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The 21st August 2018 edition of SmackDown Live managed to grab a lot of coverage thanks to an amazing main-event where The New Day finally defeated The Bludgeoned Brothers to become your new Tag Team Champions.
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However, many people tend to overlook the fact SmackDown Live makes the best out of the stock they are provided with. Unlike RAW, SD Live doesn't frequently depend upon nostalgia & surprise returns to make their show great.
In the 'Land of Opportunity', the value of promos means as much as the quality of wrestling matches. Especially this week, where we witnessed a wide range of segments that provide more depth and variety to various storylines following the PPV that was SummerSlam 2018.
#1 The Miz Has To Unfortunately Retire...
The Miz comes out with Maryse. A moment of silence, please. It is with a heavy heart & utmost sadness that The Miz will have to, unfortunately, retire...from ever facing Daniel Bryan again!
Daniel Bryan might have punched The Miz 100 times, but nothing amounts to one single Miz punch!
The disastrous Miz Punch was responsible for defeating Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam 2018. That's right, nobody saw Maryse handing out a foreign object to The Miz. It never happened.
Daniel Bryan (or Daniel Bella, according to The A-Lister) wants to expose The Miz for what he really is- A wannabe Hollywood star cosplaying as a professional wrestler.
SmackDown might as well be 'The Land of One-Liners' at this point.
Brie Bella helps her husband layeth the SmackDown on The Miz. Yes, that is correct. People would have expected her to attack Maryse. But no, Brie Bella goes ballistic on The A-Lister. All four characters in this situation will take part in a mixed tag team match at Hell In A Cell.
Sure, it won't amount to a five-star classic, but SmackDown has a way of making its segments very entertaining.
As long as we're getting the 'E' part in what 'WWE' stands for, fans are ALL IN (no pun intended) for this one.
#3 The Good Brothers Get Some Comedy In and The IIconics Annoy Us With Their Accents
This mini-segment starts off when Renee Young interviews The Bar. Sheamus nd Cesaro have had tough luck in the Tag Division recently.
But The Bar will face the winner of tonight's Tag Title Match: New Day vs. The Bludgeoned Brothers. But The Good Brothers- Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson have an issue with that. Gallows & Anderson pull off some quick comedy and Anderson even shows off his abs. You can see how Renee Young is taken aback out of nowhere in the picture above.
The Bar and The Good Brothers will settle their differences in the ring next week. This segment not only sets up a match for next week, but it also shows us that SmackDown even puts some effort into mini-segments like this one.
The comedy makes it worthwhile for everyone.
Meanwhile...
The IIconics can be annoying at times. Should The IIconics be annoying though? Well, yes- The IIconics are the epitome of what annoying looks (& sounds) like.
That is their gimmick. Peyton Royce and Billie Kay portray a perfect satire of that very idea. They both always remind of Stacey and Dawn (The Beatdown Biddies) from the 80's inspired wrestling TV Show G.L.O.W. a.k.a Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling.
To sum it all up- The IIconics are annoying, but they are what they are for a particular reason...
(PS: No offense to my fellow Australians out there. I love your accent.)
#4 Becky Lynch Is Awesome
As I explained in my previous article about SummerSlam 2018, WWE has indirectly manipulated the audience to get behind Becky Lynch from the moment Charlotte Flair was inserted into the title picture.
Whatever she says during this promo stands (kind of) true. People always supported Becky Lynch.
But in today's fandom, everything is about opinions. Sure, everyone had an "opinion" on why Lynch deserved to be at the top, but opinions don't necessarily result in actions.
So Lynch took the matter into her own hands, and decided to take 'action' by doing what she should have done a long time ago. Lynch is a full-fledged heel now.
Charlotte comes out later on and both of them brawl with each other. The SmackDown Women's division try to separate them apart in the end.
This segment is exactly why Lynch didn't win the title at SummerSlam. WWE likes to expand their feuds over a span of several months and by doing so, there is enough room to provide depth to the situation via storytelling.
Sure, the audience is cheering Lynch over Charlotte. This is very similar to the Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar situation. Just like Roman/Brock, the rest of the cast had to separate Becky/Charlotte from each other. Also, the heel is getting cheered over the babyface here.
But what differentiates these two feuds apart from each other is that this is Becky's story all along. Charlotte Flair may be champion, but she only acts as a catalyst to the bigger storyline at play here, that is, of Becky Lynch's rise to the top.
#5 Big E Just Might Be Owen Hart In 2018 and R-Truth Wants To Join The Women's Division...
Big E has the body, he has the ability, he has the potential. But just like Owen Hart, Big E seems to be well-suited on entertaining the fans by pushing silliness and wit to the max.
I just love how his fellow companions, Xavier and Kofi are concerned about Big E's taped ribs. But the only ribs that Big E seems to care about are the ones that go right into his mouth!
Ribs are delicious! They have a tag-team championship match coming up later on in the show, but Big E will never stop being Big E, even if he had to go one-on-one against The Undertaker.
"THAT IS NOT HOW IT WORKS R-TRUTH!"
Looks like Carmella has been avoiding him all night. After all, it makes complete sense as to why Carmella would want to face R-Truth in the first place.
Paige explains to him that this is not how it works. We know that not all comedic wrestling segments deliver up to the mark each and every time, but there is something about R-Truth that just yields a good laugh or two from everybody whenever he is on-screen.
Carmella gets her title re-match next week, and it looks like poor R-Truth will have to wait a little longer just to get his hands on Carmella...(That sounded totally inappropriate. My bad)
#6 Daddy's Already Gone Night-Night!
Last but certainly not the least, we arrive towards the saga of Samoa Joe and WWE Champion AJ Styles.
After absolutely stealing the show during SummerSlam 2018, Renee Young interviews AJ Styles to follow-up from last night. We get it, last night didn't go the way AJ had exactly planned it to be. However, The Phenomenal One certainly didn't regret beating the hell out of his current rival Samoa Joe.
Samoa Joe attacks him from behind. He puts him in a clutch. Styles won't be getting up anytime soon.
He urges the cameraman to focus on him. Joe calls out Wendy Styles & just like I mentioned before, SmackDown Live just might be 'The Land of One-Liners' at this point:
"OHHH WENDYYY! *pause* It seems like we're making a lot of promises tonight, including one to come home & tuck in the kids! But guess what...DADDY'S ALREADY GONE NIGHT-NIGHT!"
Joe's line delivery is right on point. Here's another Film/TV reference for you: The way Joe delivered the above quote totally reminded me of Jack Torrance from Kubrick's cult-horror classic film 'The Shining'. Trust me, the similarities are very unsettling.
If sequences like this happen every week, then Joe and Styles' feud might end up being one of the greatest professional wrestling rivalries of all-time.
So that was it. Well, not completely it. The main event was an absolute riot. But this article only concerns about showcasing the value & variety of live promos on SD Live.
This week's SD Live found the right balance between comedic and serious undertones in promos. Hence, the reason why SmackDown is the 'A-Show' and has always been so in recent memory...
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