Match Ratings For WWE Smackdown Live 5/7/19, Podcast Notes From Sean Ross Sapp

Opening Segment

  • AJ Styles says he missed Smackdown Live. He's been gone for like three weeks.
  • Styles tries to explain the Wild Card. He doesn't do it very well.
  • Sami Zayn is out as WILD CARD NUMBER TWO and Styles.
  • New Day are out now and they kind of dance around the WILD CARD. They also make fun of Sami Zayn for smelling real bad.
  • Kofi Kingston challenges both guys in the ring to a title match, and says he doesn't care who it is.
  • The Kofi title run has been very good. No fear, acts like a babyface champion should.

Backstage Crappenings

  • Kevin Owens is shown earlier today. He went home because it's his birthday.
  • We get a really, really long Roman Reigns video.
  • Where's Liv Morgan? Eric Young? Nikki Cross? Buddy Murphy?
  • Matt Hardy comes out and talks Jeff's injury. R-Truth interrupts in a friendly manner, but intentionally forgot about Lars Sullivan. Lars is there, and Matt Hardy hilariously squares up. Lars takes both of them out. Truth gets powerbombed through a table. The camera work was miserable.
  • Aleister Black is MOODY AGAIN.

Ali vs. Andrade (w/ Zelina)
N/A

  • Ali has a video promo that rules. These are in his style and his vision, and that's the right way to do it. Zelina also cuts a pretty good promo on the way to the ring.
  • Andrade was one of those guys I was told last year that people had to campaign to just get on the screen, then when he had a big match Vince fell in love.
  • Vince is still high on Andrade, especially since his English is coming around.
  • They have a good back and forth, but Randy Orton interferes. He ends up catching Ali off a springboard with an RKO.

Tag Team Champions

  • Shane McMahon trashes Miz for using a chair on him.
  • Shane talks about the tag team division, and who deserves the tag team titles.
  • He brings out Daniel Bryan and Rowan.
  • The Usos come out and say they want the titles to be earned. Shane McMahon makes the match.

Smackdown Tag Team Championships
Rowan & Daniel Bryan defeated The Usos to become champions
6/10

  • Rowan and Bryan work surprisingly well as a team early on.
  • Jey Uso is getting worked over and mounts a comeback, but Rowan cuts him off with a great body press.
  • We come back to see Bryan hit a basement dropkick. He applies a Lebell Lock, but gets superkicked hard.
  • Rowan is going for the Recycle Bin, but gets superkicked to death. An Uso Splash can't pin him.
  • Bryan doing the running knee outside scares me.
  • The Recycle Bin gets the win for Rowan and Bryan.
  • Backstage, Bryan and Rowan run into Heavy Machinery, who congratulate them. Bryan just shakes his head. Heavy Machinery got no reaction.

Shane

  • Shane is supposed to make some Money in the Bank announcement.
  • Miz attacks him. That's five. Five. Jesus Christ.
  • The B-Team attacks Miz, but Miz overpowers them.
  • Shane returns with a chair and lays Miz out.

Fire & Desire defeated Ember Moon & Carmella
5/10

  • Carmella does the Mella Go Round, but gets speared by Deville.
  • Ember Moon comes in and dominates Mandy.
  • There are a lot of strikes and a lot of "OOH" calls from commentary.
  • Sonya sacrifices herself to eat a suicide dive from Ember. Mandy wins with Angel's Wings!
  • Not sure why Ember Moon couldn't hang around on Raw to lose pointless tag matches.
  • Paige comes out and says she traded up from Fire & Desire to Asuka & Kairi Sane. They're having a match next week.

WWE Championship
Kofi Kingston (c) (w/ Xavier Woods) defeated Sami Zayn and AJ Styles
6/10

  • Well, I guess this answers it. It's a triple threat match.
  • Kofi pretty quickly hits his slingshot Vader Bomb.
  • Styles is FOLDED on the Kingston Splash.
  • Back from commercial, Zayn lands an outstanding superplex. He's rewarded with a super Frankensteiner from AJ.
  • Kofi does an SOS on Styles, while Styles DDTs Zayn.
  • Kevin Owens shows up and attacks Xavier Woods. I'm confused why he's out here at all. He has a match with Kofi in a few weeks.
  • Zayn hits the Blue Thunder Bomb and doesn't even acknowledge Owens. A second hits, but it's kicked out of. He goes to the well a third time, and no good.
  • Trouble in Paradise and Kofi wins.

Rating guide

10- Perfect, 9- MOTY Territory, 8- Excellent, 7- Great, 6- Good, 5- Average to above average, 4- Slightly below average, 3 or below: Poor

Each match starts at a 5 and slides up and down based on entertainment, execution, time, environment, reaction and stakes. The ratings are in no way an indication of a "star rating," which is a completely different system. A standard, non-offensive "TV match" lands at a 5.The gap between 5.75-6 is generally the largest, with anything reaching 6 being recommended viewing.

These are opinions, and incredibly inconsistent ones. Don't take them too seriously, and have (and share) your own!

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