This Tuesday saw the first proper Smackdown Live following last week’s draft.
There was a lot of intrigue heading in to this show, especially off the back of one of the best Raw’s in many years. What would Smackdown have up their sleeve to try and better Monday’s show?
And how will they set themselves apart from the red brand and show the fans exactly what they can expect to see on Tuesday night’s going forward?
Let’s look at the best and worst of the inaugural show of the all-new SmackDownLive!
#1 Good - Apollo has landed
The opening match of the night was an over-the-top-rope battle royal to determine who would join John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Bray Wyatt, AJ Styles and Baron Corbin in the main event in a match that would determine the new number one contender to Dean Ambrose’s WWE Championship.
Apollo Crews managed to outlast the other competitors and eliminate Kane to earn himself an opportunity later in the night to mix it up with some of Smackdown’s biggest stars.
It’s refreshing to see a new face in the Title picture and this sent a message out that Apollo is going to be one to watch on Smackdown over the next few months.
#2 Good - The Gold Standard
One thing that was missing from last week’s draft was the expected returns of some of our favourite superstars from the past.
Many names were rumoured but none of them materialised which seemed to leave a void in both rosters, however, that was somewhat rectified on this week’s Smackdown when a video package hyping the imminent arrival of Shelton Benjamin was shown.
It will be interesting to see how The Gold Standard fares this time around. He has always been considered one of the best athletes that WWE has ever had yet has never seemed to fulfil his potential.
Will he be able to show just how good he is this time around?
#3 Good - “The hottest free agent in sports entertainment”
Another highlight of this week’s Smackdown was Heath Slater.
Wait a minute, did I just write that?
Heath Slater came through the crowd and grabbed a mic, after pushing some jobber out the ring, and claimed that there must have been some mistake that he wasn’t on either Raw or Smackdown and demanded some answers.
This brought out Shane McMahon who didn’t seem too keen on signing the ‘One man band’ to the blue brand and after Slater claimed that he was the hottest free agent in all of sports entertainment, none other than the ‘man beast’, Rhyno, slid into the ring to gore Heath Slater out of his boots.
It was a fun segment that gave us the second returning favourite of the night in Rhyno.
#4 Good - Fresh start for Ziggler?
The brand split promised to give superstars who have been being overlooked a chance to show what they can do with more spotlight being put on them.
One beneficiary of this already is Dolph Ziggler who earned himself a title shot against Dean Ambrose at Summerslam in the main event of this week’s Smackdown. A spot he would have been very unlikely to be in had the brand split not occurred.
While, personally, I thought there were better options to face Ambrose at Summerslam, it’s still good to see a fresh face in the Title picture and could give Ziggler a new lease of life after an uneventful couple of years.
#5 Good - All new Smackdown
Smackdown Live began this week with a new logo, new intro video and new theme music.
This was vital in showing the fans that this is an all new era of Smackdown on Tuesday nights and that this is a show you are going to need to tune into every week.
Unfortunately, this is as far as it went for Smackdown in establishing a new identity for themselves, which brings us on to the bad points of this week’s show…
#1 Bad - New beginnings…or maybe not
As mentioned before, Raw put on a great show this Monday and many fans were looking to Smackdown to put on a show that could rival it if not better it.
However, what we saw at the start of Smackdown was a scene that was very similar to that of Raw’s the previous night.
The entire Smackdown roster was out in the arena being addressed by the General Manager and Commissioner who were trying to find a new number one contender for their top title.
Not the best way to establish themselves as different to their rival show and it didn’t get much better from there.
#2 Bad - Battle Royal
After announcing a six-pack challenge to determine the new challenger for Dean Ambrose’s WWE Title and then naming 5 of the men who would compete in this match, a battle royal match was made with the winner taking the last remaining spot in the main event.
This wasn’t the most exciting way to kick-off the all-new Smackdown and didn’t include many people who you believed had a chance of winning, with the ring being filled up mainly with tag teams or lower mid-card talent.
#3 Bad - All too familiar
One of the worst things about Smackdown before the draft was that it felt like a watered-down version of Raw and often showcased rematches and re-aired similar segments that had happened in the days prior to it.
If you were hoping that this would change post-draft, I’ve got some bad news for you; it hasn’t.
Not only did we get Randy Orton on Miz TV, just 2 days after he appeared on Chris Jericho’s ‘Highlight Reel’, we also got a rematch from Sunday’s Battleground in Becky Lynch vs Natalya.
Smackdown’s shortcomings seem to be sticking with them when they have no reason to; the new era of Smackdown promised new matches and new superstars given opportunities, yet on the first night, they already failed in living up to this.
Not a great start for Tuesday Night’s new show.
#4 Bad - Women’s Division woes
If people were worried that splitting the Women’s division across two brands would be detrimental to the Women’s wrestling revolution then this week’s Smackdown did nothing to ease those fears.
After the Battleground rematch of Becky Lynch vs Natalya, we were introduced to the entire Women’s division on Smackdown who all participated in a pointless segment of interrupting each other that did nothing for any of them.
It was particularly disappointing to see new recruits Alexa Bliss and Carmella given 10 seconds or so to establish their characters on the main roster to a wider audience. The segment then ended with Eva Marie coming out and just walking around the entrance ramp without uttering a word…pointless.
#5 Bad - Identity crisis
The first night of the all-new Smackdown should have seen them putting a marker down and showing everyone exactly what Tuesday nights are going to be all about moving forward.
Unfortunately, there was nothing of the sort and it felt like just another Smackdown.
The 2-hour show was unimaginative, uninspiring and underwhelming. We can only judge the new era of both shows after their first week, and by doing so you have to say that Smackdown is still by far the ‘B’ show of WWE.
Hopefully, they can improve on this in the next few months and make it at least on par with Raw, but for the first show of a new era, Smackdown Live was extremely disappointing.
