Opening segment
- Backstage Jinder forces some lines as he's being photographed with the WWE Title. Shane McMahon takes the belt from him
- Shane welcomes Chris Jericho to the ring, who celebrates coming to Smackdown. He's joined by AJ Styles and Owens.
- What a great crowd early on. Chanting "Y2J," "you tapped out."
Jinder Mahal (w/ Singh Brothers) defeated Sami Zayn
5.75/10
- The suspended Baron Corbin's really good Talking Smack attack on Sami Zayn is shown.
- Zayn is the right kind of opponent for Jinder Mahal.
- JBL saying 'WAH WAH WAH' makes me want to change the channel, not boo Jinder Mahal.
- There's a lot of offense from Mahal I'm seeing for the first time, because he's rarely been booked to beat someone down.
- They portray Mahal winning over Orton as a "miracle," which is consistent. I'd like a "is he for real, or just lucky" narrative.
- People outside of WWE have been putting Mahal over to me in regards to his work ethic.
- Every time a babyface goes after a manager on the apron, he looks dumb.
- Tornado DDT botch. Mahal didn't help where he was supposed to.
- The Singh brothers get involved and Mahal wins with a Cobra Clutch slam.
- Consistent booking of Mahal so far.
Backstage crappenings
- The heel girls are trying to convince Becky she should hate Charlotte.
- Ziggler is trashing Nakamura backstage to Shane McMahon.
- I can't do the Fashion Files segment justice. Watch it.
Tye Dillinger defeated Aiden English
SQUASH/10
- Aiden English is a jobber, but he's one with a gimmick. Good for him.
- Tye Dillinger is on fire. He has a really good ring presence that has translated to the main roster.
- Aiden English goes off after the match. Backstage Jericho puts Aiden and Renee Young on the list.
The Welcoming Committee (w/ James Ellsworth & Tamina) defeated Naomi & Charlotte
5/10
- "The Welcoming Committee" attacks Charlotte backstage before the match. Kind of like the name. Liked it more before the announcers said it a dozen times.
- Cool spot where Natalya slams Naomi's face into the stairs.
- After Naomi gets beaten up, Charlotte makes the save. Weird to see her work as a babyface.
- Naomi gets a hot tag too, and does well with it.
- Naomi almost kills Carmella with a Rear View. CARMELLA ROLLS UP NAOMI FOR THE WIN!!
- The committee attacks Naomi & Charlotte, but Becky Lynch comes out after big chants. This is getting over great with the crowd. She gets beaten down.
- The match wasn't great, but the angle was pretty good and had great heat.
Dolph Ziggler defeated Sin Cara
- Sin Cara is remarkably versatile for this late in his career -- if that's even him. He's wearing a full body suit now.
- I love Dolph Ziggler's new gear. At least it's not all black.
- Sin Cara dominates a good portion of this match, But Ziggler wins.
- Still a great crowd all night.
United States Championship
Kevin Owens (c) defeated Chris Jericho
7/10
- Owens brilliantly has his fingers taped up.
- These two have the type of Owens-Jericho match you'd expect, and it's good.
- I didn't think it was as good as the crowd did, but I'd rather see an over-excited crowd than a dead one.
- How many times can you do the "I CANT BELIEVE HE KICKED OUT OF MY MOVE THAT NEVER PINS ANYONE!?"
- I would have Jericho film some interview segments, backstage stuff where he puts people on "THE LIST" to air for the next month. I'd have KO/Styles go to a non-finish at Backlash, and Jericho invoke his rematch clause when he has a free date next month. Then Styles pins Jericho, with Owens losing his title without being pinned. It lets the KO/Styles feud continue longer.
- That's not gonna work, though. Kevin Owens wrote Jericho off with a DDT to the floor.
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