WWE Smackdown Grades (9th July 2019): Grading tonight’s show, fights and moments
A disappointing Monday Night Raw seemed to halt any momentum WWE had going into Extreme Rules.
Could tonight’s Smackdown Live help change that or would it follow the pattern of recent weeks and be nothing more than a Raw re-run?
There was plenty of potentially interesting things announced before the show, including the reveal of Aleister Black’s Extreme Rules opponent, Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler and Finn Balor vs. Shinsuke Nakamura.
So, did the go-home show before Sunday’s pay-per-view deliver?
Let’s find out as we look back at tonight’s show and give every match and moment its own grade.
#1 - Owens drops a Pipe Bomb
The show began with a video from earlier in the day of Dolph Ziggler and Kevin Owens arriving at the arena.
The two men could not wait for their scheduled match and ended up fighting in the parking lot.
This lead to Shane McMahon sending Owens home for inciting the brawl and cancelling the planned main event for tonight’s show.
However, as the camera cut to the arena, Owens made his way down to ringside through the crowd, grabbed a microphone and cut an impassioned promo on Shane McMahon and the McMahon family.
Owens said that he has tried to be a company guy but that hasn’t got him where he wants to be. He went on to say that he is sick and tired of Shane calling himself the best in the world and taken up T.V. time that could be used to feature other talents.
This brought out Shane who demanded that Owens’ mic be shut off, but Owens grabbed another and then used Byron Saxton’s headset to continue his rant.
Eventually, security would come out but Owens made his escape through the crowd.
This was a great way to open the show and positioned Kevin Owens as exactly the type of babyface that he should be. An anti-authority, Kevin Owens could be amazing and I for one can’t wait to see where this goes.
Grade: A