Jinder Mahal Has Officially Pinned The WWE Champion
SmackDown Live began with a Randy Orton promo, which, in 2017, is NOT the most exciting start to a show. Randy’s promos and matches all feel VERY cruise control right now, more than ever, and right after Backlash I’m ready for AJ Styles or Baron Corbin or anyone but Jinder Mahal to take the title off of him. Just the “Jinder was sticking his nose where it didn’t belong” line is so cliche and lame.
Jinder interrupted, and I don’t know if this is about to be wildly ignorant of me, but he was wearing his turban all wonky again. It’s always crooked.
It’s like CC Sabathia’s hat. Is it supposed to be that way? I don’t know. My OCD is telling me no and it drives me INSANE. No racist.
After Jinder, Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, and Sami Zayn all interrupted, setting up the night’s closer. KO shitting on literally every country but America is really great, and actually sets up an eventual face turn if they want to go in that direction. He can embrace the country and become a Feherty-type patriot.
Rowan and Harper had a pretty standard match that should have been saved for the pay per view. Not much to comment on here.
It’s hard to tell whether Dolph Ziggler is really inspired in this heel role, or if he’s just pissed he’s so clearly being used to get Shinsuke over in his first feud. I’m not a huge fan of Zigs on the mic, because I just think he’s so dramatic, almost to the point where he ruined my feud of the year in 2016 against The Miz, and when he’s rivaling someone who doesn’t speak much English, that’s a tough sell to the mass audience. I think Miz definitely should have stayed on the blue show to lead Shinsuke through the first round of promos, but hey, not my call. I’m excited to see Dolph bump for the Kinsasha, though!
You wanna know how much I hope Breezango wins the tag straps from The Usos at Backlash? All the much. These fuckin’ guys are too good to not capitalize on right now. That may make me a hypocrite for all I’ve said about Jinder’s push going from jobber to title contender, but these guys are actually awesome talents.
Our main event for the night was a fantastic six man tag between all involved in the opening segment, split on faces and heels. AJ as a face is tricky, because his “turn” was shaking hands with Shane O Mac after WrestleMania, but he’s still as cocky and arrogant as ever. I feel like if you want to do a face AJ you have to go all out and not confuse people. He’s cheered regardless, but it could have been executed better. The finish was Jinder hitting his finish on Randy Orton and pinning him clean, which like, LOLwwe.
SmackDown was sadly pretty uneventful for a show in the UK. It wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t feel like much happened other than the ending, which just makes you roll your eyes. I think Backlash has the potential to be a surprisingly good pay per view, though, so I’m gonna hold out hope. Why not? Ya know?