Friday Night Semi Fight

What a way to end a week-it’s SmackDown In A Nutshell! This one is all about a Friday Night Semi Fight.

As in, we’ve reached the semifinals of the Intercontinental Championship tournament.

While there may still be some not wanting to see Sami Zayn not be the champ, WWE is nearly to the end of the tourney. A replacement Intercontinental Champion will be crowned in two weeks!

Will tonight give us any other surprises? There’s rumblings that we may have an NXT Superstar debuting on the blue brand soon…maybe tonight?

Things are heating up all around, we’re unofficially in summer, so let’s enjoy this Friday Night Semi Fight!

It’s time to crack open this Nutshell!

Best Match of the night:

Saw this tweet, and I think it says it nicely..

Worst match of the night:

Only a few matches, so the pickings are slim. That said, I guess I’d like Sasha and Alexa the least? Just wasn’t as good as the others.

Star of the Night

Could be Daniel Bryan for the win? Could be Jeff Hardy?

I am flexible on this one.

Spot of the Night:

Nothing jumps out.

Upset of the Night:

They kind of framed Shorty G winning as an upset. It’s not really a big one, but I’ll allow it.

Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:

I am kinda stunned WWE went there…but then, it’s WWE, so maybe I shouldn’t be.

After setting up the redemption arc of Jeff Hardy, we started tonight with a “drunk” Jeff Hardy hitting Elias with a car. Elias was “injured” and Jeff was arrested, causing both men to miss their scheduled tournament matches.

Now, based on how the show ended, I am going to leap to the conclusion that Jeff was framed by Sheamus, furthering that feud in the process. Just a wild guess.

Still, given Hardy’s checkered past and very recent stint in rehab, it is somewhat surprising that they’d go there.

Botch of the night:

So, speaking of Jeff Hardy…I am going to call that segment a botch.

I presume (hope?) that Hardy was consulted on it. Perhaps given some creative control even.

However, I am not overly fond of using his struggles to garner sympathy for him, and then go there (even if it does seem like it will ultimately be Sheamus responsible for things).

Some fans took to Twitter to complain too.

Now, the only thing I can say about it is that SmackDown, as I understand it, was actually taped Tuesday. Things really heated up in Minnesota and elsewhere as of a night or so back.

So, one could argue that as tone deaf as the segment might appear to be, it was shot before things went south.

That being said, if it was taped, you could make a case to scrub the segment and rush a re-shoot of something else…because it would have been a wise thing to do.

LOL Moment of the night:

Not exactly a joke, but I enjoyed the verbal sparring that happened on A Moment Of Bliss. It may be a long slow burn to get to the Sasha/Bayley feud, but the zingers along the way have been solid.

Noteworthy Moment:

We have a Shorty G sighting! I was excited to see him back…even if I was still hoping for the rumored stable with him and Daniel Bryan and Drew Gulak.

We also got the confirmed arrival of Matt Riddle, as had been rumored earlier this week. Here’s hoping they don’t waste him on the blue brand.

 

Overall lowlights:

My biggest complaint was the Hardy opening angle…even though it does seem that it will be used to get more heat on Sheamus.

This may be one that doesn’t work out as well, without the fan reaction.

Overall highlights:

I get it if you hated the Hardy thing. I know I was not overly thrilled at the onset.

However, this one all depends on the payoff. If how the show ended is any indication, then this might actually turn out OK.

Happy to see what Riddle will do, and curious we are seeing more of Kurt Angle this week, even though he’s been released.

After the final bell:

I’d argue that this show was a bit better than other recent efforts. Light on match count, but part of that was the battle royal-which was actually enjoyable enough.

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