Overall
Last night’s SmackDown told a lot of stories but lacked in satisfying finishes. Shorty G, Sheamus, and Matt Riddle all intruded on other matches which set up a feud between King Corbin and Sheamus which will run along side the existing feud between Corbin and Riddle.
Speaking of less than satisfying finishes. Retribution brought their brand of mayhem from Monday Night Raw over to the blue brand to continue flickering some lights and turning off microphones. This all lead to a full on take over in the last five minutes of the show that eventually felt pretty aimless. WWE is still not going to reveal who the members of this new faction are and what it is that they want, but gave them too much time to wander around the performance center pretty aimlessly before taking a chainsaw and some spray paint to the ring and ring ropes.
Other than retribution we saw the continuation of the Braun Strowman, Fiend, and Alexa Bliss story and the Bayley and Sasha double champion angle. There was a lot to like and some stuff to dislike in this episode. So let’s look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of SmackDown 8/7/20.
The Good
- The Sheamus and Matt Riddle match was a lot of fun up to the finish.
- Shorty G deserved to get his ass beat by both Matt Riddle and Sheamus for ruining the end of that match.
- Look, it is dumb but The Dirt Sheet is The Miz and Morrison distilled to their purest form. These guys know who their characters are and this really gives them a chance to shine.
- Sonya’s suit game was fire! Plus she is so good on the mic.
- The match between Lince Dorado and Cesaro was awesome!
- Retribution continuing to mess with SmackDown and not just staying on Raw is a cool concept.
- The Fiend and Braun segment was pretty good. I disagree with the choice to not have Braun save Alexa but at least the promo he cut was good and it seems like they have a plan.
- I really liked Jeff Hardy’s face paint tonight.
- Sheamus and Corbin in a feud should have some good matches.
- Bayley is uncomfortable with Sasha volunteering her for matches. Well, well, well how the turn tables.
- I’m glad that Big E is going to stick to his guns and his character at least for the time being.
- The segment with Stephanie is good. I love Bayley and Sasha spouting off all of the company lines and sucking up.
- I love that we will for sure see both titles defended at SummerSlam. Throw in a tag team match too just to mess with them.
- I’m excited for the triple brand battle royal to decide Bayley’s opponent.
- Mandy and Sonya brawling is good. This is leading to a 6-man mixed tag match and I’m here for it.
- Mandy looks great with the new haircut.
- Retribution is here!
The Bad
- I missed having the vignettes at the top of the show. It was something different.
- Shorty G interrupting the otherwise really good Sheamus and Riddle match.
- Braun didn’t come to the ring for his promo. Instead he filmed it on apparently and iPhone 4 or something insane like that.
- Too many non finishes tonight.
The Ugly
- While I am glad that Retribution appeared on both brands and think it has potential let’s talk about the weird decisions for their final segment tonight. They were given way too much time, and they really couldn’t keep up the pace. Eventually it felt like they were just wandering around the ring waiting til production told them they could grab the spray paint and the chainsaw. The camera work was also super sloppy, it didn’t feel like found footage it felt like the camera man had no idea what to do. This segment could be so much better and I hope that two shows of online disappointment don’t lead to go away heat before they even get started.
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