The Good, Bad and Ugly: SmackDown Live (4/2/19)

After a brilliant Raw, the red brand bounced back from a horrific week last week.  SmackDown on the other hand was fantastic as always and shined brightly.  The go home show to WrestleMania is here and now and we cannot wait!  Did SmackDown deliver?  Let’s get down to ringside!

GOOD

KO Show with AJ Styles and Randy Orton

You have to love the story here.  The indie icon and easily in the discussion as one of the GOATS of Professional Wrestling AJ Styles getting dressed down by the Elitists 3^rd Generation Legend Killer, The Viper Randy Orton.  The insults are personal and seem begrudging.  There is some real Good heat here and the back and forth and stiff shots are great for the story.  As usual just as it looked like Orton was down for an “RKO” out of nowhere took out AJ Styles in this heated segment.  Good stuff and if this is the preview for WrestleMania, we have some real Good stuff ahead.   

The Usos and Aleister Black and Ricochet vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev and The Bar

Given that everyone in this match are actual top tier talent, and many former decorated Champions, this one was a winner from the start.  Non-stop action with Cesaro and Ricochet shining out of the pack.  The Heels were in control most of the time beating down Jey Uso for the majority of the contest.  Everything was smooth and everyone looked WrestleMania ready.  This was full time, high caliber content and WWE really had a winner here.  Finally after endless punishment Jimmy Uso got the much needed tag, and a ton of craziness followed.  Everyone got in a shot (or should I say signature kick) as everyone dropped their respective opponents.  In the end, the Usos hit a “double superkick” to the mighty Rusev for the Victory.  As everyone expected the Usos had to answer for their forfeit last week with New Day out of respect to Kofi Kingston.  Their punishment is they will have to face all 4 teams involved in this week’s match.  Obviously this caused massive destruction as all 4 teams beat the hell out of each other for position.  When the smoke settled it was NXT’s Superstars Ricochet and Aleister Black who stood victorious.  Will they get the WWE Tag Team Championships on the biggest show on Earth?  Possibly, but no matter what, this match should be amazing.  Good stuff again!

(3-1 Falls Count Anywhere) The Miz vs. Sanity

Originally just a 3 on 1 to punish The Miz by the all-powerful Shane McMahon, Miz did just a little too Good for his WrestleMania opponent’s liking.  Shane interrupted and made it a Falls Count Anywhere while the match was already underway.  This whole thing is crap for a number of reasons.  First, Sanity should have crushed Miz quickly and won this match, no question.  They are being sadly squashed by the machine and completely wasted.  This is living proof of that.  Secondly after the falls count anywhere was added Sanity certainly should have crushed Miz without any delay as they love to play with weapons and kill it hardcore.  That is their pleasure.  This was a joke.  Miz who just recently became a Baby Face is a coward in the ring and loves to cheat and run, that is his whole deal.  Having him “fight” and Win against Sanity is a joke and completely wrong, no matter the reason.  Also if that isn’t enough where the hell is Eric Young’s beard? 

For the purposes of the Good, Bad and Ugly format however I must write about the actual action.  The actual match and the action was Good.  Miz brought it and Sanity is amazing in the ring.  This was a hell of a match and looked great.  Miz wins and the match was honestly Good especially given the odds were completely stacked against it.  Hopefully the Good luck continues as I have very little hope for the Miz/McMahon Match at WrestleMania. 

“The Man” Becky Lynch

Becky Lynch and company had a hell of a night on Raw, getting brutalized and arrested for her efforts.  The segment went well and the crowd is pumped for this match.  Lynch really is red hot and cannot fail.  She grabbed the mic and went atop the announce table to reiterate that “The Man” will make one of her opponents tap, and will leave with both titles.  Good, solid promo, and the more Becky Lynch comes out, the happier the audience will be.  Good for the show and Good for business. 

Mixed Tag Match (18 competitors all from either the Andre Battle Royal or Women’s Battle Royal)

If you saw this then you already know, or maybe not.  This was just insane.  Firstly the actual amount of people involved, added with the special mixed tag type rules and the complete chaos of it all was just overwhelming.  Add another Lacey Evans runway moment and the absolute randomness and we had quite a circus on our hands.  It was like having a Grand Finale in the middle of nowhere before the end of the show.  Everyone did well, the action looked Good, and it was entertaining to the audience.  These types of matches are Good in a way due to the fact that the fans get to see so many faces.  The highlight was of course the Mandy Rose and Otis stare off, as it was so Good.  Otis is Gold and can be tremendously valuable to the brand for his antics and charisma.  All of a sudden the match turned into an over the top battle royal and the last person standing of course was the Empress Asuka.  Not real sure what the hell was going on but I liked it! 

Samoa Joe vs. Ali

Both guys can go and they did well this week.  This short but brutal match looked sharp.  Ali did well fighting back against the violent strikes by the United States Champ.  Joe beat Ali down but couldn’t keep him at bay.  Ali came back with a series of high impact moves and spectacular offense.  Just as he was to hit a “450” Joe moved and locked in the “Coquina Clutch” for the impressive victory.  This was a solid, entertaining match.  All Good!

Contract Signing w/ Kofi Kingston and WWE Champion Daniel Bryan

With a hot crowd behind him Kofi Kingston entered the ring with his New Day brethren in tow to sign the biggest contract of his career.  Daniel Bryan of course heeled out and did well at that.  This wasn’t Bad overall.  There was a ton of emotions, and a ton of passion in what we saw.  The crowd just loves Kofi and Daniel Bryan plays off it so well.  This should be an excellent match and maybe even the match of the night rivaled by Orton/Styles.  All of this cheap heat mixed with the real love behind Kofi this is sure to be a great one.  Kofi Kingston took it all in silently stewing as the tension built up.  It was finally his time to talk.  Kofi deserves his shot, and worked his ass off, and as he said “it all lead to this moment.”  He will have his shot and everyone is ready for the era of Kofi.  KofiMania is alive my friends and we cannot wait to see it.   

BAD

The IIconics

This was just horrible.  Let me clarify something though.  In my humble opinion, Peyton Royce is fantastic, she can work, talk and is unbelievably pleasant at all times on screen.  We could stand to see a TON more of her and I believe the more time she gets the better for all of us.  Having said that she is on another planet compared to her bestie Billie Kay.  Billie Kay is weighing her down in the worst way and it shows.  These promos are terrible and it is shocking that they get so much mic time.  This promo did nothing but solidify just how much no one cares about them in this match on Sunday.  Personally I would take the IIconics over the horrendous Nia Jax and sad case of Tamina Snuka all day but this still was Bad. 

UGLY

FINAL

Good- 7

Bad- 1

Ugly- 0

OVERALL

This was an excellent show overall.  Great action and really solid energy heading home to WrestleMania.  SmackDown was near flawless and looks like they are ready to go for the big night!

Raw was Great, SmackDown was Great, now comes NXT.  NXT is coming off of a Bad week.  Shockingly they aren’t perfect!  However this is the take home show prior to Takeover and WrestleMania weekend.  This week should rock out!  See how NXT fared on the next Good, Bad and Ugly only on thechairshot.com.