Welcome to SMACKVILLE, because it’s the SmackDown brand in Nashville. SMACKVILLE!
No Finn Balor leads to IC Champ Shinsuke Nakamura claiming victory, until ALI appears!
1. WWE Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura [c] vs. Ali
I like to think Ali walked up to Nakamura excited to lay out their match and Nak asked, “You see G1?” “Of course,” replied Ali with a smile, as Nakamura took a drag of a cigarette and winked: “Not meeee.” They had a House Show Match here, though Ali hasn’t been in-ring on TV for a while and it was fun to see him do his thing. His backflip off the top rope and catch of Nak’s leap with a dropkick was very cool, and he took a great face-first bump into the second turnbuckle to setup the Kinshasa finish. ***1/4
Samoa Joe’s ability to come across as a real person on his promos in 2019 WWE is underrated, right?
Elias went on playing that guitar for WAY TOO LONG. INCREDIBLY LONG. I can respect the man for having that trust with the brass in the back, but god damn. That was not a good use of time. The Kevin Owens run-in was fun, but should’ve come a lot sooner.
2. Kevin Owens vs. Elias
Not sure why he didn’t just Stunner Elias like he did Dolph at Extreme Rules. A waste of time, but hey he did hit the Stunner. *
3. Triple Threat Match – WWE Title: Kofi Kingston [c] vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Samoa Joe
Reviewing a WWE Special Event on the WWE Network isn’t really fair. The WWE Special Event on the WWE Network is simple, it’s there, and it means absolutely nothing. They went very Triple Threat here, with Joe and Dolph teaming up on Kofi before Kofi fought back and popped the crowd. You know the drill. I know you do. **
As my good friend Josh said after the one hour and one minute runtime concluded: “what a show.” 3/10
