WWE SmackDown – July 17, 2020 (Review)

There is good news ahead of this edition of Friday Night SmackDown. And that is, if you watched last week’s abomination, things can only get better. That is, of course, on the rather safe assumption that we won’t be getting another Karaoke Showdown.

On the other hand, there was one massive concern lurking ahead of The Horror Show at Extreme Rules. And that is, quite simply – what on Earth is WWE thinking heading into the almost unavoidably terrible pay-per-view this Sunday?

At present, the card for the July showpiece (along with my brief editorial) reads as follows. Drew McIntyre is scheduled to defend his WWE Title against Dolph Ziggler. As if that wasn’t already confounding enough, the match will feature a stipulation of Ziggler’s choosing – a stipulation he promises will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Given the other matches on the Extreme Rules card, that truly is a chilling prospect.

To that point, Braun Strowman is set to face some or other version of Bray Wyatt in a… good Lord… Swamp Match. Will it involve a pinfall or is just about escaping the swamp? Why is WWE dispatching referees, camera men and other production staff to such a spooky, ostensibly life-threatening spot?

Elsewhere, Rey Mysterio and Seth Rollins will compete in a match where the sole objective is to literally remove your opponent’s eye. Which is presumably in response to everyone rolling theirs whenever they hear about that match.

Rounding out the show are three regular singles matches, looking rather benign by contrast. Bayley takes on Nikki Cross, Asuka faces Sasha Banks and Apollo Crews squares off against MVP.

We live in some crazy times at present. But even by 2020 standards, Sunday’s show promises (threatens?) to be absolutely stark, raving bonkers. So how would SmackDown go about settling the final pieces ahead of the pay-per-view? To find out, we turn to the review.

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The Best of Smackdown

Riddle’s Shot at Gold

Before the Intercontinental Title match closed the night, Baron Corbin announced via backstage interview that he would be doing everything in his power to ensure that Matt Riddle does not walk out with the belt. Apparently he doesn’t like that Riddle wrestles barefoot. It’s a personal affront to the man who strolls around wearing a plastic crown.

We’ve reached a strange place when the Intercontinental Title feels significantly more important than the Universal Championship. And yet, it undeniably does.

If at first you don't succeed, try, and try again. #SmackDown #ICTitle @SuperKingofBros @AJStylesOrg pic.twitter.com/YnBkSvbFbf

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) July 18, 2020

The story of the match dated back to last month, when Riddle defeated AJ Styles in a non-title contest on his first night on SmackDown. The question was then whether he could do it again with the gold on the line or whether – as AJ Styles contended – his victory had simply been a “fluke”.

The contest soon spilled to the outside, as Styles tried to drive Riddle into the announce table, only to be booted in the face. Riddle’s explosiveness seemed to catch Styles off-guard and he initially struggled to establish himself in the match.

But once AJ started targeting Riddle’s left leg, things began to turn around for the Champion. Whenever he found himself on the back foot, he would regain the upper hand with a swift kick to his opponent’s damaged limb.

This of course was all designed to soften Riddle up for the Calf Crusher. But when the IC Champ went to lock in the hold, Riddle harnessed his strength and BJJ skills to manoeuvre Styles into the Bro-mission instead.

Respect? Apparently, not yet.#SmackDown #ICTitle @AJStylesOrg @BaronCorbinWWE @SuperKingofBros pic.twitter.com/GxIEo7aU2X

— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2020

The Champion however had the savvy to twist his body until Riddle’s shoulders were on the mat and he scored the shock pinfall. The men shook hands after the epic contest, but just at that moment, Corbin snuck into the ring and blindsided Riddle while Styles looked on. An End of Days punctuated the attack, seemingly setting up a feud for next week.

Champions vs. Challengers

On the surface, a tag match between Bayley & Banks and Cross & Asuka makes a lot of sense, in the usual WWE way. In just two days. Bayley will defend her SmackDown Women’s title against Cross, while Banks will challenge Asuka for the Raw counterpart.

But when considered against the larger contest, this should be an easy proposition for Banks and Bayley. They are, after all, best friends, frequent partners and the current Women’s Tag Team Champions. For all we know, Asuka and Nikki Cross just met five minutes before the bell rang.

To a certain extent, the match mirrored this obvious dynamic, with the champs executing frequent tags and largely dominating their challengers. But Asuka & Cross hung in, and when the match broke down into a brawl, it looked like they may have a chance of sneaking one.

.@NikkiCrossWWE is crushed.#SmackDown #WomensChampion @itsBayleyWWE pins her #ExtremeRules' opponent just days before their championship collision! @SashaBanksWWE pic.twitter.com/Ym1Ct9sJ3V

— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2020

Instead, Bayley rolled Cross up – once again – using the ropes as leverage to secure the pin. This was a solid match with logical booking and a suitably ambiguous finish.

To regain some of her momentum, Nikki Cross attacked Bayley in the hallways of the Performance Centre later in the night. I could’ve done without this unnecessary step.

The Evolution of Lacey Evans

Following their run-in last week, Lacey Evans and Naomi had a quick match last night. It’s clear that Evans is rapidly turning heel, as she tied Naomi to the ropes by her hair and engaged in other shenanigans before winning with the Women’s Right.

Brilliant…..And fed up. 💅👒 #NothingButNasties #NotSorry #SmackDownOnFox https://t.co/8CEW4HPFeo

— Macey Estrella (@LimitlessMacey) July 18, 2020

Your enjoyment of this brief clash will largely depend on your feelings towards seeing Naomi squashed and Evans return to villainy. I personally don’t mind either (although Naomi should certainly be featured more in future).

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The Worst of SmackDown

A Unique Opening

SmackDown got underway with every wrestler scheduled to appear on the show delivering straight-to-camera promos, overlaid by the most jarringly dramatic soundtrack.

With each protagonist given a few seconds to make a point, this felt more like roll-call than a self-standing, coherent segment. In rapid-fire form, we jumped erratically from one feud to the next.

"Tonight, I defend my #ICTitle against that BAREFOOT BUM, MATT RIDDLE!… Tonight, no shoes, no surprises and NO CHANCE that @SuperKingofBros is gonna beat me!" – #ICChampion @AJStylesOrg #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/89trjZ4veM

— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2020

AJ Styles vowed to successfully defend his Intercontinental Title. Matt Riddle countered that he would be the one walking out with the belt. Alexa Bliss announced that she had a special guest on her crumby talkshow, before pledging not to “Bliss and tell“. Ugh.

John Morrison made a joke about fighting Jean-Claude Van Damme on a yacht, which cut to Braun Strowman claiming that he would squash Morrison. Finally, we wrapped up with Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura saying they would beat The New Day, which apparently is now a match at Extreme Rules. Not just that, but the victors tonight get to pick the stipulation for that Championship contest.

I appreciate that SmackDown was attempting something new. But this unfocused mess wasn’t it.

A Match To Decide Another Match

As foreshadowed in the quick-fire opening salvo, Cesaro faced Big E, with a match involving their partners due to be repeated on Sunday with the belts on the line. Crucially though, whichever man won last night would afford his team the advantage of picking the stipulation for Extreme Rules.

The match was fine – as you’d expect from these two talented wrestlers – but structurally, there were issues here. First of all, why are matches summarily being announced two days before the pay-per-view? It demonstrates a severe lack of foresight and immediately makes the match concerned feel unimportant. Like an after-dinner mint you pick up from the front desk out of habit.

Secondly, I despise WWE’s crutch of having contenders face the champions purely to set up a future match. Why would I want to watch a match when you’ve essentially just shown it to me days earlier? That goes doubly for this feud. Cesaro & Nakamura earned the title shot after facing The New Day last week. Then this match was designed to decide the stipulation. And they’ll square off again on Sunday. It’s too repetitive.

Lastly, winning the right to pick the stipulation virtually guarantees a loss in the main match (see Dolph vs Drew).

https://twitter.com/WWEUniverse/status/1284282096379473925

Regardless, Cesaro won with a Neutraliser. Then there were some shenanigans with tables, much as there was last week. Nobody went through one on this occasion, but the efforts seemingly indicated the weekend’s tag match will be a tables match. That was indeed confirmed during a backstage promo.

WWE’s Shameless Self-promotion

The ‘Always Alluring’ Alexa Bliss was up next to make a major announcement. Before doing so however, we were encouraged to give WWE a round of applause as yesterday officially marked the five year anniversary of the Women’s Revolution. I kid you not, I almost threw up. Trotting women out to publicly pat their employer on the back for NOT running an antiquated, chauvinistic operation is the height of self-serving arrogance. This is why they’re considered the “evil empire” of the wrestling world.

Ladies and gentleman, let us, and @GregHamiltonWWE, introduce you to the "always alluring" @AlexaBliss_WWE and her "enthusiastic best friend" @NikkiCrossWWE! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/TqvwVGFYfs

— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2020

But anyway, Bliss was there to make some bold predictions. She revealed that the Los Angeles Lakers would win the NBA Championship – a terrible choice for a babyface. She predicted that Matt Riddle would win the IC Title and that Braun Strowman would beat Bray Wyatt at Extreme Rules. One for three isn’t bad I suppose.

Bliss was about to reveal her special guest, when Bayley and Banks interrupted. They were in typically peak form, claiming that they embodied the entire women’s revolution. Before they completely stole the show, Bliss introduced her “special” guest. It was just Asuka. Of course the Raw Women’s Champion is a big star, but the build-up had completely overshadowed the payoff here.

After a brief fracas, Alexa somehow gained the authority to book a tag match pitting Banks & Bayley against Cross & Asuka. With the exception of the Women’s Tag Champs, this was another complete dud of a segment.

A Reminder of Wyatt’s Lows

We got a throwback edition of the Firefly Funhouse this week. By “throwback”, I don’t mean to last year when they were by some margin the best thing in WWE.

No, I mean all the way back to when Bray Wyatt was – by his own admission – awful. Wyatt entered the frame with his Hawaiian shirt, humming the lyrics to “He’s Got the Whole World in his Hands“, fully embracing the rambling cult leader character he literally sawed in half when he became The Fiend.

"Once you enter, you can never truly leave… Come home."#SmackDown #TheHorrorShow #ExtremeRules @WWEBrayWyatt @BraunStrowman pic.twitter.com/SsLMazYvZl

— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2020

Just to reinforce the point, he then waffled incoherently about swamps and snakes and skin for three minutes. This was everything bad about Bray Wyatt. This was precisely the reason he needed to reinvent himself. I have absolutely no idea why this feud with Strowman has reverted Bray back to the character universally loathed, when he had created something so genius to replace it.

To Beat The Fiend, One Must Beat the Cult Leader

Prior to eviscerating John Morrison, Braun Strowman articulated a new explanation for why he needed to face Bray Wyatt at the family swamp. I say “articulated” but really he just yelled until he almost hyperventilated.

"I am ready and willing to walk through the gates of Hell and slap The Devil himself in the face… I have to go home before HE ends ME!"

We've 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 seen @BraunStrowman like this. #SmackDown #ExtremeRules pic.twitter.com/phBTePY5ko

— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2020

One-note delivery aside, the content was somehow even more baffling. Apparently Strowman needs to face the cult leader version of Bray, to destroy him before he can evolve into The Fiend. While I appreciate that we’ve finally been given some rationale for the match, it wasn’t exactly satisfying.

To whit, Bray was The Fiend before conveniently becoming the cult leader for purposes of this feud. So why did he revert back to this seemingly less potent version of himself? Also, how does defeating Bray in a swamp – even the family swamp – keep The Fiend at bay? I had more questions than answers after this promo.

Before I could consider this any further though, Braun squashed John Morrison, to the point that medical attention was called to tend to Morrison. He however refused assistance and painfully struggled to his feet. While Morrison limped away from ringside, complaining about a lack of feeling in his legs, Lacey Evans strutted out completely undeterred by the possible paralysis.

Slightly undercutting the tone there, WWE.

A Trip to the Bar Made Official

The bar fight between Jeff Hardy and Sheamus is happening next week on SmackDown. To keep the ball rolling, Sheamus jumped Jeff backstage and chuckled about his “demons” coming back to haunt him.

"I'm here to CLEANSE you of your demons, see you on #SmackDown next week, fella." – @WWESheamus to @JEFFHARDYBRAND pic.twitter.com/zNBy8N7Vqd

— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2020

It’s still derivative. It’s still depressing. And it still does little to inspire me to watch the match.

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

While admittedly an improvement over last week, SmackDown remained in the doldrums last night with lacklustre booking and one-dimensional promo work.

The show tried a new presentation, which some may see as invigorating but I felt was rather clumsy. There were other stumbles during the Moment of Bliss segment and in the tag title picture. But by far the worst element of Friday nights remains the Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman feud. Braun has devolved into a big, shouty man who’s only defining characteristic is that he’s big and shouty. Similarly, Bray Wyatt has devolved into his worst, cult leader persona.

.@WWECesaro's win over @WWEBigE served as a tie-breaker in the @SNICKERS and @DollarGeneral vote, so now #TheNewDay will defend the #SmackDown #TagTeamTitles in a TABLES MATCH at The Horror Show at @WWE #ExtremeRules! @TrueKofi @ShinsukeN https://t.co/smzlgI3HJJ

— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2020

Thankfully we were treated to more shenanigans from Bayley and Sasha Banks, who seem to have mastered this lockdown dynamic. And AJ Styles and Matt Riddle put on a tremendous display to close the show. But despite their efforts, SmackDown remained bad. As in, SmackDowner.

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• review
• July 17 2020
• Smackdown
• wwe

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