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Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 1/31/17: Chamber Music
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
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 1/31/17)
Chamber Music
– Given that the Royal Rumble was won by a SmackDown guy (that’s Randy Orton, The Wyatt Family-Friendly version in case you didn’t know), the opening video gladly reminded us of all that jazz. WWE took it upon themselves to quote various media outlets with the most generic sentences on planet Earth. We’ll give an example. “That was a Rumble!” – Forbes. No kidding. You’d also be crazy if they didn’t sprinkle in footage of the epic rematch between WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena and AJ Styles where history was made and such. However, the Rumble madness is over and thanks to WWE’s killer Pay-Per-View schedule, we’ve got Elimination Chamber in a mere two weeks.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 1/24/17: Brother Vs. Brother
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
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 1/24/17)
Brother Vs. Brother
– The General Manager Daniel Bryan/Miz/Maryse backstage segment was another perfect example of chemistry done right. For months, Miz had been at his boss’ head ever since he was criticized in that infamous Talking Smack promo. There was no better way to set up a Lumberjack Match than have Miz boldly claim he “paid all of the locker room’s salaries with star power.” Bryan, apple aside, was all wits, as he used Miz’s statements against him to give him a WWE Intercontinental Championship rematch, but under his rules to prevent outside interference. Welcome to the world of logic. None of that on Raw.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 12/27/16: Wild Card Finals
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
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 12/27/16)
Wild Card Finals
– The John Cena in-ring promo got things off to an energetic start with the rabid Chicago crowd, a longtime tradition since WrestleMania 22. His banter started on a pandering note, as he played up the Arena’s history, mentioned sports teams and enthusiastically hyped the show. He spoke up the main event before a big “Undertaker” chant broke out (related to rumors of an Undertaker-Cena WrestleMania 33 match) as he instead went a different direction. It took a more intriguing turn as he played up his losses in the year and worked in speculation that he was a “part-timer” now, but he basically was back to be a Champion and boldly challenged whoever won the Triple-Threat WWE World Heavyweight Championship main event for Royal Rumble. The biggest reason? He’s Cena. A bit stuck-up, but it oddly worked. It’s probably the closest thing to a heel Cena we’ll ever get while retaining the “Never Give Up” key to his character. Color us intrigued.
WWE Survivor Series 2016 Reaction
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By Nicholas Jason Lopez
If WWE in 2016 has taught us anything, it’s that content outweighs logic.
After an hour and 51 minute pre-show came a three hour and 26-minute Pay-Per-View for a total of five hours and 27 minutes of air time.
Nothing screamed “filler” like interbranded 10-man elimination tag matches, with little consequences. Three of them, to be exact.
It’s like watching the World Series between two teams you don’t like. There’s no emotional investment besides the ones who’re directly involved.
Luckily, the best build ironically went to Goldberg-Brock Lesnar, the personification of the overhyped “Fantasy Warfare Just Got Real” catchphrase.
In this case, some things should stay fantasy.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 11/15/16: #900
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
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 11/15/16)
#900
– It was nice to see SmackDown Live’s 900th episode fall during the Survivor Series go-home week. In the realm of tradition and nostalgia for the blue brand, there was also a purpose. The opening video nicely “relived” various highlights from past talent like Eddie Guerrero, King Booker, Edge, JBL, Booker T and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The DX Bus explosion was shown as was the infamous Gore by Rhyno that took Chris Jericho through the original oval set. It seamlessly transitioned into current storylines where we saw hype for the WWE Intercontinental Championship match between Champion Dolph Ziggler and The Miz, the return of Edge in “The Cutting Edge” and a “Date With The Deadman,” The Undertaker. How lovely. Certainly beats Raw.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 11/1/16: One Last Chance
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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 11/1/16)
One Last Chance
– After James Ellsworth cost Dean Ambrose a chance at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship last week after Champion AJ Styles riled him up enough to attack him outside, we were left to wonder how they’d follow up. Would Ambrose pulverize Ellsworth? Ellsworth did a good job as he played a sympathetic pest who expressed sorrow towards Ambrose. The opening in-ring segment with Ellsworth, Styles and Ambrose (we’ll call them the “SmackDown Three”) was a good program advance. It was evident that Styles tried to use Ambrose to get under Ellsworth’s skin and get him to “join the dark side.” Ambrose surprisingly accepted the apology and we got the expected physicality as Styles stood tall to end things.
WWE No Mercy 2016 Reaction
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
In an unprecedented period where we had five pro wrestling pay-per-views between Sept. 11 and Oct. 11 between WWE, Ring Of Honor and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, we were exhausted by Oct. 9 when No Mercy rolled around.
Luckily, if you look at that nice poster to the side, SmackDown Live had been headlined by the excellent heel duo of WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz/Maryse as he was engaged in a “Title Vs. Career” feud with Dolph Ziggler.
That feud would become synonymous with this show for reasons we’ll explore below.
It also helped that we had a Triple-Threat main event for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship between Champion AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose and John Cena that actually opened the show for a change.
Cool on the surface, but that brought us to the problem – one disorganized card.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 9/27/16: Meet The Parents
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
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 9/27/16)
Meet The Parents
– This episode boasted a WWE World Heavyweight Championship main event between Champion AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose. The opening video wasted no time hyping this huge match. Plain and simple stuff. Oh, there’s that theme we love so much.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 9/20/16: A Prime Time Showdown
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
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 9/20/16)
A Prime Time Showdown
– With two big main events hyped, John Cena would fight Dean Ambrose and the WWE Intercontinental Championship would be on the line as Champion Miz defended against Dolph Ziggler, we already had a fun show on our hands. After we suffered through what felt like forever the night before, we were welcome to change.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 9/13/16: The Champ That Runs The Camp
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
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 9/13/16)
The Champ That Runs The Camp
– As we expected, the opening video showed us the biggest highlights of the Backlash Pay-Per-View: Becky Lynch became the first-ever WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion, Maryse helped The Miz retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Dolph Ziggler with a foreign substance spray, Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt played a game of “I can injure you better than you can injure me,” there was a No Holds Barred match, an announce table (not the Spanish one) was broken, Heath Slater received both a WWE SmackDown Live contract and the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships with Rhyno and arguably the biggest news – AJ Styles defeated Dean Ambrose with a low blow and a Styles Clash to complete his rise to the top with the company’s most coveted prize, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Follow-up shows are always fun. Let’s hope this is one of those episodes.
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