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WWE SmackDown finally reached the monumental milestone of 1000 episodes. To celebrate this occasion, this week's episode was slated to be filled with nostalgia, with a lot of erstwhile superstars making an appearance on the show.
The show was slated to feature HHH, Rick Flair, Randy Orton and a returning Batista in the ring at the same time for an Evolution reunion. More superstars from the past were promised to feature on the show.
Among the preset matches, The Miz was slated to take on Rusev, with the winner qualifying for the World Cup. While for the last spot, United States champion Shinsuke Nakamura would take on the returning masked luchador Rey Mysterio.
So lets go through the major talking points of SmackDown1000.
#4 The heel turn and the title change
The New Day took on The Bar for the SmackDown tag team championship. This was turning out to be one of the better matches of the evening until a big turn happened.
With reasons unexplained, Big Show showed up and again turned heel, maybe for the 100th time, choke slamming Kofi Kingston. The Bar turned out to be the victors in the match, becoming the new SmackDown tag team champions.
While the title changing hands is refreshing, Big Show's involvement diluted the match which could have been the show stealer. Hopefully, The Bar will regain their stature as tag team champions, similar to what they built on RAW before the Nicholas debacle at WrestleMania.
The Bar is quite capable of carrying the tag team division, and would ensure that there are exciting matches in the future.
#3 A tease for a big WrestleMania match
The Evolution reunion was the most advertised segment for the 1000th episode of SmackDown. While Evolution was primarily a RAW stable, spending most of their tenure on the red brand, this segment was used to tease a big WrestleMania match between HHH and Batista.
During the segment, Batista was acknowledging each member of the stable until he finally came to HHH, he praised The Game for all his accomplishments, before bringing out the one blemish in his career, that is - HHH hasn't beaten Batista yet.
Tension rose during the segment, it felt like a brawl was about to ensue, but cool heads prevailed and the members hugged it out. With rumors of Shawn Michaels facing The Undertaker at WrestleMania, the other half of DX, HHH could take on Batista in an another dream match.
#2 Becky is the badass WWE wants Ronda to portray
Becky Lynch was the first draft pick for the blue brand, and the inaugural WWE SmackDown Live Women's Champion, but was lost in the shuffle after she lost her championship. She was relegated to play second fiddle to Charlotte Flair. After she failed to capture the women's title at SummerSlam, she turned on Charlotte and became the best version of herself.
Becky is now the SmackDown Women's Champion, is playing her anti hero role to perfection, and the crowd reaction to her segments is all the proof needed.
In today's episode, Edge tried to bring her back to her old ways, but Becky responded with more fire, even commenting about his neck issues, which could have extracted a lot of boos from the crowd, had it been any other superstar. But Lynch was cheered, and even with Charlotte, the crowd clearly sides with their women's champion.
#1 A great return and a dream feud
Rey Mysterio returned to WWE TV after his last appearance on the Greatest Royal Rumble. He was scheduled to face the United States champion Shinsuke Nakamura for the final spot of the World Cup.
Even after being away from the ring for a brief period, Rey showed no sign of ring rust, and was totally accustomed to WWE's style of wrestling from the get go. Shinsuke Nakamura also played his part to perfection, in what may be his best match in recent times, although he hasn't wrestled much.
Rey Mysterio defeated the United States champion clean, signalling that after the World Cup is over, he could move on to a feud for the United States Championship. Rey Mysterio's high flying abilities would gel well with the hard hitting style of Shinsuke Nakamura.
If handled correctly, this could become an interesting feud, bringing Nakamura back to the limelight as well.
