WWE Smackdown Review
April 8, 2016
By: Alex Kahrs of Wrestleview.com
OH WRESTLEVIEWNIVERSE, DON’T YOU DARE BE SOUR! CLAP FOR YOUR LOCALLY WORLD FAMOUS SMACKDOWN REVIEW, AND FEEL THE POWAH!
Welcome one and all to your #LayinTheSmarkdownAfterMania edition of Layin’ the Smarkdown! After a week off it’s great to be back, especially just a few days removed from the largest attended Wrestlemania of all time (regardless of what number you want to go by)! Speaking of, I wanna touch real quickly on my thoughts on that before going over Smackdown. Mike touched on a lot of stuff for his RAW article, so I’m not gonna go into too much detail but as you can imagine, I generally enjoyed the show. Great matches, some finishes that made me scratch my head for sure, but overall a good Wrestlemania. I’m still bummed that Ryder lost the IC title the next night to Miz, but I’ll touch on that more when I get to their match on Smackdown. The idea of around 100,000 fans booing Roman Reigns out of the AT&T Stadium is hilarious.
I also wanna touch real briefly on RAW this past Monday, because I had the chance to catch it on Monday. I loved some of the big surprises they pulled off for it, especially the return of Cesaro (I had him pegged to return at Mania to win the battle royal, but good on WWE to make it up to me haha). I couldn’t shake a feeling I had about the Roman Reigns segment that set up the Fatal Four Way main event, though: anyone else feel like Creative was thinking “Uh oh, they’re trying to boo Roman Reigns out of the building again. Better send out all the crowd favorites to save this segment”?
That said, let’s look at what Smackdown had to offer us this week!
Roman/AJ Promo: Not gonna lie, I like this side of Roman Reigns. Is this a heel turn, or just a temporary attitude change while dealing with the “just having fun” crowd that comes around this time of year? We’ll see what happens, especially after the Roman/AJ match is done and dusted…but it works for now, and that is great.
Dragons/Vaudevillains: I wanna start by saying I felt it was important to try to describe the Vaudevillains entrance because I’m not sure how many of our usual WV readers watch NXT on a regular basis. If you watched the show this week, I’d love to know what you think of this match and perhaps more specifically their entrance! I’m curious what the larger WWE fanbase thinks of an act like this tag team. The match itself was a lot of fun, and it helped that both teams had some history and chemistry leading to a smooth transition to the main roster for the former NXT Tag Team Champions.
Side note #1: the greatest comment I’ve seen and later heard this past week was “The Miz ruins everything.” I do like his more recent heel work, which makes that statement much more meaningful than just some complaint…to me it can be used as a testament to his actual improvement over the past year or so. But yeah, Miz ruins everything…including title reigns for Zack Ryder. #WWWYKI
Summer/Natalya: I can’t tell you how weird it felt NOT writing “Divas Match” as my usual special label for something like this, but that’s also a good thing. RIP “Divas” and long live the era of Women’s Wrestling Entertainment! The match itself was surprisingly good, but part of me can’t quite work out why Natalya is the next in line. Should be a good feud, though!
IC Title Rematch: Good match! My soul is still crying over the 24 hour title reign of Zack Ryder, but something about this match is helping me accept a Ryder/Miz feud for the title over the next couple months. I’ll take it.
Axel/Crews: Impressive showing from the former Uhaa Nation in his Smackdown debut. I’m definitely digging the unique athleticism from the guy, can’t wait to see what he’s capable of on the main roster!
Becky/Emma Segment: Oh hey, Emma’s back on the main roster! That’s about all I’ve got for ya now. Cool to see her back, would be interesting to see what a feud with Becky would be like here.
Side note #2: Is anyone else happy to see the Colons NOT be Matadores anymore? I just hope they give El Torito something to do. Maybe he can be the new Hype Bros mascot, El Torit-Bro. I’ll see myself out, thanks.
Ambrose/Breeze: I liked seeing the selfie entrance return, but otherwise this was just a short way to get Ambrose’s momentum back after losing to Brock on Sunday. Next.
Main Event: What happens when you get four of the best in-ring workers on the main roster right now, and put them in a tag match? This. It was a lot of fun, some great action from all four men. Really enjoyed the now-coined “package powerbomb” (#ThankYouMauro) at one point, and Zayn’s distraction at the end confirms that we’ll see these two guys feuding now. I couldn’t be happier about that, even if it’s not for a title. Owens and Zayn are truly destined to do this forever.
Well, that’s it for Smackdown this week! What did you think of the show? Did you enjoy Wrestlemania, and #RAWAfterMania? Are you saying “Boo” or “Boo-lieve Dat” to poor Roman Reigns? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @Power2TheSmarks! Also, a new episode of the OPW Podcast is in the works but you can go to www.powertothesmarks.com for the first two shows and much more! Check out the merch shop while you’re there, and buy a “Legends of the Lucha Temple” shirt! Until next time, this is Alex Kahrs reminding you to be excellent to each other. Party on, dudes!