Women’s Tag Team Tournament First round matchup
This week's SmackDown kicked off with a first-round matchup from the WWE Women’s Tag Team Tournament as Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah teamed up to take on the team of Shotzi and Xia Li. This wasn’t the smoothest encounter but it did its job in terms of putting these four women on television and making Raquel look really strong. Xia Li and Shotzi are two decent wrestlers and you can see that Li has improved since she arrived on SmackDown. The team of Raquel and Aliyah is interesting as Aliyah isn’t used often whilst you can tell that they have big plans for Rodriguez. Natalya and Sonya Deville showed up early on but were soon taken care off. Raquel hit the Chingona Bomb on Xia Li to get the win.
Grade: C-
Karrion Kross, Scarlett, Drew McIntyre and The USOS
Karrion Kross cut a really cool backstage promo referencing his release and his plans know that he was back. This gets a thumbs up. Drew McIntyre then came out and cut a decent promo hyping up his match with Roman Reigns at Clash at the Castle. He also did a good job putting over Kross by saying “he left me laying lime a piece of trash”. Karrion Kross’ “valet” Scarlett then interrupted and came down to the ring before The USOS took advantage and attacked the Scottish Warrior from behind. The USOS then told Scarlett to send a message to Karrion Kross to not bother messing with the Bloodline. The best thing about this whole segment was when Scarlett was doing her entrance, everything went black and white, like they have taken control. The colour then came back when The USOS had control. Overall, a good couple of segments.
Grade: B+
Viking Raiders VS Kofi Kingston and the return of Hit Row
The Viking Raiders entrance theme hit and as they were on the stage/ramp, Kofi Kingston attacked them with a kendo stick. This worked, to start with, but after a bit of offense from Kingston, Ivar through a shield at Kofi which was a cool looking spot. Ivar then hit a dive from the stage barrier next to the crowd. We then went backstage and Sami Zayn was talking with The Usos before Drew McIntyre got a bit of revenge and laid the Undisputed Tag Team Champions out. Sami Zayn ran off whilst this was happening. We then went back to the ring and local talents Trevor Irwin and Brandon Scott where in the ring ready for a tag team match. Then all of a sudden, Hit Row’s music hit and they returned, nearly a year after they were released. Ashante Thee Adonis and Top Dolla are decent wrestlers and a added boost to the tag team division. Returning with B-Fab is also a big plus for the group. They then cut a rap promo to confirm they are back and even referenced the group now containing 3 members instead of the original 4 that they had last year.
Grade: Raiders and Kingston C+, Hit Row return B
SmackDown Women’s Contract signing
Ronda Rousey returned to SmackDown and dropped the money that she owed from her fine in the ring. When officials and referees came to get her to leave as she is still suspended, she attacked one of them before having a face-off with her good buddy Shayna Baszler, before reminding Baszler that “she used to be a killer”. Baszler then walked to the ring and signed the contract before telling Liv that she couldn’t wait to break her arm and take her title. Liv then came out and was more serious which is a good thing and signed the contract. Baszler then attacked her injured arm before Liv hit a cool looking bulldog to put Baszler through the table. Liv being more serious is a good addition to her character and Shayna is becoming more and more like the “real” Shayna Baszler, the dominant and unbeatable NXT Women’s Champion version of her.
Grade: B
The USOS VS Drew McIntyre and Madcap Moss
After another backstage segment between The USOS and Sami Zayn, The Tag champs came out to the ring and challenged Drew to a tag team match. Drew came out on his own and did well but eventually The Usos took advantage of the extra man before Madcap Moss came out to be Drew’s partner. This was a fun match and Drew won by hitting the claymore onto Jimmy Uso. Madcap being on tv is good as he has a bright future in this industry. After the match, Jey went to attack Drew but the number 1 contender for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship saw it coming. He then went to hit a claymore onto the right hand man but Sami Zayn pushed Jey out the way and took the hit himself.
Grade: B-
Backstage segments
Maximum Male Models were doing a photo shoot before Los Lotharios interrupted and offered their services to modelling agency. Max Dupri said no but the lethal lovers said they weren’t talking to him and were infact talking to Dupri’s sister Maxxine. Los Lotharios would be a good fit for MMM so am interested to see where this goes. Zoey Stark and Nikkita Lyons had a pre-taped video package telling people that don’t watch NXT who they are. This was smart as most people who watch SmackDown don’t watch NXT so now they know a bit about them. Ricochet was having a backstage interview with Kayla Braxton before Happy Corbin attacked him, a bit of revenge for last week's encounter.
Intercontinental Championship match: Gunther VS Shinsuke Nakamura
The main event saw the Ring General and the Current Intercontinental Champion Gunther face off against the King of Strong Style Shinsuke Nakamura. This was a hard-hitting contest and was so, so good. They built the IC title into the big deal that it’s needed to be for a while and when you have to of the best wrestlers in the world against each other, it’s always going to be good. Gunther beating Shinsuke pushes him to an even higher level whilst Nakamura showed everyone why he is regarded as one of the best. The match was great, the presentation of the Intercontinental Championship was even better. A terrific way to end the show.
Grade: A
Long live MMM!