Hey Smackdown fans!! We are one week closer to the Super Show-Down PPV, and about a month away from the Evolution PPV. With a lot going on in the women’s division, there is no surprise that Smackdown delivers again with almost every single woman on the roster represented. The only woman on the active roster not represented was Zelina Vega.
A lot developments with Lana this week, but let’s start with the first sighting for the women of the evening. If you would have blinked, you may not have noticed her. With a new auburn hair color, Carmella is the co-host of the hottest and must-see new tv show of the year, Truth-TV.
This segment was primarily focused on R-Truth and The Miz‘s recent interactions and because The Miz and Asuka face R-Truth and Carmella in the Mixed Match Challenge, Carmella was represented. Truth stole Miz-TV and made it Truth-TV. Truth explained that he took Miz-TV from the Miz because he pinned the Miz recently, and since the Miz does not have a title to take, he took his show instead.
Carmella did not talk much during this segment. She did remind Truth that they had to pause their interview with Daniel Bryan to have a 7-second dance break. The Miz, of course, comes out in anger that Truth took his show. After The Miz’s interruption, Truth interrupts saying that his rambling has made him have to cancel the animal segment from the local zoo. Truth and Carmella start another dance break, this one lasted longer than 7 seconds because the Miz went backstage and approached Paige, who was clearly minding her own business. The Miz demanded to get his show back from Truth and Paige tells him he has to go back out to the ring and have a match with Truth to get his show back. The Miz did win the match, but Carmella was not a factor of any result.
The next segment involves Lana. Last week, Aiden English turned on his friend and tag team partner Rusev after Rusev’s match. Rusev and Lana want answers as to the reason for this turn of events. Rusev calls out English on this very important Rusev Day to ask him the reason for the betrayal. English came out and explained his recent actions. He feels that Rusev was nothing before he made him somebody. English took credit for all of Rusev’s recent success since they became a team last year. He questioned what went wrong, and why did this friendship and team go downhill from here. You ready for it? It was because of Lana. English showed a video package of how Lana was to blame for all the turmoil in Rusev Day. The crowd continues to have Lana’s back by chanting “Lana Day.”
Lana claps back at English and gives examples of why she has been crucial to Rusev’s success. She helped Rusev become an unstoppable force, have him crush people, and don’t forget about the tank Rusev had at WrestleMania. All of this is Lana’s influence. After calling English a “glorified cheerleader”, Lana feels that he is just using Rusev to make a name for himself. English starts agreeing with Lana’s importance to Rusev. She “stands by him”, she “supports him” and she is “honest with him.”
Lana was going to tell Rusev about what English said last week, but did not get a chance to, which is why Rusev was blindsided by the attack. The crowd chants “Lana is the best, Lana number 1.” With as “honest” as Lana is to Rusev, English begs a question. With all of Lana’s honesty, is she going to tell Rusev about that one night in Milwaukee? The segment ends with Rusev confused and Lana becoming quickly defensive about this newly developed accusation.
In a WWE exclusive from earlier in the day, Charlotte Flair was partaking in a photo shoot. After a few shots from the photographer, Smackdown Women’s champion Becky Lynch attacks her from behind. Lynch yells to the photographer to stay there as he will be wanting to get photos of this. After the ambush and repeated attacks on Flair, Lynch tells her that no one wants to see her face, they want to see the champs face. After Lynch has Flair knocked down, she puts her foot on top of her and demands the photographer to take the champs photo as she raises her title in the air.
After English planted seeds of doubt in Rusev’s brain, we see the married couple backstage. Lana states she doesn’t even know what English is talking about. Lana asks Rusev if he believes her, and he agreed he does but is confused why would he say something about Milwaukee? Lynch, enters the discussion with, “Milwaukee eh, fun town.” Lana asks for Lynch to politely mind her own business.
Lynch, taking offense to that, stated that maybe Lana should worry about her Milwaukee business or else she will end up being carried out of here like Charlotte Flair was earlier. She continues saying that she runs this women’s division now and since that is where Lana has “tried” to perform that makes her, her business. Lynch announces that they will have a match later and that Rusev better carry Lana’s bags out for later because Lana will not be able to do so once she is done with her.
Next we have the first of two matches of the night. We see the team of Naomi and Asuka face off against Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose. Before the match, Naomi/Asuka’s competition at the Super Showdown PPV, the IIconics, are in the ring. Normally they make fun of Naomi and Asuka a little bit, but before they even open their mouths, Naomi’s music hits. The IIconics moved to commentary during the match.
The match was not very long, but it was longer than previous matches that involved a member of the IIconics and Naomi/Asuka. The commentary was focusing on if the newly formed team Asuka and Naomi are really as good of a team as they say, or if it is out of sheer convenience. The match itself did not have many big moves, but it did show good teamwork between Deville and Rose. The match culminated to Asuka and Naomi both delivering simultaneous kicks to Deville’s head and Asuka picking up the pin for her team. The IIconics simply stand up out of their chairs but do not interact with the winning pair that they will face one week from Saturday.
The second match of the night featured Lana facing off against Lynch. We saw the tension between the two earlier in the night that set the tone for the match. The match was another short match, but it did what it was meant to do. It highlighted Lynch’s “heel” character some as she bullies Lana through the match, bringing up Milwaukee again. Lana’s biggest move throughout the match was probably the bulldog she hit on Lynch causing her to roll out of the ring.
Lana does attempt to capitalize and goes outside of the ring, but Lynch does end up slamming her into the barricade. After the action is brought back into the ring, Lana does attempt a few near falls. As the match heads towards a finish, Lana does attempt to counter out of the Bexploder but to no avail. Lynch ends the match with locking in the Dis-arm-her as Lana taps out.
Lastly, after Lana loses the match, we see English backstage watching the match on a monitor. As he goes to leave, Kayla Braxton asks him if he cared to elaborate just what exactly happened in Milwaukee. English states that he will not explain it now, but next week he will show the video evidence proof.
Thoughts: I think Smackdown was a good show overall for the women this week. The fact that Lana was all over the show made me happy. I am really excited where this storyline is going. Giving Lana a match against Becky was great. Lana has come a long way since her matches with Naomi last year. I hope they continue to give her matches and she continues to grow. She is wonderful on the mic, always has been, so she has the most potential to go places with her (maybe even Milwaukee). She is a hit with the crowd also and always has been.
Becky continuing with her “heel” gimmick is awesome. They are really letting her shine right now, and it is very much deserved. I wouldn’t mind seeing Flair getting the upper hand one night though. Currently, it seems a little one-sided on the attacks, but Flair being a “face” she isn’t going to randomly attack Becky so I get it.
The IIconics storyline with Naomi and Asuka is falling extremely flat for me. I am sadly not interested in any of this. The only thing I was interested in was that Mandy and Sonya had a match and they aren’t even a part of the storyline. I like where they are going with Lana’s storyline, but I still wish her and Naomi put together Ravishing Glow.
I want them to actually have Mandy and Sonya in a storyline, I really enjoy them in the ring, but there is no backing to their characters whatsoever. I wish they would have kept the Absolution team name also.
I miss heel Carmella. She could have done so much more in the segment with Truth, but she didn’t.
What does everyone think about this week’s show? Are you excited where the Lana storyline is going? Are you interested in the IIconics facing off against Naomi/Asuka at Super Showdown? What would you have changed on this week’s show? Sound off in the comments below.
