π΅ SmackDown (+ LVL UP) 9/15/23 - The Chain Gang Bang
Sept 15, 2023 21:56:46 GMT -5
PTBartman, mj0mn0m, and 1 more like this
Post by hbkid718 on Sept 15, 2023 21:56:46 GMT -5
Here are my Smackdown Thoughts:
When I saw Pat McAfee's interview with The Rock today, I thought it would be awesome to see them on Smackdown since I read that they were in Colorado, but I didn't think that they would be there. WWE shocked us as they would usually hype an appearance for weeks ahead of time, especially someone like The Rock. They would want to get massive ratings, but they surprised us for once. What a fun segment. It might be the best Smackdown opening segment in History. Austin Theory is a star. In his young career, he has interacted with Steve Austin, John Cena, & The Rock, the 3 biggest names in WWE History.
And now, the show gets better, with AJ Styles VS Finn Balor in the opening match.
Damn, AJ Styles VS Finn Balor was disappointing especially the stupid finish. I wanted a 20 minute classic between them not that crap. FACT: This was the 3rd 1-on-1 Match between them after TLC on 10/22/17 (won by Balor) & Survivor Series on 11/26/22 (won by Styles), so now Balor won 2 & Styles won 1.
Fun interaction with Pat McAfee & The Rock & then The Rock & John Cena.
Solid segment with Jimmy Uso & Finn Balor. Look at Paul Heyman lurking in the background.
I love the respect shown with Rey Mysterio & Santos Escobar to set-up a US Title Match. Bad promo by Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits. But, I'll take The LWO VS The Street Profits.
What the hell? The LWO VS The Street Profits was f'n 2-minutes. Where's the wrestling tonight? This sucks.
I changed my mind. I don't care that we didn't get a classic between AJ Styles & Finn Balor. We had 2 in the past & we'll probably get another one in the future & we might get another match between The LWO & The Street Profits? Who knows when we're going to see The Rock again, so giving up solid wrestling matches is worth it.
LA Knight VS The Miz was a great match. I liked it better than their Payback Match. LA Knight's promo was good, but it should matter, as they should stick to the Brand Split. A Smackdown wrestler shouldn't be allowed to challenge for Raw Championships. Also, they should have done an interaction with Knight & The Rock since Knight was in Rock's reality show, The Hero a few years back. FACT: This was The Miz's 1st Smackdown since he lost a Battle Royal & a Fatal 4-Way on 7/1/22 & 1st 1-on-1 on Smackdown since he lost to Big E on 7/31/20.
Solid segment with Paul Heyman & Solo Sikoa looking menacing.
Pretty Deadly & Adam Pearce was hilarious.
Asuka VS Bayley was excellent, but the finish with Shotzi was silly. Why couldn't Asuka get a decisive finish instead of winning with a backslide? She's wrestling IYO SKY for the Women's Championship next week. But Asuka & Bayley have great chemistry with each other.FACT: This was the 8th 1-on-1 Match between them after Takeover Dallas (4/1/16) & Takeover Brooklyn II (8/20/16), Raw on 2/5/18, 7/3/20, 8/3/20 (won by Auska), & SummerSlam on 8/23/20 (Won by Bayley) & Clash of Champions on 9/27/20 (Won by Asuka), so Asuka won 7 & Bayley won 1.
Raw looks good Monday with Drew McIntyre VS Jey Uso & Cody Rhodes VS Dominik Mysterio.
Who would think in 2023 Smackdown would begin with The Rock & end with John Cena?
Grayson Waller should have interacted with The Rock since Grayson played Ric Flair in Season 1 of Young Rock.
Fun Grayson Waller Effect. Grayson Waller was good. John Cena didn't say anything. Good promo by Jimmy Uso. I like Uso & Solo Sikoa working together to attack Cena & then the save by AJ Styles while Waller was just sitting there.
Here are my Smackdown Match Rankings
1) LA Knight VS The Miz
2) Asuka VS Bayley
3) AJ Styles VS Finn Balor
4) The LWO VS The Street Profits
Here are my Level Up Thoughts:
Dani Palmer & Tatum Paxley VS Meta-Four was not good at all. Dani & Tatum did work well as a team, but that's the only positive thing I can say about this match. FACT: This was Jackson & Legend's 1st Level Up since they lost to Valentina Feroz & Yulisa Leon on 5/26, Palmer's 1st LU since 8/18, Paxley's 1st LU since 8/4 & was the 1st time Palmer & Paxley teamed up.
Good first promo by Tyson Dupont & Tyriek Igwe.
Tyson Dupont & Tyriek Igwe VS Bronco Nima & Lucien Price. was pretty good. All 4 men should have great careers as they develop. FACT: This was Nima & Price's 1st Level Up since they lost to Tank Ledger & Hank Walker on 6/2 & was Dupont & Igwe's 1st LU since 8/25.
Tyler Bate VS Charlie Dempsey was awesome. It made up for what I had to sit through earlier. FACT: This was Dempsey's 1st Level Up since he defeated Dante Chen on 6/9, was Bate's 1st Level Up since he defeated Luca Crusifino on 4/28 & was their 3rd 1-on-1 Match against each other after Bate defeated Dempsey when he was Bailey Matthews on NXT UK on 2/25/21 & then Dempsey defeated Bate on NXT on 5/9/23, so Bate won 2 & Dempsey 1.
Here are my Level Up Match Rankings:
1) Tyler Bate VS Charlie Dempsey
2) Tyson Dupont & Tyriek Igwe VS Bronco Nima & Lucien Price
3) Dani Palmer & Tatum Paxley & Meta-Four
Overall, 2 classic segments to start & end Smackdown with the future interacting with legends. 2 out of the 4 matches were great, but the other 2 were way too short & disappointing. Level Up was 1/3 excellent, 1/3 good, & 1/3 crap.
When I saw Pat McAfee's interview with The Rock today, I thought it would be awesome to see them on Smackdown since I read that they were in Colorado, but I didn't think that they would be there. WWE shocked us as they would usually hype an appearance for weeks ahead of time, especially someone like The Rock. They would want to get massive ratings, but they surprised us for once. What a fun segment. It might be the best Smackdown opening segment in History. Austin Theory is a star. In his young career, he has interacted with Steve Austin, John Cena, & The Rock, the 3 biggest names in WWE History.
And now, the show gets better, with AJ Styles VS Finn Balor in the opening match.
Damn, AJ Styles VS Finn Balor was disappointing especially the stupid finish. I wanted a 20 minute classic between them not that crap. FACT: This was the 3rd 1-on-1 Match between them after TLC on 10/22/17 (won by Balor) & Survivor Series on 11/26/22 (won by Styles), so now Balor won 2 & Styles won 1.
Fun interaction with Pat McAfee & The Rock & then The Rock & John Cena.
Solid segment with Jimmy Uso & Finn Balor. Look at Paul Heyman lurking in the background.
I love the respect shown with Rey Mysterio & Santos Escobar to set-up a US Title Match. Bad promo by Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits. But, I'll take The LWO VS The Street Profits.
What the hell? The LWO VS The Street Profits was f'n 2-minutes. Where's the wrestling tonight? This sucks.
I changed my mind. I don't care that we didn't get a classic between AJ Styles & Finn Balor. We had 2 in the past & we'll probably get another one in the future & we might get another match between The LWO & The Street Profits? Who knows when we're going to see The Rock again, so giving up solid wrestling matches is worth it.
LA Knight VS The Miz was a great match. I liked it better than their Payback Match. LA Knight's promo was good, but it should matter, as they should stick to the Brand Split. A Smackdown wrestler shouldn't be allowed to challenge for Raw Championships. Also, they should have done an interaction with Knight & The Rock since Knight was in Rock's reality show, The Hero a few years back. FACT: This was The Miz's 1st Smackdown since he lost a Battle Royal & a Fatal 4-Way on 7/1/22 & 1st 1-on-1 on Smackdown since he lost to Big E on 7/31/20.
Solid segment with Paul Heyman & Solo Sikoa looking menacing.
Pretty Deadly & Adam Pearce was hilarious.
Asuka VS Bayley was excellent, but the finish with Shotzi was silly. Why couldn't Asuka get a decisive finish instead of winning with a backslide? She's wrestling IYO SKY for the Women's Championship next week. But Asuka & Bayley have great chemistry with each other.FACT: This was the 8th 1-on-1 Match between them after Takeover Dallas (4/1/16) & Takeover Brooklyn II (8/20/16), Raw on 2/5/18, 7/3/20, 8/3/20 (won by Auska), & SummerSlam on 8/23/20 (Won by Bayley) & Clash of Champions on 9/27/20 (Won by Asuka), so Asuka won 7 & Bayley won 1.
Raw looks good Monday with Drew McIntyre VS Jey Uso & Cody Rhodes VS Dominik Mysterio.
Who would think in 2023 Smackdown would begin with The Rock & end with John Cena?
Grayson Waller should have interacted with The Rock since Grayson played Ric Flair in Season 1 of Young Rock.
Fun Grayson Waller Effect. Grayson Waller was good. John Cena didn't say anything. Good promo by Jimmy Uso. I like Uso & Solo Sikoa working together to attack Cena & then the save by AJ Styles while Waller was just sitting there.
Here are my Smackdown Match Rankings
1) LA Knight VS The Miz
2) Asuka VS Bayley
3) AJ Styles VS Finn Balor
4) The LWO VS The Street Profits
Here are my Level Up Thoughts:
Dani Palmer & Tatum Paxley VS Meta-Four was not good at all. Dani & Tatum did work well as a team, but that's the only positive thing I can say about this match. FACT: This was Jackson & Legend's 1st Level Up since they lost to Valentina Feroz & Yulisa Leon on 5/26, Palmer's 1st LU since 8/18, Paxley's 1st LU since 8/4 & was the 1st time Palmer & Paxley teamed up.
Good first promo by Tyson Dupont & Tyriek Igwe.
Tyson Dupont & Tyriek Igwe VS Bronco Nima & Lucien Price. was pretty good. All 4 men should have great careers as they develop. FACT: This was Nima & Price's 1st Level Up since they lost to Tank Ledger & Hank Walker on 6/2 & was Dupont & Igwe's 1st LU since 8/25.
Tyler Bate VS Charlie Dempsey was awesome. It made up for what I had to sit through earlier. FACT: This was Dempsey's 1st Level Up since he defeated Dante Chen on 6/9, was Bate's 1st Level Up since he defeated Luca Crusifino on 4/28 & was their 3rd 1-on-1 Match against each other after Bate defeated Dempsey when he was Bailey Matthews on NXT UK on 2/25/21 & then Dempsey defeated Bate on NXT on 5/9/23, so Bate won 2 & Dempsey 1.
Here are my Level Up Match Rankings:
1) Tyler Bate VS Charlie Dempsey
2) Tyson Dupont & Tyriek Igwe VS Bronco Nima & Lucien Price
3) Dani Palmer & Tatum Paxley & Meta-Four
Overall, 2 classic segments to start & end Smackdown with the future interacting with legends. 2 out of the 4 matches were great, but the other 2 were way too short & disappointing. Level Up was 1/3 excellent, 1/3 good, & 1/3 crap.