks them. Styles says for almost 20-years he’s competed against the best all over the world. But after he won the WWE Title, he learned about he pressure of being champion. And Joe has hit his pressure points, first by blindsiding him and then by bringing his family into it. Joe stabbed him in the back and then in the heart. Joe got him to lose his cool by bringing his family into it, and he felt he had to defend himself, and he got emotional. Joe took him to a dark place. But then Styles went home, hugged his kids and wife. His wife told him not to lose his cool and that he had to remain focused. Joe now arrives and pulls out a piece of paper, and says what Styles said isn’t true. He has a letter from a member of the WWE Universe. “Dear Joe I heard what you said about Styles and his family, it was disgusting and made me ill, because they were true. I used to be a Styles fan, but now it’s clear Styles never wanted kids or wife. Styles will do anything to stay away from his family and I hope you win at Summerslam so he can lose what he loves, because I lost him a long time ago, my greatest gratitude, Wendy Styles.” This was an overall solid segment to build to Sunday’s WWE Title match, I love Joe playing mind games with AJ, but it came off as a flat end to the show.

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

 photo fe36ffd0-0da4-4e3b-a2d3-b026b341dd87_zps41ef5d61.jpg
“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.8
The final score: review Average
The 411
This week’s episode of WWE Smackdown was a solid piece of business, but not quite as good as previous weeks. The show stayed focused on building to Summerslam, the people that should have won, did win, but the real must-see stuff were the Bryan/Miz video packages, they were really amazing.
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