4 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (May 9)
Mahal stands tall as three major feuds collide.
SmackDown hasn't produced a true knockdown show in months, but it remains a model of consistency on WWE's schedule. While Raw's quality tends to fluctuate greatly, the blue brand rarely peaks beyond "very good," but is never anything worse than mediocre. The highs generally outweigh the lows, and for every failing storyline, there are one or two stronger ones.
Last night's show fit the SD blueprint to a tee: a number of notable peaks tempered by a handful of valleys, resulting in a net positive overall. Backlash is less then two weeks away, and with just one week of programming to go, the card is nearing completion. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Dolph Ziggler was added last night, and with five matches already booked and Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin seemingly in the pipeline, there's not much room left.
Three of SmackDown's biggest feuds came together last night: first in the opening segment, then again in the main event. The show closed with a victorious Jinder Mahal standing tall over WWE Champion Randy Orton, and featured significant developments in the tag team and women's divisions, along with a Ziggler/Nakamura confrontation that fortunately avoided the previous week's failings.
Let's look at the segments that soared, and those that fell flat on their face.