After the show ended, it struck me that in spite of a title change on this episode of SmackDown Live, it all felt like one big epilogue.
The show opened with the New Day celebrating under an awesome gigantic balloon rainbow where they basically said the things any good guy/gal says when they win. Big E’s splits moment was organic and really funny, and Xavier trying to describe how much Kofi’s victory meant to him was touching. Kofi had his family ringside too, and that was another wonderful moment.
But here’s the thing about an epilogue; it generally ends with a “but the story moves on” sort of moment, and we got that too. The Bar came out to be dumb – sorry, still pissed at them from their interruption on Raw – and they apparently want to create the European Union or something with Drew McIntyre. Either way, they challenged the New Day to a 6-man tag in the main event and lost for their trouble.
Other than that? Not much happened. The match was perfectly fine, but we’re all on the tail-end of so much wrestling this past weekend. So...yeah! It was good. But it’s good in a “cool, I’m going to put the book down now” kind of way.
The Hardy Boyz are SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions
Here’s the one newsworthy moment of this SmackDown Live: the Hardy Boyz got a singles match with the Usos and escaped the Penitentiary with some gold.
It was a decent match, but I’m more interested in what this means moving forward than anything else. Does this mean the Usos are headed to Raw? That tag division is starving for tag team talent, so I’d be extremely happy with that move. As for the Hardys, perhaps this opens them up to show a bit of the outside-of-WWE creativity that has been missing. SmackDown has some good characters right now to contrast them, but that could all change with the Shakeup next week.
I will say this – Matt Hardy has looked noticeably healthier to me in this recent return. Sooooo...let’s see where they go with this.
Oh, and Lars Sullivan beat them up. Brooklyn chanted “you can’t wrestle” at him, but that’s silly. Everybody knows that’s 5-Star Lars, Brooklyn!
One hell of a 6-man tag match
Aleister Black, Ricochet, and Ali fought the team of Rusev, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Andrade on this show. Yes, that’s an absurd amount of talent. And yes, the match rocked.
It’s probably the best way to promote these roster changes, actually. “Hey fans! Look at six guys who could all fight for titles – they could be moving up the card in a week!”
Anyway, the taunt where the babyfaces joined Black in his cross-legged pose was really cool. I also enjoyed the finish. Ricochet hit a Moonsault off the barricade onto Rusev before Nakamura caught him with a Kinshasa to the back of the head. Black then got Nakamura with a Black Mass when he tried to climb back in the ring, and then Ali sealed the deal with a 450 Splash to Andrade.
Here’s where that epilogue thought comes back into play. As Ali celebrated, Randy Orton appeared to hit him with the RKO. He wandered off muttering “I can’t see!” and shielding his eyes, obviously expressing his annoyance with what occurred during his WrestleMania match. And then Kevin Owens showed up to hit Rusev with a Stunner.
No stories to any of this. Just characters being, well, characters.
The show goes on, after all.
The Rest
Samoa Joe talks smack, gets Braun Strowman – This was a fun crossover and mini tussle, but did you notice that Strowman got a few boos when put with Joe? Say it with me: booking matters.
The IIconics def. The Brooklyn Belles – I’m so down for the IIconics being blithering idiots and trying to convince us that they’re the best fighting champs of all time by beating jobbers. In fact, I’m so down for it that I’m kind of disappointed that Paige is apparently putting a stop to it next week with some debuting tag team. I was already imagining a scenario where the IIconics fought the undefeated Martian Maniacs. Ah well.
Wonder who that tag team could be?
Shane McMahon is the worst musical conductor ever - That is all.
Becky Rerun – She had a promo where she basically said what she said on Raw. And then Lacey Evans punched her. You know, like she had done on Raw.
This was a mildly fun show for me. It certainly wasn’t bad, it just didn’t matter at all, do you know what I mean. This one was for the die-hards who really don’t need dessert but then they already handed you a plate so what are you going to do, turn down dessert?
Grade: B-
Your turn, Cageside. Who do you want to see change brands in the Shakeup?