5 Things You Missed On WWE SmackDown This Week
Another week of WWE SmackDown has come and gone. The show was headlined by Kevin Owens once again [...]
1. The Tag Champions Were In Action
The brand new WWE SmackDown tag team champions were in action this week on the show, wrestling the Hype Bros. Doesn't if feel like forever since we've seen the Hype Bros in the ring?
This wasn't much of a match. Ryder got a pretty good reaction from his hometown area fans, but overall this was more or less a squash for the Usos. Ryder was pinned following a superkick and the announcers put over the fact that the Usos seem to get better week after week.
Jey and Jimmy got on the microphone after the match and welcomed Brooklyn to the "Uso Penetentiary." They put the rest of the SmackDown tag team division on notice, saying they will all feel what New Day felt at SummerSlam. By the way, if you missed that match at SummerSlam, go back and watch it now. It was one of the best matches on the card.
prevnext2. Nakamura Destroyed The Singh Brothers
The odds don't phase The #KingOfStrongStyle @ShinsukeN as he battles @SinghBrosWWE with the #WWEChampion @JinderMahal at ringside! #SDLive pic.twitter.com/DGefGGCtqo
— WWE (@WWE) August 23, 2017
The story coming out of SummerSlam is that the Singh brothers prevented Shinsuke Nakamura from defeating Jinder Mahal for the WWE championship by keeping him from hitting the Kinshasa on Mahal. Nakamura got his revenge this week on SmackDown.
A 2 on 1 match pitting Nakamura versus both Singh brothers happened during the broadcast. Shinsuke defeated both of them in just a couple of minutes. At one point, Nakamura got a little distracted by Mahal outside the ring, but he ended up locking in a triangle for a submission victory out of nowhere.
Nakamura has been kept strong in defeat coming out of SummerSlam because the viewer assumes he would have won had he been able to hit the Kinshasa on Mahal.
prevnext3. Reluctant Tag Team Partners
"It might be YOUR TIME, but you're on MY WATCH!" - @CarmellaWWE to #SDLive #WomensChampion @NatByNature pic.twitter.com/AMpeuhQiP6
— WWE (@WWE) August 23, 2017
New WWE SmackDown women's champion Natalya and Carmella teamed up to take on Becky Lynch and Naomi. Prior to the match, Nattie gloated about winning the title at SummerSlam, talking about how she "unplugged the glow."
"Tag team" may be a generous way to define @NatbyNature & @CarmellaWWE tonight... #SDLive pic.twitter.com/YpCTiv2PCH
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) August 23, 2017
Ellsworth and Carmella ran down Natalya, talking about how it was big of her to team with Carmella given she could not tag in and just cash-in her briefcase after the match. They teased that Natalya is on borrowed time as champion.
Carmella avoided tagging in throughout the match as they built heat between the team members. Eventually, Natalya blind tagged Carmella in and she took the pinfall following a split-legged moonsault from Naomi.
prevnext4. Dolph Ziggler Returned And Still Acted Like A Geek
Dolph Ziggler made his return during Smackdown, to very little success.
He whined backstage yet again about how everyone is out to get him. He said that while he was gone, he figured out what it takes to be a star in this company. He whined that he's going to start playing the guitar, singing, dancing, rapping, and even maybe start looking to the sky with a big fancy robe on while lasers go off. Maybe, he said, he'd even add a beautiful woman escort him to the ring that glows in the dark.
Ziggler closed the segment saying that next week he'll return to the ring. After watching that segment, I'm not sure anyone will care. The Ziggler character just comes off as lame and uninteresting.
prevnext5. Breezango Almost Returned A Week Early
Last week on SmackDown, Breezango finished their Fashion Peaks segment by announcing that they would be returning in two weeks. That return almost happened a week early.
While Kevin Owens was looking for a special referee for his match with AJ Styles, Tyler Breeze and Fandango made their best case. This was following Sami Zayn declining the referee spot.
It was a very brief segment that you almost surely could have missed. Owens was not amused at the team's request, telling them to keep their hands off his referee shirt. It was at this point that Baron Corbin walked in and volunteered to referee if he would be granted the first title shot should Owens win. Owens agreed, Corbin reffed (most of) the match, and Owens eventually lost to Styles.
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