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Hell in the Cell was a pretty amazing show, but the follow up episode of SmackDown Live was a rather massive disappointment. Thankfully, this week's show, while far from perfect, was a major improvement over the show last week.
Live from Seattle, Washington, this week's episode of SmackDown Live was characterized if not by really good segments, by really important ones. Much happened during this episode that should play out in a big manner, over the weeks to follow.
With Survivor Series on the horizon, let's examine the best and worst from this episode. Let's begin as we should, with the WWE Universe.
#1 Best: Incredible crowd
Any show that begins with Daniel Bryan gets a huge pop. However, this show was happening in his home state, and Daniel Bryan came out to a deafening pop. The energy of the crowd remained consistent through the night of action.
The audience can make or break a show, and we have seen the most amazing segments fall flat and suffer because of the lack of audience response, of late. It was heartening to see that the WWE Universe was really invested in the show, from start to finish.
#1 Worst: Losing its charm?
The Fashion Files have always been a great breather in the middle of the show, on a weekly basis. A nice diversion from all the action happening inside the squared circle. However, this week's segment seemed rather disappointing.
Instead of moving on with a case, as should have been the case, no pun intended, the episode was a meandering road to nowhere. Is it an indication that creative has no plans for Breezango, except to have them as a sideshow during every single episode?
We certainly hope it does not come to that and that, this was a weaker episode of the segment. As for Breezango, let's hope they find themselves some opponents, very soon indeed.
Although, at least it keeps The Ascension on TV.
#2 Best: An inter brand program
We like the fact that Survivor Series is the pay-per-view where RAW and SmackDown Live usually come to blows, after being kept apart for the remainder of the year. Jinder Mahal's challenge to Brock Lesnar sounds like a joke, when we first consider the match, but at least it's a nice change of pace for the proceedings in WWE.
Considering that the match is likely to be a non title one, it is also a great way to keep the belt on Mahal when he comes to India for the Live Events. Much was made of Mahal's visit to India this month, and we completely understand why the company may want him to remain champion during the big tour.
It will be interesting to see how this match plays out on RAW as well, with Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar responding to Jinder Mahal's challenge!
The reason WWE is planning on book this match is for the purpose of having a cross-brand encounter for the inter-promotional PPV.
#2 Worst: Trading wins
Bobby Roode is the newest superstar to join the SmackDown Live roster. Dolph Ziggler is a new man with a new gimmick. WWE have kept them going at each other's throats by pulling on tights and trading wins. This feud is already as stale as they come.
Even if the two men had to trade wins, wouldn't clean wins have been a better way to go about it, considering how gifted both men are, inside the squared circle? There is literally no heat for the feud, right now. The match between Ziggler and Roode started off great, but soon devolved into a mess.
We hope for the sake of both men that this feud comes to a conclusion very soon indeed. It's doing neither man any real favors.
#3 Best: Heel Sami Zayn
We saw Sami Zayn turn on Kevin Owens at Hell in a Cell, and in front of his home crowd, Daniel Bryan bore the brunt of Zayn's newfound heelish ways. Zayn was absolutely brutal to Bryan calling him a 'housewife' and a 'sellout' as well. This was at the top of this week's episode.
Fast forward to the main event, and the team of Shinsuke Nakamura and Randy Orton looked absolutely unstoppable. However, it was a low blow from Sami Zayn that helped even the odds and pick up a big win.
Kudos to creative for showing just how far everyone's favourite babyface has fallen. Speaking of falling from grace...
#3 Worst: Weak United States Champion
It is pretty clear that Baron Corbin will not be booked as a monster, and that's a real shame. He suffered a defeat at the hends of a man most of us forgot was even employed with WWE. One week into his title run, and he's already suffered a pretty major defeat.
Let's hope Corbin's next feud is not with Sin Cara, but instead with someone higher up the pecking order like Bobby Roode. If not, the championship will get even more devalued than it is right now.
#4 Best: Finally at the top
AJ Styles is back in the championship picture, and even though Jinder Mahal may not be the most exciting opponent for someone of Styles' caliber, only he can elevate SmackDown Live to great heights. He's certainly the most popular babyface in the entire roster right now.
We assume that Styles and Mahal will clash for the WWE Championship following Survivor Series. Most possibly following the Indian tour as well.
That concludes our review and recap of this week's episode of SmackDown Live. What do you think of our assessment? Let us know in the comments down below.
We conclude with an image of SmackDown Live's most despicable duo, who're quite surprisingly not Owens and Zayn.
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