WWE SmackDown Highlights, Grades, and Analysis For Apr. 24, 2018

WWE SmackDown Live seems to be back on the rise after adding top talent during the Superstar Shakeup, namely Samoa Joe, The Miz, and Asuka. All three of those wrestlers figure to play big roles in tonight’s show and going forward when the summer hits.

When the brand split first occurred in 2016, WWE SmackDown Live was the “A” show, and nobody was more responsible for the show’s rise than The Miz, who took it upon himself to make the Intercontinental Championship as prestigious as possible. He’s certainly made the title proud, and while it is around Seth Rollins’s waist on Monday Night Raw, The Miz is back on SmackDown Live and ready to elevate this show once again.

He’ll start by having a little face-off with Daniel Bryan on Miz TV. The WWE has wisely wasted no time in getting these two together for a big-time feud, which was started in 2016 when The Miz cut a brilliantly scathing promo on Bryan, calling him a coward for not wrestling. Bryan is now cleared to wrestle and eager to get his hands on the A-Lister.

Another heel in need of comeuppance is Carmella, whose reign as SmackDown Women’s Champion began with a little ‘Mellabration. Carmella is an excellent heel whose work on the mic is good enough to overshadow the fact that she’s still learning in between the ropes. Her successful cash-in on Charlotte Flair has freshened up the SmackDown Women’s Division, and it will be interesting to see what happens tonight as the two sign a contract for a rematch at the dual-branded Backlash 2018.

SmackDown Live was criticized heavily last year for failing to showcase its female performers appropriately, but there will be a second meaningful segment tonight. Although it is a tag match, it will be exciting to see Becky Lynch and Asuka on the same team as they take on the Iconic Duo, who costed Charlotte her title by softening her up for the Carmella cash in. Peyton Royce and Billie Kay are a nuisance, and Becky and Asuka would love nothing more than to beat them both into a pulp.

And you know who enjoys beating people into a pulp? The Bludgeon Brothers. They will defend the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, which they won at WrestleMania 34, against The Usos at the Greatest Royal Rumble PPV on Friday. Tonight, Rowan will take on Jimmy Uso in singles competition, and I don’t expect a pretty result.

AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Big Cass, and more also figure to have big roles in tonight’s show, and it certainly is an exciting time to be a WWE fan tuning in to the USA Network at 8 p.m. ET every Tuesday night to catch WWE SmackDown Live.

Check back here for the latest grades and analysis for tonight’s show!

Miz TV

This didn’t disappoint. Immediately, The Miz spoke highly of the Intercontinental Championship, stated he’d win it back at the Greatest Royal Rumble PPV, and started taking shots at Daniel Bryan. He blamed him for Talking Smack being cancelled, calling back to his promo on Bryan in 2016.

The Miz then said that he’s a changed man after the birth of daughter, but if Bryan still wants to punch him in the face, he should come down and punch him in the face. Needless to say, that’s the only thing the crowd had on its mind.

Instead of Bryan, though, Big Cass’s music hit, and the fan speculation that he could be the A-Lister’s bodyguard started to kick into another gear.

Cass spoke about how he and Bryan were cleared on the same day, but even though Cass rehabbed to return from his ACL tear, nobody spoke about him. They were all focused on Bryan.

It’s a valid point. Sensing that Cass might want to help The Miz fend off Bryan, Miz told him that he doesn’t need any help. After they briefly bickered, Cass started hating on Bryan, calling him an “average Joe” who looks like he should be laying tile or picking up his trash. And, of course, Cass started talking about how tall he is and how he hates Bryan because Bryan reminds him of when he was a child and got picked on for being small.

Although the material was iffy (the solution to responding to bullies isn’t magically growing taller), Cass has legitimately improved on the mic, and this was a fun segment. I like corporate, suit-wearing Cass, and I love how he and Miz work together on the stick. You could tell The Miz liked what he was hearing, and I’ll be he liked the fact that Cass laid Bryan out backstage in order to hijack Miz TV.

Grade: B, good way to kick off the show, definitely makes me intrigued about this program

Peyton Royce and Billie Kay vs. Becky Lynch and Asuka

Result: Peyton Royce beats Becky Lynch via cheap roll-up

The IIconics are in need of a little butt-kicking, especially after they started hating on Becky Lynch with some terrible Irish jokes. Mega heat from me. Peyton Royce and Billie Kay are so good at being annoying, and they used some strange logic to try and convince the audience that they are better than Asuka. They said that if Charlotte Flair ended Asuka’s undefeated streak and they helped end Charlotte’s reign, then that means they are better than Asuka, who they called a “Nosy Nancy”.

Becky heard enough of that, as her music hit to interrupt the promo, and she and Asuka will take on Royce and Kay.

The babyface duo of Lynch and Asuka worked exceptionally well together, and the whole dynamic of the match changed when Royce tagged in and unwisely slapped Asuka in the face. Asuka went absolutely postal on Royce in her first match on SmackDown Live before tagging Becky back in.

It looked like the babyfaces would get a win, but there was a critical mistake just when Asuka and Becky seemed to have the match in control. Lynch tagged in and just as Asuka was about to exit the ring, Becky was pushed into Asuka by Royce. Later, Royce picked up the victor by rolling up Lynch and using the ropes for leverage. So once again, Lynch loses a tag match on SmackDown Live via heel tactics.

Grade: C+, the match was fine, but we’ve seen this predictable result play out so many times.

Jimmy Uso vs. Rowan

Result: Jimmy Uso defeats Rowan via roll-up after Naomi’s distraction

Naomi saved The Usos from The Bludgeon Brothers last week, and she didn’t promise Jimmy Uso that she’d stay out of it tonight. It was great watching them interact backstage, and I’d like to see more interaction between the male and female superstars during both Raw and SmackDown Live. Naomi’s concern about Harper and Rowan destroying Jimmy Uso raises the stakes, and it will be interesting to see what happens after the match. If Jimmy surprisingly beats Rowan, then the beatdown could be really bad.

As Rowan was beating up Jimmy Uso and was about to destroy him, Naomi’s music hit in the middle of the match to the surprise of everyone. Jey Uso used the distraction to slam Harper into the steel steps, and Jimmy took further advantage by rolling up Rowan for the surprise win.

Naomi’s interference was one of the best we’ve seen, and, again, I love how she’s showing her concern and standing up for Jimmy and Jey. This was a great surprise win, but I have no doubt that Harper and Rowan will get their revenge on The Usos for this at the Greatest Royal Rumble Pay Per View on Friday.

Grade: A-, this was short, sweet, and unique. I loved it.

Carmella, Charlotte Flair Sign Contract For SmackDown Women’s Title

Backlash 2018 is a dual-branded PPV that will take place on May 6, in Newark, New Jersey at the Prudential Center, and it will be the first dual-branded PPV now that WWE has decided to showcase both their brands on Sunday nights.

Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss will battle for the Raw Women’s Championship, The Miz and Seth Rollins will fight over the Intercontinental Championship, Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe will have a match, and now Carmella and Charlotte Flair will sign their contract for a SmackDown Women’s Championship match.

Immediately, Carmella took major issue with the fact that Renee Young introduced Charlotte, the challenger, before the champion, Carmella, who cashed in her Money in the Bank briefcase to dethrone Charlotte weeks ago. She’s already been great on the mic as a heel champion, and she continues to carry herself like she’s a big deal.

Carmella turned to the fans, upset that they didn’t give her a standing ovation for her highlight real at her #MellaBration last week, which showcased all of her accomplishments. She then said she would play the highlight reel again, but she demanded a standing ovation afterwards this time.

Not enough people gave her an ovation, so Carmella said she would play it again, much to the delight of Corey Graves and the chagrin of the fans. Though, as expected, Graves, stood up to give her a standing ovation the first time.

And yes, the WWE literally played the video package for a second time. It was short-lived, though, because Charlotte’s music hit to interrupt the highlight reel. She interrupted it at the good part, too, because the song that hits after Carmella says she’d like to thank “ME!” is too perfect.

Charlotte signed the contract after a brief tantrum from Carmella, and Flair then laid out Carmella with the table to show her that she’s still “The Queen”.

Also, Charlotte’s raven, black robe this week was tremendous. Just had to throw that in there.

Grade: A, Carmella is an impeccable heel, and she stole the show here. I love what she’s doing, and she’s made Charlotte look more like a babyface than anyone ever has.

Shelton Benjamin  Randy Orton

Result: Shelton Benjamin pins Randy Orton after “Paydirt” and a distraction

The new United States Champion and member of the SmackDown Live roster, Jeff Hardy, defeated Shelton Benjamin last week on his first match with the Blue Brand. Benjamin is an even more bitter heel as a singles competitor, so he wants a crack at Randy Orton to get some revenge for last week’s defeat. Jeff is at ringside for this match.

In the early going, it was Benjamin in control, as he was just beating Orton mercilessly. Orton almost got counted out at one point. Whenever Orton tried to get some momentum going after a counter, Benjamin would snuff him out quickly with a move like a spinning heel kick.

A belly-to-back suplex from Orton seemed to turn the tide, though, and he hit his comeback sequence thereafter, nailing Benjamin with his patented scoop powerslam before getting in an elevated DDT.

Just when Orton signaled for the RKO, Benjamin slithered out of the ring. Orton, of course, dropped Benjamin onto the announce table on the outside.

All of a sudden someone wearing a mask came in to injure Jeff Hardy. Orton tracked him down and removed his mask, revealing that Hardy’s attacker was none other than Sunil Singh, doing the bidding of Jinder Mahal ahead of Mahal’s United States Championship rematch against Jeff at the Greatest Royal Rumble PPV.

Orton hit Sunil with an RKO, which opened things up for Benjamin, who capitalized with “Paydirt” for the important victory.

Grade: C, storylines were progressed here and Benjamin got a nice win in a solid enough match.

The Club vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev Day

At the beginning of the show, AJ Styles stated that he had two partners lined up to face Shinsuke Nakamura, Rusev, and Aiden English. His partners? None other than Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, who both moved from Raw to SmackDown Live during the Superstar Shakeup. The trio shared a “Too Sweet” before the commercial break, leaving the fans salivating at tonight’s main event match.

Before the match, Renee Young caught up with Daniel Bryan after he was attacked, and Bryan stated that he’d be OK to compete in the Greatest Royal Rumble match. Bryan said that he was attacked by Big Cass from behind, and after talking to Paige, he will receive a one-on-one match with Big Cass at Backlash. His parting shot was that everyone is the same height when they are tapping out.

I’m betting The Miz will cost Bryan by helping Cass at Backlash, but we shall see.

Shinsuke Nakamura came out to a new, remixed version of his theme song that drew polarizing reactions from the WWE Universe. I loved it, and the logic behind is that it now that his song has lyrics, the WWE Universe cannot sing along to it. So it’s a way of solidifying him as a heel.

Watching The Club work together was sensational, oh, and Luke Gallows has my favorite Big Boot in the biz.

Gallows made the hot tag after Styles was in trouble, and he seemed to be cleaning house. But he didn’t see it when Nakamura tagged in, and Nakamura hit Gallows with a Kinsasha to the back of the head to pull out the victory.

Styles was angered by Nakamura’s antics,so he went after The King of Strong Style, who once again hit AJ with a low blow. He then went for the Kinsasha on Styles, but Karl Anderson saved his brother by getting hit with Nakmaura’s finisher instead.

Nakamura wasn’t done. He taunted AJ, begging Styles to stop him from hitting Anderson with a second Kinsasha. He couldn’t get there in time, and Anderson was sent sprawling.

Grade: A+, great main event, and the mindgames from Nakamura after the match were incredible.