Wrestling with SmackDown- Week 34 2019

Quick Results:

· King of the Ring Match: Ali Defeats Buddy Murphy

· Bayley defeats Lacey Evans (non-title match)

· Randy Orton defeats Big-E

· King of the Ring Match: Chad Gable defeats Shelton Benjamin

Highlights/Comments:

· The entire Daniel Bryan/(Eric) Rowan/Roman Reigns storyline is a road to nowhere. We are now in our second MONTH of this story and we have seen nothing compelling except for the car accident (which created confusion with Samoa Joe). The look-a-like reveal was about as awkward and underwhelming as it can get. Now it seems it’s been dropped (thank the lord). Bryan and Reigns are both solid wrestlers. Whatever they both did to deserve this story, it’s about time their punishment ended.

· The New Day/Orton & Revival angle is a much stronger one than Bryan/Rowan/Reigns. It has had its good and its bad moments. So far, the good has outweighed the bad (Xavier Woods leg break especially). The letter on tonight’s episode was almost a bridge too far. If we had seen Orton actually go to the hotel or (god forbid) if Kofi’s son was actually on camera for anything it would have been very bad. But just the letter was ok. The stakes continue to rise, but we are running out of New Day soldiers. This story needs to come to an end at Clash of Champions.

· The commercial breaks need to stop during King of the Ring matches, especially as we get closer to the final. Both Buddy and Ali are solid competitors and performers. There were some good high spots without overwhelming the audience with acrobatics. This match got a modest amount of crowd enthusiasm and that was the most enthusiasm we saw all night. They both deserve to advance. The handshake at the end could be laying the groundwork for some good tag action in the future.

· Bayley wrestles Lacey Evans for no reason and Ember Moon is involved for no real reason. The best part of the match was when Charlotte Flair appeared, but she had no involvement and that made me question the significance of her presence. The big elbow finisher is much better than the “Bayley to Back” finisher. Lacey Evans gimmick needs a serious reboot. She is a solid wrestler. I’d love to see her in a serious feud with someone soon.

· This Miz/Nakamura build feels rushed. Nakamura and Sami are always getting the jump on Miz. This is good because it helps get heat for Nakamura/Zayn. But too much will make Miz look weak. Remember Seth Rollins in the buildup to his SummerSlam win over Brock Lesner for the Universal Championship? That win worked because it was the first time someone got over on Brock without cheating in years. The fans were very hungry for it. Miz/Nakamura isn’t a strong enough story to get carried by a surprise win like that.

· A two-hour show needs to have more than four matches. This is a serious case of way too much story (especially bad story) and not enough action. Wrestlers are spending too much time talking about feuds and wrestling other people not involved. Action outside the ring does not have the same impact on the audience and doesn’t count.

· The Shelton Benjamin/Chad Gable match was the last of the first round matches for King of the Ring. Boy did it feel rushed. This was a good match but it should have gone longer. There was no story here so the stakes were very low. If it wasn’t for the King of the Ring there would be no stakes at all. No one actually expects either one of these two to win the whole tournament.

· I don’t want to talk about the Kevin Owens/Elias/Shane McMahon story...It’s far too painful.

Overall I would say the show was a 1 / 5 stars. It was too high on commercial breaks and bad story and too low on good action and significant story events.

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