Biding my Time on the High Ground – Smackdown Live Recap – August 8, 2017

Smackdown Live is still in Toronto this evening rounding out the two night even in the beautiful Ontario capital.  Let’s see what they’ve got for us two episodes from Summerslam:

Well, what does Cena do at Summerslam then?

So, Cena doesn’t leave for another hiatus for a bit when he heads out to be a part of the Transformers universe in the Bubblebee centered spin-off, but after last week’s loss to Shinsuke Nakamura in the Number One Contenders match, Cena seems to not have a dance partner for the upcoming “biggest party of the summer”.  What shall we do about that?

The Toronto crowd is so much better tonight than they were last night.  That Raw crowd was freaking terrible.

He launches into one of his company cod stroking promos.  I do have to applaud it here that Cena actually referred to Nak as The King of Strong Style instead of going with this The Artist crap, and also took a shot at Canada by referencing the Montreal Screwjob.

After several traditional Cena promo minutes, Baron Corbin’s new theme fires up and he comes out to interrupt.  Dear WWE, please replace the CFO$.  They’ve clearly lost their edge.  Anyway, Corbin comes out to talk trash to Cena, which never ends well for anybody.  Cena retorts, referencing a sign in the crowd “Baron Corbin is a Dumpster Fire”.  The crowd launches into a “Dumpster Fire” chant.  Even if it’s easy to get burnt out on the Cena “rainbows, unicorns, Vince McMahon, WWE, dreams, respect” promos, he can go toe to toe opposite anybody in the company on the microphone and that’s why he is where he is.

So as you can imagine, this had to draw out one of our two Smackdown executive team members.  Daniel Bryan comes out to inform Mr. Money in the Bank that he has a date with Super Cena in Brooklyn.  Seriously, is Summerslam going to be 9 hours long?  Where the hell are all the matches going to fit into the evening?  Also, is this to throw people off who are expecting a cash in?  I’m now convinced that Shane and DB have pissed Corbin off enough that he’s going to cash in at the end of the Fatal Four Way and take the belt from Roman Reigns, shifting him to the Raw roster as their title holder.

Middle Stuff:

• Sami Zayn & Tye Dillinger vs The Usos-  Dillinger is working a knee injury off that double team move where The Usos kick the back of the knee area, so you can guess where this is going.  The Usos pick up the win over Dillinger via submission on the wounded knee.  What in the hell are they doing with this guy?  The crowd freaking loves him, why is he getting sh** on?  Following the win, The New Day jump The Usos but the twins are able to escape up the ramp and after Jimmy takes a moderate beating, saved by Jay before The New Day can inflict serious damage with steel chairs.
• Renee interviews Randy Orton, because for some reason we’ve returned to the Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton feud for a grudge match on tonight’s Smackdown even though Orton has moved on to Rusev and Mahal should be working to build excitement going into a match against Shinsuke Nakamura.  Doesn’t matter, Orton has been stellar all year, so if this is to be the Smackdown equivalent of Strowman-Roman, I’m good with it.
• The Fashion Files: Fashion Peaks Part 2-  We return to our Twin Peaks homage in the ongoing saga of the Fashion Files.  Fandango returns.  Check this segment out.  It wasn’t their best, but we find out that WWE Legend Arn Anderson destroyed Telly the Horse because they should have named it Arn.  “To Be Continued…”
• Charlotte vs Lana- This should go well for the Ravishing Russian.  Charlotte spends the majority of the match-up taunting an opponent she clearly thinks is beneath her, and it proves true as Charlotte wins via submission with the Figure 8.  The former Queen of PPV is without a Summerslam opponent currently, but she’s definitely over as a face now.  Thank you, Becky.

Shane O’Mac lays down the law

Shane invites both competitors to the ring.  I’m sure they’ll be part of a dark match so the Canadian crowd will get to see Owens in action, but for now they’re just out for the verbal components of a contract signing segment.  We haven’t had one of those in a while, maybe they realized that paperwork is incredibly boring television.

This crowd was hot.  This was like the “Let’s Go Cena, AJ Styles” chants going into last year’s SS.  This match will be pretty great if they’re given enough time to actually work it.

Kevin Owens appears to have lost some weight, good for him.  He also made another reference to the Montreal Screwjob, and even took a shot at Bret Hart in the process.

We’re reminded of the feud between AJ Styles and Shane going into Wrestlemania, as if Shane might have a reason to screw AJ out of the title.  I almost feel like they want to make this a triple threat match and can’t decide if they want to pull the trigger.  Kevin Owens also reminds us that Shane McMahon has a history of screwing people when he’s serving as the guest referee.

AJ’s ready to throw down, but Kevin Owens trolls Toronto and says he wants to earn the belt in a city that matters.  Owens takes a cheap shot at Styles, and as Shane attempts to break it up he eats a Pele Kick from Styles.  Maybe they do want to put him in the match.  I have no qualms with that scenario.

More Middle Stuff:

• Carmella vs Naomi (Non-Title) –  Lots of reminders during this one that Carmella is plotting her cash in for when Naomi is weakened.  This was a good match between these two women that the crowd that I’ve enjoyed thus far ruined with an unnecessary “Ellsworth” chant, but Ellsworth actually made his return here, coming through the crowd and knocking Naomi off the top rope, leading to the Carmella win via pinfall.  I’m bored with Naomi and this title reign, but I don’t necessarily want to see it on Natalya either, so here’s hoping Mell-sworth can walk out of Brooklyn with a flashy new belt.
• Following a commercial break, Natalya confronts the pair in the back, which is quite confusing since they’re all part of “The Welcoming Committee” still, right?  I think?  Way too many chinless jokes here, but Mella is definitely cashing in on Natalya.
• Filmed interview with Shinsuke Nakamura.  It was fine.  His English is still not great, but it’s getting better every time he’s given the opportunity to speak, and they’re already putting him in a co-headlining spot on arguably their second largest marquee of the year.  This will be a good match.  Mahal is a workhorse and Shinsuke is incredibly exciting in the ring.  They should work well together.

The Modern Day Maharaja vs The Viper

The Singh Brothers are “out due to injury” so this match is supposed to give Orton the opportunity to get another shot at Mahal (no belt) where they are not around to interfere in any way.  It doesn’t necessarily mean as much if Orton doesn’t overcome obstacles like twin brothers and a Punjabi playboy to still win the match against Mahal, but he gets to take out some frustrations.  This also means that there is a distinct possibility that Rusev plays a role in the finish here.

Orton does as expected, coming right out with a violent assault and even driving Jinder into the announce table with a back body drop before Mahal took over while Orton took his sweet time setting up for an RKO through the table.  Following a commercial break, Mahal would continue on offense until Orton dodges a driving shoulder into the corner and The Maharaja meets the ring post and Orton takes over on a Superplex.

I’m really enjoying this vintage Randy Orton we’ve gotten since his return from injury/childbirth leave.  His heart just seems to be back in it, maybe it’s because of the little mouth he would like to continue to feed.

Randy Orton wins via pinfall following the RKO, completely clean (save for the announce table).  As Randy made his way up the ramp to close the show, he got jumped by Rusev at the entrance to the backstage area as the show went off the air for 205 Live to kick off.

Not a bad episode, and now I’m incredibly interested to see if we actually do get to see Shane McMahon throw T-Rex punches in that US Title match at Summerslam.  I will return tomorrow for 205 Live.