WWE SmackDown Review (2/14): Who Was This Week's MVP? Alexa Bliss, Bray Wyatt, Standout Moments
Standout Moments
1) Great Start - What a contrast in opening segments, on Raw we got Stephanie McMahon and Roman Reigns in a very sub-par showing, while last night we had Daniel Bryan laying out some logical booking by adding AJ Styles to John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt. AJ didn't get his rematch opportunity yet, so let's just solve that issue by making the main event even bigger! Also, was it me, or did Bray Wyatt cut a face promo? The crowd was very much on his side, but that may have just been giving him props for winning the WWE Championship. I'm curious to see if Wyatt stays the bad guy or if WWE decides to get creative.
2) Fried Ambrose ? Even though I still dislike Ellsworth, I'm just going to give him a pass week so we can focus on a feuds that are worth talking about. Ellsworth was scheduled to face Ambrose, until Baron Corbin dragged him out to the stage and proceeded to beat the mess out of him. Ambrose tried to make a comeback and was instead thrown into some electrical equipment (electricity seems to have his number, remember the exploding TV?). Corbin then stared over Ambrose's lifeless body for a really long time and not once did he go for those delicious looking cookies that were sitting right in front of him!
Seriously though, this feud should be a lot of fun and a way to get Corbin his first title run. WWE has not made it a secret that he is going to be one of their bigger stars, so hopefully they don't wait as long as they did with Bray to get him a title reign. Corbin proceeded to throw in a solid promo backstage, making it very obvious he's coming after Dean Ambrose.
3) Dolph vs. NXT? ? Ziggler has zero interest in losing his spot to anyone, especially those who come from NXT, although he didn't specifically "NXT." It's kind of a weird route to take his character in general and since a lot of the NXT TV talent is older, not sure how this story would fly. I do have to admit, I wouldn't mind Ziggler show up to a few NXT shows (like what Cesaro once did) and focus on keeping down the younger talent.
4) Sequel wasn't as good ? While Becky and Mickie put on a solid opener on Sunday can't say I was super pumped to see them go at it again. Throughout last night's match there were a number of miscues, mostly on Mickie's side, nothing major, but some hesitations that resulted in a few sequence resets. The end came when Mickie put on a show with an "injury" that caught Becky off-guard, James then evened the series up with a win.
5) Main Event Madness ? Before the match could even get started we had a glorious Luke Harper surprise who decided to lay out his former leader. I'm enjoying Harper being this new "thorn" in the side of Bray, hopefully it will lead to a match or two between both Superstars. The match itself picked up quickly with signature and finishing moves being used at a rapid pace, Cena hit an AA and nearly got a pinfall, which the crowd went ballistic over. As expected, the main event was awesome with Bray picking up the massive win.
The show finished up when Randy Orton made his very slow entrance to let Bray know, "I won the Royal Rumble and all the privileges that came with it, but you are the WWE Champion. However, as long as you are the master and I am the servant, I refuse to face you at WrestleMania, I pledge my undying allegiance to you, Bray Wyatt." Interesting twist, no?
Trending Up
Alexa Bliss ? Despite losing her title, Bliss came out hard and let the injured champion know that she has one week and then they will go at it once more for the title. "I'm gonna give you one week. And if we don't get our rematch by then, you could either give me the title, or, or I could 'snatch' your dignity by beating you up and down this ring and take back my title."
It really is amazing how comfortable Alexa is on the mic at such an early point in her career. Naomi has been around for years and (while improved) still doesn't have the chops to match up. Looking forward to their rematch though, word is Naomi's injury is just storyline to get sympathy points from fans, let's hope that's true.
Trending Down
The Ascension ? This could be unfair since they got not only some TV time, but they received a match against the current SmackDown Tag champs. At Elimination Chamber, Konor and Viktor were basically handed the titles after The Usos completely annihilated American Alpha, unfortunately for them, they weren't able to come through and get the win. Last night, they received yet another opportunity and, yet again, they came up short. Crowd was pretty dead for this match and I honestly don't know what WWE should do with these. Hate to say anyone is a lost cause, so we'll just move on.
This Week's MVP
Bray Wyatt ? Talk about making a statement, first, on Sunday he was able to finish off both Cena and Styles, then last night he retains the title in a triple threat match by pinning Cena clean, again. For the moment, he's cleared away those two and Orton "seems" to be on his side, but it feels like the buzzards are now circling the champion and his road to WrestleMania will not be an easy one.
Overall Thoughts
Part of me thinks the lower grade could just be from burnout this week, but everything outside of Bray, Styles, Cena, and Orton's interesting choice, was pretty forgettable. This show looked to tie up loose ends in the WWE Championship scene, while also setting up some feuds and two matches in the Women's Division on next week's show. Unfortunately for SmackDown, they have a lot of time to wait until WrestleMania, so there's bound to be some filler to get us there. Much like last week, I loved the first 15 and last 30 minutes of the show.
Grade (out of 10): 6.5 (Last Week: 6.5)