Smackdown Live Appreciation Thread (Praise the Dogg!)

[romanstylesiii]

We gave Road Dogg a lot of slack, especially during Jinder's run.

Right now, Smackdown's main event scene is about 50x more interesting than RAW, and it is genuinely a fresh angle which does not seem overly predictable like RAW.

Can I get a WOOF WOOF for the Road Dogg plz?

[MAGGLE]

People that I like in the Main Event scene = Thank you Road Dogg


People I don´t like = Burn in hell Road Doog

[cjb01: Limited Edition Item!]

The Rate The Smackdown Poll says nope.

[Schizo]

f*** it, yeah Iam loving Smackdown right now. Iam really liking this AJ/Sami/Owens/Bryan/Shane storyline and the first time I enjoyed SD's main event scene in a long long time. Even the tag division is going great right now, Rusev And English are awesome and the US title tourney is a lot of fun. So yeah, smackdown is pretty entertaining right now

[romanstylesiii]

Jan 3, 2018 2:29:11 GMT -5 MAGGLE said:

People that I like in the Main Event scene = Thank you Road Dogg


People I don´t like = Burn in hell Road Doog

This counts as the first "woof" 

[Deleted]

I didn't watch this week's SmackDown, but I really can't claim to enjoy AJ having even more boring ass matches with Owens while Shane and Bryan bicker any more than I do people only remembering the Universal title exists once every couple months. Both ways going suck.

[Final Countdown Jones]

Jan 3, 2018 2:29:11 GMT -5 MAGGLE said:

People that I like in the Main Event scene = Thank you Road Dogg


People I don´t like = Burn in hell Road Doog

People are going to enjoy the show better when the biggest focus on it isn't someone they dislike. There's nothing wrong with that.

[Abdullah]

I'm not even being mean: outside of the tag division, I see very little to praise about Smackdown.

Owens and Zayn are a less amusing take on JeriKO. (Although I do get a kick out of Kevin kissing Sami so fervently.)

[Deleted]

I'm really enjoying the main event angle right now.

[MAGGLE]

Jan 3, 2018 4:14:20 GMT -5 Final Countdown Jones said:

Jan 3, 2018 2:29:11 GMT -5 MAGGLE said:

People that I like in the Main Event scene = Thank you Road Dogg


People I don´t like = Burn in hell Road Doog

People are going to enjoy the show better when the biggest focus on it isn't someone they dislike. There's nothing wrong with that.

So I personally did not care for Mahal, but except for the switching of the characters...nothing really changed on Smackdown. If you judge an entire show by the characters that you like and not the story progression or plot, well then thats the opposite of an objective criticism.

[Final Countdown Jones]

Jan 3, 2018 6:34:56 GMT -5 MAGGLE said:

Jan 3, 2018 4:14:20 GMT -5 Final Countdown Jones said:

People are going to enjoy the show better when the biggest focus on it isn't someone they dislike. There's nothing wrong with that.

So I personally did not care for Mahal, but except for the switching of the characters...nothing really changed on Smackdown. If you judge an entire show by the characters that you like and not the story progression or plot, well then thats the opposite of an objective criticism.

Liking a show doesn't have to be 'objective criticism' and in a million ways is an entirely subjective experience anyway. Besides, the story going on in the main event is different from the story being told with Jinder, and if that's to OP's taste then it's not only the specifics of who's on top that he's liking about it.

[The Heartbreak TWERK]

No. Not after that instant replay bullshit.

[Allie Kitsune]

Eh, it wasn't the worst thing ever (and to hear some people around the internet tell it, EVERYTHING WWE does is must-freakout, apocalypse-level horrible), but it also wasn't any great shakes.

[BayleyTiffyCodyCenaJudyHopps]

It was an average show, pretty much. The tag title match was kinda good, weird booking aside.

[cabbageboy]

Thing is, AJ Styles does entirely too many jobs for the WWE champion. Since he won the title from Jinder he lost clean to Lesnar and he has lost in consecutive weeks to Owens and Zayn with these goofy screwjob finishes. I know Styles is mostly bulletproof but would it kill them to book the guy a little stronger?

[EoE: Workin On My Night Cheese]

Jan 3, 2018 8:52:30 GMT -5 cabbageboy said:

Thing is, AJ Styles does entirely too many jobs for the WWE champion. Since he won the title from Jinder he lost clean to Lesnar and he has lost in consecutive weeks to Owens and Zayn with these goofy screwjob finishes. I know Styles is mostly bulletproof but would it kill them to book the guy a little stronger?

I’m not sure you can really book him much stronger unless he literally never loses. He rarely loses clean as it is.

Like, I’d consider him to be booked at least as strong as Reigns is, but because everyone likes Styles, nobody notices.

[Dub H]

Jan 3, 2018 9:23:51 GMT -5 EoE: Workin On My Night Cheese said:

Jan 3, 2018 8:52:30 GMT -5 cabbageboy said:

Thing is, AJ Styles does entirely too many jobs for the WWE champion. Since he won the title from Jinder he lost clean to Lesnar and he has lost in consecutive weeks to Owens and Zayn with these goofy screwjob finishes. I know Styles is mostly bulletproof but would it kill them to book the guy a little stronger?

I’m not sure you can really book him much stronger unless he literally never loses. He rarely loses clean as it is.

Like, I’d consider him to be booked at least as strong as Reigns is, but because everyone likes Styles, nobody notices.

Styles lost clean to Brock and Cena

that alone puts below Reigns.

With Reigns he would lose by DQ instead of getting pinned and then next win beat then clean one after the other.


At least hopefully AJ wins by Sami and Owens stopping each other from getting the pin.But I agree there is no reason to say AJ is not booked strongly.

[Lupin the Third]

Heel Sami and the Sami/KO Friendship thing is the greatest thing going on right now, doubters be damned!!

[Gravedigger's Biscuits]

Road Dogg may write the shows but he doesn't decide overall storyline direction.

Jinder as champion? That was Vince. AJ Styles as champion? That is Vince too.

[BayleyTiffyCodyCenaJudyHopps]

Jan 3, 2018 9:23:51 GMT -5 EoE: Workin On My Night Cheese said:

Jan 3, 2018 8:52:30 GMT -5 cabbageboy said:

Thing is, AJ Styles does entirely too many jobs for the WWE champion. Since he won the title from Jinder he lost clean to Lesnar and he has lost in consecutive weeks to Owens and Zayn with these goofy screwjob finishes. I know Styles is mostly bulletproof but would it kill them to book the guy a little stronger?

I’m not sure you can really book him much stronger unless he literally never loses. He rarely loses clean as it is.

Like, I’d consider him to be booked at least as strong as Reigns is, but because everyone likes Styles, nobody notices.

Most of the time I agree with you on WWE not being that bad usually but IMO this is one of the company's biggest problems right now.

Styles and Reigns are basically on the same tier, but Styles does do too many jobs as champion. In fact, barring Lesnar (who I believe they are booking correctly) and Reigns (so far), most of the champions (midcard titles too) in WWE do far too many jobs. It's not as bad a problem with AJ as he's protected far more than most of the roster, but imagine how much bigger he could be if he hadn't taken some of those losses.

It devalues the belts, because the champions don't look as credible. And I'm not sure it matters if the loss is dirty to a lot of fans. The important thing is that the champion ends the show standing tall, rather than frustrated. That's how the Hogans, Austins, Cenas, Punks and Goldbergs got over, they consistently got their hand raised. Winners move tickets and get ratings.

There's so many other options WWE could try aside from booking their champs to job to their challengers every week. if Bliss is going to face Asuka down the road for the title, and WWE wants to build it up as a compelling match, she has no business losing to Asuka as the champion. They could call up any jobber they wanted for Asuka to squash instead of Bliss. Heck, they could take a page from NJPW and book more multi-person tags, so not only do the big stars get airtime, a lower card wrestler can take the fall so the champion and the stars stay protected.

Okada's only been pinned, fair or foul, like twice in a year. That makes him look crazy powerful. WWE needs stronger champions like that.