WWE SmackDown LIVE completes a marathon stretch of programming for the big WrestleMania 33 weekend, giving us a few high notes to cap off the string of shows. The biggest moment of the night was the debut of Shinsuke Nakamura, the former NXT Champion who came under the WWE Umbrella with much ballyhoo and fanfare. He noticeably arrived on the tail end of a Miz promo, momentarily giving hope that the two could have something special planned in the ring together.
A Nakamura vs. Miz turned out to be a tease that never came to fruition; and because of that, it became a moment on this edition of the botches. Other moments that join it include a slightly off pinning attempt by Alexa Bliss, a sign that shows how committed Roman Reigns detractors might truly be, and a thrown chair towards Dean Ambrose that didn’t impact him the smoothest way possible. But hey, it ain’t ballet.
Gifs of those moments and more lie ahead, so here are 5 of the botchiest and most outrageous moments from this episode of WWE SmackDown LIVE.
#5 Empty upper deck
WWE usually does a good job of hiding the bare portions of the arena on most nights of televised wrestling, but they dropped the ball here during Randy Orton’s entrance. Looking at the upper deck of the arena opposite the hard camera, it looked like there wasn’t a single section opened up for seating.
To be fair, this was the fourth straight night of WWE in Orlando and the third time in this very arena. The hardcore superfans that travelled from out of town either already bailed out of Florida or they were tiresomely attending their fourth live night of wrestling.
#4 Bad pin strategy
There are a couple of layers of botchiness that need to be pointed out on this. The first is this pin by Alexa Bliss in which she’s just a little too far out of reach from the ropes to get the leverage that she wanted. Naomi inchwormed herself tighter under Alexa. Otherwise, she might not have been able to counter Bliss into position for the submission that she used to win.
Alexa’s tap out loss leads to the second layer of botchiness, which is the booking of the former SmackDown Women’s Titleholder. She tapped out at WrestleMania and then again here on Tuesday night. Unless she’s going to be jumping to Raw, why is her value being diminished so much? If anything, submitting twice in a matter of days only proves that she’ll be as far away from the title as possible for a while. If she does go to Raw, then her losses can be chalked up to putting over people on her way out.
#3 Roman wasn’t spared
Even on shows that he isn’t on, Roman Reigns can’t catch a break. The WWE Universe is determined to voice their displeasure even when it has no direct relevance to what’s presented in front of them.
This individual brought a sign to SmackDown LIVE that read “I lost a bet now I am a Roman fan.” There’s likely a rich backstory to that sign - maybe one day we’ll get to hear it.
#2 Throwing a chair at Dean
Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin at WrestleMania 33 was not a great match. It wasn’t terrible, but it was in the lower rung of matches from that night. It was probably due to their Sunday effort being poorly received that they decided to step it up on SmackDown - and step it up they did.
There were several great high spots on this night, including a spear through a table as well as a top rope elbow through a table on the outside, but it’s one particular thrown chair that’s getting the feature. Watching Baron hurl this at Dean’s body and it not colliding with him on the flat side appeared painful.
#1 No Shinsuke vs. Miz?
After Miz & Maryse had cut another amusing promo parodying the newly engaged John Cena & Nikki Bella, the biggest main roster debut in a while was given to us. Brought out by the sounds of a lone violinist, Shinsuke Nakamura made his way toward the ring as I salivated at the thought of a John Cena-dressed Miz cutting a promo against him.
However, the showdown that seemed inevitable never actually happened. The only interaction between the two guys was this brief mocking glance by Nakamura when he first stepped into the ring. Miz didn’t stick around to face off with the King of Strong Style and simply ran away alongside his wife.
Not only did Shinsuke not call out The Miz, but he also didn't call out anybody. It makes sense not to give too much too soon but all they did for him on this night is establish that he’s now on the Tuesday show. That’s all they needed to do, but it would be way better if we could get an idea of who he might feud with first.
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