Best and Worst of SmackDown Live: 2nd May, 2017
As we had predicted in our preview article, released a few hours ago, Chris Jericho did drop the United States Championship to his fellow Canadian Kevin Owens on his way out. What we could not have predicted is how, except for this angle, the rest of the show was extremely lukewarm indeed.
Gone is the SmackDown Live from before Wrestlemania, when we’d be hooked to our television sets from start to finish. This was a watered down show, and we shall tell you why we thought so, through our best and worst countdown. Let’s get down to it, guys.
#1 Worst: Everything about the welcoming committee
When WWE does not have a strong heel, it makes a faction of several mid-carders. Remember The League of Nations? Better yet, think about the alliance between Jinder Mahal and The Singh Brothers from this week's show itself.
Unfortunately, The Welcoming Committee is not a very good faction, considering the only good wrestler in the stable (by far) is Natalya. They do not seem like a credible threat to a woman in Charlotte’s league.
Everything about them this week was awful. Carmella, a woman who should still be working on her skills in NXT, pinning the women’s champion was an absolute travesty. The promo they cut with Becky Lynch, as well as the eventual swerve (as much Becky’s fault as their own) was really quite dismal.
We could tell that Becky would not be joining the stable when the segment began. Better storytelling can save the faction but there needs to be a complete overhaul in every sense to make us care about the SmackDown Live Women’s Division.