By Jake Barnett
Smackdown Live Hits
AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, and James Ellsworth: These three bookended the show, being involved in the main event segment and the promo that opened the show. Personally, I think WWE has reached the limit in which they can send out James Ellsworth to get mauled and cut cringe-worthy promos with various puns about his lack of a chin and “Any man with two hands…” I think he’s been an entertaining diversion, but it is a diversion after all, and WWE needs to get back to telling more meaningful stories with its top program on Smackdown. The main event of the show was a fun match with Ellsworth damn near killing himself on the outside bumping for AJ Styles, but Ambrose and Styles as a match-up already feels like it’s worn itself thin. I expect their TLC Main Event to be an entertaining brawl, and I expect Ellsworth to turn heel and become AJ Styles chinless lackey.
Coach Natalya: This is the first time where I feel like someone backstage understands how Natalya is perceived by the audience. It’s a minor hit because Nattie acting a bit aloof, constantly talking about the heart dungeon, and spouting meaningless inspirational jargon is a character she was born to play.
Daniel Bryan on MizTV: I think this non-wrestling feud between Miz and Daniel Bryan has been the most consistently engaging feud WWE has put on all year. Miz has elevated his game whenever he’s had the opportunity to get under Bryan’s skin, and Bryan for his part has been convincing in allowing his real-life frustration about not being able to get back in the ring bleed over into this program. Last time this happened, they used Bryan to set up a match between Miz and Dolph Ziggler, and I don’t see anything different happening here.
Smackdown Live Misses
Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss: This program was hurt by Becky’s injury absence, and they haven’t used the time well to set up Bliss as a more compelling challenger. They seem to have a Disney villain persona in mind for her, and she has the facial expressions down, but the people feeding her lines aren’t doing her any favors. She comes across like she’s doing cosplay, rather than playing a character that resonates with her personally. Becky continues to do her best Horsemen-era WCW Sting impression, walking into obvious traps, never seeing it coming, and somehow managing to stay mega over.
Smackdown Tag Division: This is a minor miss for how the Tag Division has failed to capitalize on how great the Usos heel turn has been, and how much energy American Alpha brings with their performances. It’s missing on a lot of beats and should be more of a contribution to Smackdown than it has been.
Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt: Orton joining the Wyatt Family and playing along has been better than the weeks long hocus pocus routine that we had been seeing, but it still feels like a twist that has been forced by the length in between Smackdown network specials rather than an organic development because the feud has been a success. To be clear, this feud has been a drag on the show, and the latest development is just delaying the inevitable return of more smoke and mirrors.
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