WWE SMACKDOWN HITS & MISSES 2/13: Owens & Sami attack Corbin & Ziggler, Logan vs. Flair, Animated On-Screen Text, New Day and Pancakes

SMACKDOWN HITS

Opening Segment: While I wasn’t overly thrilled with the storyline that led to this (more later), I enjoyed the opening to the show. It was nice to see an episode begin without another talking segment, which is usually what occurs every week. In addition, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn came across more serious, and it was good to see them take out their aggressions on Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler after doing nothing but complaining recently.

Sarah Logan vs. Charlotte Flair: As readers are aware, I’ve been disappointed with the Smackdown Women’s Division, along with how the Riott Squad has been portrayed. With that said, I was pleased with Sarah Logan’s performance and felt that this was her best match to date. Logan brought an added intensity, and credit goes to Charlotte for selling appropriately. With her facing each member of the Squad, it adds a little bit to the story, and gives Charlotte something productive to do until WrestleMania.

United States Championship Segment: This was a good segment that accomplished the task of building up an intriguing feud going forward. Bobby Roode came across as a defending and fighting champion by not only proceeding with his open challenge, but also specifically calling out Randy Orton. I appreciated Orton responding, and am interested to see where his character will go from here. Jinder also played his part well by being an instigating, weasel of a heel. The question remains, does Rusev get involved as well?

Dolph Ziggler vs. Sami Zayn: Pre-match booking aside, this was a very good match that had the fans invested, along with some uncertainty as to who would emerge as the victor. I liked the close calls and was appreciative of the time given to tell a story. While Ziggler’s story has been odd, I’m glad that he won the match, as it would make his arc even more confusing.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Poor booking: Remember when the roster-split first started and Smackdown told some pretty good stories? Here we are now, and everything is just a mess. Firstly, they continued the trend of being similar to Raw by booking a multi-man world championship match at the next pay-per-view. To add to this, they added Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler, who have been booked very poorly, and are not really qualified to be in a championship match. Imagine how much more interesting and fun it would be if Corbin had been booked strongly and wasn’t losing most of his matches. What if Ziggler had been gone for more than a couple of weeks instead of just randomly appearing again for two minutes in the Royal Rumble? These things mean more when done effectively instead of randomly. To add to this further, I get the need to have your finger on the pulse of social media, but this constant tweeting of updates/changes/etc is not necessary and it is something that can be explained on the next episode. Why should I tune in if something is just going to be changed or tweeted out by the GM on Twitter?

New Day segment: The longest reigning tag team champions in history continue to come across as childish and annoying, and the pancake eating segment did them no favors. The fact that pancakes continue to be the cause or reason for a match is groan inducing. The only slight positive is that there is focus on more than one tag team feud on the show instead of having the focus on just the champions.

Animated Texts: Imagine being a non-wrestling fan flipping through the channels and coming across The Uso’s segment. You see these somewhat scary individuals who are tough and passionate. Then, a bold and colorful animated text appears on the screen repeating some of their statements. It completely devalues the point of their promo, and does nothing for the segment.

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 2/6: Bludgeon Brothers, Usos, Roode vs. Rusev, Sami vs. KO, Smackdown’s Top Ten, New Day answer Twitter