SmackDown In A Nutshell: Big Blue Go Home Show

This is it folks! The very last SmackDown before SummerSlam hits us this Sunday. As the company prepares for what is always billed as the “Biggest Party of the Summer“, we have a big blue go home show to take in. Last night we had a busy RAW, and an eventful one at that. There is still plenty of card to settle, so let’s dive right in and see how the rest of the show unfolds. Sit back, relax and let’s crack open this Nutshell!

Best Match of the night:

For my money…and of course, no actual money is involved, since SmackDown is on free cable….I’d take Sami Zayn and Aleister Black.

That being said, as far as matches go, and as far as SmackDown is concerned, the show overall was kind of a bust.

Worst match of the night:

Ali and Dolph Ziggler.

Short match, bad use of Ali (basically a jobber here), and in his brief time on television, they job him out rather then line him up for the rumored title shot on Sunday.

Star of the Night

This is a tough call. We had some good work here, but nothing really great, and no one was that much better than the next…so in that case, let’s say no one wins this tonight.

Spot of the Night:

I will take the segment of Shane, Elias and Kevin Owens. Specifically, when Owens ended up underneath the announce table.

Could also go with Roman tossing Buddy Murphy around in the locker room. Was wondering when we’d get back around to Murphy as it related to the whole forklift angle.

Jobber of the Night:

Ali. No question tonight.

Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:

How about…holy sh!@ I can’t believe that’s all WWE did with the Rowan/Daniel Bryan/Roman Reigns program. Cliffhangers? Sure, they work great…but not when there’s no more television to use to finish the reveal.

Having Murphy say he wouldn’t spill if he did know…and then spilling…and we get silence from Reigns and blank stares from Bryan and Rowan? It was kind of a let down.

I figure this is the long-delayed big announcement from Daniel Bryan…but maybe WWE just hopes we all forgot that.

Botch of the night:

Does it count that I think WWE kinda botched the above mentioned Reigns/Rowan/Bryan reveal?

Noteworthy Moment:

Could be interesting to see a possible Elias and Chad Gable program, though I assume at this point that their backstage interaction goes nowhere.

Worried that Trish Stratus and Charlotte is a dud, but tonight was the strongest Stratus has looked since her return.

Overall lowlights:

In general? Not a fabulous go home show. Sure, it touched on all the bases I suppose…but it did not do that in the best way possible. The show just never seemed to get in gear.

Overall highlights:

Trish Stratus looked good.

Liked the packages tonight. Setting up Kofi and Randy Orton, those worked well.

There were a few other bright spots…but they were not so exemplary that they were worth memorializing here.

After the final bell:

I will be curious to see how much of this show was re-done on the fly by Vince, because it felt like someone tinkered and adjusted and re-adjusted this one. Just felt like it was stuck and never quite got on track. Hopefully that’s not the case and everything falls into place for Sunday.