WWE SMACKDOWN HITS & MISSES 11/14: Raw invasion, Styles and Bryan talk Lesnar, Charlotte-Natalya, Usos, Opening Pep Talk

SMACKDOWN HITS

Opening Shane Pep Talk: While minor, I’m going to go ahead and give this segment a hit. With this being the last show before Survivor Series, it was good to see a State of the Union, so to speak, along with specifically promoting the singles matches. I continue to like Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn not showing support for the Blue Team, such as this segment and later on in the night when they failed to help the New Day. It’s good for story consistency. That being said, there were some aspects of the segment where it was borderline cheesy, from the camera angles to Shane McMahon’s acting.

A.J. Styles & Daniel Bryan: While for most fans, the mere mention of this match could sell itself, the company still needed to work to market it as the special match that it is, and I felt they did a good job. A.J. has been doing really well making his character someone to truly root for, and it helped plant a seed of doubt with regards to if Brock Lesnar will win. I enjoyed Daniel Bryan being the advocate for the night, and loved how they called back to Paul Heyman’s promo from the previous night. All in all, a good segment.

Charlotte-Natalya: This was a very good match, and after several weeks of disappointing segments featuring the women, it was nice to see them given the time and spotlight. Charlotte and Natalya have a good chemistry going back to NXT, and they did not disappoint. While I was a little disappointed to see Natalya lose the championship, it was the right decision heading into Survivor Series. That being said, I hope that they will keep the title on Charlotte through WrestleMania. The post-match interview was a great bonus, and it’s those types of things that showcase the importance of a win. Finally, it was cool to see Ric Flair at the end celebrating with his daughter.

The Usos: In previous weeks, I have been questioning the decision to turn The Usos face (or are they?), since I believe that they have been at the top of their game since changing their style. If this week was any indication, then I am okay with it, as I thought they had a solid pre-match promo (calling Benjamin & Gable “American Alpha 2” was a nice touch), and still added some good intensity to the match. I do hope that the WWE makes it clear if both teams have turned, or what the situation is. For now, based on promos, I’m thinking Usos: Face & B/G: Heel.

End of the Show: Fans had been expecting this for weeks, but finally, Raw showed up for retribution, and I felt that for the most part, it was executed better. First and foremost, Raw was owed some revenge based on the previous weeks’ attacks/distractions. I thought that starting it with just The Shield was good, and made sense, since they were coming out to distract The New Day, who cost them the tag titles. Then, it was followed by The Bar, who while they benefitted, were still a part of that same match. This led to a back and forth brawl, which was a lot better in my opinion. It was nice to see Shane get his comeuppance, since I have not been a fan of his intentions from the beginning, and feel that his character had gone too far in recent weeks. The women’s attack on the locker-room was similar to Smackdown’s, so I didn’t really care for it as much, but that was about it. No matter what segments were good or bad, the end result is that I am still really excited for Survivor Series, and feel that this will be a very solid card.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

“The One Night where Raw & Smackdown Face Off”: I actually felt that this episode had either positive or neutral segments this week, so this and my next point may be considered nitpicking, but this line has steadily got on my nerves. I get that the company is trying to really sell Raw vs. Smackdown as something special, but they repeat the line way too much to where it gets annoying. Secondly, while I get the point that it’s the only time that it’s Raw vs. Smackdown in every match, it’s not the only time that they will face off, as they will see each other in two months at the Royal Rumble. Let’s not forget that there are occasional other matches, like at WrestleMania, or even at TLC last month.

Matches during the commercials:  When Smackdown first moved to Tuesdays and went live, one of the cool things that the show did was giving fans the ability to continue watching a match during a commercial with picture in picture. The only exception was the main event, which for some reason has always gone straight to commercial during the breaks. What I’m now starting to notice is inconsistency with this approach, as there were some matches that got picture in picture, and others that did not. One that didn’t was the Charlotte-Natalya match. At first someone may think that it’s because it was a championship match, but the Corbin-Sin Cara U.S. Title match earlier in the night had picture in picture. It’s little things like this that I’d like to better understand.

Jeff Indelicato 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. He 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. Follow him on Twitter @the_Indel or send him an email at indelpw@gmail.com.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S COLUMN: WWE SMACKDOWN HITS & MISSES 11/7: Styles beats Jinder Mahal for WWE Title, Rusev vs. Orton, Lynch vs. Ellsworth inter gender match, Under Siege storyline