WWE Smackdown Review
April 9, 2015
By: Adam Martin of Wrestleview.com
Before I get rolling with my thoughts, I want to first take some time to thank Mike Tedesco for his six and half years of service covering Smackdown for Wrestleview.com. Nailing down a consistent television recapper is never an easy task and we were extremely lucky to have Mike come along. I can’t thank him enough for always being reliable and covering Smackdown for us – especially when it moved to the very unpopular Friday time slot back in 2005. This isn’t goodbye though as Mike will remain with us covering RAW live every Monday night.
Mike moving on now leaves an open spot for a weekly Smackdown recapper for Wrestleview.com. As noted in our report this evening, if you are reading this and would be interested in taking on this weekly role, please contact webmaster@wrestleview.com and adammartin@wrestleview.com with some information on your writing background and why you think you would be a good fit to be part of the Wrestleview staff.
Now for the review.
Full disclosure – I’m not a weekly viewer of Smackdown. I often cover the weekly spoilers every Tuesday night and move on. I am though a big fan of taking in a few clips on the WWE’s YouTube page every Thursday or Friday for context. However, it become quickly apparent that after covering recent PPV events and episodes of RAW, Smackdown really keeps it simple and in a very positive way. It’s less fluff and very straight to the point. Not having a third hour really helps the format and overall presentation.
The six man tag team main event was a perfect example of this. Building to the hot tag for Roman Reigns played out well in front of the Dallas audience. So much so that they were literally begging for Reigns to get the tag. Might seem strange given some of the more anti-Reigns reactions we’ve been accustomed to on RAW and other PPV events in recent months. The WWE tag team format has never really changed and it doesn’t have to. It served a fine purpose and everyone involved was great. Sheamus is by far becoming one of the most interesting characters on WWE TV since his return. Daniel Bryan is still amazingly fun to watch in the ring. Dolph Ziggler getting tossed in more scenarios like this is fun. Just an all around great job and fun main event to close the show on Thursday night.
We are now all in on the Damien Mizdow turn on The Miz and it could get scary. I’ve loved the organic reactions to Mizdow since his pairing with Miz. But with that being removed, I’m curious where they take the character now and if it can keep up. I througly enjoyed Sandow’s initial run with WWE and I hope that magic can be recreated in a babyface presentation.
Bray Wyatt lost to The Undertaker and it’s time to move on. Lots of people have lost to The Undertaker. Of all characters, Wyatt’s should be fine and survive well. The revisiting with The Wyatt Family with Erick Rowan was fun. Wyatt still has one of the most entertaining entrances in WWE today and his presentation on the mic continues to keep my interest.
Cameron’s character is really coming along in WWE. It maybe didn’t get the response they wanted in the ring, but it works extremely well in backstage promos. Alicia Fox had some amazing facials during her match with Natalya. Pretty fun match and nice build to the No. 1 contenders showdown.
Another example of a simple yet effective presentation is Neville. I’m really enjoying how he is being used and treating his offense like an attraction was a really good idea. Constantly going to the slow motion for his offense and his finisher has been executed great so far.
Cesaro and Tyson Kidd are perfect examples of people on a roster doing stuff and then coming together to create something very enjoyable. I’m also quite enjoying The New Day embracing the hatred from the audience and using it to their advanage.
Given the recent poor quality of the RAW product in recent months, I almost couldn’t believe this was the same company tonight. It was a really fun show and was capped off by an excellent main event. Well done, WWE.
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