WWE Smackdown Review (Layin’ the SmarkDown!)
March 18, 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 POWWWWWWWWWAH!
After a long two weeks of work and other insanity, your favorite* Wrestleview recapper is back looking at the best thing you can watch on a Thursday night. The roadblock has been cleared, and it’s smooth sailing (Ashley Remington) on the road to Wrestlemania!
Reigns Promo: The promo was pretty good: short, to the point, emphasizing the beating Roman gave Triple H on RAW as a response to the treatment he got about a month ago. Decent way to start the show.
Styles/Owens Segment: This was fun, pure and simple. From the game of comparisons to just the general attitude throughout, this was a great interaction between Styles and Owens to help hype their match later in the night.
Ziggler/Miz: Let’s not fool ourselves, folks: what does it say when the “Battle for Ohio” is between two guys billed from a Hollywood? Don’t give me that murder stare, some of my best friends are from Ohio. That said, this was a decent enough match for what it was.
Side Note: Ryback/Kalisto might be a good match, or it might be a stinker. Either way, I’m excited for the former Samuray Del Sol to make his Wrestlemania debut!
Ambrose Segment: Good, good segment pushing Dean’s life of “training to survive.” I’m pretty excited about this encounter for Wrestlemania, as well.
Bubba/Goldust: Crazy to think these two never faced each other in their time in WWE prior to this match. Fun match to emphasize the newly found mean streak of the Dudley Boyz in WWE, and push both the reluctant pairing of Goldust and R-Truth and the feud with the Usos.
Triple Threat Face Off: Ugh…this segment was a bit lackluster at first, and hit rock bottom at the possibly forced references to the NXT Horsewomen, but picked up soon after. Especially enjoyed Becky’s line about being a boss taking more than just “a self-entitled ego and some dollar store jewelry.” There’s hope for this feud yet.
Side Note 2: I could really go for a Burger King Grilled Dog now. I actually had some Chicken Fries last March after attending RAW in Los Angeles and the product was well promoted by Tyson Kidd and Natalya. Mmm…Grilled Dogs.
New Day/League of Nations: I will never not be entertained by The New Day, simple as that. The possible face turn of sorts might feel weird, but I guess that’s the best way the League is gonna get any heat as a heel stable lol. Good match between Kofi and Barrett, by the way.
Dean Ambrose Segment 2: I’m really digging the build they’ve been doing on Ambrose for this feud with Lesnar. I think we all can agree Dean deserves the belt soon, and this is a great way to establish him as a face.
Side Note 3: I’m with Mike Tedesco on this, Taker still needs to explain WHY he’s actually going through with this match.
Social Outcasts/Dean Promo: Nice way to wrap up the previous segments, letting Dean issue the challenge to Lesnar for next week’s Smackdown.
Main Event: OH MY WHAT A MATCH. These guys did just about everything you could hope for in a main event, even pulling out some great moves that you wouldn’t expect from a WWE match from the Ushigoroshi to Owens teasing a package piledriver (AND MAURO ACTUALLY MENTIONING IT ON WWE TV). Say what you want about the current state of WWE, this match is a treasure deep beneath the mud.
That’s it for this week, friends! What did you think of Smackdown? Did you enjoy the Ambrose segments fleshing out his character some more? Did you nearly lose your cool at Owens teasing the package piledriver, the way I certainly did? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @Power2TheSmarks! Also, keep your ears open for the second episode of the OPW Podcast as that drops in the coming days over at http://powertothesmarks.com!
Till next time, this is Alex Kahrs reminding you to be excellent to each other.
Party on, dudes!
* “Favorite” is in the eye of the beholder, and there is no substantial evidence of fact.