A Room with a Review: SmackDown 08/07/20
Sorry for no recap last week and a delay on this week’s. Sometimes life gets in the way of watching the most skip-able of wrestling shows. Then they bring out chainsaws…
- The show starts with a recap of the recent Bray Wyatt/Braun Strowman/Alexa Bliss activities. This leads to an episode of Firefly Fun House. Bray blames Strowman for allowing it to happen.
- The first match of the evening is between Matt Riddle and Sheamus. Riddle wins by disqualification when Shorty G takes out the Original Bro in an attempt to get the King’s Ransom. Matt quickly recovers and bounces Shorty’s head off the announce table and drives him into the steel ring steps. Sheamus is mad at G for costing him the match, so he Brogue kicks Shorty twice.
- After a commercial break, King Corbin is backstage chatting up a random lady. Sheamus yells at him for what Shorty G did.
- Next up is the Dirt Sheet, hosted by the Miz and John Morrison. The microphones act funny, like on Raw. Their special guest is Mandy Rose’s hair, which was cut by Sonya Deville last week. It’s a blonde wig with googly eyes that is voiced by these two bozos. Their actual guest, though, is Deville. She runs down Mandy, but when they all start mocking Otis, Heavy Machinery runs down and beats up Miz and Morrison.
- After another commercial, it’s Cesaro w/ Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Lince Dorado w/ Gran Metalik. Cesaro picks up the victory after a Neutralizer.
- Backstage, Kayla Braxton catches up with Heavy Machinery. Otis says he’s fine when the joke is on him, but he won’t stand for him mocking Mandy Rose.
- The Fiend is here with his full entrance, and he has Alexa Bliss with him. He stalks around her a bit like last week, but when he goes to apply the Mandible Claw, she stops him and gently caresses his face. Braun Strowman appears on the TitanTron. Braun says he doesn’t care about Alexa and that he is once again the Monster Among Men. He’s ready for a rematch at SummerSlam.
- Up next is Jeff Hardy against King Corbin. Hardy wins by DQ, in a repeat of our first match, with Sheamus playing the role of Shorty G. This leads to an impromptu match between the Celtic Warrior and the erstwhile Constable of Monday Night Raw. Matt Riddle distracts Corbin long enough for Sheamus to hit a Brogue kick for the win.
- Bayley and Sasha Banks are backstage talking about Bayley’s match with Asuka on Raw next week. A producer tells them they are needed in the ring for a conference call with Stephanie McMahon.
- Kayla asks Big E about his singles run.
- Back to the ring for the conference call. Stephanie calls them out for their chicanery (shout-out Dave Schilling), but says she won’t punish them; she will challenge them by making them defend their titles at SummerSlam. But not the tag titles, which would be the real challenge.
- Kayla talks to Miz and Morrison about their match with Heavy Machinery. They aren’t scared of Otis, though.
- The main event is Miz and Morrison w/ Sonya Deville vs. Heavy Machinery. During the match, a new look Mandy Rose runs down and starts beating on Sonya Deville.
- There’s one more commercial break and we come back to Adam Pearce trying to keep Mandy and Sonya apart backstage. The lights start to flicker and five people in all black charge the ring from the back entrance. They all have weapons and chase off Michael Cole and Corey Graves. The group threatens the cameramen and other crew, who all scamper to the back. Retribution, as they are called, then go into the “crowd” and beat them up! They spray paint the ring and the plexiglass and flip over the announce table. Things finally end when one of them brings out a chainsaw(!) and cuts the ring ropes.
The show was fine, though the Fiend/Alexa segment was a little too “high school production of Phantom of the Opera” for me. I am interested in the Retribution angle at the end, unless it’s just Vince McMahon’s way of demonizing Antifa.
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