While Money in the Bank may not have left everyone satisfied, it certainly got the wrestling community invested in SmackDown Live, to see further developments as the fallout of the event. The Raw that followed was a solid affair, centred around a certain gentleman named Big Cass.
Funnily, this edition of SmackDown Live centred around his real life girlfriend, Carmella and was a winner! There was a consistent thread running through the episode and in many ways, it satisfied fans in a way that Money in the Bank really could not. Let’s examine the many best and few worst aspects of the show, in our post-SmackDown Live recap.
#1 Best: Carmella absolutely stole the show
Our primary concern with Carmella as Miss Money in the Bank was whether she could take centre stage and shine! And yes, she absolutely did. She cut a promo at the beginning of the show that established her as a hateable heel and got her the heat she needed.
Even though we know that she’s been stripped of the briefcase now, this show did much to build her character. With Ellsworth in tow, a man who gets instant heat because of how annoying his actions and mannerisms are, Carmella can break out and be a big star, much like her boyfriend (not James Ellsworth but Big Cass).
#1 Worst: Naomi’s promo
Unlike Carmella who glowed brightly this week, the glow on Naomi seemed to flicker and fade. Her promo was a chore to listen to, sounding scripted and absolutely unnatural. In fact, when Lana entered the fray, she sounded far better than Naomi actually did.
Naomi cannot be entirely blamed for this, however. As we saw from the episode of Talking Smack following Money in the Bank, Naomi sounds far better in an unscripted environment, when she doesn’t memorise lines. If not, Naomi needs to sit down with Alexa Bliss and figure out how to deliver scripted promos more naturally!
#2 Best: The match they should have had before
The first time these two men met, their match was underwhelming. This week, they did a repeat of their Backlash performance on TV, and absolutely lived up to the hype. Trading MMA holds and telling a story of two evenly matched competitors who do not like each other, Shinsuke Nakamura and Dolph Ziggler had one of the best TV matches in recent memory.
This match could have been on a PPV, and nobody would have batted an eyelid considering the outcome. Dolph Ziggler was elevated as a result of this match, and Nakamura felt like an even bigger star than he has been booked as, recently.
While taking down notes, we almost put this point in the ‘Worst’ column, because we were scared that Nakamura would lose his sheen if he wrestled on TV. He certainly won’t if he wrestles like this, regularly and consistently.
#2 Worst: Missing Maria & Mike
In our ‘Best and Worst of Money in the Bank’ article, we had mentioned how we were not fans of Maria and Mike’s debut because it seemed abrupt and weird. In our minds, we consoled ourselves with the belief that their gimmick would be better explained on the following episode of SmackDown.
After their rather underwhelming debut, this lovestruck couple was missing from the show! Have Maria and Mike already been relegated to the undercard? We believe it is possible, considering that Maria really might not be able to match up to the level of wrestling among the women of SmackDown Live and neither will Mike Kanellis, in our opinion, having seen his work on Impact Wrestling!
These two need more TV time or they’ll just be another worthless WWE acquisition really. Much like Anderson and Gallows have been, really.
#3 Best: Returning Superstars
Chad Gable took up Kevin Owens’ US Open Challenge, alleging that he had moved to the city of Dayton, Ohio, that very morning, even giving Owens an address. While the match did not last very long, Gable showed an impressive array of moves and some impeccable strength for the duration that he was inside the ring.
Owens sold like a master, and even though he won, made Gable look like an absolute star with his performance.
We were also glad to see Luke Harper in the main event scene. Even though he came up short, it is heartening to know that he’s at least getting television time. Quite honestly, Tye Dillinger rating smoothies left us with a bad taste in our mouth despite the fact that this was the first time we had seen him in ages.
#3 Worst: No fresh new feuds
Screwy finishes generally indicate the prolonging of a feud. MITB was full of them, so we knew that the same rivalries would continue for ages. This week, in the aftermath of MITB, not a single new feud was teased, except for The Hype Bros possibly entering the tag team division very soon.
So it'll still be The Usos vs The New Day, Jinder Mahal vs. Randy Orton and AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens over the coming months.
#4 Best ever: Next week’s MITB rematch
Daniel Bryan’s presence made this show, in our opinion. It’s a tragedy that the biggest babyface in the roster is no longer wrestling anymore, but we love the fact that he’s still in our midst if only as an Authority Figure for SmackDown Live.
What a way to make us all tune in next week, for the following episode, right? Here's your last glimpse of Carmella with the briefcase.
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