Tuesday Night Shinsuke – A SmackDown Live Recap for 04/25/17

I’m back on my original beat covering this week’s SmackDown in Des Moines, Iowa.

Nakamura 5

SmackDown starts off with Shinsuke, or The Artist Known As Shinsuke Nakamura.  I really hope they drop that fast.  It just sucks.  Renee is in the ring to interview him but is cut off asking Nak her first question.  By who?  By none other than Dolph Ziggler.

Dolph gets to the ring and takes Renee’s microphone.  Apparently there’s microphone shortage so she has to leave.  Mr. Ziggler goes on and on about the Jackson 5 and how Nak is actually Michael Jackson.  He didn’t die…he just became Japanese?  Luckily, this whole promo reeks of sarcasm.  He doesn’t actually believe it.  If this were a different era, his character totally would believe Michael Jackson is now a Japanese Pro Wrestler.

When it’s Nak’s turn to speak, it becomes clear that not everywhere marks out so hard for Shinsuke as the post-Wrestlemania SmackDown crowd.  I guess it’s inevitable.  I just hope it doesn’t sour VKM on the incredible prospect that is Nak.  As expected, Dolph attempts a Super Kick but Nak blocks him and takes him to the ground.  Expecting a Kinshasa coming, Ziggler high tails it to the back.

Beat the Clock Challenge

I didn’t know what to expect with this.  At first, I didn’t even know what this stipulation was.  Thank you Tom for explaining it to me.  Side note: Don’t you kind of expect Tom to spell his name Thom?  I do.

Basically, the winners of the first match set the time with a pinfall or submission.  The winners of the second match, have to beat the clock on that time to win overall.

American Alpha Vs. The Colons

Michele thinks looks like overgrown marshmallowey 12-year olds.  I can’t say I disagree but I’m glad they dropped the Shinning Stars gimmick.  That’s enough for me to give them a second chance.  They looked good in this match.  There’s desperation in this match.  Both teams look for the quick roll-up and any shortcut they can to get a quick pinfall.  I like this match a lot.

Chad and Jason reverse out of whatever The Colon’s tag team finisher is and hits a Grand Amplitude. They set a time of 5:17.  Technically, American Alpha is the only face tag team in the devision right now with The New Day and the Hype Bros on the shelf.  It seems like it’s obvious that they should win but that’s also a very bad thing.

Breezango Vs. The Ascension

As you can imagine, this match is even more hectic.  BUT BREEZANGO BEATS THE CLOCK AND IS YOUR NEW #1 CONTENDERS! I think they’re turning face.  They’re over and the crowd loves them.  The tag team devision needs some major reblancing and that’s a perfect way to get there.

Heist of the Week

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but WWE has quietly dropped the WWE Championship from the House of Horrors match this weekend at Payback.  How do we reinforce that?

First, you start of with a perfectly adequate match of Erick Rowan (aka Big Red) Vs. Randy Orton in a No DQ match.  Erick is trying to wear Randy down for Bray for this weekend’s treats with a lot of kendo stick action.  Erick inadvertently becomes victim to both the big spots he sets up, a table on the outside of the ring and a chair wedged in the corner, and falls to an RKO.

Randy celebrates the easy victory and is ready for whatever weirdness that Sunday has to offer.  But Jinder cuts that celebration short.  He’s tired of the American people and wants to take the WWE Championship to represent the world.  You know, typical heel stuff.  The Bollywood Boys/Singh Brothers appear to hold down Randy and Jinder assaults him and steals the WWE Championship.  The get out of there and zoom away in a limo.

It’s kind of perfect.  It keeps the WWE Championship away from the House of Horrors match.  How can it be defended in the match if it literally isn’t in Randy’s possession?

nWo (New Women Order)

I’m not the first to come up with this stable name, but I love it.

If you watched last week or read Matt’s recap, you’d know that Charlotte didn’t make any friends last week when she demanded a main event title shot from Naomi, simply because of her record and just because who she was.  The other heel women + Ellsworth didn’t take kindly to Charlotte.

So it should come as no surprise that they attacked Charlotte and Naomi mid-way through a really great match.  One particular highlight was Charlotte countering the huricanrana into a sit-out power bomb.  It was a beautiful thing to behold.

While I love the new stable name, I think it’s just something to pass the time until Backlash and to temporarily align Charlotte with Naomi and Becky for a 6-Woman Tag Team match either in the next couple of weeks or at Backlash.  It’s almost like Teddy Long is writing this stuff.

Everything Else

• Barron and AJ probably had the most interesting match of the night, but it doesn’t really deserve it’s own section.  Corbin dominated a majority of the match and reversed or resisted most of AJ’s usual offense.  AJ finally counters Barron with a roll-up reversal from a power bomb attempt for the three-count.  Owens took a break from berating Byron on commentary to beat down AJ in the ring.  After all, you can’t let a guy who’s the Face That Runs the Place also be The Face of America.  It just won’t work.  Sami tries to even the odds but Kevin owns this segment.
• Rusev appears on a weird pre-taped camera phone video to voice his displeasure with Shane and Bryan.  He claims he will only appear on Smackdown if he gets a WWE championship match at Money in the Bank.  I have a feeling he might get it and then be a victim of an immediate cash-in like at last year’s event with Seth.  Either way though, it’s long overdue.  There’s no reason that Rusev shouldn’t be in main event status on Tuesdays.
• The New Women Order confronts Becky during a backstage interview voicing her support for Charlotte, despite the methods used to get the title shot.  The message is clear, you’re either with us or against us.