Mikes Smackdown Thoughts (19/04/24)

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

I’m trying something new for the Wednesday column where I take a look at a recent episode of television from the previous week and give my thoughts rather than a full on review, because we already have great folk who review the current day wrestling on here in the form of Thomas, Peacockery and Scott, so I’ll try a little something different. This week it’s going to be Smackdown from last Friday, but I might mix it up each week depending on what I get to watch

I’ll be eschewing regular star ratings here and I’ll be reviewing each match and/or segment on a scale of Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down or Thumbs in the Middle

So yeah, let’s move onto Smackdown from last week, with Thomas’ review being on offer if you want a more detailed recap, as this is designed more as a companion to that than as a full-on review in itself

AJ Styles Vs LA Knight

I thought the WrestleMania XL match between them was good and this was good too, with Knight getting the elongated babyface shine at the start in order to get himself over and to also offset the fact he was losing in the end. Indeed, they put most of the heat segment in the advert break too in order to really give Knight as much of a showcase as they could. I completely understand that thinking, but it kind of telegraphed the finish for me, as if Styles had lost following all of that then the match would have been essentially a squash bordering on a burial, so Styles basically HAD to win after a certain point.

I’m also unsure as to just how much that booking really protects the loser, as it can sometimes go from making them look strong in defeat to making them come across as outright ineffective due to dominating the bout so much but still being unable to get the W. Still though, Styles is an excellent wrestler and Knight is a good hand who is really over, so they would have had to actively try to make this one bad and it was good wrestling for free TV

Rating: Thumbs Up!

Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga video recap followed by Sikoa segment with Paul Heyman

This did an effective job of recapping what happened last week and also making Sikoa look like a star, whilst also making Tonga look like someone you should be worried about due to how unnerved Heyman was by his presence. Paul E’s acting was on point as usual and this worked well

Rating: Thumbs Up!

Nick Aldis and Triple H give the new tag belts to Theory and Waller

I’m very glad that they put Theory and Waller together as a tag team, as together they are greater than the sum of their parts and they can always break up in the future at some stage and have a ready made feud. I have no idea which one would be the babyface in that eventual storyline, but it’s something fun to think about for down the line. I thought the belts themselves looked good, with them harking back to the classic design of the Hogan/New Generation/Attitude Era’s, and the Champs did a good job as coming across as disrespectful goofs, so it all worked well enough

Rating: Thumbs Leaning Up!

Naomi promo segment with Kayla Braxton

This was okay and helped hype up the Main Event. Not a great promo, but it ticked the box it needed to

Rating: Thumbs Leaning Up!

Street Profits Vs New Catch Republic Vs Legado Del Fantasma Vs Authors of Pain

I liked that the referee was actually checking the shoulders before counting at points. That’s a little touch that helps make the action feel more like a legitimate contest. Everyone had a role to fill here, with Street Profits being the mixture of speed and power, NCR bringing technical acumen and strikes, Legado being conniving villains and AOP being big scary blokes, so it meant that there was usually something interesting happening as all the disparate personalities and fight styles interacted with each other.

Theory and Waller on commentary didn’t bring the match down, but I didn’t think they really added much either. We of course got our contractually mandated moment of Bate getting to be a Big Strong Boy, although the Heels foiled it before it could come to fruition, which was good cheap heat. There were some outright silly spots at points when all eight wrestlers were batting at the same time, as this essentially became an AEW Party Match, and it was a good example of why those kinds of matches can be fun when you’ve got the right folk in there.

My only criticism for it might be that it felt like they hit the peak but then they slowed it back down again after an advert break and it never really felt like they got the momentum back that they had previously. That could have been due to the match being too long or just due to the way they decided to structure it. I have no idea what was going on with the fans getting their phones out, but I’m guessing it was Bo Dallas related and either TNT Sports missed showing the bit that made it relevant or I just didn’t notice it. A good match overall that I had fun with.

Rating: Thumbs Up!

Bayley promo with Byron Saxton

Another okay promo which reminded us that a match was happening later on Smackdown that we should stay tuned for.

Rating: Thumbs Leaning Up

Kevin Owens, Tama, Tonga, Solo Sikoa and Paul Heyman segment

Sikoa continued to look like a big star here and Heyman continued to be fantastic in his role of snivelling manager looking to appease his client in order to avoid getting creamed by him. Owens as a fired up gutsy babyface looking for a fight almost always works, and Tonga is doing well in his new role. And hey, folks are cheering for Roman Reigns now, so maybe Rock’s Bloodline Hollywood faction will indeed be the Heels against Roman’s Bloodline Wolfpac faction. This was a very good segment and just what was required in order to make the Sikoa and Tonga duo look dangerous, as they’re going to be carrying things Bloodline wise until Rock and Roman can come back into play. I’m liking how we can actually have blood in WWE angles now too since the Rock/Cody stuff. Granted, it’s not something they should be overdoing because otherwise you end up with an AEW situation where there’s far too much blood and it ceases to mean as much when you use it sparingly, but used in situations like this it can be a very powerful image that adds something to a story or segment.

Rating: Thumbs Up!

Santos Escobar Vs Carlito

Carlito’s new music isn’t anywhere near as good as his old one, but I’m guessing it costs less to use this one rather than paying Jim Johnston for the one he came up with, so we’ll have to endure it. The match itself was pretty dull and heatless, with Carlito unfortunately displaying 2007 effort levels as opposed to 2004 effort levels. Credit to Zelina Vega for at least trying to get the crowd to care, but she was fighting an uphill battle in this one. At least they didn’t put Carlito over here, but this kind of derailed Smackdown a bit

Rating: Thumbs Down!

Damage Control and Cargill/Belair segment

Dakota is a good shrill annoying Heel. Aside from that, this was a segment that was mostly just “there” and didn’t really add anything

Rating: Thumbs in the Middle!

Cody promo on AJ Styles

This was a good promo from Rhodes, where he put Styles over and laid the table nicely for the match at Backlash as well as getting you intrigued for their angle on Smackdown next week

Rating: Thumbs Up!

Naomi Vs Bayley

This was a decent match and it’s nice that they’re closing Smackdown with a Title match in order to make the belt seem important. The camera work was good in general, although I don’t think I’ll ever get on board with the wacky one they use for match introductions. It just feels like a visual gimmick for the sake of a visual gimmick and I’m not sure it’s really adding much to the show overall. The DQ finish was annoying, as they could have easily had Naomi get cheated by Stratton to continue things that way with Bayley being angered by it, as at least we’d get a proper finish that way and Naomi wouldn’t have been hurt by it. I’m probably in the minority with that one though. Still a solid outing though and they were clearly putting the work in out there. Stratton getting into her ring gear just to do a run-in is one of those things that I’d normally feel was out of place and a little bit dumb, but she’s an arrogant Heel who is obsessed with how she looks, so I totally buy that the Stratton character would consider it essential for her to stick her gear on before attacking someone.

Rating: Thumbs Leaning Up!

I enjoyed the show overall, as Smackdown usually has okay action and there was only really one segment that I thought didn’t work. Carlito in general just seems like a really odd hire in 2024. Are there not other veteran Latino wrestlers out there that WWE could bring in? What’s LA Park up to these days?

Overall Show Rating: Thumbs Up for Smackdown!