As WWE edges closer to the PPV Payback, matches are getting booked and hyped up as quick as possible. This week we see many main event talent square up in singles and tag matches. We also get a bit of a taste of what happens between The Vaudevillians and Amore and Cassidy will be like at the PPV. Taped from London England this week, without further introduction here is my review for WWE Smackdown, April 21 2016!
Opening Segment (MizTV)
The show kicks off with Maryse and The Miz co-hosting, of course, MizTV. It’s called the “most must see WWE talk show in history”. I agree that it is the most must see talk show recently, because The Miz is a great heel, and the guest for this week is Aj Styles, speaking about what happened on monday. The Miz spends most of the time accusing Aj of getting Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows to attack Roman on monday. The segment ends with The Miz kissing Maryse, turning around then getting attacked by Aj. The segment ends, and we go to a commercial break, and it was a ok segment, but it did not promote something later in the show and did not promote anything that would happen next. A match between AJ and The Miz was announced after the break, but some people that may have found that segment stupid or pointless would say “that was dumb” and tune out by then. A commercial break can make lots of people tune out if nothing big is happening after.
Match 1: Ryback vs Kalisto
The first match of the night is a Wrestlemania rematch between Ryback and the current US Champion, Kalisto. This match was given lots of time, and it was a pretty decent match with lots of cool counters. The match ended with a move my Kalisto being countered into the Shell Shock. Ryback hasn’t been on TV for quite a while which is alarming, but him beating Kalisto means that they might give him another PPV title shot at Payback or Extreme Rules. They have the time to give him a match at Payback but a long build for Extreme Rules wouldn’t be too bad either.
Match 2: Baron Corbin vs Dolph Ziggler
Baron Corbin continues his debut on the main roster with a match scheduled on Smackdown this week against Dolph Ziggler. As Ziggler is making his way to the ring, Baron Corbin hits Dolph Ziggler, and beats him to the ground. The match gets thrown away, and Baron Corbin furthers his badass gimmick, and confirms that he’s a heel. This segment did not really do anything, but I guess this could give Corbin his first PPV match at Payback.
AJ Styles vs The Miz
The two wrestlers that confronted each other at the start of the show, The Miz and AJ Styles faced off later on in the show, right after the Baron Corbin segment. This match between AJ and Miz was a great match, being given lots of time. This match also continued the story between Anderson, Gallows and Styles. The match ended with The Miz trying to leave the match, but Anderson and Gallows were on the ramp, making Miz turn around a lose due to distraction. After the match AJ did not look happy about what happened, and AJ seemed disappointed that they joined in on the match. This story is the one that I am the most invested in right now, and it sure deserves to be in the WWE Title picture.
Match 4: Natalya and Paige vs Naomi and Tamina
Now for our first women’s wrestling match of the night, Natalya and England’s own Paige team up against Naomi and Tamina. This was a short little match with not much to say about it. Natalya and Paige got the win with a double submission finish.
Match 5: R-Truth vs Fandango
Another match that I barely cared about, R-Truth beat Fandango in almost no time. I don’t care about this rivalry at all, and it seems like these three are just being put to work before spring cleaning for the company.
Tag Team Championship #1 Contendership Segment
Before the main event of the night, we get Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy confronting The Vaudevillians about their match at WWE Payback. This confrontation was important because it was the first time that The Vaudevillians were extremely heel. Before this, most times we saw the Vaudevillians they were very jolly and jumpy. It makes sense that they made The Vaudevillians heel because during the PPV match the crowd might be split when two babyface teams challenge each other.
Sami Zayn and Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho
It is finally time for the main event of the evening. Sami Zayn and Dean Ambrose face Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho. The match between AJ Styles and The Miz got the most time on the show, but this match was still pretty good. What surprised me out of this match though, was that the heels, Owens and Jericho got the win. For the first time in forever on Smackdown, the heels ended off the show without any attack from the babyfaces. This match was decent, and it was good that it was very unexpected, like the match finish.
In summary, this show was pretty good, with the AJ Styles and Miz match being the shining moment of the show. The midcard of the show could have used some polishing, but in general it was a pretty good show.
