WWE SmackDown – June 26, 2020 (Review)

WWE SmackDown – June 26, 2020 (Review)

It’s tough being a wrestling fan these days. More to the point, as SmackDown rolls around like janky clockwork, it’s particularly difficult being a WWE fan.

As if the countless gut-wrenching, brave stories shared over the course of last week weren’t enough, WWE finally decided that the current pandemic was a serious issue. Or rather, nature made that decision for them, as some of its talent tested positive for the disease after taking it upon themselves to get tested.

For weeks, the only preventative measures being taken by the company were to screen the temperatures of people entering the performance centre. While the rest of the world took action to fight the disease, WWE did less than nothing. They actively worked against containing its spread – prohibiting masks, foregoing testing and ignoring social distancing guidelines.

WWE’s shocking practices risked the lives of not only its wrestlers, but also their families. People could’ve died and still might. And yet, the company didn’t seem to care. It doesn’t care about its employees, it doesn’t care about providing a safe work environment and it doesn’t care about its fans.

Why is any of this relevant, outside of the morose feeling it generates? Because finally WWE was forced to change. By making all of these troubling events public – the “speaking out” movement and the infection rate – as painful as it’s been, has finally brought enough pressure to bear on the company for it to change. We’re seeing health measures being enacted and action being taken against those accused of various degrees of harassment. And if we keep the pressure up, more change will be forced.

SmackDown felt the brunt of these recent events. With the show being forced to suddenly change as a result of the majority of its wrestlers being unavailable, it created a substantially curtailed rundown. Many of the segments and matches marketed ahead of time were suddenly scrapped in favour of a Special Undertaker Tribute.

How did it all pan out? Let’s get to the review.


The Best of Smackdown

The End of a Legend

Following the announcement of his in-ring retirement, The Undertaker was given a lengthy tribute to open SmackDown. It was undoubtedly well deserved and, given the circumstances, decently executed.

The show started with a standing ovation from the entire locker room, chanting ‘Taker’s name. It was a tad hokey but the sentiment was admirable. From there we transitioned into a replay of the Boneyard Match at WrestleMania 36, which turned out to be the ‘Phenom’s retirement match.

The encounter was interrupted by video tributes from the likes of John Cena, Edge and… Roman Reigns! The last time we almost saw the ‘Big Dog’, he was being edited out of Seth Rollins’ championship matches. When people were calling him the new John Cena, I didn’t realise it was because we couldn’t see him.

Considering that it appeared to be the result of enforced last-minute changes, this tribute was a solid attempt at sending off the ‘Deadman’. Of course The Undertaker’s storied career deserves much more than a few talking heads and a match replay. But hopefully that comes with the eventual Hall of Fame induction.

New Day Face New Threats

Having been attacked by Cesaro and Nakamura following their match against the Lucha House Party last week, New Day competed against those dastardly heels in 8-man tag action. New Day teamed with Lucha House Party to take on Cesaro, Nakamura, Miz and John Morrison.

Before the match even started, Big E was just doing Big E things… and it was the greatest! He barrel-rolled to the ring like on over-caffeinated middle schooler. He’s the best.

Once the bell rang though, it’s clear how robust the upper echelon of SmackDown’s tag division is. These four teams are just phenomenal athletes with terrific chemistry. This was a purely chaotic encounter, with bodies crashing all over the place.

The final phases saw New Day and Cesaro & Nakamura brawling to the back, leaving Lucha House Party in the ring with Miz and Morrison. Lince Dorado took out Morrison with a ridiculous hurricanrana off the top rope to the outside, while Gran Metalik landed an elbow drop on Miz for the pin. A fun match that possibly established two new title challengers.


The Worst of SmackDown

Hardy Stands Up for the Deadman

Following the opening tribute, Baron Corbin had some less than kind words to share about The Undertaker. He felt that ‘Taker was holding him down and taking money out of his pocket.

This riled up Jeff Hardy – who had an early career moment when he fought the ‘Phenom’ for the WWE Title in 2002. The resulting brawl set up the night’s main event.

This seemed entirely gratuitous and undercut the tone of the show. I understand the desire to provide some storyline reasoning for Jeff to want to take on Corbin, but this just wasn’t it. The intention was to pay tribute to The Undertaker. You didn’t need some guy cutting a promo about how awful he was.

The match itself was incredibly dull too. Corbin spent six lifetimes wearing down Hardy with shoulder tackles and chin locks. All of SmackDown’s babyfaces found their way to ringside around the match’s midpoint, and they cheered Hardy as the protector of Undertaker’s honour.

Out of nowhere, Jeff suddenly hit a Swanton Bomb for the victory. Almost immediately, Corbin recovered to attack Hardy. Most of the babyfaces stood idly by until New Day came to Hardy’s aid. Big E hit the Big Ending, Braun Strowman landed a Powerslam and Matt Riddle rounded the trifecta out with a Flowing Bro.

SmackDown went off the air with Michael Cole screaming about what a terrific tribute this had been, while everyone chanted ‘Taker’s name. It was underwhelming.

Friendly Rivalry

SmackDown hosted a fatal four-way for a shot at the brand’s Women’s Title. Aside from Dana Brooke and Lacey Evans, the match oddly pitted Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross against each other. And their unity was soon put to the test when Cross attempted a quick roll-up on her tag team partner.

The already weird dynamic was done no favours by having Sasha Banks and Bayley on commentary. I’m usually a fan of the Tag Team Champions, but this week they were uncharacteristically shrill and obnoxious.

The finish saw Evans clock Brooke with the Women’s Right and Cross sneak in to roll-up the ‘Sassy Southern Belle’ for the three-count. A beaming Alexa Bliss embraced her partner, without so much as a hint of jealousy or hard feelings. So unless this leads to a split between the pair, what exactly was the point of putting them in the match together?

On the bright side, the action was solid and I am looking forward to seeing Nikki take on Bayley at Extreme Rules: Horrible Show. I’m kidding, of course. It’s Horror Show – which has way better connotations.

Braun Descends Deeper Into the Swamp

Braun Strowman took to the ring, apparently to convince us that he had been utterly terrified of Bray Wyatt when he first met him. He recalled some ludicrous story about a swamp snake repeatedly biting Wyatt in the face. Except Bray was laughing throughout and he wasn’t bleeding. Because he was the snake, you see. This was like Aesop’s Fables retold by a drunk guy at a bar.

Braun challenged Bray to a fight at the old Wyatt Family swamp, which would serve as Bray’s final destruction. This promo was intercut with the nonsense flashes we used to see when Wyatt was still a cult leader. The final shot was of a laughing Bray and Strowman mimicking his evil cackle.

Was Braun aware of the flashes interrupting his promo? Or were we meant to believe this was all playing out in his head? Either way, it was just a strange, heavily-scripted segment, leading to another cinematic match I have no desire to see.


Overall Rating for the Show (From best to worst: Smacknificent, SmackTastic, Smack Bang in the Middle, SmackDowner and A Smack in the Face)

This was a particularly strange episode of SmackDown, focused almost entirely on the retirement of The Undertaker. But what could have been a touching tribute was slightly undone by the fact that it was all put together fairly last-minute and interspersed with poor matches.

So what we got was a full replay of the Boneyard Match from April and an uninspired show-long plot to batter Baron Corbin, as the lone detractor of ‘Taker’s career. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t offensively bad either… which has sadly become Corbin’s credo of late.

Instead, outright awfulness remains the sole domain of Braun Strowman. I have no idea why WWE decided to resuscitate the worst version of Bray Wyatt for this feud, but it’s so far only served to drag things down into the family swamp. Which makes it a fitting location for their final encounter (which almost certainly won’t be their final encounter).

Only the fatal four-way tag match could be considered a success. But even that was not enough to elevate SmackDown above a SmackDowner this week.

Share all your SmackDown related thoughts with us on Twitter and check out WrestleTalk.com to stay up-to-date with all the latest wrestling news.

4 years ago by Nicholas Holicki

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