Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Weekly Wrasslin' Wrouindup (SD Live(

No, really, this was the highlight.
So, there's this after-show now, Talking Smack, on the WWE Network. And over the last month, they've started working more and more story angles into it above and beyond the usual kayfabe in WWE talk show settings. And last week, The Miz and Daniel Bryan went at it in a promo that is easily the best thing The Miz has done in years, if not ever. The gist of it is that The Miz wants respect from Bryan, Bryan calls The Miz a soft, cowardly wrestler, and The Miz tees off on Bryan's forced retirement.


Since the general viewership has no idea that happened, of course, that segment replay opens Smackdown so that the episode will make sense when, after the opening credits, The Miz heads toward the ring on a mission. He's very angry, and it works really well, especially if you try to forget that it's The Miz talking. This brings out Dolph Ziggler, and this actually makes a lot of sense given their current status and position. It'll be a bit weird for Ziggler to transition to the IC title hunt so soon after losing at the World Championship, but as a battle between two members of the New Intensity Club, I like it. Ziggler almost goads The Miz into an unsanctioned fight, but Maryse backs him off.

Our first real match is a Tag Team Tournament match, Hype Bros vs. Vaudevillains. I miss the Vaudevillains' old introduction. Neither team will win the championship, and I fully expect the finals to be Alpha/Usos, although the Heath Slater story may complicate things. The VV's work some great offense to start the match, but it goes unappreciated by both the crowd and the WWE in general, as the Hype Bros dominate the second half of a maybe four minute match to win and move on.

It's probably a bad idea to have Apollo Crews' gimmick be "nobody remembers who I am", but he does challenge AJ Styles to a match. and it goes how you'd expect, classic "make the young guy look good before you beat him" booking.

Like long, pre-taped sketches? Then you'll loave a visit to Heath SLater's trailer where you meet his wife, Beulah, and Rhyno is hanging out there, too.

Bray Wyatt is gonna be spooky at Randy Orton for a couple weeks.

Everybody's in the pool for the women's match. Alexa and Natalya are wrestling with Becky and Naomi, with Brie at ringsisde and  Carmella attacking Brie costing the face team the match. This is all standard stuff.

For some reason, The Headbangers from the 90's are in the tag team tournament to lose in a short match to Slater and Rhyno. Basically, Slater gets beat up by the "legends", Rhyno tags in, Gores one of them, and wins.

Apparently Raw's monopoly on pointless monsters squashing local talent is over, as one Gary "The Milkman" Millman demands an opponent, strips down to his underwear, and is promptly-ish chokeslammed by Kane, who, oh yeah, was drafted to Smackdown. Baron Corbin's entrance interrupts Kane's exit, which is usually a sign of a feud but may be a sign of poor time management. Wasn't Corbin feuding with Kalisto? What happened with that? Corbin is here to wrestle Ambrose in the main event with AJ Styles at ringside.

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