WWE SMACKDOWN HITS & MISSES 9/5: Ziggler’s segment, Shane-Owens, Ellsworth and Carmella, Shinsuke and Orton, more

NOTE: I am filling in for several weeks on Smackdown Hits & Misses for PWTorch’s Jon Mezzera, who will continue to cover Raw each week.

SMACKDOWN HITS

Opening Intros: The show got off to an interesting start with separate introductions from Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura discussing their main event match. While different, I liked it, and got somewhat of a retro vibe from it, like when the WWE would use similar openings back in the day (See: Survivor Series 1989).

Shane-Owens confrontation: Overall, I enjoyed the opening segment between Shane McMahon and Kevin Owens. Their feud has been slowly building for the past month and it seemed logical that Kevin would step over the line sooner or later. I was surprised at how quickly they moved the story from Owens’ threat, to the suspension, to the announcement of Vince McMahon’s upcoming appearance, as they could have milked it for another week or two, but that’s just a little nitpick.

Dolph Ziggler (The Good): There were a few minor pros during Ziggler’s “re-debut” this week. Firstly, I was glad that coming out to other themes wasn’t leading to him impersonating other wrestlers (Like 2000 era Big Show, Charlie Haas, or Damien Sandow). Secondly, I enjoyed when after all the entrances, he put the focus back on what he does in the ring, and am slightly intrigued to see where it will lead next week.

A.J. Styles-Tye Dillinger: I enjoyed the matchup between Tye Dillinger and Baron Corbin, as well as the post-match follow-up between A.J. & Tye. Dillinger showed some fire, and a desire to get to get into the U.S. Championship picture. As noted in my previous column, I thought that Tye was poorly booked on last week’s show, and that the WWE should have given the fans a full length match between him and Styles, which we will now hopefully get next week.

Bobby Roode Video Package: It is widely known that the WWE creates some of the best video packages, and this was no exception. Even though I know this is being used to educate the mainstream audience on the Glorious One, I think that these are fantastic, and not used as often as they should be. It’s a good way to prevent a wrestler from having to wrestle every week, while also keeping him or her fresh in the minds of the viewer.

Nakamura vs. Orton: I thought this was a great main event, with the right victor. Shinsuke is continuing to find his way, and Randy was a great opponent. Kudos to Orton for working hard in the match, and putting the King of Strong Style over. I also enjoyed having Jinder in his luxury box overseeing the match. It makes it feel important that the Champion would be watching in the arena, and in addition, I like those better than when we just cut to an opponent watching backstage.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Ellsworth/Carmella: This is more directed at the Ellsworth side, and the storyline overall, as I believe that Carmella has been slowly upping her game; however, there were a few things that I disliked about this. Firstly, while Carmella has been teasing a cash-in, I didn’t really get why Ellsworth would feel it was appropriate to try and help her cash-in at that moment. Secondly, immediately after the match, she breaks up with him, and then gets back together with him, in the same night. Another instance where this could have been moved along more slowly.

Dolph Ziggler (The Bad): This was a segment that started off poor, and went on way too long. It was also poorly structured. When Dolph originally came out, and then left, I was trying to figure out if it was over or not, as he kind of repeated the same stuff he’d been saying for the last 2 weeks. Then he came out to Cena’s music, acted way over the top, then Macho Man’s, and then Naomi’s. Of all of them, I thought the Macho Man was an odd choice, and would have preferred someone who regularly comes back instead of one who never returned after he left in 1994. Overall, it was a silly segment, and I hope that after getting to the end of the promo, we’ll actually see something a little more serious going forward.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: WWE SMACKDOWN HITS & MISSES 8/24: Glorious Debut, Styles-Owens-Shane, Breezango’s proposition, Usos, Ziggler

About the Author: Jeff has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was knee high to a grasshopper (little kid), after coming across the Wrestling Challenge episode after WrestleMania 7, and has not looked back. His passion has led him to winning wrestling trivia contests in his city, and even won him his Senior Talent Show by dancing to Shawn Michaels theme song. When not annoying others with wrestling talk, he loves spending time with his family and friends, and focuses on his other passion: movies. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @the_Indel or send me an email at indelpw@gmail.com. See you next week!