SmackDown Live is still in a hangover of sorts from Sunday’s Backlash event, a show that featured the crowning of a brand new WWE Champion. The historic title was captured by a relative newcomer to the top of the card, Jinder Mahal. The man who refers to himself as The Maharaja celebrated his victory in front of fans in Toledo, Ohio.
Mahal’s Championship celebration involved an entrance ramp full of drummers and dancers, providing a unique backdrop for a new top titleholder in WWE. He declared himself to already be the greatest WWE Champion of all time and to Jinder’s credit, it was a fairly solid segment. Perhaps the champ might not be too bad in this unexpected role?
The Punjabi celebration was one of the more important segments for this episode of SmackDown Live and should be sought out, but when considering the most must-see moments of the night, 5 more events edged it out. From Shinsuke Nakamura’s first blue brand match to Tyler Breeze dropping his pants on live television, there were several things that will be buzzworthy topics over the coming week.
Continue on to read and see the top moments of the night
#5 The field is set
The opening segment was must-see because, during that time, Shane McMahon announced the competitors for the Money in the Bank Ladder Match for the upcoming eponymous pay-per-view.
The United States Champion, Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, Baron Corbin, Sami Zayn, A.J. Styles, and Shinsuke Nakamura will try to ascend the ladder in hopes of retrieving the contract briefcase on June 18th in the city of St. Louis. That’s a field loaded with talent.
Originally, there were only going to be five wrestlers in this lineup. However, Kevin Owens successfully lobbied his way in. He correctly pointed out that several of Shane’s picks were coming off of notable losses while he is a current title holder who won at Backlash.
Thankfully, the SmackDown Live Commissioner saw things from his point of view and let him in.
#4 Quick rollup for Baron
At Backlash, Sami Zayn pulled off a bit of a shocker when he scored the win over Baron Corbin. He had even more surprises in store for The Lone Wolf for this episode of SmackDown. These two Money in the Bank competitors competed in a singles rematch from their Sunday bout on this show. To say it was short would be a huge understatement.
Baron gave Sami a hip toss that got some serious air time, but other than that there wasn’t any actual wrestling here. Zayn caught Corbin with a quick rollup pinfall which happens to be the most devastating move in this sport. Everybody is impervious to this crippling manoeuvre.
After the match, Baron snapped; he beat his opponent viciously throughout the arena.
It’s great to see Sami winning but it’s also surprising to see Baron lose twice in a matter of days. Surely WWE still has high hopes for Corbin.
#3 Tyler drops his pants
Coming off a failed attempt at capturing the SmackDown Tag Team straps, the Fashion Police were ready to call it quits. They turned in their badges and guns to Shane McMahon. Fandango entertained the thought that maybe his dad was right when he said that he wasn’t a real cop. It was during this sequence that Tyler Breeze showed the Commissioner far more than he wanted to see.
Tyler was more than willing to turn in his pants, which were obviously part of his official fashion police uniform. Shane stopped him, then put the two back on the case by giving them singles matches against The Usos.
Breeze’s humour made this one of the most must-see moments from this show but if he took it a little farther and showed even more skin, this author would not have wanted to see what he might’ve been concealed carrying.
#2 Even quicker rollups
WWE became roll-up pinfall-happy for this Tuesday night of wrestling. The Baron Corbin loss to Sami Zayn from earlier was enough of a surprise, but then both members of Breezango had the exact same luck.
Tyler Breeze got the singles win thanks to a little squirt gun from Fandango. The wet distraction allowed the quick pin on Jey Uso. It was silly for the tag champ to lose over something so menial but as would be seen a few moments later, it was even sillier that his brother Jimmy lost via roll-up as well.
That’s three of these distraction falls in one night.There’s nothing wrong with this type of finish but it stood out that WWE was over-relying on them.
These quick wins paid off for The Fashion Police, who were granted a title match on the spot. They lost, but at least got a good response from the crowd.
#1 Nakamura’s first SmackDown Live pinfall
it was an evening of firsts of sorts for Shinsuke Nakamura. Not only did we learn at the show’s start that Nakamura will be competing in his first Money in the Bank ladder match in June, but he also competed in his first actual match for WWE on a Tuesday night.
This came in the form of a tag team contest, pitting him beside A.J. Styles as they took on Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler.
In the final minute or so, the action kicked up a gear or two and put Nakamura on showcase. He was able to give a reverse exploder suplex to Dolph Ziggler then finished off the United States Champion Kevin Owens with a Kinshasa. Shinsuke was the one to score the pinfall, the first win for him on SmackDown Live.
With Nakamura’s win, the field getting set for Money in the Bank, and Tyler Breeze almost needing to arrest himself for indecent exposure, this episode of SmackDown had many must-see moments.
What stood out the most to you? Let us know your thoughts by dropping a comment below.
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