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Jim Ross to Smackdown as play-by-play should be the most obvious move in the world.

That'd be huge. I'd definitely welcome that.

With regards to the tag division, SmackDown needs a heel duo. I wanted it to be The Revival, because the Vaudevillains, Breezango and The Ascension have been booked dreadfully. That leaves Heath Slater and Rhyno and American Alpha, two babyface teams, and the Usos, one heel team. Really, WWE should have separated Heath and Rhyno a while back. Now, the storyline is too old and forgotten for anybody to care if Rhyno turns on him.

Reply 5921

da_nolo

Shinsuke Nakamura entrance - will we see more wrestlers attempt this style in the near future?
Majority of entrance themes stem to rock & hip/hop but will there be greater genre mix now?

Reply 5922

da_nolo

is it time for fans to use new chants?

Reply 5923

ozzyoscy

Original post by da_nolo

is it time for fans to use new chants?

There were loads on Raw and SD.

Reply 5924

Mackay

Gotch released and English now set for a singles push apparently...

Reply 5925

ozzyoscy

It looks like they're reuniting all the BFFs. Alexa is back with Nia on Raw, Charlotte looks certain to come back into Becky's arms on SD, and Cass (+ Enzo) going to SD where his gf Carmella works is highly likely. Club reuniting on Raw or SD is still on.

And if Charlotte is coming to SD, hey maybe that means her gym buddy/bit on the side Braun is coming with her. That would be a sound trade too, there are enough big guys on Raw and none on SD.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 5926

Mackay

What's going on with ALL the championships? WWE has some work to do on SmackDown tonight to balance the sheets. The Miz and Maryse on RAW is a great, welcome change, and it gets him away from the Daniel Bryan feud. But will he be lost in a top-heavy roster? I hope not. I wanted him to have a run with the WWE Championship on SmackDown after his stellar year. Dean Ambrose seemed revitalised and was more entertaining in five minutes at the beginning of RAW than he has been in months on SD. I still think he needs a heel turn, but a change in brands can breathe life into a stale character at this point.

In terms of in-ring action, the clash between the New Day and the Revival opened the show, and with Kofi Kingston injured long-term, I think we'll see Big E (and maybe Xavier Woods) debut on SmackDown tonight. It certainly makes sense, given the fact the New Day have lost twice in a row to the Revival now. They'll be great on SmackDown and can go straight into the championship mix-up after a few months of staleness, and a lack of real credible challengers.

There were a couple of underwhelming arrivals - Curt Hawkins, who was run over by Big Show in the ring, and Apollo Crews - but I'm absolutely delighted to see Mickie James on RAW. Alexa Bliss came along with her, which means SmackDown will likely get a flagship name (Charlotte) tonight. Sasha Banks, who continued to tease a heel turn, is currently in the midst of a long-running feud with Bayley, and Charlotte has picked up more and more losses and needs a change of direction. Nia Jax beat her last night.

I'm glad to see Seth Rollins stay on RAW and carry his feud with Samoa Joe forward. I'm even more excited about the possibility of a Bray Wyatt vs Seth Rollins feud. Wyatt returned to RAW last night, warning Finn Balor, after he had picked up the W over Jinder Mahal. Wyatt vs Balor, Wyatt vs Rollins, Wyatt vs Reigns, Wyatt vs. Braun Strowman... the list is endless. Speaking of Strowman, he overturned an ambulance carrying Reigns after a backstage interview, which was a powerful image. The less we see of whiney Sami Zayn the better, though. He picked up a win over the Miz, and it remains to be seen whether he stays on RAW or transfers to SmackDown, but him complaining backstage is becoming all too common and I could do without it.

At this stage, a heel turn for TJ Perkins will do him the world of good, after he lost to Austin Aries and beat him down post-match. TJ is much more suited to being a cocky upstart heel at this stage, after a floundering run in the division after dropping the belt. A rematch between Neville and Aries was booked for Payback, which I'm looking forward to. In terms of other in-ring action, the Hardy Boyz, Cesaro and Sheamus beat The Club and The Shining Stars before both secondary championship holders - Kevin Owens and Ambrose - squared off, with Chris Jericho costing the former the victory with a Codebreaker to carry on their feud ahead of their rematch.

Reply 5927

riskobarz

Original post by Mackay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5A_0WLlcq4

Reply 5928

ozzyoscy

Charlotte will be interesting because, for no real reason, the fans have suddenly switched back to loving her again. Fickle Maybe she'll be face.

The US title coming to SD was obvious after Ambrose and the IC title went to Raw, though as a trade it makes no sense. Why would SD swap the #1 pick and world champ for a guy who was champ but ran scared and struggled against any contender, and made the show look bad?

Lana and Rusev are being treated as separate and unrelated, which is weird.

Sin Cara being traded for Kalisto is all kinds of boring. But not as boring as Juicer Mahal.

Shining Stars... SD doesn't need ANOTHER boring generic tag team with no star power or particular charisma.

If they REALLY wanted to shake it up, they would've traded Orton and Brock, that was my outside bet. SD gets the lame title and Raw gets the 'real' title back (satisfying their Raw favouritism). Raw pick up Orton because they'd feel he has more matches in him than Brock (plus no risk of opponents getting killed), while SD get a big name.

Reply 5929

Mackay

Kevin Owens has arrived on SmackDown Live, cutting a fantastic promo to start the night before Sami Zayn also debuted. He was booked in a Triple Threat match to determine the No. 1 contender, against AJ Styles (who won it) and Baron Corbin. It makes sense to keep Zayn and Corbin in the midcard title hunt, and while it may seem like a demotion for Styles, the matches Owens vs babyface Styles have will be match of the year candidates. The additions of Zayn and Owens are sorely needed after SmackDown lost Dean Ambrose, The Miz and Bray Wyatt.

We also saw The Shining Stars debut, after American Alpha had lost to the Usos, and Jinder Mahal switch brands, only to lose to Mojo Rawley after interference from the same NFL star who caused havoc at WM33. We also saw Aiden English get a singles match after Simon Gotch of the Vaudevillians was released last week, with a new singing gimmick in tow, only to lose to Tye Dillinger. The Shining Stars' appearance was far more meaningful. SmackDown is in desperate need of established tag teams, but all three are bound to be enhancement talents, along with English.

In terms of in ring action, we saw Erick Rowan lose to Randy Orton via disqualification after he attacked the champ with ring steps after Bray Wyatt appeared on the big screen and issued warnings. The issue for Rowan is, now Bray has moved to RAW, where does he go from here? He is far more suited to being a part of a faction/tag team, so I wouldn't mind he and Luke Harper reuniting to challenge for the belts. The main event was stellar, with Styles rightly winning, after SmackDown was thrown a lifeline in terms of its women division, with the arrival of Charlotte and Tamina.

The other notable incident was Shinsuke Nakamura seemingly gearing up for a programme with Dolph Ziggler, who has been curiously absent recently. It may see a far cry from what we all want - Nakamura vs Zayn, Styles, Owens or even the Miz - but Ziggler can carry the verbals and it's a decent introduction to Nakamura for many. Speaking of overlooked stars, WWE also confirmed The New Day, Sin Cara and Rusev were heading to SmackDown.

205 Live, meanwhile, was a shocking disappointment this week: The Brian Kendrick vs. Mustafa Ali kicked off the show, with Akira Tozawa providing a distraction to allow the latter to pick up the W, before Rich Swann beat some jobber before post-match saw a continuation of this woeful Noam Dar/Alicia Fox/Rich Swann storyline, and the new heel TJ Perkins beat Jack Gallagher in the main event.

Reply 5930

ozzyoscy

Excellent and unprecedented theory for the next few PPVs I've seen, blowing the title picture open, so brilliant I'm going to spoiler it because it could happen and would make sense, but would be unique and mindblowing.

Spoiler

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 5931

Mackay

The way WWE swapped black announcers (because, duh, they're interchangeable) during the Shake-Up is hilarious. The notion of brands swapping jobbing talent is also ridiculous.

Reply 5932

ozzyoscy

Original post by Mackay

The way WWE swapped black announcers

Wow.

WOW.

Reply 5933

Phildjm

Original post by Mackay

The notion of brands swapping jobbing talent is also ridiculous.

Agreed... Hopefully though we can see these enhancement talent step up and shine.

Reply 5934

Mackay

Original post by Phildjm

Agreed... Hopefully though we can see these enhancement talent step up and shine.

I'd be willing to see Breezango pushed, because I think they're two decent workers who have quite natural comedic charisma. They'd be great, annoying foils for a babyface tag-team away from the main championship programme. Both tag divisions need major work, because they really lack depth right now.

Reply 5935

Neverdie

Original post by Mackay

The way WWE swapped black announcers during the Shake-Up is hilarious.

You racist prick.

Reply 5936

Mackay

Original post by Neverdie

You racist prick.

How?

By saying it's "hilarious", I'm highlighting how downright farcical it is.

Reply 5937

ozzyoscy

Original post by Mackay

How?

By saying it's "hilarious", I'm highlighting how downright farcical it is.

You thinking they swapped two announcers because you noticed the colour of their skin is more indicative of your views, not theirs, which no one knows.

Everyone else thought they were just swapping #3 announcers, you looked at it and all you saw was their skin. First sexist, now racist.

Reply 5938

Mackay

Original post by ozzyoscy

No. I'm not the only person who noticed. Look at the comments: http://uproxx.com/prowrestling/raw-smackdown-live-announcers-wwe-superstar-shake-up/

This is ridiculous. I was not being racist.

Reply 5939

Mackay

A great, great episode of RAW. Seth Rollins vs Samoa Joe confirmed for Payback, after the duo clashed on the mic after Rollins sat in on commentary for Joe's victory over Chris Jericho. Braun Strowman vs Roman Reigns was also confirmed, with the latter absent from programming this week. Strowman was given the night off by Kurt Angle in the opening segment, but returned to fight Big Show and make the ring collapse in the main event. He's being booked like a monster right now, and I really want to see a Strowman vs Brock Lesnar feud, personally. He's improving in the ring, on the mic, and fully deserves this post-WrestleMania push, considering how he was misused beforehand.

In other in-ring action, we saw Big Cass and Enzo lose to Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, as the babyfaces pick up yet another loss. It's good booking to give The Club some victories, but it devalues the babyfaces - even though Amore is taking the pins. That will help Cass when he gets a singles push, with Enzo as his mouthpiece. That match only occurred after Strowman had battered The Golden Truth, who were set to face The Club, backstage. We also saw Jeff Hardy beat Cesaro in a really fun bout, which served as the penultimate of the night. After, Matt Hardy and Sheamus shook hands.

Much better was the match between TJ Perkins and Jack Gallagher, which saw the newly-turned heel pick up the win after some dirty tactics. The heel turn promises to revitalise a floundering Perkins, giving life to his character and adding depth to the division. That was probably my highlight of the night, aside from the women's Fatal 4-Way Number One Contender's Match, between Nia Jax, Sasha Banks, Mickie James and Alexa Bliss. The latter picked up the win, capitalising on Jax's dominance and removing her from the ring, giving her the chance to get the cover after Jax had impressed. That's the type of smart booking WWE needs to do more of. Jax looked strong and dominant, but was undermined by a smarter competitor. She looked really strong in losing. Bliss vs Bayley is a feud I can get behind.

The other segments of note were Finn Balor returning, after internet rumours he had suffered a legitimate injury in his victory over Jinder Mahal last week. He was booked to squash Curt Hawkins, and he did, obviously. It's great to see him in the ring enjoying himself, and I don't mind him squashing enhancement talent after enhancement talent, because he's been absent for so long and Bray Wyatt is currently tied up with Randy Orton over on SmackDown before he heads to RAW.

We also saw Dean Ambrose on MizTV. He looked and sounded great - probably the best in months. He was terrific, full of heart and charisma. He was focused in his promo, not the meandering, "lunatic"-lite gimmick filled with comedy we have been used to seeing on SmackDown. To be honest, I could do without another Dean Ambrose vs Miz feud, but Maryse adds depth to it, and it'll be interesting going forward. Both are working hard, doing some great work, and the matches will be really solid.