WWE SmackDown Highlights, Grades, Analysis For Superstar Shakeup 2018
Did we say #DreamTeam already? @AJStylesOrg @WWEDanielBryan#SDLive @WWEDramaKing @RusevBUL pic.twitter.com/RpqYbsJ1pD
— WWE (@WWE) April 18, 2018
AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan vs. Rusev and Aiden English
It’s truly incredible how quick Daniel Bryan is. Also, his lats look sick. Sorry, I had to say it, and, yes, I am still beyond ecstatic that he’s back in the ring even though this isn’t his first match since returning.
Styles and Bryan as a tag team in WWE is something we’ve dream of for a while, and even though they aren’t an official tag team, this is more than enough to satisfy us. The dueling chants of “AJ Styles!” and “Rusev Day!” were also fantastic.
As expected, Styles takes the brunt of the damage from Rusev and English in this match, because Daniel Bryan is so over that everyone wants to see him make the hot tag. And when he did after Styles’s picture-perfect Pele Kick, the place did indeed go nuts.
Bryan hit his signature moves, including the knee, but just as he was about to capitalize, Shinsuke Nakamura made his presence felt again. Of course, he did it via a low blow to Styles, and that allowed Big Cass to take advantage by hitting Bryan with a Big Boot to ruin the match and cause a disqualification.
It looks like Colin Cassady is going places, and he received the most heat of anybody. Also, his new theme is a monster upgrade.
Renee Young tried to catch up with Nakamura, but he just said he doesn’t speak English. Corey Graves had some fun with this, quipping, “What a tragedy! Could you imagine forgetting an entire language?”
The finish to the main event was wonky, but it got the right people to shine and hit all the right notes. And how cool was it to see English sharing the ring with Styles and Bryan? This man’s rise by Rusev’s side has been great to watch.
Grade: B, Solid match with an ending that generated heat and moved things along nicely.
Show Grade: A, Great episode of SmackDown Live with trades that made sense and hype this show up going forward. The seeds of change are springing in SmackDown Live, and I can’t wait to see what is in store for us throughout the summer and the remainder of 2018. It’s up to the creative team to deliver, because they have a LOADED UP roster to work with.