Smackdown 1000 kicks off in the best way, with the return of Truth TV! Their guests for the night are Shane, Stephanie & Vince McMahon! Vince berates his two children saying the fans don’t want to see them argue, they want to be entertained and calls for a dance break! Brilliant, light hearted way to open the show and celebrate Smackdown 1000.
In the night’s first match, we see WWE Champion AJ Styles team up with number one contender Daniel Bryan, to take on The Usos. After a few missteps between Styles and Bryan, The Usos pick up a huge win after a Double Superkick to Bryan. Great action to start the show and build tension between Styles and Bryan.
Evolution come to the ring and make their special appearance to celebrate Smackdown’s 1000th episode. After come fun comments between the group, Batista takes his turn and compliments his fellow members before saying of Triple H, “He’s done everything ….except beat me.” They have a short glare before smiling and embracing again, but this does plant the seed of the long rumoured match between Batista and Triple H.
In the penultimate World Cup Qualifying match, The Miz takes on Rusev, with special guest Kurt Angle on commentary. Aiden English comes out to cause the distraction allowing The Miz to roll him up for the win in under a minute! Rusev then takes his frustration out on English as this feud continues to heat up.
In a special edition of The Cutting Edge, Becky Lynch was interview by The Rated R Superstar. Edge tried to tell Becky from experience, that she is choosing the wrong path and that she will end up being retired lonely and miserable. Becky perfectly brushes this off as the cocky heel she has become. Charlotte Flair comes down and the two women brawl before being separated. Their match at Evolution is surely going to be the Main Event and I’m sure they’ll deliver the spectacle the event deserves.
Next, we see New Day defend their Tag Titles against The Bar. This rivalry has been building nicely and they delivered a good match as expected here. In a surprise move, The Big Show appears and stares down The Bar before turning on Kofi and Chokeslams him through the announce table. Sheamus hits the Brogue Kick in the ring and The Bar win the Smackdown Tag Team Titles!
In the Main Event, the returning Rey Mysterio takes on Shinsuke Nakamura in the final World Cup Qualifying match. After a decent encounter, Rey wins with the 619 and springboard frog splash, meaning he takes the 8th spot in the tournament at Crown Jewel. After the match Rey leaves and The Undertaker appears to say he has three words for DX; Rest In Peace.
Overall Opinion:
I can’t help but feel the WWE have missed an opportunity with the World Cup format. Of the 8 qualifiers, every single one of them is American. Ok, you can make a case for Rey Mysterio appealing to the Mexican fan base, but there certainly isn’t a global feel to the tournament. To me personally, the tournament would’ve been a lot more appealing if we’d seen stars like Shinsuke Nakamura, Andrade Cien Almas, Finn Balor & Jinder Mahal in and really sell it as a World Cup. As I said last week, if they’d made it just the King of the Ring, I would’ve had no problem with those that qualified. On a positive note, we saw some progression in the angle between AJ Styles & Daniel Bryan and a little bit of friction build there. The Bar winning the Tag Team Titles was unexpected but a good move in their rivalry with the New Day. The addition of The Big Show adds a whole new element to their team now and I’m interested to see if they too will defend the titles under Freebird Rules. Finally, Becky Lynch continues to show why she is undoubtedly the #1 star on Smackdown right now as she had another great segment with Edge and Charlotte Flair.
Good work dude!