@ShawnPuffy
Well… here we are again, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and here I am asking what the hell I just put myself through. If you’re looking for a Marky, WWE Fanboy review of Super Showdown, you’re in the wrong place. This is The Smark Side and we’re BRUTALLY honest over here.
Before I even get into how much I hated this show, I’m going to tell you that this will probably be my last WWE review for a long time. This product is just trash and no matter how many chances I give it, it just keeps getting worse. Vince is out of touch with reality and is doing nothing but burying this company with bad creative and horrible booking.
Super Showdown was quite possibly the pinnacle of that. Usually, the Saudi show is just a showcase and nothing big happens. Well, they screwed the pooch with this one. And by the way, there WILL be spoilers… if that’s what you want to call them. I think it’s just me saving you four hours of your life that you can’t ever get back. EVER. You can thank me later. The one positive, no Sideshow Sam Roberts. Yeah. It was that bad.
We start this thing off with the OC versus the Viking Experience or whatever the hell they’re calling them now. I honestly couldn’t care less at this point. It was a very quick match with a surprising finish. Nothing spectacular here at all. Remember when the Viking Raiders were hot as all hell and looked like the next big tag team? Pepperidge Farm remembers. Apparently Vince doesn’t, so he continues to bury them. This should have been way better than it was. – 1.5/5
R-Truth v Rey Jr v Andrade v Lashley v AJ Styles v Rowan
Next up, we start the actual show and it’s the Tuwaiq Cup Gauntlet match. … I have to ask why they always have to have some type of specialty match at these shows. The Greatest Royal Rumble, the Best In The World Tournament, the Greatest Tag Team Tournament, and now this. News flash: Nobody cares. It was cool to see R-Truth getting over with the Saudi crowd. I love him surprising everyone and getting through three guys… Then it went to shit. The Undertaker wins it all by beating AJ Styles in 10 seconds with a single chokeslam. Really?? So that’s how you’re going to set them up for Mania?? By burying AJ?? Well, that was garbage. – 1/5
The New Day (c) v The Miz & John Morrison
Then we get the New Day complete –with blonde Kofi and pancakes– defending against the Dirt Sheet of Miz & Morrison. We all know I think Miz is awesome so I don’t need to gush about him. We also know how much I loathe Kofi, so I won’t beat a dead horse. This was probably the one thing they did right on this show.
The New Day is as stale as those pancakes and the gimmick has run its course. I mean, the Street Profits are basically the New New Day so it’s time to end this gimmick and move them onto other things. If you haven’t gathered from my tone, Miz and Morrison are your new Smackdown Tag Team Champions. Overall, it was nothing spectacular though. – 2.5/5
Hmmmmm… Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo came out to absolutely no response. Apparently, the Saudis don’t like illegal Mexican immigrants either. This match might have been better than it played as, but the crowd really killed it by not caring in the slightest. Plus, it ended with a rollup. It happened. It ended. That’s about it. – 1/5
Murphy & Rollins (c) v The Street Profits
Oh look, it’s The Switchblade Seth Rollins-White and his lapdog. I ask myself every time I see these two why they put the tag belts on them instead of the actual tag team in their crew. I mean, it makes no sense at all in my opinion. But then again, this is Vince McMahon’s WWE so making sense isn’t really their thing.
Anyway, the New Street Cryme Day Time Profits looked good in this one. Montez Ford could really be a star if he dropped the Kofi Kingston, WB Frog, shuckin’ and jivin’ thing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone get that high for a frog splash. This match was probably the only other match worth watching on the show, but it was predictable as all hell so there’s that. – 2.25/5
You can’t have a Saudi show without Mansoor. This guy always does his thing and kills it in Riyadh and then we don’t see him again until the next Saudi show. Oh well. The fans got behind Mansoor because he’s one of their own. And Ziggler got the call to do the job. Sorry, Dolph. – 1.5/5
Brock Lesnar (c) v Ricochet
Now, THIS is when this show really went to complete shit. This match was a minute and thirty seconds. Yup. They just squashed Ricochet. I don’t know what that does. Oh well. I guess it was kind of expected. – 1/5
Roman Reigns v Baron Corbin
So this match just put me to sleep. I’m more than over Roman v Corbin. Rumor and innuendo is that Roman is over it too. He reportedly asked for his release last week. I don’t know if there’s any truth to that, but it’s been floating around the interweb. If there was a match that anyone couldn’t have cared less about than this one… wait… never mind. – 1.5/5
Bayley (c) v Naomi
If there was a match that anyone couldn’t have cared less about than Roman v Corbin, it was THIS one. I think only Michael Cole cared about this match and the “first women’s title defense in Saudi Arabia”. I mean, the fans were definitely out of this one. You could hear kids running around and screaming during this match it was so quiet in the arena.
Carmella definitely made the right choice in backing out of this one. Bayley won because the black girl wasn’t winning the title in Saudi Arabia. I mean come on. And that ending was horrid. Did she really tie Naomi’s feet up in her shirt and slam her face into the mat to get the pinfall?? Holy bad creative. This really can’t get any worse.
DUD
The Fiend (c) v Goldberg
Welp, I guess I spoke too soon. I’m going to rant right now. 4 minutes and 16 seconds or some shit like that and the Fiend is BURIED by Goldberg??? Really??? Someone thought it was a good idea to bury your most over character to a 55-year-old Goldberg??
Someone thought that Goldberg was a bigger draw?? They didn’t learn after the Hell In a Cell Seth Rollins debacle?? This is the direction this company is going to go in?? We’re really getting Goldberg v Roman Reigns for the Universal Title at Mania?? I really might skip Mania after this crap. I mean, I might wash my hands of the WWE altogether. This match was total crap. Total. Crap. Bible score?? I need a bible and Jesus after sitting through that crap!!
-2/5
I went into this show not expecting much and boy was I STILL disappointed. I don’t know what management is thinking right now. Goldberg isn’t the draw they think he is. He isn’t going to boost Smackdown ratings or be the reason for an outside company to buy the rights to pay per views because literally NOBODY wanted this. If ESPN or anyone else decides to buy those rights, the person who signs off on it should be fired immediately, because they WILL lose money.
I’m interested in how many Network subscriptions were canceled today. If it wasn’t for Takeovers, mine would be gone. I have one more chance left in me for Smackdown to see if they do something to correct this MAJOR screwup and if they don’t (which is my expectation) I’ll be done with RAW and Smackdown for the foreseeable future. I’ll read results, but that’s about it. I can’t be bothered to waste any more of my time with a product that is totally out of touch with their fan base and continues to do all the wrong things.
This is the byproduct of writers who don’t know the wrestling business and an owner who is stuck in the ’90s and uses the show as his own playground. It’s a sad state for the WWE and I fully expect a Self Destruction of the WWE DVD to be released that will chronicle 2019 and beyond. For me, I’ll be looking forward to AEW Revolution (look for my Smark Side review on that) on Saturday and anything else that ISN’T WWE. Overall -1/5 Bibles.
-Shawn Puff