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What’s the story
The WWE’s blue brand put on a huge dark match main event after this Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live went off the air.
In the match that went down after the SmackDown and 205 Live tapings, Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura took on Rusev and Dolph Ziggler.
"The Viper" hit an RKO on Ziggler for the pinfall victory.
In case you didn’t know…
The WWE often schedules star-studded dark matches before and/or after its TV tapings, primarily to gauge fan reaction for these matches.
The matches are meant to entertain the fans in attendance at the events, and not for broadcast as part of the television tapings.
The heart of the matter
With Randy Orton set to face Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura ready to challenge WWE Champion Jinder Mahal for the belt, the dark match main event didn’t really see much in-ring action per se, with all four competitors playing it safe, keeping the flashy stuff to the minimum.
In a back-and-forth matchup that saw the crowd give a huge pop to Nakamura and Randy Orton, "The Viper" sealed the deal for his team, nailing Dolph Ziggler with an RKO for the win.
What’s next?
Randy Orton faces Rusev, whereas Shinsuke Nakamura competes in a WWE Championship Match against Jinder Mahal at WWE’s SummerSlam PPV this August 20th.
Author’s take
In my opinion, the WWE needs to listen to the audience not only at live events and TV tapings, but also on the internet.
The crowd only seemed interested in what Nakamura and Orton did, and showed little to no interest -- they didn’t even care to boo -- for Jinder Mahal.
It’s high time that the WWE ends Jinder Mahal's reign as WWE Champion after being poorly booked as the cowardly heel champion. It’s Nakamura’s time now!
