@Snarky_motif
Corbin and Swagger have the distinction of being the kickoff match in Smackdown Live’s second event, No Mercy. The match, compared to the main card, was hastily put together but these two have a chance to make something special down the long run. With WWE’s new, highflying era– its big men matches are few and in between–Swagger at 6’7 and Corbin at 6’8 is bound to be viciously physical. PREDICTION: Disqualification.
IG @Grumpykore
Swagger, again, gets sloppy seconds in a semi-dark match kickoff. This kinda feels like a good ol’ fistfight ready to burst, though. Both guys are looking to step up the ranks on SD and possibly get an intercontinental title shot. Hey! Just be thankful we don’t have Foley here to team them up! With lots of suplexes and sidewalk slams, it’ll be a short 15-minute max warm-up to the “Nawn Ninedee Nawn” PPV show, you know, before the people get wasted. PREDICTION: Swagger’s recent promo makes no sense, because I got the lone wolf, Baron Corbin, the new guy in town.
@OGMrGrimm
In what could have been the “bathroom break” of the night, we now have to pay attention to the longest reigning “Divas” champion, Nikki Bella, and second generation wrestler Carmela in Becky Lynch’s (supposed) absense. Will Daniel Bryan make this a triple threat with Alexa Bliss? If not, at its heart this is the story of the up-and-comer going after the biggest baddest on the block. A toss up for the finish. They both need the win to establish or reestablish dominance. PREDICTION: Bliss. Hah. OK.. if not involved, I’ll give it to Carmela, because moonwalk and such.
@TravMoody
Come on, ba-byyyy!!! It’s everyone’s new fav redneck tag-team, the “Two Man Band” Heath Slater and TNA legend Rhyno. Man, there aren’t a couple ‘o dudes I’d rather drink a few cases of Busch Light at a racetrack with than the tag-team champs. As for their opponents, The Usos, their rivalry via Backlash‘s Tag Team Tourney was well calculated. Seeing American Alpha, the Hype Bro and a few other other babyface upstarts on SD Live made complete sense for Jimmy and Jae’s transition to the dark side (pun intended). You just know Vince is captilizing on the whole Colin Kaep/Black Lives Matter ordeal with the Usos and he must be laughing at his racist villifying all the way to the bank. PREDICTION: Too soon, Usos. Slater & Rhyno are wayyyy over. Do it for the double-wide, ba-byyy!!!
For the last month or so Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton have been feuding over…who knows what exactly. Something–an excuse to have Wyatt be creepy for the sake of being creepy, as per usual. They were supposed to face off at Backlash, but Orton’s concussion meant we got his interference in Wyatt’s forgettable match with Kane. Over the last couple of weeks, they’ve been trading weird mind games a lá whatever generic psychological thriller/horror movie you’re thinking of right now. Honestly, I just want this feud to be over so we can all pretend it never happened. PREDICTION: Randy Orton. As badly as Wyatt needs a win (the man hasn’t had one since the six-man tag match at Battleground and hasn’t won a singles match since last year), it’s just going to be more of the same.
@IAMSCF
Curt Hawkins makes his debut. He comes out, makes a speech – nobody cares – Kane comes out. Choke Slam. Welcome to Bathroom Break City.
@F7ovrdrv
Other than the match just up above, this is the “neither can lose” match of the night. On one hand you have the Miz, hands down THE best heel that the WWE–not just SD Live–has at the moment, not to mention the most interesting champion. On the other, we have.. Ziggler; whom, let’s be honest, if not for the career stipulation, no one would care about in this match. PREDICTION: The Miz. The second I heard about the career stipulation, I thought “dammit! There goes the Miz’s amazing IC run”. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it’s plausible that Ziggler will be gone: More and more new talent is coming in; it’s clear that creative/higher ups will never really get behind Zigs; and, as talented as he is, it has to be said: he’s just not that good on the mic. Seriously, as a heel OR a face, he’s just not compelling. Miz has brought out some good passion in Zigs that can mostly can be attributed to the sheer viciousness of the Miz’s character. See you in Lucha Underground, or something.
@HueySkyywalker
I watched a lot of Harley Qui… I mean Alexa Bliss’ work with Suici… I mean NXT. I like her. She isn’t Nia Jax. She isn’t Sasha Banks, but she got something there. Something nasty. While Shane and DB could have easily had (the already far more established) Nikki Bella as Becky’s first opponent, they went with a fresh direction after a year-plus run with the now defunct Diva’s Championship. PREDICTION: ***THIS JUST IN*** Lynch is reported to be injured, so we’re not sure where this match stands as of yet. Doesn’t look good.*** With Becky Lynch the right gal to lead the Smackdown branded Women’s Championship–and this being her first defense–she comes out on top of this one. She should hold the belt until creative builds a heel machine to battle Becky. It’s a slow build that shouldn’t be rushed. This reign also gives opportunities for other women on the brand, like Bliss(!!), to make a name for themselves. Yes lawd!
https://youtu.be/PrbYhiHbcj4
@ShawnPuffy
In the main event, John Cena gets his chance at history, Dean Ambrose gets his rematch and AJ Styles gets to prove why he IS the “Face That Runs The Place”. This feud has been built up pretty well, and that says a lot coming from me as much as I hate Cena. What Dean lacks on the mic, Cena picks up the slack and really makes this feud something I can get behind. While, of course, it doesn’t make sense to to have Styles win the title at Clash of the Champions and drop it a month later, it does nothing at all for the Blue Brand to bury their biggest face in this match. And no, I’m not talking about Cena. He’s on his way out the door at least for a little while to go film another movie. That leads us to one option… PREDICTION: AJ Styles pins Cena again to retain the WWE strap, with Ambrose able to save face — as he wasn’t a part of the decision. Children cry, grown men mark out and Cena rides off into the sunset, at least for the time being, and at least ONE member of the Club gets used to his potential. That’s the Phenomenal One.