Best and Worst of SmackDown Live: 26th September, 2017
SmackDown Live came to us from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona this week, and pretty much phoned it in, through the night. There was far more that we disliked on this very episode, than we liked, despite the fact that the performers gave their all.
We don't know if it is a lack of stars, or the actual stars in the show being kept away from the main event spot, or simply the fact that there is too much wrestling on TV, at this moment; but this show was an underwhelming experience.
Let's revisit this episode and examine the aspects of the show that worked and those that did not really impress us.
Unfortunately, the latter outweighs the former.
#1 Worst: Low attendance, negligible reactions
At the very beginning of the show, we saw Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens spit fire at one another, in what was a natural, well-scripted and powerful promo battle. The crowd in the arena did not seem to care, though.
We don't know if it was because the attendance was poor, or the 21st-century wrestling fan would rather chronicle everything on his/her cellphone camera than watch history being made before him/her, but the lack of enthusiasm just took away from the segment at hand.
Of course, the crowd alone is not to blame. The material being presented before them was rather underwhelming as well. RAW seems to be the brand with all the stars, while SmackDown has a roster full of talent, who don't seem to show up, week after week.
This lack of enthusiasm continued through the night, and dampened our own enthusiasm for the show we were watching.