It’s the final show ahead of this weekend’s Money In The Bank. It’s SmackDown In A Nutshell, and this one is all about ladders and briefcases.
Specifically, next up is ladders and briefcases. As in, who wants to climb those ladders bad enough, in order to gain control of one of the briefcases on Sunday.
Well, not actually Sunday, of course. We do know that the ladder matches were somehow filmed in Stamford a couple weeks ago.
Regardless of those questionable logistics, we still have next up: ladders and briefcases. Even if pre-recorded, it’s hard not to be at least a little excited for the PPV.
Even though things were pre-recorded, the new format surely lends itself to drawing in fans. Who wouldn’t want to see a dozen WWE Superstars fighting through WWE HQ?
But we are getting ahead of ourselves-that’s Sunday. For now, it’s still SmackDown In A Nutshell. Next up, ladders and briefcases!
Best Match of the night:
I’d have to say that the eight man tag early on in the evening actually impressed me. Solid effort from all involved.
Worst match of the night:
Mandy and Sonya DeVille just felt off. Like, for such a build up, this one felt anti-climactic.
Too short, for the most part. Like, maybe it’s the real starting point for a longer feud, but it doesn’t quite feel like that.
This is surely one feud and one match that desperately needed a crowd to help it.
Star of the Night
Drew Gulak surely looked strong.
Strowman did well.
Jeff Hardy surely looks ready to be back. Nothing against Braun, but could you imagine if Hardy’s return had been kicking off pre-WrestleMania?
WWE may have gone with one of their plans to replace Reigns…and it may have really been awesome.
Spot of the Night:
Personally, I liked the Hardy high spots on Sheamus more than the rest of the action.
However, WWE did of course put the main event in position to show off the men’s competitors for the MITB match. Had some decent ladder spots, so worth a nod.
Jobber of the Night:
Not tonight. That’s fine.
Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:
Honestly, nothing really felt like it landed here for me.
Botch of the night:
Nothing to complain about here.
LOL Moment of the night:
Having Otis break the rigged ladder made me laugh.
To be honest, considering his size and strength, I was waiting for him to fold the ladder up and chuck it at the briefcase like a spear.
Noteworthy Moment:
So we closed the show with Baron Corbin on top of the ladder, holding the briefcase. Pretty sure that means that Corbin won’t be winning this year.
Will this be the scene on the ROOF of WWE HQ this Sunday at #MITB?!?!#SmackDown @BaronCorbinWWE pic.twitter.com/wSnJexApYz
— WWE (@WWE) May 9, 2020
It was funny, I actually forgot he had previously won a briefcase…because it was perhaps the worst cash-in ever.
Overall lowlights:
It wasn’t a bad show…it just didn’t feel like a terrific go-home show. Not sure if that makes sense, but that’s how it came off to me.
As I checked out feedback via Twitter, it seemed some fans loved it, while others were bored by it. In fairness, that seems to be the feedback for most shows lately.
So after that uneventful #SmackDown I’m finding myself getting more and more frustrated with the current product. Not sure how much more of it I can watch while there’s no crowds. I think after #MITB and #WWERaw if it’s just a load of matches again it’ll be time for a break.
— Al (@IWR_Wrestling) May 9, 2020
Overall highlights:
It wasn’t a bad show, as I said before. There were positives.
I like the Otis push, even if it comes at the expense of Heavy Machinery. He’s probably not winning on Sunday though.
A could good tag matches, so if you enjoy tag action (even the non-traditional 6 and 8 man options we got), tonight was good in that respect.
After the final bell:
Not sure WWE did a good job building toward this PPV. Taking things into account, this is the first PPV where they’ve had no audiences to use to see how things are going.
Like, with WrestleMania, much of the hype had already been done in front of live crowds. The payoff didn’t happen in front of fans, but life was still normal for a lot of the progress up till the event.
Whether that lack of structure, live shows and crowds helps or hurts Money In The Bank, we don’t yet know. Sunday will be interesting, good or bad.
