WWE SmackDown Grades: The Shakeup Concludes With A Bang
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The April 17 edition of WWE SmackDown was the final night of the superstar shakeup and the blue brand has been officially turned upside down with several new additions.
Last night’s WWE SmackDown improved the blue brand for months to come with the new additions of several key superstars and new pending debuts as well.
There are still several questions to be answered moving forward, but the future is bright for the blue brand. With that being said, let’s take a look at a few grades from the April 17 edition of WWE SmackDown.
5. Opening Segment
The blue brand edition of the superstar shakeup last night added a lot to SmackDown moving forward. But while the show received several new faces, the face that runs the place was still as present as ever to get things rolling.
AJ Styles opened up last night’s show to address Shinsuke Nakamura’s recent actions towards him. The WWE Champion said you learn a lot about someone when they lose and that is happening with Nakamura now. Styles called him out and said he isn’t leaving the ring until he comes out and faces him.
Instead of getting Nakamura, Styles got Rusev and Aiden English, which ultimately led to a very brief match between Styles and Rusev where English got involved in no time and the two began beating down The Phenomenal One. Styles received help in the form of Daniel Bryan and the two ended up fending off Rusev and English before a main event tag team match was made for later in the night.
This opening segment led to a key match and storyline development later in the night, but in terms of just the opening segment alone, it wasn’t that great. Styles’ promo seemed obvious and brief with not much going on. The chaos after Rusev and English showed up helped it out as a whole, however.
Last night’s opening segment was not the hottest start to SmackDown, but the rest of the show would more than pick up the slack.