SmackDown In A Nutshell: Eight Days Until We Rumble!

It’s time for our latest SmackDown in a Nutshell, and as of tonight it is eight days until we Rumble!

OK, we aren’t rumbling.

But, it is eight days until the Royal Rumble, and we will be watching. Or, at least, I will be.

First things first, might as well put it out there, it’s the first Nutshell since Jay Briscoe’s tragic death.

Condolences to his family and friends, and it will be interesting to see how else WWE addresses it.

We’ve already seen NXT cover it basically in real time, and change a segment.

I don’t expect a segment, but will they let talent share tributes…

If they do, it’s a solid argument against Vince being back in charge, just saying.

But back to the matter at hand, we are indeed looking at eight days until we Rumble.

There are some more slots to fill, and more matches to make, so let us finally get into…

SmackDown In A Nutshell: Eight Days Until We Rumble!

Let’s crack open this Nutshell and find out!

Best Match of the night:

Opening match, Sheamus and Drew against the Viking Raiders.

Imagine though, how good it could have been if we just had the old NXT War Raiders…

Worst match of the night:

Hit Row and Los Lotharios.

I love the idea of a tag tourney…but this match didn’t do much.

Two teams, one newly turned heel and the other supposed to be heel…just doesn’t work.

Crowd Chants of the Night:

I couldn’t discern what it was, but the crowd did have a few.

Star of the Night

Could go with the usual Bloodline and Sami stuff, because it was good…and it is nearing an end.

Or…Bray Wyatt, dusting off the Funhouse?

Perhaps Kevin Owens, Bloodline Slayer?

Spot of the Night:

Not a wrestling spot, but the Funhouse is back. That was big.

Then, during the contract signing, how about that?

KO takes out basically…the entire Bloodline.

Including a stunner that Reigns sold badly. But, the Tribal Chief did eat a pop up power bomb through the table.

And after all that show drama before…Sami Zayn didn’t show up until after the damage was done.

Jobber of the Night:

Wren Jones. Easily.

At one brief moment, you wondered if Jones might benefit from some Uncle Howdy interference to win…but no.

Upset of the Night:

Not Wren Jones.

Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:

The Firefly Funhouse has returned.

We’ve now gotten that version of Bray back. Will all others go away?

I doubt it, but we shall see how it all works out.

Commentary of the night:

This was gold, especially after the whole Flop Dolla fun.

LOL Moment of the night:

Noteworthy Moment:

I thought it was what Pearce said last week, and tonight’s graphics confirm as much.

We are in the midst of a tag team tournament to get a #1 contender for the SmackDown tag belts.

Not the unified belts. Just the blue brand ones.

Same on RAW would seem to be coming…so is this how we split up the unified tag belts?

If so, do we get a similar ploy to break up Roman Reigns’ belts? Rumble winner gets a shot at one belt only?

Also an interesting note-Sheamus and Drew are on one side of the bracket…and there was a chance they could take on Ridge and Butch.

Of course, Ridge and Butch then lost to Imperium, so that chance was short lived.

Overall lowlights:

Well, it did not bother me…but if you aren’t a fan of tag matches, you probably didn’t like this show too much.

Overall highlights:

For all the time when we remember WWE…the old WWE…neglecting the tag division?

Just about the whole show was tag matches, part of the tournament.

Of course, some issues with it-some teams aren’t all that threatening, and this would have been a great chance to get Pretty Deadly to the main roster.

After all…that duo, or even Gallus or the Creed Brothers? Far more credible than Maximum Male Models.

We also had nice action between Charlotte and Sonya, and of course, a fun contract signing to close things out.

After the final bell:

Next week has some drama and action-Rey and Karrion, anyone?

The tag tournament will continue, and it could get interesting.

And of course, while right now as I type this up we have eight days until the Rumble…when next we meet here for the SmackDown Nutshell?

We will have but hours until we Rumble.