WWE SmackDown Grades: The Miz Crosses The Line Of No Return

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The Sept. 11 edition of WWE SmackDown sent the blue brand into this coming Sunday’s Hell In A Cell pay-per-view in style with several key moments taking place throughout the show.

Last night’s WWE SmackDown saw a focus on in-ring work, and there were several solid matches, but the storyline building was also present as well just days before Hell In A Cell this coming Sunday.

The blue brand has been carrying the main roster as of late and it should have a major role this coming Sunday night.  Let’s take a look at a few grades from the Sept. 11 edition of WWE SmackDown.

5. Jeff Hardy vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

For the first time in his illustrious career, Jeff Hardy will enter Hell in a Cell this coming Sunday to battle Randy Orton. In the meantime, The Charismatic Enigma had another challenge to deal with last night in the form of the United States Champion.

Hardy and Shinsuke Nakamura battled for the U.S. Championship for a couple months, but since Nakamura retained his title at SummerSlam, the two have pretty much gone their separate ways.  That all changed when Hardy kicked off the show with a stern message to The Viper just before his match with The King Of Strong Style.

The match got a good amount of time and the two put on a very solid match even with a relatively slow start.  It felt like a match that could have been for the U.S. Championship any other night, but Hardy’s feud with Orton still took precedence.  That would ring especially true when towards the end of the match, Hardy was about to hit Nakamura with a swanton bomb, but The Viper intervened and caused a disqualification.

Orton tried attacking Hardy pretty badly after the match ended with a steel chair, but The Charismatic Enigma countered the attack and attacked Orton with the chair as well before laying him out with a twist of fate and a swanton bomb.  These two should be able to put on a special match at Hell In A Cell and last night’s interaction only helped build further anticipation for the match.

As far as just Hardy vs. Nakamura goes, it was a very solid match between two of the best in the WWE even with the disqualification finish.

Final Grade: B+