7 Ups & 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (May 14)
Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, and Kofi Kingston highlight ANOTHER bland night.
What happened to SmackDown?
Tuesday nights used to be a safe haven. As recently as a month ago, fans could turn to the blue brand comfortable in the knowledge that no matter what went down on Raw, SD would deliver a good show. Its consistency was its biggest strength: it wasn't 10/10 every week, but it was logical, reliable, and devoid of Raw's creative catastrophes.
SmackDown is now on a sharp, noticeable slide, and while things aren't as bad as they are on Mondays, the past few weeks haven't delivered. Last night's was another mediocre offering blighted by overdone formulae and tropes, with the highs and lows barely distinguishable each other. Perhaps this writing team needed the now-departed Brian 'Road Dogg' James more than we knew.
Regardless, this Money In The Bank go-home saw Kofi Kingston and Kevin Owens collide in a main event segment that saw KO turn to Raw for help from his oldest friend. Shane McMahon and his gang of heel goons battled Roman Reigns and The Usos, Andrade scored a big pinfall ahead of Sunday's ladder match, Asuka and Kairi Sane were rechristened the Kabuki Warriors, and Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch was given the retrospective vignette treatment.
Fingers crossed things improve post-MITB, because this downturn is worrying...