Smackdown – May 23, 2017: Do You Know the Way to St. Louis?
Smackdown
Date: May 23, 2017
Location: Huntington Center, Toledo, Ohio
Commentators: Tom Phillips, John Bradshaw Layfield, Byron Saxton
Somehow we’re living in Jinder Mahal’s WWE, which could mean several things. First of all, we’re in for a Punjabi celebration tonight, which could mean a good number of possibilities. On top of that Mahal needs a challenger, who is likely to be Randy Orton in a rematch. We’re also about a month away from Money in the Bank so it could be time to set up the ladder match. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of the end of Backlash with Mahal winning the title.
Mahal and the Singh Brothers arrive with a police escort and the champ having a rug laid out for him. So…..yeah he really is the new JBL, complete with his own Bashams.
Here’s Shane McMahon to open things up. He’s impressed that Mahal won the title but we need to move forward. First of all, Randy Orton is cashing in his rematch contract at Money in the Bank in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. On that same show we’ll be having the Money in the Bank ladder match and it’s already time to announce the five (SWEET) competitors: AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler and…..someone other than Kevin Owens, who comes out here despite Shane saying he’s not in the match.
The actual fifth entrant is Shinsuke Nakamura but Owens isn’t cool with being left out because he beat Styles at Backlash and AJ is in the field. Maybe he’s not in there because Shane is jealous of Owens beating AJ when Shane couldn’t do it. Shane actually agrees and makes Owens the sixth entrant. Corbin tells Owens to stop talking and promises to win. AJ says his catchphrase because this house isn’t being blown down by a lone wolf. He calls Owens WWE’s Eric Cartman and says he doesn’t care who he has to beat.
Sami can’t say much as Corbin cuts him off and calls him the Rudy of Smackdown Live. That sounds like Corbin wants a rematch but Owens and Ziggler get in an argument before anything can happen. Dolph promises to win again but Nakamura introduces himself as Mr. Money in the Bank. Shane makes AJ/Nakamura vs. Owens/Ziggler and Zayn vs. Corbin for tonight.
Natalya/Carmella vs. Becky Lynch/Charlotte
Carmella headlocks Becky to start but a dropkick sends Carmella outside for a break. Back with Charlotte coming in off the hot tag and cleaning house, only to get dropped by some double teaming. Naomi dives onto Tamina and it’s back to Becky for a quick Disarm-Her and the tap at 7:40.
Rating: D+. Some might call this fine, but I’d like to think I can come up with something a little better than that. If nothing else it seems like a waste of time as they might as well have just done this on Sunday if they’re going to beat the Welcoming Committee this easily. The stable (if you can call it that) continues to be nothing more than a way to fill in time and the alliance of heroes is pretty clearly only there for the sake of waiting around until they all fight each other.
Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin
Neither gets an entrance…..and Sami rolls him up for the pin at 21 seconds. They were on a roll for the first half and it was looking like it had serious potential but that next six seconds just fell apart. At least they fixed it in the end.
Corbin beats the heck out of him after the match, including crushing his head against the top of the barricade with a series of elbows. Sami does a stretcher job.
AJ thanks Nakamura for what he taught him in Japan but now they’re both going after the same thing. At Money in the Bank, Nakamura is going to turn AJ’s house into his playground.
It’s time for the final Fashion Files, which takes place in Shane’s office (including a wanted poster, accusing the Mean Street Posse of gang activity). Breeze brings in his stuff and thinks they’re fired. They even turn in their (squirt) guns and a bunch of cleaning supplies. Shane: “You do know that you’re not real cops right?” Fandango: “That’s what my dad tells me.” Breeze takes his pants off but Shane says they’re having singles matches against the Usos tonight. They’re back on the case and Fandango takes a doughnut.
Here’s the Punjabi celebration, complete with a band and dancers. Mahal says 1.3 billion people are celebrating the new champion and the Americans hate him because he’s different. He’s proven everyone wrong and showed that India is on the rise while America is in decline. We hear some Punjabi and fireworks go off with no one interfering to wrap it up.
Lana is still coming.
Jey Uso vs. Tyler Breeze
Tyler still has his bag of stuff…..and rolls Jey up for the pin at 23 seconds after spraying him with the squirt gun. So he shot on Jey?
Jimmy Uso vs. Fandango
Breeze puts on a wig and gets Jey to chase him into the ring, allowing Fandango to roll Jimmy up for the pin at 44 seconds.
Fandango: “You Usos look like you just got caught wearing white after Labor Day.” Breeze wants a rematch for the titles, which is actually on right now.
Tag Team Titles: Usos vs. Breezango
The Usos are defending and we’re joined in progress with Fandango coming in off the hot tag. A tornado DDT/dropkick combination gets two on Jey but it’s quadruple superkicks to set up the Superfly Splash, only to hit Fandango’s knees. Jey gets small packaged for two and the Last Dance crushes Jimmy, only to have Jey hit the Superfly splash for the pin to retain at 2:48 shown. So to recap, the champs lose on joke finishes and then the popular act loses a short match after losing their big title shot two days ago. Yeah I’m sure this kind of booking has nothing to do with the ratings being so bad. Clearly just the NBA.
Natalya comes in to Shane’s office and demands a title shot. The rest of the Welcoming Committee, Becky and Charlotte come in with the same demands. A big argument breaks out (because that’s what women do, at least in WWE’s eyes) so Shane makes a fatal five way #1 contenders match for next week.
Kevin Owens/Dolph Ziggler vs. AJ Styles/Shinsuke Nakamura
That argument cost us AJ/Nakamura’s entrances. AJ shoves Ziggler around to start before it’s off to Nakamura vs. Owens, which the fans certainly seem to enjoy. Some early strikes put Owens on the floor but the threat of a Kinshasa sends him bailing to the floor. Back from an early break with Ziggler raking Nakamura’s eyes across the top rope before grabbing a headscissors to keep him on the mat.
We hit the chinlock (required in an Owens match) for a long bit until Nakamura fights up, only to be taken back down until we take a second break. Back again with Nakamura getting over for the hot tag to AJ, who immediately brings the strikes. A good series of them sends Owens to the floor but he drops AJ again and we’re back to the chinlock.
AJ fights up again and kicks his way to freedom, allowing the hot tag off to Nakamura. House is cleaned again with a series of kicks but Ziggler grabs a Fameasser for two. Everything breaks down and Ziggler saves Owens from the Styles Clash, only to eat a running knee from Nakamura. The Kinshasa ends Owens at 24:33.
Rating: B. Insert your own complaint about the champ taking a fall when Ziggler is right there. This felt like a bit match and a lot of that is due to having an actual dream team for the face side. I can live with this kind of a match instead of the normal ten minute trading wins between the ladder match participants. It’s always nice to have the main event feel important and that’s what this did.
Overall Rating: C-. The main event was good but I don’t think it’s enough to make up for the rapid fire matches we had in the middle of the show. Was there really a need for three matches in a row to have a rollup finish in less than a minute? Is that really the best possible option? They kept Mahal short, which is probably best for everyone involved. He’s not the worst idea in the world but we’re certainly at the point where the less of him we see, the better. We’re firmly on the way to Money in the Bank though and that can make for some dull shows, which hopefully isn’t the case this year.
Results
Becky Lynch/Charlotte b. Carmella/Natalya – Disarm-Her to Carmella
Sami Zayn b. Baron Corbin – Rollup
Tyler Breeze b. Jey Uso – Rollup
Fandango b. Jimmy Uso – Rollup
Usos b. Breezango – Superfly splash to Fandango
AJ Styles/Shinsuke Nakamura b. Kevin Owens/Dolph Ziggler – Kinshasa to Owens
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WWE title has been diminished since 1999
I’m not sold on Mahal as champion either but I do like the idea of them trying something fresh for a change.
Ambrose, Wyatt and Styles weren’t fresh?
They were but not in the way I meant. Especially not when Wyatt’s reign meant nothing and felt like a stopping point between Cena and Orton.
I see your contrast KB….but in all fairness I am not sayin Mahal is over at the level any where near Reigns or Austin or Rock…..I am just saying he is getting a better reaction than 75% of the Smackdown roster. I would sooner get a reaction because of my nationality than no reaction at all
and wrestling 101 I never said Mahal is a great champion, learn to read buddy, I said give him a chance.
It doesn’t have to be that level of interest. Rhyno is over, if nothing else because of his finisher.
And yes, it’s absolutely better than getting no response. It’s also why I don’t see cheap heat as a bad thing. Getting booed because of something as simple as insulting a local sports team is better than people sitting on their hands.
Then that means 75% of the roster, including Jinder, shouldn’t be champion. He only gets heat from cheap heat. That’s not world title material.
They are booing cause he says bad stuff about America not because Jinder is interesting. The foreign heel role is overplayed and old. Wrestling doesn’t work like it used to.
Nothing wrong with cheap heat….in today’s day and age the world championship is just a prop, it doesn’t mean as much as it used too. Your right, wrestling doesn’t work like it used to….but if u can draw a crowd with cheap heat you will be on the card.
I really don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the vast majority of the roster, at least in their current forms, shouldn’t be World Champion.
…Uh that is what I said.
Jinder isn’t interesting. Meaning no one really cares about him.
Who is this ‘Dragon’ guy, and why does he keep banging on about what a great idea Mahal as champion is? Weird.
So KB when someone is over the crowd is not reacting to them? That is not correct and doesn’t make sense. To be over the crowd must react a great deal either to cheer a face persona or a boo heel persona….I do not understand how when a crowd reacts to a character more then others it does not mean he is over. Explain this to me KB cause if I was to pick 3 best reactions from last night’s show they would be Nakamora, Styles, and Mahal…..other 2 guys seem over to me BECAUSE of the crowd reaction they get.
Getting a reaction doesn’t mean you’re over. It means you did something that got people responding. The difference is a person who is over is getting reactions no matter what they do. Look at Roman Reigns, the Rock, Steve Austin, John Cena etc. Their name or face alone gets a reaction.
In short, it’s the difference between the person getting reactions and what they do getting reactions.
When a crowd is booing a superstar to high heaven, or cheering them as loud as they can….that is a success in WWE’s eyes…..the source of the reaction does not matter….if the crowd is reacting and having a good time booing/cheering that is all that matters and that is the foundation of the live wrestling event. I deeply hate Enzo Amore and he is a terrible in ring performer but he gets a great crowd reaction so he is a WWE employee that is doing his job. Just because a wrestler is getting “cheap heat” so what….it worked for Iron Sheik, Sgt. Slaughter, Ivan and Nikita Koloff, Nikolai Volkoff, Krusher Krushchev, Col. DeBeers ect…..they utilized the “cheap” foreign gimmick and made a decent living out of it.
Cheap heat is ok if the character is being played well, and when Jinder stepped out of the car, the crowd were relentless and all he did was stand up. He is playing the part well and will flesh out his character even more much like JBL did when he suddenly became a millionaire overnight. He has a few weeks to prove everyone wrong and if he doesn’t hold up then he can be beaten for the title. The title is far from destroyed, like you fanboys keep whining about, it will be here many years after Jinder Mahal’s reign and btw that Championship hasn’t meant what it once did anyway since 2001.
Jinder Mahal as world champion is not a bad thing. He is getting the most heat out of any heel on the roster and that’s a good thing…..some wrestlers these days are getting no reaction at all. It obviously won’t please everyone but for the reaction it is getting and with everyone talking about it, it is a success thus far……even the Bollywood Boyz are getting some excellent heat as well.
Cause generic evil foreign heat means that he is so over.
David Arquette got people talking. Wasn’t a good thing.
actually it does mean that he is over,
and David Arquette is a very poor comparison….he was not a performer on the roster but a celebrity trying to sell a feature film.
Nice try though
Cheap heat says hi. Cheap heat isn’t real heat.
The point of using Arquette was to illustrate just because people are talking does not mean it is good or it worked.
Reactions don’t mean over. Reactions are reactions.
Greg are you really comparing Jindar Mahal (an actual Wrestler) to David Arquette (an actor)? You really are reaching now.
You missed the point. By a mile.
Using him as an example of how getting people talking isn’t always a good thing.
How concerned should they be about these ratings? And please save any excuse involving the NBA.
Somewhat, though there are a lot of other metrics that mean a great deal. Network subscribers, stock price etc. THe ratings are a problem but the NBA is indeed causing them problems.
The NBA’s ratings haven’t even been all that impressive, and that’s assuming large amounts of basketball/wrestling crossover, so that’s just an excuse. The Network numbers aren’t going to be great if people aren’t even watching the free tv WWE produces. I don’t believe any figures the WWE releases independently.
A lot of is just the changing dynamics of tv. The massive drop in network tv ratings do to increased competition from endless cable tv options and variety of programming has finally started to trickle down to cable tv shows ratings because cable tv is now not only fighting network tv and every other cable network but they are also fighting cord cutting and VOD services like Netflix.
WWE is slipping up in that it’s losing what was thought be it’s core audience or absolute ratings floor. This suggests that they are actively making viewers tune out or perhaps the core wasn’t as big as we all thought it was. WWE is still making money on the tours but attendance is starting to slip. They need to develop a couple new stars asap.
I also wouldn’t be shocked if some of this drop in viewership can be attributed to people watching the condensed Hulu versions of the shows or WWE network viewers.
How do you think the hypocrisy of the ICW community would take effect here with Mahal being champion in WWE when he could have been Impact champion in Impact as he was scouted by them (obvioisly for the same reason, to get an indian wrestler pushed for their india tour). So with WWE fans its like “okay we get it, hes not the greatest but its for the sake of the tour” but then if this would have ever happejed in Impact everyone would be disgusted that a WWE jobber won the belt.
Um, I’m disgusted he won the title. A lot of people are. There’s no defense to this.
The same thing I’ve said before: WWE and TNA are in very different places. WWE can get away with a lot of things TNA can’t.
That’s quite true. But not to the exaggerated level some have taken it in the past.
Smackdown’s are setting new records for futility as well.
Since you brought it up, what type of ratings do Raw and Smackdown pull these days, anyways?
https://wrestlingrumors.net/monday-night-raw-hits-yet-another-low/
Whoa! I was assuming in the mid 2s…
Keep in mind that the .9 is in the 18-49 demo and not overall.
So what will the final rating be about, 1.2? And are Smackdown’s equally as bad?
So…I take it we are just going to see Becky vs charlotte every month until the rumble or next superstar shakeup? You know cause there’s like not a division on either show and they ran Sasha and charlotte into the ground last year for the same reason.