The Fastlane go-home edition of Smackdown Live begins this week with Dasha Fuentes (Renee Young is at home ill by the way), as she welcomes out both the Smackdown Women’s champion Charlotte Flair and her challenger this Sunday Ruby Riott (accompanied by her Riott Squad teammates Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan). Ruby begins saying it ‘began on the 14th November 2017 when Charlotte Flair won the Smackdown Women’s Championship, her life has been success all along etc. as “I watched as the myth began” ‘and that’s why 2 weeks after I formed the Riott Squad, with 1 sole purpose; destroy the myth’. Decent stuff from Ruby to be fair, convinced me definitely. Charlotte came back by saying that the only myth is that she had been handed anything, that if she fails it is magnified because of who she is and her surname, Riott says that Charlotte is on a pedestal and that at Fastlane she’s coming to take her crown. Morgan and Logan enter the ring to confront the Queen before… NO, NOT Becky Lynch and Naomi but BOBBY ROODE makes his entrance as the lights go out and the Glorious song plays. Charlotte looks on delighted to see her Mixed Match Challenge partner (Roode is apparently on commentary for the next match; Jinder Mahal vs his fellow US Title contender Randy Orton). And that was how the Women’s CHAMPIONSHIP segment ended…. THAT WAS IT?! REALLY!? FUCK ME!? If anyone doubted Ruby Riott’s chances at Fastlane then it’s 200% confirmed now… Becky and Naomi didn’t make the save or anything, the segment just ended… *sigh*.
Anyway Randy Orton comes out next for his match against Jinder Mahal. With US Champion Roode looking on the focus is made on the fact that The Viper needs just the Glorious one’s title to complete his own grand slam. Samir Singh then welcomes out The Modern Day Maharaja and then my attention quivered. I had to endure 3 months of Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton in spring-summer of 2017 for the WWE Championship, I don’t think me or anyone else wants to see or hear anything more about these two men against one another. So I’ll just say the finish came from Orton launching Mahal into Roode at the commentary table, Roode got on the apron to vent his anger at Randy before Jinder pushed Orton to knock Roode down and Mahal took advantage of the distraction and hit the Khallas to get the win… I absolutely love Bobby Roode, everything about his is magnificent. Randy Orton is a legend and Jinder is… Jinder… but I’m not caring too much at all about this thing at all right now… I trust in Bobby Roode to make it great… because… well, we know what he is…
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are backstage in the locker room; Owens reminds Zayn of him saying that he would ‘lay down’ for Owens if it came to it at Fastlane, Zayn says he meant it, Owens tells Zayn how much of an amazing guy he is etc. (Sami Zayn is SOOOOOOO turning on Owens at some point soon). AJ Styles vs Dolph Ziggler later tonight too; if anyone can make me care about Ziggler it is AJ so I’ll give it a chance. They then show a video montage recapping The Usos vs The New Day rivalry ahead of their Smackdown Tag Team title match on Sunday, great great great. Shinsuke Nakamura is interviewed backstage next; he was asked if he was worried going into Fastlane if his dream match at Wrestlemania against AJ Styles was in jeopardy, Nakamura said he was worried but hoped AJ wins so he can beat him at Wrestlemania… He was then interrupted by Rusev and Aiden English! English goes to sing but he can’t, ‘apparently’ due to Nakamura’s beating of him in their match last week. Rusev then says to Shinsuke it is like he has “broken the hands of Billy Joel”, to which Nakamura tells English he is not Billy Joel, Rusev says “face me at Fastlane and I’ll break you like you broke my Aiden”. Nakamura responds accepts and says when he does it’ll be ‘NAKAMURA DAY’ (in which he sings). This was HILAROIUS! The crowd during this match at Fastlane will be so loud I cannot wait!
Becky Lynch vs Carmella next. This came from a wwe.com shown confrontation between the two last week, and their ongoing twitter war this week has been highly entertaining. The more Carmella and the more Becky Lynch on Smackdown the better for me. Carmella was on top with an aggressive, trash-talk filled start to the match. Becky tried to get the Dis-Arm-Her in but Carmella was able to wriggle out of it, Carmella had Becky locked in a leg scissors using the ropes for support to put further strain onto Lynch, Naomi is shown backstage watching on, Carmela got a nearfall after a great looking running knee to the Irish Lasskicker. She then got another nearfall after a backdrop on the outside. Carmella then got another nearfall after a sidekick, much to Ms. Money in the Bank’s disbelief. Lynch responds with a Bexploder suplex and then rolls Carmella into her finishing submission move that forces the Princess of Staten Island to tap out. This was fine, 2 decent in ring performers putting on an ok tv match. After the match Naomi and Natalya had a discussion backstage about the match they had just seen, it ended with the match being made for Fastlane of Naomi and Becky lynch vs Natalya and Carmella.
Next up AJ Styles is shown walking to the ring backstage. He’ll be joining us next then (just the best wrestler isn’t he). There’s a recap of John Cena’s promo from Raw where he proclaimed he’d win the WWE Championship for a 17th time on Sunday. AJ then cuts a promo saying ‘not so long ago I only cared about 1 person, but after winning the WWE Championship for the 2nd time I see the world differently now, I’m the WWE Champion, it was grind to get here when I was ‘elsewhere’ trying to get here (I know AJ, it must have been horrid… THERE…)’. He goes on to talk about the 6 pack challenge at Fastlane and how he doesn’t have to get pinned to lose his title, that the odds are against him but he’s gonna fight, how Smackdown Live is the house that ‘AJ STYLES BUILT’ (it is, it really is), He explains how last week John Cena pinned him clean but that although he is world class Cena is also never lost for words, before again a recap is shown of Cena’s Raw promo. AJ comes back after this really fired up, saying to the crowd that ‘you don’t want this either (Cena winning the title on Sunday), I want my Wrestlemania moment… against the best… Shinsuke Nakamura… Who would’ve dreamed of this in WWE (I KNOW RIGHT, AJ really speaking to me today)… so I’m fighting for us (PLEASE do AJ, I want Styles vs Nakamura at Mania so so bad)’.
Dolph Ziggler then comes out and cuts a promo on Styles; he tells him that ‘you’ve changed’ and that ‘you’re not phenomenal anymore, you’re just desperate’. AJ responds by asking Dolph how he can call him desperate when ‘you in WWE have failed to live up to your potential for 13 years in WWE’ (PREACH AJ PREACH). Ziggler goes heel on the crowd… so he’s heel now? I thought he just turned back face again? This fucking guy turns more than pages in a book! It’s a real killer to any character he’s trying to create, his credibility on TV is zero. Anyway AJ then made his match against Dolph to happen immediately. AJ Styles vs Dolph Ziggler then, as a wrestling match this was pretty good. Both are great athletes and great in the ring (particularly AJ), but with Ziggler’s character the way it is in 2018 it’s going to take an awful lot to make me fully emotionally invested in anything he does these days. I didn’t even care too much even here when he was against the best wrestler on the planet. Both superstars displayed their impressive set of moves, Dolph Ziggler was on the aggressive top throughout, AJ made his comeback, Ziggler raked Styles’ eyes, hit a Famouser for a 2 count, Ziggler then launches Styles into the ringpost on the outside, before Dolph hit a Zigzag on Styles but could only garner a 2 count pinfall.
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn then came to the ring and beatdown on Ziggler and the WWE Champion, leading Smackdown Commissioner Shane McMahon to come out and make the match of Owens vs Zayn vs Styles vs Ziggler vs the man he introduces Baron Corbin. Hmmm… so Cena is having the night off then? He’s on the SMACKDOWN ppv competing for the SMACKDOWN world championship and yet this week he only appears on RAW?! WHY?! So we had a fatal 5 way to end the show and unsurprisingly it was all a bit chaotic. All the participants are involved in separate brawls on the outside of the ring, when the action goes back into the ring it is Corbin who is on top as he strikes everyone else in the match down. Owens and Zayn then beat up Corbin then Ziggler then Styles separately, later in the match then we have AJ & Dolph on the top rope joined by Sami Zayn as Baron Corbin and Kevin Owens slam all of them down to the ring floor and all 5 superstars are down. There was then huge series of different moves from the participants with the main features being how AJ would break up almost every pinfall attempt in the match and how (in my opinion) but Baron Corbin has really improved in between the ropes. The conclusion to the match was really something good; AJ took out Corbin, Ziggler and Zayn (this was really impressive stuff from him), but as Owens and Zayn took all out of the match Owens was in the corner of the ring Sami Zayn hit his ‘FRIEND’ with a huge Helluva Kick (crowd popped hard for this) and SAMI ZAYN WINS! After the match as the other 4 participants looked on in shock Dasha interviewed the victorious Zayn on the rampway and asked him to explain his actions? Zayn replied by saying because he was the “best WWE has”! I really liked this finish, builds up tension amongst Owens and Zayn tremendously going into Fastlane. I’ll be interested to see how they tell this story on Sunday… and onto Wrestlemania…
And THAT was another episode of Smackdown. A fun episode and as a go home for a ppv it built up to Fastlane well I thought.
Key Points to take Home
. Ruby needs to go solo and split up her squad
. The US title scene STILL needs a rocket up its backside
. Nakamura vs Rusev Day… YES PLEASE!
. Carmella still has that briefcase… just saying…
. Smackdown needs AJ Styles… forever
Conclusion
So on Sunday its Fastlane then, and what have we got as a line up? Well, in my opinion some pretty entertaining match ups. Charlotte defending her title against Ruby Riott; which although the result is pretty obvious going into it the shadows of the Women’s Royal Rumble winner and Ms Money in the Bank loom large over the Smackdown Women’s championship right now which will add that extra element of excitement of this one. United States Champion Bobby Roode defending against Randy Orton. Will Orton get the grand slam? I can’t see why he would or why at this stage he needs to. I’m pretty sure that eventually Jinder will take the title from Roode, allowing the Glorious one to ascend to the WWE title scene (PLEASE) and maybe even turn heel too (SUPER PLEASE). Shinsuke Nakamura vs Rusev with Aiden English; good stuff all round and should be a real fun match to watch, crowd will love it for sure. Usos vs New Day renewing their rivalry over the Smackdown tag titles. Again this will be a great watch but again a rather large shadow hangs over this match (a Bludgeon Brothers sized shadow to be specific). Naomi and Becky Lynch vs Carmella and Natalya too, I’d like to see Carmella get beat here personally as I think it’d further throw everyone off the scent for when she eventually takes her opportunity and becomes Women’s Champion. AND FINALLY of course we have the WWE Championship 6 pack challenge; AJ Styles defending his championship against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn (I think they’re heading to a Mania showdown as well), Dolph Ziggler (who cares), Baron Corbin (I care slightly more but still not a great amount) and of course big match John Cena… John Cena… wait… did you hear that?…
*DONG*
…
Josh.