Smackdown spoilers for 9/3/15
 

Random main event.

I'm not sure how I feel about The Ascension being aligned with Stardust. Cody Rhodes could be huge as himself. I guess Neville gets The Lucha Dragons on board with him. This feud is starting to tread water. I'd rather have seen it continue with just Neville and Cody working each other.

I hope The Prime Time Players are out of the title hunt now. The money is in Bubba Ray and D-Von chasing for the titles.

Not sure how beating Cesaro again helps him in any way. He might have the injured ribs, but in today's WWE, they've played up medical clearances so much that I don't think people would buy Cesaro being hurt. Plus he's a guy that could actually use a "I beat Mr. Money in the Bank" win.

More useless shit between Summer Rae and Lana. The men seem to be playing secondary characters at this point. Probably should have led to Ziggler vs. Miz, with Dolph winning so he can build some steam during these non-finishes with Rusev.

BO'S BACK!!!! He probably should have stayed hurt for a little longer to sell the beat-down. I would have had R-Truth scheduled to face him, but talk about how Bo is now dead and show the clips of Brock beating him. Truth gives an open challenge and out comes Kevin Owens, who beats Truth. Dallas can still go over Truth when he returns, with a more focused and intensified gimmick.

Charlotte vs. Tamina? Not sure if they'll air this match, given that they probably want to play down Tamina's heritage right now, and that's the big draw for this match. Not feeling the "I'm looking at you as you hold up the title build."

Not sure how the DQ is triggered, but The New Day facing The Shield is a pretty fresh match. New Day are in a tricky situation where they are the most over tag team the WWE has, so they are used to put people over -- but they're also the most over tag team the WWE has, so they want them to go over. I feel like they should be treated like a bit more of a force and protected a little. At least they don't take the pin here.

Sort of, but Ambrose & Reigns often main event SmackDown. My guess is that it's just them versus the Tag Team Champions. Lazy more than anything.

Ascension could really be immensely entertaining with Stardust if they switch up their gimmick a bit... add more facepaint, change their attire... become over-the-top supervillain henchmen.

Cody needs a character to work with. Every time he's just been "Cody Rhodes" it's just been... bland. There's nothing special. He's just another guy who's good but doesn't stand out from a roster full of generic guys.

Then every time they give him a gimmick of some sort, he knocks it out of the fucking park. Even if the booking isn't there to help carry it along.

WOOOOOOOO LETS GO BO!

Thought it was slik's job to create the smackdown thread? Don't know why your doing it.

<font color=goldenrod>I oddly like Stardust/Ascension pairing. Seems like they could make decent Rocksteady and Bebop patsies to the evil villain Stardust.</font>

That was exactly my thought. Rocksteady/Bebop, Goldar/Baboo/Squatt/Finster, even like the "themed" henchmen the '60s Batman villains had. A supervillain with sidekicks is a very nice old-school touch.

BO DALLAS IS ALIVE!!!!!! :eek:

The Cesaro booking is an example of why its tough to break from the mid to upper mid card position. You need babyface challengers for Rollins. Cesaro would be a great choice for a long term program with Rollins. But these guys get beat down so much it's tough to come off as special. He appears to be headed down the Ziggler path to nowhere.

Dudleys are a great addition to the tag division. Like that they are interacting with both New Day and PTP. Good stop gap until the Usos are back. Just wish every tag title program didn't involve more than two teams.

Not sure how I feel about most of this.

Should the Dudleys be running through the Tag Division so easily? The idea of Owens being Cesaro's "kryptonite" is out. I like The Ascension being given a little something to work with rather than being dumped back to NXT, but I can't see the Stardust gimmick taking Cody any further, he's in a holding pattern.

Miz TV segment so cringeworthy...... New Day the goods, though.... Don't know who said Dudleys/PTP was a "really good match" though.... more like a squash match....

Do you consider his "Undashing" gimmick o be a character? Because I fucking loved that. And I loved him with Goldust. The guy can have a personality without painting himself up and acting like a goof.

Sweet... segment with Charlotte saying she asked The Authority to move up the title match to before Nikki breaks the record.... finally some sense....

That is awesome. Shenanigans will ensue and we might get Becky and Sasha or Paige involved in the Night of Champions match.

"Disfigured" Cody was definitely a "gimmick". And it was fantastic. He's just never gonna stand out as CAWdy. There's too many generic looks/personalities on the roster. If a guy can constantly hit homeruns being more "gimmicky" like Cody can, let him do it. There's nothing wrong with a guy painting himself up and acting like a goof if he's great at it.

I find it lacks the base a gimmick like that needs to be taken seriously. Sorry, not on board with Stardust yet.

I never suggested he shed every aspect of personality; I just don't think this Stardust stuff is better than what he's done in the past. Give him someone to start a proper feud with and have him bite into it, and I guarantee you'll get the same fun stuff out of it -- just with an edge you can actually take seriously.

He can, but he's taken a pretty crappy gimmick as what I'm sure was probably just meant as humor for Vince backstage and turned it into something uniquely his own and has taken the Stardust character to a higher level. I'm actually excited to see if he can maybe win a IC, US or even tag title with it.

Wasn't really on board with Stardust either, but I think he has been pretty solid in the role since turning heel... and stepped it up even more with the "comic book supervillain" thing.... now he just needs to amp that up even MORE....

Stardust is ok for now with me but if Cody ever wants to be WWE World Champion I don't feel Stardust can do that. Cody on the other hand could win MITB any time and cash in and be a legitimate champion in my opinion.