Smackdown Live! Review (18/07/2017)

With Five days to go for the Smackdown Live-exclusive Pay-Per-View Battleground, WWE is gearing up for a monumental task of maintaining its viewership for the underwhelming event. With a lackluster main-event and packed up midcard and undercard matches that have the potential to steal the show, let's take a look into how WWE plans to put in the finishing touches at the go-home show for Battleground.

Credits: WWE.com

Results:

• Jimmy Uso defeats Kofi Kingston
• Mike Kanellis defeats Sami Zayn
• Becky Lynch defeats Charlotte Flair
• Baron Corbin and Kevin Owens defeat AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura

Return of The Punjabi Prison:

With the aggressive entry that WWE is trying to approach into India, The Punjabi Prison opened the show. Cameras moving here and there, catching every glimpse of the bamboo-prison, does little to accentuate the threat it poses. WWE Champion Jinder Mahal enters, flanked by the Singh Brothers to address the WWE Universe. The Modern Day Maharaja did his bit to sell the Indian version of Hell-in-a-Cell by vowing to smash Randy Orton's face into the structure and leave Battleground as the Champion. Randy Orton interrupts his speech and climbs up top the Punjabi Prison, condescendingly looking upon his rival. He warned him about the Singh Brothers unavailability inside the prison and that would snatch away his only shot at retaining his title. Orton then closes out, vowing to lay waste to Jinder Mahal on Sunday, while he would come out on top as the new Champion.

This rivalry has become stale. Just way too stale. Nobody is interested in watching these two feud anymore. Jinder needs new opponents to continue his reign as the WWE Champion and to look the part, legitimately. There should have been a segment where these two exchanged a few blows inside the prison two promote the threat that the structure poses. That wasn't done. However, Orton, the veteran that he is, provided for the shining light here, as he cut a legitimate promo showing his utter hatred for his Battleground opponent. We need to see a fresh feud after Battleground!

Credits: skysports.com

Jimmy Uso vs. Kofi Kingston:

Picking up from where we left last week, Kofi looked to carry on the momentum gained by Xavier Woods over Jey Usi last week, as Kofi dominated the proceedings. The classic to-and-fro took place as both competitors looked really strong. However, Jey Uso offered the distraction leading to Big E and Xavier going after him. Seizing the opportunity, Jimmy turned around Kofi's momentum when he jumped off the top rope and rolled him through to score the pin.

Both the WWE and Tag Team Championships are facing the same issue. There's a monotony that has occurred in both cases. The Tag division is failing in Smackdown Live! Aggravated by the loss of talented American Alpha, WWE really needs to pull it together to give this division some legitimate 'hype'.

Credits: criticalhit.net

Mike Kanellis (accompanied by Maria Kanellis) vs. Sami Zayn:

Mike Kanellis pulled off a few ROH moves over here as weeks of talking absolute nonsense, resulted in a match-up with The Underdog from The Underground. Picking up from smashing a vase into Zayn last week, Mike Kanellis traded blows with Sami Zayn, to which Zayn answered perfectly. Evenly matches, Zayn looked to gain momentum. As soon as Zayn started dominating, Maria, fearing a loss in her husband's debut match, jumped into the ring to divert Zayn's finisher, Helluva Kick. The distraction paid off as Mike Kanellis booked a victory to his name with a Divine Intervention.

WWE need to put Sami Zayn in a picture where he feels he is deserving. That has not been the case till now. A talented wrestler like Sami does not need to put over new talent right now. He has a long way to go before that. He needs to be in a more prominent storyline. Let him win a few titles at least!

Credits: WWE.com

John Cena hypes up Battleground: 

Saving grace for a lackluster event like Battleground, WWE had to rely on John Cena to sell the PPV. As Cena entered to the polarizing reception, he quickly addressed the match-card for Battleground and hyped the bouts up in the process, before zeroing in upon his flag match with Rusev. The classic John Cena patriotism was on display as he rallied all of America behind him for his match at Battleground. Rusev, out of nowhere, ambushed Cena and locked him in the Accolade. Cena tried to pull out of it, standing up and pushing Rusev to the corner, but The Bulgarian Brute was too strong. He manhandles Cena and thrusts him onto the middle of the ring, unlocking only to leave him out cold. 

Rusev is already irrelevant. That is how WWE have destroyed his momentum when he lost his US Title match to Cena at Wrestlemania. Rusev doesn't need to get into a brawl with Cena right now. He doesn't need to be the Anti-American right now. He needs to be somewhat of a Smackdown Live version of Braun Strowman, taking a shot at the title. But no! WWE Creative is behind building Cena up for a big match at Summerslam against AJ Styles, and they will sacrifice anybody not named AJ Styles before him. Cena looks least bothered by what he is selling right now. He knows that he has done the exact same routine a couple of years back, and he knows that it will sell, just because he is John Cena. Undoubtedly, it is. But the question recurring here is, does Rusev really need to be another stepping stone for a wrestler in his twilight?

Credits: skysports.com

Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair:

In a preview of the Fatal-5-Way match for the #1 Contender at Battleground, best friends Becky Lynch and Charlotte brought in the competitive fire as Natalya called the match ringside. Becky had the upper hand earlier in the match as Charlotte closely escaped a Disarmer. Soon Charlotte cashed in on the momentum she gained, only to inspire a comeback from Becky as she hit the Bexploder suplex and a Firearm. Finally trapping Charlotte into the Disarmer, Becky made her tap out in the middle of the ring. This led to the classic segment of Tamina and Lana coming out and initiating a 3-on-2 beatdown with Natalya joining them from the announce table. In the end, Tamina was the only woman to hold her ground as she stood tall, establishing herself as a legit threat to all the other women.

Becky and Charlotte have been at it for quite some time now. There's nothing new there, however, Lana looked quite convincing playing a heel here. Tamina, out of all the women, stood tall here, only fueling the fact that she won't be near anything on Sunday.

Credits: WWE.com

AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kevin Owens and Baron Corbin:

Providing for, undoubtedly, the best feuds at Battleground, Shinsuke Nakamura was again ambushed by Baron Corbin during his entrance. A huge pre-match brawl broke out as Nakamura warded Corbin off, only to be ambushed again, this time by Kevin Owens. Separated, the tag match began with Owens and Corbin having the upper hand as they isolated and clinically worked upon The King of Strong Style. A hot tag from Nakamura to The Phenomenal One incited an excitement throughout the arena. As Styles proceeded to execute The Phenomenal Forearm, Corbin pulled the ropes sending Styles crashing into the ring. Owens, meanwhile, feuded with Nakamura at ringside before together with Corbin, Nakamura was tossed into the stands. Corbin then went onto execute End of Days on the US Champion before Styles countered and instead, set him up for The Styles Clash. Styles didn't realize that Corbin had already tagged Owens in, and capitalizing on that, Owens Superkicked Styles and then hit a Pop-up Powerbomb for the pin.

Owens gaining momentum before the much anticipated US Title Match at Battleground goes to show that AJ Styles will have a lot riding on him on Sunday. Owens vs. Styles will undoubtedly be the best match of the lackluster event. The US Title picture seems more prominent than the WWE Title picture, which should not be the case, technically. However, WWE are happy with the way they're restoring the value of the title.

On the other hand, there seems to be no decisive dominance of either Nakamura or Corbin over each other. WWE is doing pretty good keeping the suspense alive till Battleground as these two exciting prospects go head-to-head. Let's hope for WWE to do justice with these two matches as these will be the ones to seal the deal.

Credits: indianexpress.com

Like what you read? Subscribe and Share to receive daily updates!

Tune in for the Battleground predictions!