Smackdown 2/13/18 feat. Some Rasslin, Corbin vs Ziggy in a Match Nobody Wants, and Rusev Day Celebrations

[KIRA]

Somebody had to.

[Emperor Smeat]

http://www.wwe.com/f/styles/wwe_16_9_l/public/all/2018/02/20180206_SD_Ziggler_Corbin--31b680267510c47a0ed3756dfe04fa89.jpg


SmackDown LIVE preview, Feb. 13, 2018: Ziggler and Corbin square off for WWE Title opportunity at WWE Fastlane

After Daniel Bryan announced a controversial Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship at WWE Fastlane, SmackDown LIVE Commissioner Shane McMahon decided to shake things up a little bit on the Road to WrestleMania. Tonight on SmackDown LIVE, Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin will square off, and the winner will advance to the WWE Championship Match at WWE Fastlane, joining WWE Champion AJ Styles, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Who will move one step closer to the WWE Championship? Find out tonight at 8/7 C on USA Network!

SmackDown LIVE Preview : Quick Hits

Dolph Zigger to face Baron Corbin tonight on SmackDown LIVE in a battle with WWE Fastlane implications
Charlotte Flair continues her quest for payback against The Riott Squad
Bobby Roode issues a United States Open Challenge
The New Day take on Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin




Terrible start tonight although on the bright side, no Corbin vs Ziggy match either.

[Evil Vito]

Lol now we're gonna get another Five Way match.

[Droford]

Its gonna be Corbin/Zigglrr vs Team Yep

[KIRA]

Corbin is a natural heel please don't make him a face and if they do turn him he shouldn't acknowledge it

[KIRA]

Why/how has Ziggler not walked away from this company yet

[KIRA]

Ok somebody merge my thread. I'm not mad just disappointed

[Emperor Smeat]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sami Zayn and <a href="https://twitter.com/FightOwensFight?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FightOwensFight</a> just cost us a chance to see a Baron Corbin match. <br>Does this count as a babyface turn? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SDLive?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SDLive</a></p>&mdash; WWE Creative Humor (@WWECreative_ish) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWECreative_ish/status/963579733182119936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[KIRA]

Are we really about to see the unholy Alliance of Corbin and Ziggler?

[KIRA]

Still hate Flair as a face I'd love if she had the Riott squad as her low class crude minions while she plays the high queen

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm all for Corbin and Ziggler as a team, because I don't particularly want to see them as singles guys.

[Emperor Smeat]

Wonder if Ruby regrets her choices for a stable considering how useless they are as members.

[slik]

opening brawl was cool but six-woman tag was boring

[KIRA]

Member when Riott Squad posed an actual threat? Me neither

[KIRA]

Storyline-wise I never could figure out how beating the other wrestlers in a stable is akin to taking them out

[ClockShot]

Hello kids.

Just caught the tail end of the Charlotte/Sarah Logan match.

Anything important happen to open the show?

[KIRA]

How appropriate to have Seth Rollins telling the story of black women.

[Savio]

Why would you want to be the third wheel with Jimmy and Naomi?

[ClockShot]

Owens vs. Corbin.

I can skip this and watch the dog show for a bit.

[KIRA]

I wanna believe that was Rollins way of making up for his GF being a NAZI

[Simple Fan]

opening brawl was cool but six-woman tag was boring

It was a singles match.

[slik]

Hello kids.

Just caught the tail end of the Charlotte/Sarah Logan match.

Anything important happen to open the show?

ko/sami beat up ziggler/corbin so now those are singles matches instead of a tag match

[ClockShot]

Dumb.

[Lock Jaw]

Feel like the women's division on Smackdown has gone "downhill" exponentially since Charlotte won the title and the Riott Squad debuted.

Used to really like the SD women's division.

[KIRA]

They need to just go ahead and give Baron Corbin a onese

[KIRA]

Who are these people that expected so much out of Corbin I'd love to hear their reasoning

[Emperor Smeat]

Feel like the women's division on Smackdown has gone "downhill" exponentially since Charlotte won the title and the Riott Squad debuted.

Used to really like the SD women's division.

Padding the numbers only because of the Women's Rumble and not having enough quality opponents for Charlotte hurt the division a lot.

Probably also doesn't help Carmella has been a big non-factor even though she holds the MitB case.

[ClockShot]

Who are these people that expected so much out of Corbin I'd love to hear their reasoning

Vince, Vince, Vince, Stephanie, Vince, Vince, Triple H, Vince.

I think I got them all.

[slik]

the sd women's division has no storylines, it's just random tag bouts

[KIRA]

Corbin slowly morphing into a far less charismatic way less effective Undertaker

[KIRA]

the sd women's division has no storylines, it's just random tag bouts

Right Raw has the weaker Roster but they have a story going

[Savio]

How come they cant fit "Roode" correctly on the titantron?

[Savio]

Has Orton ever challenged for the US title?

[Evil Vito]

Orton won the US Title in my 2k18 game, so it's kinda cool it might happen in real life

[Emperor Smeat]

WWE quickly found a way to make the "Top 10" list even dumber than it was before.

[KIRA]

Has Orton ever challenged for the US title?

Dont think he has

[owenbrown]

what is the point of all this?

[KIRA]

Y'know in TNA Roode looked like he was average height but now he looks short AF

[owenbrown]

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, KEVIN DUNN, STOP USING THESE STUPID FUCKING GRAPHICS!!!!!

[Savio]

Whoa OB, calm down!

[Evil Vito]

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, KEVIN DUNN, STOP USING THESE STUPID FUCKING GRAPHICS!!!!!

Quick, no more graphics or Roman gets de-pushed. You can only pick one.

[owenbrown]

goddammit

[Emperor Smeat]

Thought Tuesdays were Taco Tuesdays ... have I been celebrating the wrong weekly holiday?

[owenbrown]

no

[Emperor Smeat]

With the way Big E was eating those pancakes, the world record must be like 2 for a pancake eating contest.

[owenbrown]

gentleman, never do any of that shit again on live tv

[Emperor Smeat]

Big E getting really close to snapping over the disrespect shown towards his pancakes. Probably going to become a badass submission machine soon if this keeps up.

[KIRA]

New Day looks like they got jumped by the early 90s

[Droford]

Big E getting really close to snapping over the disrespect shown towards his pancakes. Probably going to become a badass submission machine soon if this keeps up.

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qcKATAMJ4Fs" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[slik]

this show is so boring now

what happened to it...used to be 'must-see' and the a-show...

[slik]

New Day looks like they got jumped by the early 90s

zubaz day

[KIRA]

That song is sooo fucking bad

[Emperor Smeat]

:eek: Bludgeon Bros actually used their hammers to smash something for once.

[Droford]

The bludgeon brothers have had enough ofvtge stupid captions

[Emperor Smeat]

That blue & green background for next week's 6-woman tag match was horrible. Also another meaningless multi-women match or match in general for the Riott Squad.

[Lock Jaw]

Six women tag match next week!!!!! (That we have already seen a few times)

[Lock Jaw]

Dunno why they felt the need to shoehorn Dolph and Corbin into the AJ/Owens/Zayn story.

[Savio]

Wondering if KO will interfere to help his odds.

[Simple Fan]

Wondering if KO will interfere to help his odds.

If he does he loses his spot in the match

[Mr. Nerfect]

They're still doing the graphics? I can't believe they didn't dump them after one week.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Baron Corbin's got nothing interesting about him, by the way.

[Savio]

If he does he loses his spot in the match

Ohh I thought Samy would lose his spot.

[KIRA]

really good match

[Emperor Smeat]

So Sami and Owens end up being the biggest morons of the night. Not sure how that helps them nor the WWE title match.

[Sepholio]

Over/under on the tower of doom spot (whatever it's called, you know the one)from the top turnbuckle during the fatal 5-way?

[Emperor Smeat]

:lol: Lana pinned Bayley for the Mixed Match Challenge match.

Also the first time Lana ever beat someone in the WWE.

[Savio]

Hooray for Lana Day!

[Tom Guycott]

Who are these people that expected so much out of Corbin I'd love to hear their reasoning

Vince because he's "tall and menacing, dammit!"

[Tom Guycott]

Big E getting really close to snapping over the disrespect shown towards his pancakes. Probably going to become a <s>badass</s> flapjack submission machine soon if this keeps up.

[Tom Guycott]

Honestly, they should relegate both the women and the tag division to a single show opposite from the other... Divas on RAW, tag teams on Smackdown. Period. Yeah, it might not be "fair" tour wise, but it would help both divisional roster overall. It isn't like they know how to focus and grow divisions anymore without coming at the expense of something else. It isn't like they're doing any better at the moment... even with the teams both shows have, why do we keep seeing The Bar in a holding pattern, The Revival trading wins with Chadd 2 Badd and Sex Ferguison, and 2/3rds Wyatts steamrolling jobbers? Why is Bayley vs Sasha shaping up to be the new Cena vs Orton matchup that will happen constantly even well past the point of fan exhaustion?

With the divisions in one place, that *should* take some of the pressure off of the thin herds while being able to hide the weaker talents like the auxillary NXT callups. Then, more of the onus would be on booking and writing, because each side would have one less excuse in a division to not work on it for the show overall.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Or they could just end the roster split and cut the fat of talent that they don't need.

[Anybody Thrilla]

I really wish the Mixed Match Challenge wasn't spoiled for me in a thread about Smackdown.

[Tom Guycott]

I don't, or have I ever, believe that the roster split in and of itself is a bad thing. The problem is they fall into the same hole of shit that they were in *beforehand*.

I can go back to when RAW was only an hour. With just that hour, it was treated more like your average NXT show now. You only had one hour, so your time was at a premium, and you got in what you needed to get in. You might also get 3-4 matches a night. If it overran, who gave a fuck? You're just pre-empting Silk Stalkings.

Then, they would do occasional 2 hour specials. That meant 6-8 matches, possibly with some sort of mega main event that might be considered PPV caliber.

When RAW went two hours and stayed there, it slowly weaned from the 6-8 matches per show back down to about the 3-4 area it was at one hour. Not even going into the extra eventual padding with more commercials, but shows became less about exposure of more people, and more about repeated exposure of the same people.

Smackdown comes along, and added another prime time outlet for the underutilized... until it too became an extention of RAW. From the period where it was just an extention of what happened Monday night, to the times where they'd spend half the damn (one hour) show replaying what happened Monday night.

Everytime they would grow, it would eventually be overtaken with bloat and repetition.

At least by splitting the roster, the whole show can't be dominated by something like "the HHH reign of terror" (a 20 min diatribe to open the show, 3 backstage segments, and also be involved in the main event, every show, ad nauseum).

Now, with a whole section of roster gated off, and a whole show dedicated to just that talent, what do they do? Exactly the same thing, and maybe one or two people benefit from the extra breathing room. Maybe. And the writers can only seem to focus on so many talents and/or angles at a time (maybe about 3 or 4 total of both in any combination). Instead of trying to create a situation for more, different, or newer talent for the audience to care about, the focus is on how they can keep the attention on the ones people already like now at the expense of trying to get new people over and make them interesting. That is, until another swath of injury, retirements, walkouts, or even disease makes focus shifting a priority. Instead of having the cards in place, they go into panic mode because they didn't bother trying to build for the future.

For example, I get that Shane McMahon is power feuding with Daniel Bryan over what to do with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, and keep putting AJ Styles, the champion, in the middle of that. That is the main story they are telling. Gotcha. You don't have to put so much emphasis on it. It doesn't have to be a weekly thing. There could certainly be another talent, or angle, or idea that can be presented a couple of those weeks? Same five people involved in the same one angle week after week after week. Even *if* the endgame *is* the "best case scenario" and it is leading to an in-ring return for D-Bry, it is too much too much. Oh, and Shinsuke and Randy Orton is kinda there... popular, but no focus. Usos cut an awesome promo, New Day does some skit, and Gable & Shelton (rightfully) bitch about a lackluster tag divison, Charlotte has a belt, and people like Bobby Roode's song. Now tell me, which specific week of Smackdown did I just sum up?

Jump back to NXT for a moment. Everyone talks about how awesome Lars Sullivan is. Is he on every week though? No. The tag team scene is pretty heated, but they don't even SHOW a tag match every week, let alone the champions. The NXT Champion doesn't need to close every show in one way or another.

The roster split isn't a problem at all. Mishandling of the roster at large is.

[Mr. Nerfect]

If you're going to mishandle the roster then it's going to be a problem, though. You have more guys not getting over instead of fewer spots to fuck around with. I dunno, I think the streamlining is definitely a good thing. I mean, the roster won't really decrease in size anyway -- they only really hired Curt Hawkins, Jinder Mahal, Shelton Benjamin and Rhyno.

[#1-norm-fan]

lol What Windows Movie Maker effects did they use this week?

[GD]

Does Ziggler have the record skip in his entrance anymore?

[GD]

Watching 205 Live. A bit frustrated with respect to Tozawa overdoing the screams. The crowd doesn't seem to care for this match.

[GD]

"Slumdog Millionaire", really?

[GD]

This was my first Mark Andrews match. Haven't seen the UK tournament or any of his previous work. The match was decent and the crowd reaction doesn't do it justice (like many other CW bouts).

TPWW poster The Fraze might enjoy his entrance music.

[GD]

Drake Maverick has won me over. The dude reeks of confidence and can improvise on the fly. Quality stuff. Glad he addressed Jack Gallagher's current in-ring attire.

[GD]

Buddy Murphy :love:

[GD]

While I enjoyed Gulak's "no fly zone" gimmick, I absolutely loved his submission-based "no nonsense" style from the Cruiserweight Classic tournament. Distinctly remember marking out for the Gory Special.

[GD]

Looks like Tony Nese isn't giving up his current gimmick.

[GD]

A couple of minutes in and I love this matchup. Nese is no slouch. Dude was straight fire in the CWC.

[GD]

A bit distracted by the Bray Wyatt cosplayer. Not sure if he is sleeping or browsing on his phone. Kinda stupid, considering he paid good money to sit in the front row.

[GD]

Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness don't get enough credit. Tremendous duo.

[GD]

Wow! This match has surpassed my expectations. Gulak and Nese, both are savages.

[GD]

Wow! What an ending. Absolutely loved it.

[GD]

http://www.wwe.com/f/styles/talent_champion_full_retina/public/all/2018/02/20180213_205Live_Match_Gallagher_Mustafa_Buddy_Ariya--81583b5f7c2b5b49effcb5a38671afe9.jpg

They replaced Buddy Murphy already :lol:

[Emperor Smeat]

This week's Smackdown ended up being lower than last week and 6th week in a row its been down. Almost the same amount of weeks down compared to same period last year.

Tuesday’s SmackDown Live drew 2,449,000 viewers, down from last week’s 2,505,000 viewers ...

This time last year, the February 14, 2017 episode of SmackDown Live drew 2,626,000 viewers.

Outside of the tag scene, whole brand has pretty much been in a rut quality wise for a while. There is a rumor going around that lead writer of Smackdown now writes for the RAW brand but the source has been sketchy recently.

[#1-norm-fan]

Isn't Road Dogg the lead writer on Smackdown?

[Emperor Smeat]

Might be as well. He does hold a couple of titles like also being the producer and top guy in charge of the brand.

Ryan Ward is the one that's rumored to have left for RAW a while ago and used to be credited as the actual lead writer of Smackdown. Don't remember if he ever got demoted since Dogg usually claimed both were lead writers whenever he'd get pissed about the subject on Twitter.

[GD]

Road D-O-double G, and I'm here to put this dick on you!

[Mr. Nerfect]

Road Dogg would have been the head writer, but Ward would have done all the formats.

[Shisen Kopf]

I really wish the Mixed Match Challenge wasn't spoiled for me in a thread about Smackdown.

I'm furious about this

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Gulag snapped and became a bad ass submission machine.

The meme lives.