Got damn, gotta love Smackdown and Talking Smack.
- I am honestly shocked they let the Miz say half the stuff that he does on the shows now. This dude goes off on the mic and is by FAR the #1 talker in the E right now. That dude sells matches/ rivalries right now as good as the WWE video production team. I agree that Miz/ Cena as a singles match would be better for Mania then the proposed mixed tag (rumors are that Nikki will be out after Mania due to her neck, so the E might be getting one last big match for her). It will be vicious on the mic the next 3 weeks for Miz/Cena to sell this match. Im here for it though.
- Corbin/ Ambrose is coming together nicely. Should be a pretty good match if they make it a street fight for the IC title at Mania. Will be a decent, hardcore scrap.
- I can see why they went with Orton/ Wyatt in just a singles match at Mania. It was the long play since Orton joined the Wyatt family, so it needs a big payoff type match. I just dont think its a big enough match for a Mania main event match. I dont see these 2 tearing the house down like that. Hope I am wrong.
- The match at worse should have included AJ Styles. It is CRIMINAL that he is not in the World title match at Mania, and the setup for him and Shane is very choppy, which makes it worse. While I think Styles/ Shane will be entertaining (AJ can have an entertaining match with anyone), I hope that Shane gets a surrogate type for him (I like the ideas others have floated of Nakamura) and that would elevate Mania 10-fold. Maybe the next 3 weeks will bring it together much better.
- The Womens scene is ok. I am always on the side of everyone on the roster getting their share of the Mania payday if they can. The roster tours the world the whole year to get this Mania payday. They earned it. (Its the writers job to make the matches good). The 'open' title match leaves the opportunity for Naomi to come back at Mania, but also for the roster to add someone like Asuka. Leaves some intrigue for the match. We will see what happens there.
- The only issue with Smackdown is THE ENTIRE TAG DIVISION hasnt been on the show for 2 WEEKS. How does that even happen? No tag champs? No Usos? No anyone. There is no excuse for that. They have a pretty good tag championship match ready in American Alpha/ Usos and have no advancement whatsoever. Not sure what they are doing there. They need to fix that, now.
Overall SD mania matches:
- Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton- WWE title
- John Cena/Nikki Bella vs. Miz/ Maryse (rumored)
- AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon (or surrogate) (rumored)
- Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin- IC title (rumored)
- Open challenge for SD Women's title
- American Alpha vs. Usos- SD Tag titles (rumored, probably wont happen)
- ATG Battle Royal: Apollo Crews, Mojo Rawley entered