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Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 7/19/16: You’ve Been Drafted
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 7/19/16)
You’ve Been Drafted
– The big day was here. From this point forward, WWE was set to go live on Tuesdays for SmackDown and used the first episode as the platform for the WWE Brand Extension Draft, where Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon/General Manager Mick Foley and SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon/Mick Foley would make their respective picks. We got some explanation as far as why Raw got three picks for every two SmackDown picks, from it being related to the number of hours of the shows. Okay then. It shouldn’t had been a surprise that Raw’s first pick was Seth Rollins, who could use the bragging rights. Definitely a big one right there. SmackDown’s first pick of WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dean Ambrose was also big, yet logical given his standing as a major Champion. WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte being Raw’s next pick put big emphasis on Women’s Wrestling and we’re all for it. Charlotte looked like a big star alone for that. AJ Styles as SmackDown’s next pick was a good catch for them, as he can propel far on the blue brand. The night’s biggest pop came from Finn Balor as Raw’s next pick. That gives Raw must-see ability there. This was then interrupted by John Cena, unpicked at this point and apparently he had a match.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown 7/14/16: The End Of The Taped Era
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 7/14/16)
The End Of The Taped Era
– A SmackDown novelty the past few weeks, we had another “promo mash-up” as a cold open to the show, which previewed the Kevin Owens-WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dean Ambrose/Sasha Banks-Dana Brooke matches and the MizTV segment that’d star Darren Young/Bob Backlund. This was also regarded as the “end of an era” by commentary, as this was the last SmackDown to air on Thursdays, since from this point forward, it’d be live on Tuesdays. As for the promos, they were fun. Owens focused on a card Sami Zayn gave him last December for his son that had $20 in Canadian money and how it was horrendous since they were best friends at the time and promised to send Zayn to a hospital if he stuck his nose in his main event match with Ambrose. Good stuff. WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte did most of the talking in her open promo outside of a limo with Brooke as she again referred to Banks as a “Nicki Minaj knockoff” and Brooke swore that lightning wouldn’t strike twice. Next was WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz/Maryse, as they prepped for MizTV and he lightly insulted his soon-to-be guest. Lastly, we had Ambrose who soaked in the last Thursday SmackDown as he embraced the chance to do something he loved with someone he hated. All sounds about right and then some simultaneous hype. Hopefully they keep these cold opens when they go live.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown 6/30/16: The Best Fighting The Best
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 6/30/16)
The Best Fighting The Best
– We’re actually fans of SmackDown’s occasional “cheesy promo mash-up cold open” where they’ll announce a match and then mash together promos from the competitors with fancy music in the background. This episode was one of them, as it was announced that a fatal four-way between Cesaro, Apollo Crews, Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio would determine who’d fight WWE United States Champion Rusev later in the show for the belt. Cesaro’s promo was probably the coolest since he literally drove a van in his secret agent suit, rolled down the window and “invited his opponents to an uppercut party.” Crews put over his underdog status being the reason he could win. Sheamus questioned Crews’ involvement in the match (assumedly to presume their feud) and proclaimed he’d have fun kicking off Crews’ head before ultimately dethroning his old buddy Rusev. Del Rio finished it off as he made fun of Sheamus’ hair problems (given their tensions on Raw, this wasn’t new) and dismissed Crews as a threat. True – this could be cheesy as hell, but we got a big match and heard from all the competitors in the first two minutes. Job done.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 6/27/16: Let’s Talk About Roman Reigns
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 6/27/16)
Let’s Talk About Roman Reigns
– Just when we thought maybe WWE would duck their way around a month without Roman Reigns with no mentions, they went right to it thanks to Seth Rollins and the opening segment that also involved WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles, John Cena and Stephanie McMahon. Now, the way Rollins did it was fine, but WWE relies on big screen graphics a little too much. Took the fun out of that, but at least it grabbed our attention. Rollins milked himself up at Reigns’ expense to get cheers and tried to push for a one-on-one rematch which drew out Ambrose, who stood by Reigns and said everyone made mistakes. Styles was a good fit in the segment since there was a chance now to add more people to the Battleground match and once Styles was out, Cena was only going to be next. Styles and Cena also had valid reasons for being added separately. It also fit Steph’s character to despise Ambrose as Champion since he goes against the “corporate image” and anything to increase his odds of losing wasn’t unheard of. Plus, it gave us two matches to make the show more interesting as we learned Cena and Styles would be added respectively to the match if Cena beat Rollins and Styles beat Ambrose. Everyone essentially got what they wanted.