There’s a natural order to the world. Certain inalienable truths that should never be tampered with. Bayley should always be a babyface. Samoa Joe is more engaging as a frightening monster. Shane McMahon can’t help but be a giant douche. These are the universal laws upon which our civilisation is built.
SmackDown Live is coming dangerously close to disturbing that natural order.
The current main event picture is a case in point. Admittedly Daniel Bryan’s heel run has been a stroke of genius I never could have predicted. The ultimate underdog transforming into the ultimate environmentalist. Thinking back to when Bryan was occupying Raw to get the opportunities he so deserved or when he was beating two stars in the same night on the path to WrestleMania immortality, he always felt like such a natural babyface. Now I can’t imagine a world without his smug grin and condescending delivery. Although it’s not enough to make me stop eating meat. Obviously.
So I’m prepared to be proven wrong. In fact, I welcome it. Nothing would make me happier than WWE exceeding my expectations. But I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that Kevin Owens as a face just isn’t working for me, and I don’t expect that it ever will. The man who built his entire WWE career on being a vengeful opportunist, always willing to throw a friend under the bus to advance his own interests, is now suddenly the good guy? I don’t buy it.
And, to be fair, WWE hasn’t exactly done KO any favors with its questionable booking. Owens, out for several months following knee surgery, made his triumphant return last week. But when confronted with the question of how to present Owens as a returning babyface, WWE elected to take the most morally ambiguous path. They chose Vince McMahon – the singular most villainous character in all of wrestling – to be the one to announce his return to SmackDown Live. To make matters worse, Owens was then immediately placed into the WWE Title picture… at the expense of true fan favourite, Kofi Kingston.
Is that really a character we should be cheering? A man who simply gets handed a title shot at Fastlane, without having wrestled a competitive match in half a year? It just doesn’t work for me.
"I believe I speak for the entire @WWEUniverse when I say, you deserve to get your stupid, condescending mouth SHUT, and I'M the one to do it!" – @FightOwensFight to @WWEDanielBryan #SDLive pic.twitter.com/z6FcR15XHQ
— WWE (@WWE) March 6, 2019
So I’m reserving judgment on this ‘New’ Kevin Owens. I’m not convinced he should ever be a fully-fledged hero to begin with and am certainly far from sold on his newfound babyface traits following last night’s opening promo with Daniel Bryan. It was all a bit generic and uninspired as far as I’m concerned. But, as always, I’m prepared to be wrong. In fact, I truly hope I am.
What else went down on SmackDown Live last night though? Well, quite a bit as it turns out. From title changes to exciting returns to Becky dropping naughty words, last night’s show certainly left us with a thing or two to talk about. So, let’s start off with the good.
What was your favourite moment from SmackDown Live?
Steven Lugo
U.S. championship match. Lately I have become pretty much anti multi-man matches. The entire Becky / Ronda feud has become watered down due in part to making their confrontation a triple threat with Charlotte. And whenever WWE doesn’t know what to do with their tag division, the teams are thrown into a pointless multi-tag mess at a pay-per-view.
That being said, I enjoyed the hell out of this four-way for the U.S. championship, which featured R-Truth, Mysterio, Andrade and Samoa Joe. Part of it is that it makes the title feel important. Another reason is that it was just a good action match. Finally, I was happy to see Joe finally win a title on the main roster. I expect him to make the championship feel prestigious.
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Kyle Payne
With such a great show, there was a lot that can be considered a favorite or great moment. That fatal four-way between Samoa Joe, R-Truth, Rey Mysterio, and Andrade was excellent. Zelina Vega and Carmella even got involved and I don’t think anyone could have predicted that outcome. Perfect outcome.
Side note, R-Truth and the Cena stuff is wonderful and I hope this wasn’t the end of it. Aleister Black and Ricochet versus The Bar was a great match too, the two of them from NXT work well together. By the way, The Usos are fantastic promos.
Nicholas Holicki
Every moment involving R-Truth. The man’s brilliant insanity knows no bounds. The United States Champion came down to the ring to announce what is quickly becoming a customary open challenge, only to again speak about his admiration for John Cena.
From reciting Cena’s catchphrases to listing the various pieces of paraphernalia he owns (including Cena bedsheets, which I can only imagine to be pretty terrifying in the wrong light), Truth was on fire here. What followed was a really decent Fatal 4-way for Truth’s title, which produced a new champion in the imposing form of Samoa Joe.
On a show that featured surprising little in the way of actual wrestling, this segment stood out for many reasons.
What was the worst part of last night’s episode?
Steven Lugo
Mandy Rose squashes Naomi. I guess there are a variety of reasons why things like this happen. Is Naomi being punished? Is Mandy just so unstoppable that it’s ridiculous? Whatever the reason, this was the sort of match that if you took your eyes off of the TV for a minute, then you missed it.
It’s silly whenever a former champion and top competitor gets beaten so easily. It just seemed like a pointless match, and it did not make me want to watch the SmackDown Live Women’s title bout this Sunday at Fastlane (baby). Asuka kept the segment from being a total waste when she beat up both Mandy and Sonya after the fact.
"Where's @WWEAsuka?" Funny you should ask… #SDLive @WWE_MandyRose @SonyaDevilleWWE pic.twitter.com/IBY4D3AF39
— WWE (@WWE) March 6, 2019
Kyle Payne
I don’t really have anything to complain about. Maybe Lacey Evans still not competing? Maybe Mandy Rose versus Naomi again?
Nicholas Holicki
The sheer number of ad breaks. I know this is a regular fixture of Tuesday nights, but I’ve never noticed it as much as I did this week. Every promo, every entrance, every match was interrupted by some form of advertisement. It meant that the show could never gain momentum, with matches often struggling to develop any sort of rhythm.
From an on-screen perspective though, Mandy Rose remains the biggest liability on the blue brand. I’ve struggled to see her as a legitimate threat to Asuka’s title and a two-minute roll around with Naomi didn’t change my mind. This was a nothing match capped off by a nothing angle, when Asuka intervened to beat up Mandy and Sonya for a few seconds.
.@WWEAsuka honey u and ur creepy lil mask may have caught me off guard tonight … BUT come #WWEFastlane I will have that championship around my waist and give it true meaning bc I am Gods Greatest Creation. 💁♀️ #SDLive
— Mandy (@mandysacs) March 6, 2019
How would you rate the show overall? (From best to worst: SmackDamn, SmackTastic, Smack Bang in the Middle, SmackDowner and A Smack in the Face)
Steven Lugo
SmackDowner. It’s WrestleMania season, that time of year when WWE shows flashes of brilliance before they inevitably disappoint you by doing business as usual. I was excited for Kevin Owens against Rowan in the main event, but it turned into a super short contest with a DQ finish. Nakamura and Rusev have become the most bland 1980’s heel caricatures of themselves, which is astonishing when you think about their momentum this time last year.
Finally, it seems like they are having the devil’s own time not crashing the sweet car that is Becky Lynch’s run. There are only so many times Becky can do the same thing week in and week out. There are only so many times you can make your top star look like she’s sharing the top spot before you no longer have a top star.
https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/1103164306353471488
Kyle Payne
A SmackDamn for sure! From start to finish this was a great, fun show. It started with a great interaction between Bryan and Owens, which led to a match later on between KO and Rowan. Becky and Charlotte once again killed it and Becky looks strong heading into Fastlane. Charlotte is so, so good as a heel.
The highlight though, as I mentioned earlier, was definitely that fatal four-way. All four men looked great in a competitive match with a lot of near falls and a finish I didn’t see coming. I am beyond thrilled to see Joe finally win gold and I hope he goes on a tear because he has earned – and deserves – it. This was a great show and it definitely should be checked out. Tuesday nights are always a good time.
Nicholas Holicki
This was a pretty run-of-the-mill edition of SmackDown Live – the kind of show that no one will remember a few days from now.
While I enjoyed all of the wrestling and thought the promos ranged from middling to good, nothing last night truly inspired me. Overall, it was all just… fine. So, with that in mind, I can’t justify giving this show anything other than a Smack Bang in the Middle.
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