SmackDown Cliff Notes 6-12-20

Pissed on or pissed off?

Jeff Hardy takes a piss test to prove Sheamus wrong and Sheamus gets piss right in the face. This segment, like many others, has been done before, doesn’t make it less interesting. Jeff and Sheamus have done some good work during the build and the payoff will actually mean something.

New Day [c] vs Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura

Nakamura pins the former WWE Champion, giving Cesaro and Nakamura a significant victory over a meaningful opponent, something they haven’t gotten very often lately. I’d love for New Day to freshen up their act by dropping the titles so they can reinvent themselves. Nakamura and Cesaro have been good they just need some titles to make them relevant.

AJ Styles vs Daniel Bryan

We’ve all heard it by now, “Orton and Edge have a tough act to follow”. Daniel Bryan controlled about 60% of the match but AJ Styles was the one to come out of the match with the win and the title. Best TV match in decades.

Sasha and Bayley celebrate

Alexa and Nikki interrupt and IIconis distract the champs with an onscreen message. Hard to tell exactly where creative wants certain talent so we are just to have to see who wins at Backlash. Bayley is so Indy heel, she seems like she should be in Impact or ROH but as hit and miss as her act is for me it works because she gets heat, she’s kind of like Baron Corbin.

Braun Strowman [c] & Heavy Machinery vs Mix & Morrison & Dolph Ziggler

Braun sends a warning to his opponents and his partners before the main event.

Corbin talks to Mandy and Otis leaves the match to confront him and Otis returns to the match, evening the odds, and pinning Dolph to get the win for his team. Excellent use of the talent involved, the real story of the show was the IC title tournament finals but this main event elevates Braun, Otis and everyone involved. Braun is still the top champion and Otis is still lurking with his briefcase.

Honorable mentions

1. Tucker is back.

2. New Day kneel.

Final take

Not much to say about the show really. The best thing about the show was one of the best TV matches we’ve seen between two of the greatest to ever do it. This is how a show is supposed to be done, the focus of the show was exactly where it needed to be. Maybe Bruce Pritchard isn’t going to be so bad after all.

#AJstyles #sheamus #JeffHardy #smackdownonfox #WWE