‘WWE Smackville’ Review (July 27th 2019)
Welcome to this review of WWE Smackville, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have three matches, including a WWE World Title Match, so let’s not waste time playing grab-ass and get to the matches.
Match #1: Shinsuke Nakamura def. Ali – WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
Less than one hour before the start of SMACKVILLE, WWE Twitter revealed Finn Bálor was battling an undisclosed injury throughout the week, and WWE medical staff determined he wasn’t eligible to compete against Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura. While The Artist proclaimed he’d won the match by forfeit, Ali appeared and boldly challenged him for the workhorse title. While Ali put up a valiant fight in his impromptu championship fight, evading Nakamura’s Kinshasa and striking with a tornado DDT, The Artist kicked out at the last second. Moments later, he made good on his second Kinshasa attempt, sidestepping the hard-charging Ali to send him head-first into the middle turnbuckle and clobbering his foe for the 1-2-3.
My Opinion: 3 out of 5 – This was a pretty good match that gave both guys a fine match to chop on. Ali did well as the challenger and Shinsuke was every bit as convincing as the champion. There ain’t much else to say other than this was a fine way to open this special event.
Match #2: Kevin Owens def. Elias
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
Elias opened his scheduled special musical performance at SMACKVILLE on a sour note, insulting the WWE Universe – and the local football team – while giving a skewed preview of the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view. But when his insults turned to Kevin Owens, KO emerged to shut him down and brought a referee to make an impromptu match. Owens outplayed his musical opponent in their subsequent contest when he hit Elias with a Senton. Then, Elias’ dreams of a win were dashed when KO evaded an elbow drop and hit him with a picture-perfect Stunner for the victory.
My Opinion: 2 out of 5 – This was about what you might expect, with Kevin carrying the load all the way through.
Match #3: (Main Event) Kofi Kingston def. Dolph Ziggler and Samoa Joe – Triple Threat Match For The WWE World Championship
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
WWE Champion Kofi Kingston overcame the odds yet again, this time beating not one, but two deadly opponents in a main event title match with no count-outs and no disqualifications at SMACKVILLE. The WWE Champion nearly lost his title without being involved in the pinfall when Dolph Ziggler landed a vicious Superkick on Samoa Joe, but the titleholder broke up the pin attempt just in the nick of time. After withstanding a beating during a brief alliance between Ziggler and Joe at the match’s onset, Kingston channeled The Power of Positivity and tattooed Joe with Trouble in Paradise for the win, capping off the thrill-a-minute SMACKVILLE WWE Network special.
My Opinion: 3 out of 5 – This was a standard sort of Triple Threat Match that did well enough to me. Every-body worked hard and made the match feel important in any way they could. Kofi did well as the champion and was very gracious in selling for his challengers. I liked this and I’m glad it got aired on the WWE Network.
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Final Verdict: 3/5
This was a simple show that excelled at being a good wrestling event.
