A Room with a Review: SmackDown 07/24/20
Let’s see if SmackDown can build on the improvement they showed in last week’s episode. It’s not like they’re going to have an Irish guy fight in a pub. *check notes* Oh God.
- They are starting the show with promos for the Jeff Hardy/Sheamus shudders Bar Fight. Please let this be the end of our long national nightmare.
- Bayley Dos Straps and the unofficial 2Belts Banks head down to the ring. They clarify that Sasha is not the Raw Women’s Champion, even though she possesses the belt. They say the Women’s Evolution Era is over and it is the beginning of the Sasha and Bayley era. Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss interrupt, with Nikki demanding a rematch for the SmackDown Women’s title, since Bayley cheated at Extreme Rules. The Champ says Cross can have her rematch if she can beat her best friend, Alexa Bliss! What a twist!
- It’s Alexa Bliss vs. Nikki Cross, with the winner facing Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s Championship next week. The Golden Role Models are sticking around to provide expert color commentary. The match is a lot of fun because, as tag team partners and best friends, Bliss and Cross know each other’s moves and have counters for them. Even though they are friends, the dark side of Alexa Bliss shows a little as the Mauro Ranallo voice diminutive dynamo focuses on her partner’s injured ribs. But Nikki has her own trickeration in mind, as she embellishes her injury enough for Bliss to let her guard down, allowing Cross to win the match with a small package.
- After the commercial break, Bliss and Cross smooth things over backstage.
- It’s a new episode of Firefly Fun House, featuring a recap of the Swamp Fight at Extreme Rules. Bray confirms that his Wyatt Family incarnation is going back into the mothballs and that the Fiend has been unleashed again.
- Next up is Matt Riddle vs. Tony Nese. Riddle picks up a quick victory with the Bro Derek. After the match, Riddle calls out King Corbin. The monarch appears and says that Matt doesn’t belong on SmackDown and could be a top guy on 205 Live. Corbin puts out a King’s Ransom for anybody willing to take out the Original Bro.
- Time for an episode of MizTV. Miz and John Morrison welcome Naomi and her Q rating to the show. They talk about the #NaomiDeservesBetter trend on Twitter after her loss to Lacey Evans last week. This is getting dangerously close to racial discourse, and I don’t know if I feel comfortable with how WWE can handle that. The boys escalate things by bringing out Evans. Lacey drops a “bless her heart” and Naomi goes off.
- Backstage, Kofi tells Big E that he will be out for six weeks, so now’s the time for E to show the world what he can do on his own. Big E singles run, bayyybeee!
- After a commercial break, it’s a Fatal 4-Way match between Drew Gulak, Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado, and Shorty G. The winner of the match will earn an Intercontinental Championship match with AJ Styles, who is ringside for commentary. Styles is pre-emptively criticizing the winner, saying that they shouldn’t get a title shot after winning only one match. Wait, Gulak and Shorty G are interacting. Please invite Shorty to CatchPoint 2.0. Tag team partners Metalik and Dorado argue, allowing Shorty G to throw suplexes like one of the Steiner Brothers. Gran Metalik gets a surprising win with his top rope-walking elbow drop onto Shorty G.
- Next is a video package recapping the Otis/Mandy Rose love story, in preparation of their return next week.
- Backstage, Kayla Braxton is with the new SmackDown Tag Team champions, Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura. Their only regret about their Tables Match with New Day is that they didn’t make Big E go splat like they did Kofi.
- Time for the “main event”. Listen, if you’ve been reading my recaps then you know how much I hate this angle. Hopefully, this is the end, as Jeff Hardy faces Sheamus in a bar fight at an actual bar in Orlando. Shout to all the Orlando City Lions gear in the pub. There was even a Magic logo sighting, as Jeff started throwing balls from the arcade basketball machine. They brawl into the back hallway and Sheamus tries to crush Hardy with a keg. They end up in the men’s room, with Sheamus shoving Hardy’s head in a urinal and flushing. Jeff gets a ladder involved, because it wouldn’t be a Hardy match without one. Sheamus’ personal bartender Jeeves gets involved, but Jeff power bombs him through a table. Hardy wins the match with a swanton bomb off the top of the ladder.
The bar fight itself wasn’t bad and I really hope that the angle is over with. And I can’t wait for Big E to put on some solo bangers while Kofi recovers. I’m guessing he’s eventually going to get involved with AJ Styles and possibly have an Intercontinental title match at SummerSlam.
Please follow and like us:
