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8/30 Smackdown Live Discussion Thread: On the Road to Backlash

59K views 1K replies 175 participants last post by  BuzzKillington 
#1 ·


Following a heated confrontation last week on Talking Smack, Daniel Bryan will address The Miz’s outburst tonight on SmackDown Live. Plus, the SmackDown Tag Team Championship Tournament continues and Backlash stands on the horizon


Will The A-Lister suffer for ‘Talking Smack’?

WWE Network’s Talking Smack is quickly proving to be a “must-see” program on many levels. Most recently, a highly publicized incident occurred between Daniel Bryan and Intercontinental Champion The Miz, begging the question: Will there be any fallout tonight on SmackDown Live?

It is conceivable that The A-Lister will face some sort of repercussions for stepping over the line and into the face of SmackDown Live’s General Manager? Then again, despite Miz’s flagrant disrespect, perhaps Bryan and Commissioner Shane McMahon will end up giving Miz exactly what he wants and focusing a greater amount of energy on the Intercontinental Title.

Either way, it will be interesting to see what happens when Daniel Bryan addresses Miz’s actions one week after walking off the Talking Smack set. Find out what will go down tonight at 8/7 C on USA Network.
Who will advance as the SmackDown Tag Team Tournament rages on?



Last week, the historic unveiling of the SmackDown Tag Team Titles helped kick off a whirlwind tournament to crown the inaugural titleholders at Backlash — with both The Usos and American Alpha advancing to the semifinals. Who will join them in the second round?

Might it be … Heath Slater & Rhyno? Yes, after frantically searching for a tag team partner, The One Man Band must now win the entire tournament to finally earn a SmackDown Live contract. Ouch! But who will he and The Master of the Gore face? And can Slater win one for his kids … however many of them there may be? What other tandem will take a huge step toward tag team glory?
Will Randy Orton look to take The New Face of Fear to Viperville



Since SmackDown Live debuted, Bray Wyatt has attempted to use his own brand of dark chaos to turn Team Blue completely upside-down. But what will happen if he continues to cross arguably the most ruthlessly unpredictable force in all of WWE?

After The New Face of Fear stepped into the nest of The Viper last week on SmackDown, a conflict between Wyatt and Randy Orton may be imminent and could threaten to burn the whole place down. But it might also pretty fun to watch.
Is Styles too big for Backlash?



Not only did AJ Styles #BeatUpJohnCena and earn himself the right to be the No. 1 contender for Dean Ambrose’s WWE World Champion, but The Phenomenal One also prevented Dolph Ziggler from joining that showdown at Backlash.

Yes, Styles is definitely on top of the world. But when you reach that point, sometimes the only place to go is down. Will Ambrose knock him down a peg prior to their Sept. 11 showdown? And after Styles’ outspoken nature drew the ire of The Showoff, should he be worried about the rest of the locker room as well?
Is Carmella due for a Bella bustin’



After the SmackDown Women’s Title was unveiled on SmackDown Live and a Six-Pack Challenge for that title was announced to crown the inaugural champion at Backlash, up-and-coming Superstar Carmella made am aggressive statement. She attacked Nikki Bella before her SmackDown Live debut match — and then again on Talking Smack.

Will Nikki be out for payback on The Princess of Stanton Island? Yeah, probably. What other competitor will look to make their voice heard as things heats up on the road to SmackDown Live’ first solo pay-per-view.

Yeah, lots of interesting stuff going on atm. The fallout from the Miz/Bryan promo will be interesting and hopefully they start building the Styles/Ambrose feud. Think a double turn would be a good idea imo. Also looking forward to more action from the tag tournament and how they buildup the women's title match.
 
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#2 ·
Dean has definitely been coming off as more heelish lately, at least in attitude, and it has become more and more pronounced with each episode since he won the championship. While he hasn't taken any overtly heelish action that I can think of, he's basically in tweener territory right now as far as his character goes, it seems. So, it will be interesting to see if they go anywhere with that.

Also looking forward to seeing what comes of the Miz/Bryan angle.

Not sure how they'll go about building toward the women's title match, but hopefully they'll give us some good stories going into it to build it up.

Also, more Slater gold would be nice.

They have their work cut out for them this week to top Raw, IMO, because this Raw (at least, what I've seen so far, and what I've heard) has been pretty good. But if they keep elevating their show as they have been they should be able to keep it competitive.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Eh. I've actually been warming up to the idea of a double turn with AJ and Dean but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. AJ is hot as a heel now and I may have to take a hiatus from this board if he turns face because I absolutely can't stomach the inevitable, predictable shift the IWC is going to take. The minute he turns face is the minute the countdown begins for a lot of the people worshipping the ground he walks on, to turn on him. He won't be cutting the same style promos as a heel and it's going to be nauseating reading the fickle, ADD fans online talk about how boring and one dimensional he's become and how they need to


"put the strap on heel Ambrose!!!!11"
"Jon Moxely!!!11!"
"Give Wyatt the belt!11!1!"
"Yeah, I hated Dean as a face but he's a heel now, damn it!!"

No thanks. :lol Keep both guys where they're at and most importantly, keep AJ the top heel. You only squander his momentum turning him because I guarantee you once the new car smell wanes, the IWC is going to do what the IWC does best; flip 180 degrees on a guy and complain about him.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Smackdown has a lot going for it. But it's going to be tough to top Raw due to that big title match. Daniel Bryan/Miz stuff should be pretty good. My guess is they will talk smack to each other for a bit. Then Daniel Bryan will say something like you wanted my attention, well Miz you got it. At Backlash you will be defending the IC Title against KANE or Dolph Ziggler. Which will lead to Miz stunned and having a I just fucked up look on his face as Daniel Bryan leaves the ring. As for Ambrose/AJ feud I expect a promo between the two. With both guys talking about the success they've had in thieir careers and big recent wins they had recently. Then the promo potentially getting passionate at the end. When both start talking about how much WWE Championship means to them..


Maybe the main event will end up with AJ/Ambrose facing each other in some type of tag match or something as well. I also expect Bray Wyatt attacking Randy Orton making that match official at Backlash. I wouldn't be surprised if they set up Kalisto/Baron Corbin for Backlash and do something like Heath Slater/Rhino losing this week. That leads to a PPV match between the two at Backlash. If they do go with Kane vs Miz for IC Title at Backlash, I do wonder what they will do with Ziggler. I sense a heel turn is coming, but he might have to hit rock bottom and lose to the Miz at Backlash. Before he turns full on heel. But if they want to turn him heel this week. Someone like Apollo Crews could try to give him a pep talk and Ziggler attacks him. Leading to a match between the two at Backlash? While house shows suggest they might have been considering a Kane/Del Rio feud for Backlash. But now with Del Rio suspended they might just keep him off the card. Unless they scrap Corbin/Kalisto feud now and go straight into Corbin/Kane. Since it appears that will be Corbin next feud. So this week we should get a lot of answers on Smackdown mid card feuds as well.


Can't wait for AJ to win the title so we can have two real world champions.


Ambrose was the last REAL champion actually lol. But Owens is my second favorite wrestler in the WWE, so him being the other champion is fine with me. Hopefully with a heel in Owens winning the title on Raw and Cena returning at or after Backlash means Ambrose will be holding on to the title for a month or two longer.
 
#13 ·
They have their work cut out for them this week to top Raw, IMO, because this Raw (at least, what I've seen so far, and what I've heard) has been pretty good.
There is absolutely nothing SmackDown can do this week. People are gonna overrate last night's Raw because of that fantastic main event which was capped off with a huge moment, having KO win the world title. They're gonna forget about all the shit that was sandwiched in between the good opening and the awesome main event. More Nia & Strowman squashes, the worst feud of all time, Titus vs Darren, is actually still a thing, yet another pointless Cesaro vs Sheamus match in their best of who gives a shit series, Zayn vs Jinder. I won't even include Bayley & New Day, even though it was cringeworthy to me, because 95% of the fans probably loved it.

All I expect tonight is another good show. They don't have to top anything because unlike Raw, SD is saving the big moments for the upcoming PPV.
 
#14 ·
Yeah, Raw will still have the burden of always having more filler than SD. The Bayley/New Day stuff was fun, though Dana Brooke's inclusion was kinda meh, and seeing Gallows/Anderson get burdened with that albatross and then beat again seems counterproductive, though Charlotte burying Dana on commentary was kinda funny. The only other thing outside of the ME scene that was good was Jericho's antics, per usual. But then you had Steph putting herself over again, more useless Nia/Strowman squashes, Zayn/Jinder filler, Cesaro/Sheamus filler, and Cole being exceptionally bad as usual.

The HHH/KO swerve within a 4-way title match is really going to be tough for SDL to compete with this week. If it wasn't for that, SDL would probably come out on top rather handily.

Heath Slater antics can potentially compete with Jericho antics. The SDL tag tourney leading up to Backlash can probably outshine the Raw tag content, if done well.

But there's not going to be any big title match, and probably no big/unexpected swerves on SDL. I'm not expecting anything huge, anyway.

There is some potential with this DB/Miz angle they have going, but no idea where they intend to take it yet, so that's a big question mark.

Beyond that, so long as the women deliver, and the ME scene continues getting some build, it should be a solid SDL, but probably nothing more.
 
#22 · (Edited)
As for Owens, look, I don't care how they make a good show, as long as they do it. If they have to do big moments, that's fine with me. As long as I approve of the moment, go right ahead.

I actually like that you can tune into Raw thinking something big might happen. That has not always been the case, BUT the problem is you can't do it all the time. The world title isn't gonna change hands every week (at least I hope not). Out of 6 weeks post draft they had 2 shows in which they completely blew their load. Those shows were very well received, but the other 4 weeks, you know, the "normal/average episodes" were hot garbage pretty much from start to finish with the occasional fun segment in between. That's the problem. SmackDown has already figured out how to consistently put on an entertaining show without giving everything away for free. RAW has yet to do that. The change in direction at the top of the card doesn't guarantee anything. Hopefully they'll do some good stuff with the cruiserweight division, and by that I don't mean send them out there like Cesaro and Sheamus with no fucking story just to have a good match for 15-20 minutes. I mean actually DO SOMETHING with it so I don't have to sit through all that God-awful filler shit and feuds like Titus vs Darren every single week.
 
#24 ·
Raw sucked this week with exception of KO becoming the man, but at least the main event of Raw will be must see for the foreseeable future. It's shouldn't be too hard for SDL to bring another W home with another entertaining show from start to finish. People have literally been clamoring all week about what's gonna happen this week between Bryan/Miz & Ambrose/Styles. That interest will be at the forefront again tomorrow, as SDL draws closer.
 
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#25 · (Edited)
SD shouldn't be concerned about one upping RAW. They gain zero in the long run from blowing their load and trying to outdo RAW or their own episodes each week. Consistency is key and will be the only way they turn the ship around. You don't need to swing hard to hit a home run and you don't have to knock the ball out of the park in order to get a runner to home plate for the score.
 
#26 · (Edited)
Agreed.

I was simply saying SD has been giving us a 2 hour entertaining product for the last several weeks. While Raw gave us 5 minutes of shock value at the end of the show, and a good main event out of a 3 hour show. It shouldn't be hard for another W this week if they just stay consistent like they have been since Week 2.
 
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#39 ·
Besides the main event, Raw was a giant turd sandwich.

Smackdown just needs to do what they have been doing. A solid 2 hours of entertainment that makes sense, progresses story lines, builds feuds and has good matches.

When is the last time Raw had a tag team match as good as American Alpha vs Breezango last week? Just need to stay the course. Don't blow your load by hot shotting titles.
 
#42 ·
Absolutely pumped. :mark: :mark: :mark:
Those changes in Ambroses work are the absolute thrill.
And now that HHH turned on Rollins what if we get something huge on SD too???
Can't wait to see how they begin to build Ambrose/Styles up now. :banderas
Their staredown last Smackdown was great, Ambrose mumbling all that shit to midget AJ was :bateman
Miz/Bryan will be great too.
Slater will kick fucking ass.
 
#44 ·
Can't see Smackdown topping Raw this week, despite all the shitty filler we get on Raw that ending last night was insane, it's not impossible but it's unlikely Smackdown will top something like that this week.

Still though all in all its been the much better show, all it needs to do is keep showing the consistency it has been doing and it will get a thumbs up from me tonight.

Miz & Bryan scenario is intriguing, I wouldn't be surprised if Miz ends up facing Kane though. Everything else will be a continuation of last week, Orton/Wyatt feud, Nikki/Carmella etc...
 
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