Smackdown spoilers for 7/30

[Emperor Smeat]

Dark Segment:
A boastful Owen White proclaimed the start of a new era in the WWE. Debuted a brand new belt called the Smackdown Dark Match Championship and himself as its first ever champion. The belt had a Pokemon Charizard card as its center piece. Vince came out and yelled at him to stop goofing around and finish setting up the arena. Vince likely once again confused him for a ring crew guy.

Dark Match:
*Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady defeated Brad Maddox & Heath Slater.


Smackdown:
* Seth Rollins kicks off SmackDown talking about John Cena and RAW. He's interrupted by Cesaro, which leads to our first match.

* Kevin Owens comes out for commentary. Rollins vs. Cesaro ends in a DQ when Owens attacks Cesaro. Rollins teases a confrontation with Owens but they double team Cesaro instead.

* Los Matadores and The Lucha Dragons defeated The New Day and The Ascension.

* Summer Rae and Rusev come out for a promo about what happened on RAW with Lana and the fish.

* Rusev defeated Jack Swagger, who got a big home state pop. Rusev attacked Swagger after the match but Swagger counters and applies the Patriot Lock.

* Stardust defeated R-Truth in a quick match. Stardust cut a promo in the ring after the match but Neville attacked him.

* Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro and the partner he found, Dean Ambrose, is the main event. The ending came when Ambrose countered a pop-up powerbomb and Cesaro rolled Owens up for the win to end SmackDown.

[Dark One]

Hyped: Becky Lynch vs. Nikki Bella

Reality 24 hours later: Becky Lynch vs. Brie Bella on Main Event.

[hb2k]

Welcome to the 50-50 quagmire, Mr. Owens.

[drave]

Hyped: Becky Lynch vs. Nikki Bella

Reality 24 hours later: Becky Lynch vs. Brie Bella on Main Event.

It seems they do not want Nikki in matches with the NXT ladies - 1v1 anyway.

I did find it somewhat funny that the triple threat match @ Battleground BARELY involved Brie at all, as she kept getting her ass kicked whenever she tried.

[#1-norm-fan]

lol Owens

[Maluco]

Also Rusev over Swagger again, who is benefitting from it at this stage? Home state or not. It just seems like they have no idea how to balance pushes with people needing to take losses every week. It's a lottery and noone stands out.

By the end of the year, Rusev and Owens momentum will be gone and people will still argue about where it started to go downhill for them when the answer is obvious.

[Ruien]

You realize Rusev won right?

[erickman]

only time swagger wins is in dark matches

[Maluco]

You realize Rusev won right?

Hence why I said "Rusev over Swagger again". It's boring and a win over Swagger is worthless. He is aimless now and giving him wins over someone he has beaten a million times does nothing for him and isn't entertaining.

[Big Vic]

Better than losing to him.

[Emperor Smeat]

Welcome to the 50-50 quagmire, Mr. Owens.

That might be a bit too generous for Owens since its more like 25-75% ever since after the first Cena match.

[Ruien]

Hence why I said "Rusev over Swagger again". It's boring and a win over Swagger is worthless. He is aimless now and giving him wins over someone he has beaten a million times does nothing for him and isn't entertaining.

He is a jobber. He is jobbing. What do you want? The WWE will always have jobbers.

[Maluco]

I want interesting characters, creative stories and sustained pushes. It's because I genuinely enjoy wrestling that I say it. I am not being negative because its the norm thing to do. The quality in ring is so good right now, but the writing is awful and its frustrating because it just looks like there is no effort put in.

IMO, Rusev needed a creative story to come back to and a clear direction after losing at 3 consecutive PPVs, and that hasn't happened. It is frustrating.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Welcome to the 50-50 quagmire, Mr. Owens.

Giggity?

[DAMN iNATOR]

I want interesting characters, creative stories and sustained pushes. It's because I genuinely enjoy wrestling that I say it. I am not being negative because its the norm thing to do. The quality in ring is so good right now, but the writing is awful and its frustrating because it just looks like there is no effort put in.

IMO, Rusev needed a creative story to come back to and a clear direction after losing at 3 consecutive PPVs, and that hasn't happened. It is frustrating.

Don't get me wrong, Rusev has potential, I just don't ever see him as anything more than a semi-quaint mid-upper carder with maybe a couple more IC and/or US title runs and maybe a tag title.The whole "evil Russian wrestler" doesn't really go over right now with the current Russia-US sociopolitical tensions cooling off. At least with those kind of guys from the '60s through the early '90s you had the whole Cold War as a backdrop.

Right now, his gimmick is tired and played-out.

[Ruien]

I want interesting characters, creative stories and sustained pushes. It's because I genuinely enjoy wrestling that I say it. I am not being negative because its the norm thing to do. The quality in ring is so good right now, but the writing is awful and its frustrating because it just looks like there is no effort put in.

IMO, Rusev needed a creative story to come back to and a clear direction after losing at 3 consecutive PPVs, and that hasn't happened. It is frustrating.

Swagger is a fucking JOBBER. Rusev IS an interesting character that has a wonderful story going on.

There will ALWAYS be jobbers. Just like there will always be the lower card, mid card, upper-mid card, main event, and face of the company.

[Shisen Kopf]

?

[Maluco]

Swagger is a fucking JOBBER. Rusev IS an interesting character that has a wonderful story going on.

There will ALWAYS be jobbers. Just like there will always be the lower card, mid card, upper-mid card, main event, and face of the company.

Not arguing about existence of jobbers, just no interest in seeing Rusev beat Swagger again, that's all. Haven't seen a wonderful story either. Main event guys are few and far between tbh. I don't think that distinction is very clear and I find it boring tbh. But we will agree to disagree, everyone will have different opinions about what they want to see. I just think Raw and Smackdown are boring and repetitive and the stories aren't creative, but if you enjoy it, that's OK too!

[Mr. Nerfect]

The show was in Swagger's home state and he actually got a pretty good pop. He's also beating up an old rival. I see nothing wrong with that, other than I wish Swagger was doing more.

Cesaro seems to be gaining more ground each week. This is great news.

Very happy to see Los Matadores and The Lucha Dragons actually doing something.

[Ruien]

Not arguing about existence of jobbers, just no interest in seeing Rusev beat Swagger again, that's all. Haven't seen a wonderful story either. Main event guys are few and far between tbh. I don't think that distinction is very clear and I find it boring tbh. But we will agree to disagree, everyone will have different opinions about what they want to see. I just think Raw and Smackdown are boring and repetitive and the stories aren't creative, but if you enjoy it, that's OK too!

Then why watch?

[#1-norm-fan]

Yeah, the only problem you can have with that match is if you're a big Swagger fan and hate seeing him as a jobber. Not every match has to be new, fresh and between two guys who are equal though. Having a match just for a guy to showcase himself is a method that's always been done. Beating a guy like Swagger isn't meant to take him to the next stratosphere. It's meant to drill it into people's heads that the guy is a force. It's fine.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Is Zeb Colter okay? They should bring him back ASAP and ask Swagger why the hell he's been so embarrassing. He can start slapping Swagger again in matches to psyche him up. That was actually pretty over.

[Maluco]

I get what you are all saying and understand why it was done. I just think it is boring and has been done to death. We can all have opinions on something, which is why there is no end of issues or problems you can have with something. There is no cut and dry, "you can only feel this way".

I only ever catch RAW occasionally now and don't have anything original to say that hasn't been said already. Supposed stories are formulaic and noone new is ever built up or focussed on for any length of time, and if they are (see rollins), its in a way that makes them look a tier below still. It can be explained away by fans defending the product, but in a few years times with Taker, Lesnar etc...gone, they will be in trouble imo.

[#1-norm-fan]

You're angry about two totally different things. Yeah, the storylines and character development is pretty shitty. No on here is "defending the product" as a whole.

The point is "How the hell is Rusev going over Swagger who is currently a jobber an example of bad booking or them not doing a good job putting a guy over?" It's a random episode of Smackdown. Not every show has to be a huge career defining moment for a guy. He beat a guy he should have beat. It happens all the time. For as long as I can remember. It just serves to showcase his credibility. What is the problem?