5 Things We Learned From SmackDown Last Night

Another week of WWE SmackDown Live has come and gone. So what is our sense of the direction for the blue brand following this week’s show?

Overall, the September 5th broadcast was a bit of a mixed bag. There was an absolutely tremendous opening segment that you will be seeing highlights of for a long time and a main event that established Shinsuke Nakamura once again as the number one contender. “The King of Strong Style” will take on Jinder Mahal for the WWE title once again at Hell In A Cell in October.

Outside of that? A lot of stalling and not much advancement of storylines. We’re guessing most of the big shake-ups headed into Hell In A Cell will happen on next week’s SmackDown, which is slated to be an absolutely insane television show (more on that later).

Here are five things we learned from this week’s WWE SmackDown Live.

1. This Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon Story Is Awesome

O. M. G.

If you didn’t see the opening segment this week, do so immediately. Turn on the DVR. Subscribe to Hulu. Head to YouTube. Download it somewhere (legally, of course). Do whatever you have to do. It was that good.

I’ve written at length in my SmackDown previews how much I like the direction this whole Shane McMahon and Kevin Owens feud is going, but even I could not have predicted how great this week’s twist would be. 

Owens telling McMahon that his kids would have been better off had he died in his recent helicopter crash was both trashy and delicious. That’s the best kind of wrestling though, right? 

We saw McMahon give Owens a beat down that looked filled with the kind of emotion anyone would have after that kind of a comment, we got Owens threatening to sue and takeover SmackDown, we got Shane ‘O Mac being indefinitely suspended, and we closed the show by finding out that Vince McMahon will return next week to address what happened this week.

This. Is. Awesome. 

2. Carmella and Ellsworth Have An Abusive Relationship

 Following the opening segment, where Kevin Owens interrupted Carmella and James Ellsworth, we did get a Carmella vs. Natalya match. Yes, I also thought it was a bit odd that Miss Money In The Bank was wrestling the women’s champion off the cuff like this.

The brief match ended after Ellsworth distracted Carmella. James thought that Carmella had the match won after she hit a big kick. Instead, a two count followed as Ellsworth jumped to the ring apron and celebrated, dropping the briefcase in the process. When Carmella confronted him, she was school-boyed from behind and pinned. 

After the bout, Carmella dumped Ellsworth, running him down for holding her back and being a loser. This eventually lead to a backstage segment where the two came face to face with James begging for forgiveness. Carmella told him that things are going to be on her terms now. Out of nowhere she then gave him an awkwardly long kiss followed by a hard slap to the face.

Carmella is officially James’ crazy ex that he keeps going back to. 

3. The Open Challenge Has Been Less Than Exciting

The U.S. title open challenge was once one of the most anticipated parts of WWE’s weekly television. The hope was that when AJ Styles brought the segment back, it would regain that kind of prominence.

Instead, we got the first installment last week with Styles defeating Tye Dillinger, who was a decent first challenger. And then this week, Styles was on commentary watching Dillinger wrestle Baron Corbin.

Huh?

Isn’t the open challenge gimmick supposed to be a weekly occurrence? Isn’t that the point?

Further yet, Styles encountered Dillinger later on in the night (following Tye’s loss to Corbin) and declared that Dillinger will be the one to get a shot at the U.S. title against next week.

Okay then. The point of the open challenge is supposed to be that you are in for a weekly surprise. Or at least I thought that was the point. Instead, we’ll now have three weeks straight of Styles interacting with Dillinger and Corbin, with two matches against Dillinger on top of that. 

4. This “New” Dolph Ziggler Gimmick Sucks

After much backstage teasing, we got Dolph Ziggler’s big return in front of the crowd this week.

It wasn’t interesting in the slightest. He first came out looking basically the same, criticizing the fans for not recognizing he’s the best athlete in the company and appreciating that. He talked up how they want something more flashy and then proceeded to put on a fashion show.

First, he walked to the back, put on a Cena hat, and came out again to Cena’s song. Then he went to the back, put on a robe, and came out to Randy Savage’s theme with a pretty woman (representing Miss Elizabeth) on his arm. Finally, he went to the back and put on a wig and neon and came out like Naomi. He pointed out that anyone can portray these gimmicks like he just did but nobody can wrestle like he can in the ring. He said he doesn’t care about the fans and stormed off.

This was an odd segment that left me scratching my head. The imitating other wrestlers bit has to be some kind of inside rib on Dolph due to the fact that he’s often been criticized for making his career an imitation of Shawn Michaels (right down to his hair, mannerisms, tight designs, move set, and even wrestling boots). 

There’s really nothing about this “new” whiny character to get behind and I’m not sure why we are supposed to care. Watching Dolph throw a tantrum each week is not entertaining. 

5. Next Week’s Show Is Going To Be Huge

WWE has prepared an absolutely colossal show for next week in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, we had to slug through what was overall (sans the Owens story) a pretty formulaic show this week to get to it. 

Confirmed for next week are: a tag team title match between New Day and the Usos, a women’s title match between Naomi and Natalya, a U.S. title match between Tye Dillinger and AJ Styles, and the television return of Vince McMahon.

Whew. I’m not going to lie, next week’s SmackDown might be a better show than SummerSlam was.