SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
HITS
Jeff Hardy Promo: Dark setting, painted face, and white eye contacts make for a cool Hardy promo. The charismatic enigma looks to be heading towards a feud with Shinsuke Nakamura. The darker Hardy’s character gets, the better he becomes. He’s an artist. He’s showing it now.
Sanity vs. Usos: The match never officially happened however it was a good first look at SAnity, who made their Smackdown Live debut. They arrived and viciously attacked The Usos led by Eric Young. This should be a continuing theme over the next few weeks to emphasize SAnity as legit heel contenders.
Gallows & Anderson vs. The Bludgeon Brothers: This was a fun tag team match. Three of the four wrestlers in this match are big boys and they they al worked stiff. Anderson bumped for Harper and Rowan as he is seemingly in the best shape of his life. Harper, per usual, was all over the place as he is one of the most underrated performers in WWE. The BB retained their tag team titles in just over six minutes.
Gauntlet Match – Main Event: Tuesday night actually became Rusev Day as the Bulgarian Brute secured his spot in the WWE Championship match at Extreme Rules against A.J. Styles. Rusev defeated Miz. Daniel Bryan was absolutely tremendous, especially against Samoa Joe. Bryan proves week in and week out that he hasn’t missed a beat since returning from injury. He MAY have even gotten better. His promos have greatly improved and his in-ring skills are more polished.
MISSES
Carmella Promo: Her act is tired. She opened the show and did her normal heel act. At this point her attitude is forced. She said some things that were grammatically incorrect and had a lot of forced laughter. Luckily, James Ellsworth saved the promo cutting his own promo and then selling a kick to the abdomen from Asuka. Carmella superkicked Asuka to end the opening segment.
Becky Lynch vs. Billie Kaye: Good booking decision to have Lynch make quick work of Kaye, who was sloppy from start to finish. Lynch is such a pro that she was able to make it through the match while still looking strong despite a very poor performance by her counterpart.
FINAL THOUGHTS…
Overall, a decent episode of Smackdown Live. There were quite a few highs and minimal lows as Smackdown Live continues to put in solid shows week after week.
I’m excited to see the A.J. Styles-Rusev build heading into Extreme Rules. It will be interesting to see how Rusev handles this much-deserved push.
NOW CHECK OUT THIS RELATED ARTICLE: TOP 3 DEVELOPMENTS – SMACKDOWN 6/19: Setup for Carmella vs Asuka II, Setup for Miz vs Bryan, Rusev is Number One Contender
I actually like your two misses, but then I’m a hound and the ladies never disappoint… well except one. lol As I said in Wade’s recap, Smackdown bookers just hit us with 3 PPV Main Events, I’ll be curious to see if RAW bookers can step up to the plate.
Billie Kay CAN wrestle. I remember back to her SHIMMER days as “Everyone’s Favorite Girlfriend” Jessie McKay, she could go in the ring.
Maybe her dumbed-down repertoire is due to her character?