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Welcome back to the EXCELLENCE IN COLUMN WRITING exclusively here at LordsofPain.net / WrestlingHeadlines.com by yours truly, Mr. Tito. Unique column for you tonight... No, I'm NOT going to review any television shows (can't until tomorrow as a Hulu viewer)... No, I don't have any additional thoughts on WWE Clash of Champions (which the old WCW fan in me keeps calling "Clash of THE Champions"). Nope... I'm going to review a WWE Houseshow. I live in Eastern Ohio and when I heard that the WWE Smackdown brand was actually having a houseshow in nearby West Virginia, I figured it was worth the 50 mile drive or so to attend. I haven't been to a LIVE WWE show since around 2006 and I wanted to practice what I preached. A few columns ago, I basically said that "if you support AJ Styles/Kevin Owens as World Champions, financially support them. See them in houseshows, watch them on television, buy their merchandise, buy their iTunes theme songs, etc." Well, I REALLY wanted to see AJ Styles live as WWE Champion. So I made the trip... Given that I'm a Hulu viewer of WWE television shows, I have Mondays OFF... So I'm free! Plus, I have ZERO desire to watch the Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump debate. Frankly, I'm shocked that these are the 2 best Americans possible to run for president out of 320 million people. It's no wonder we're going to end up like Dogpatch if that's who Americans want to rut with! (Bill Hicks). On the way home from the Smackdown Houseshow, I listened to the last 20 minutes of the debate on the radio and I just cringed... But I, unlike all of you suffering through the Debate, had a GREAT night watching Smackdown's houseshow. AMAZING show and I'm quite convinced that it's the BEST live WWE show that I've ever seen. Granted, I honestly haven't seen that many live shows... 2 RAWs, 2 Smackdowns, and about 3 houseshows. I practice what I preach... I invested in AJ Styles as WWE Champion. I traveled, took time away from my family, and spent money to see this WWE show. I would NOT be there if someone else was champion, period. And to get AJ Styles (c) vs. Dean Ambrose vs. John Cena as the MAIN EVENT of this houseshow, GOOD GOD. That's the WWE No Mercy Pay Per View main event! Let me tell you... The match was amazing! If this was dress rehearsal for that match, we could push "Match of the Year" candidate. The chemistry between the 3 wrestlers was strong. The chemistry among the entire Smackdown roster was strong... This is the superior brand and tonight was another example. Mr. Tito's PHAT WWE Smackdown Houseshow Review - Wheeling, WV 9/26/16 What most of probably want to know, how did this show draw? My understanding is that the local Civic Center there holds just above 5,000 at full capacity when there are seats on the floor. However, the section around the entrance way didn't allow anyone to sit there. The floor was not completely filled with chairs. Then, as I looked around the arena at sections 100 and 200, the upper levels. Not completely filled... I would say, 2500 at best but probably more like 2000 or so. Considering what it was up against, you know, Monday Night RAW and also the Presidential Debate... Maybe people didn't want to attend? I was easily able to go up to the Box Office and get FRONT ROW at the event itself, 30 minutes before the event began. First of all, I really like the incorporation of video screens to attempt to make the Houseshow look like a television taping. Quite clever... Secondly, I enjoyed the WWE houseshows that I've seen... It's almost like a "night off" for many wrestlers as they don't quite take as many risks in the ring as they do on televised events. Therefore, they do more things to play up the crowds more and do a lot more taunting in the ring to make up for ring work. It's smart wrestling and it's actually quite entertaining. For example, the babyface Women's Team (Becky, Nikki, Naomi) called Carmella a "chicken" and they played it up as a means to piss off the heels. The kids in the audience ate it up and it built heat across the crowd to get into the match. Maybe if they incorporated a little more of this on television instead of diving through the freakin' ropes (I'm looking at YOU Cesaro), things would remain entertaining and much safer. Onto the show... 8 Man Tag: Hype Brothers/American Alpha vs. Breezango/Ascension was the HOT OPENER and it lived up... Fun, fun tag match... I found the babyface chemistry between the Hype Bros. and American Alpha to be quite strong. Fans there was totally into those 4 as babyfaces and the Hype Bros were quite over. In fact, for much of the night in West Virginia, fans did not troll... They cheered for the babyfaces and booed the heels. It was quite refreshing and you could tell that the wrestlers enjoyed it and had fun with it. The heels did a great job being heels and it was actually the best I've seen the Ascension as a heel team. But then again, the favorable crowd played right into their hands. I think Gable will forever be the "face in peril", as he was worked on for a while in this match. Then, Jordan got the hot tag and exploded as usual. Match was won when American Alpha hit their finisher. [ ***1/2 ] There was no "Ready Willing Gable" towel tonight... Hope that they simply forgot it... Baron Corbin vs. Jack Swagger was the next match. It was a good big man match. Both big guys can move quite well for their size and I thought both played their face/heel roles just fine. The "We the People" thing by Swagger was quite loud by fans. Crowd had good heat for both guys and I can imagine that not everyone there knew Baron Corbin well. But he did well as a heel... For whatever reason, Corbin wrestled the entire match with his shirt on if that means anything? Finish was very creative when Baron Corbin messed with the ring apron and as the referee was fixing it, Corbin hits the eyepoke and then his finisher for the win. [ *** ] Up next, we had a non-title match (I just assumed that) between Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler. Miz, the Intercontinental Champion, came out first BUT he acted like he didn't have a match that night. Nope, he was just there to rip poor West Virginians. Same old stuff for that poor state. I've worked with many people from that fine state and I know many WVU graduates... Very intelligent, hardworking people who get a bad wrap. During the 2007-2009 recession, the conservative old West Virginia showed growth when most other states declined. So whatever... By the way, Maryse had quite the revealing outfit... As far as platinum blondes go, she's top of the line... Ziggler came down to have a match and it was quite crisp. You can tell that these two have wrestled repeatedly... Based on how Miz could work as a heel in front of a favorable crowd who were yelling at him loudly when he was insisting that he was "not a coward", Miz could be on his way to finally becoming a real impact wrestler... Looked very good here as did Ziggler. Oddly enough, Ziggler had the "Don't Tread on Me" snake and American Flag on his tights... Is he tagging up with Jack Swagger soon? Did I miss something? [ ***1/2 ] Usos vs. Rhyno/Heath Slater up next and it was advertised as being for the Tag Titles. Rhyno and Slater had backstage segments but the audio was awful in the arena... Couldn't comprehend. I thought that the Usos were EXCELLENT as heels. They had the swagger, the heel cheap moves, the taunting, the double teams, and had the audience's attention for anything they did. I like the matching street clothes, too. Much of the match was Heath Slater playing "face in peril" and Rhyno cleans house when tagged. Rhyno hits his Gore and Slater hits his modified DDT for the clean win. [ **1/2 ] Just seemed like a one-sided battle. Slater/Rhyno need some more variety as a tag team instead of acting like a comedy team. They are Champions! INTERMISSION Apollo Crews vs. Erick Rowan was up next and Bray Wyatt was at ringside. Does Bray take houseshow nights off out of fear of not getting injured? Apollo Crews is LOVED by younger fans. Seriously... Crazy over! And Crews is more impressive to see live and in person than he is on television. Just some of athletic moves that probably only he can pull off just looks so effortless in the ring. Good back and forth match and Rowan did well selling for Crews and his unique moves. Crews wins via Disqualification when Bray Wyatt attacked. [ *** ] Wyatt Family beats down poor Crews when Kane arrives for the save. However, the Wyatts overcome him and just as Bray Wyatt is about to his the Sister Abigail on Kane, Crews is rejuvenated and saves Kane. Double chokeslam hit on the Wyatts and they run away. Respect shown between Kane and Crews afterward. 6 Woman Tag: Becky Lynch/Nikki Bella/Naomi vs. Carmella/Alexa Bliss/Natalya was up next and this match was every bit as good as any of the other Smackdown Women's multi-person matches. The Chemistry among these 6 ladies is AMAZING. Now, you have lots of experience working with each other to perfectly predict tendencies and habits to make nearly flawless match-ups. There's real heat, for example, with Carmella for her constant attacks on Nikki Bella and the match started off with the babyfaces calling her "chicken" for avoiding Nikki. It worked... Carmella could easily translate that into heat with the crowd and use that to fuel anger to attack babyfaces. So much fun... I'll take this division who actively cares to making each other look great over the "stacked" RAW Women's division. Chemistry matters. Becky made Carmella tap with the Armbar submission. [ ***1/4 ] The MAIN EVENT was Dean Ambrose vs. AJ Styles vs. John Cena... Not sure if this was non-title or not, but AJ Styles came out first... Argh! Then Ambrose and then John Cena. Crowd was ON FIRE for the entrances and the entire match. Let me just give you my star ratings now and then I can give you details... God damn, [ ****1/4 ] If this was a dress rehearsal for WWE No Mercy, the next Smackdown Pay Per View... Wow, we're in for a treat. This match was a TON OF FUN. Again, because this is a houseshow, there were less risks taken... So the guys did more actual mat wrestling, more taunting/crowd interaction segments, and they cycled in and out to keep each wrestler free (always prompting 2 on 2). They even used the old Shane Douglas/Sabu/Terry Funk double sleeper hold maneuver!! Seriously... That is trademark ECW and they lifted it, but that was cool... That's an awesome tribute move that should be used more often. And all 3 wrestlers acted like they hated each other, no alliances... Even fight between the 3. TONS OF HEAT for this match by the fans. Apparently, which reduces my match grade, this was a no-DQ match because AJ Styles was allowed to involve a steel chair and then nutshot John Cena to win the match. Styles wins... HOWEVER, afterward, Ambrose and Cena took Styles out... Afterward, John Cena got on the microphone and had Dean Ambrose join him in singing John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads in honor of West Virginia as that appears to be a tradition with Cena at houseshows here. LAST WORD: Phew! That was SO MUCH FUN! Much better than a 3 hour edition of RAW and as I'm watching the replay on C-Span, I certainly didn't miss much on the Debate. What a trainwreck! Smackdown roster, despite its thin resources, is clicking on all cylinders... Cena/Styles/Ambrose are great main eventers, Women's Division is so much fun, Tag Team division is showing potential, Miz is getting better, and there is legitimate upside with Apollo Crews/Jack Swagger/Baron Corbin. No Randy Orton on this card, but he wasn't really there for Backlash either and that show still entertained. A+ for this freakin' houseshow, hot damn! As I keep repeating... If you LIKE the creative direction that WWE is going, SUPPORT the wrestlers involved. I put my ass in this houseshow seat to support AJ Styles, my first live WWE show in 10 years. Not easy to just give up my Monday Night to do so... Houseshows often serve as dress rehearsals for Pay Per Views but also serve as testing for future storylines... Hope you enjoyed this read and maybe it allows you to think on the future WWE Smackdown programs. I'd share pictures, but Photobucket is trolling me hard tonight... SO JUST CHILL... 'TIL THE NEXT EPISODE! Comments and feedback are welcome. Follow and Tweet me @titowrestling or login in below to post comments. © Mr. Tito and LordsofPain.net/WrestlingHeadlines.com - 1998-2016
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