THE MIZ IS THE MAN & RIC FLAIR’S COMING TO WINSTON SALEM FOR WRESTLECADE!

By Tarron Coalson

WWE SMACKDOWN opens with the blistering confrontation from last week on their after show TALKING SMACK on the WWE Network in which Daniel Bryan accused The MIZ of wrestling “soft’ and like a coward & The Miz calling Daniel Bryan a quitter & that he quit on the WWE fans. It was the Miz’s best promo ever.

The night started out promising as Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon are backstage and Shane tells Bryan that although he was correct, he went too far calling the Miz cowardly and that Bryan should apologize. Bryan fired right back saying it’s ironic that comes from the guy who’s “got beef” with Brock Lesnar, a valid point.

The MIZ & Marise come to the ring and MIZ continues his heel promo and shoot and I like it! The Miz is a undervalued asset by WWE and this version of MIZ suits him well.

He should have been interrupted by Daniel Bryan but gets interrupted by Dolph Ziglar, who says Bryan was right and that the WWE fans see right through the MIZ and that all the MIZ cares for is fame. Dolph challenges Miz to a fight. No ref’s, no title, just a fight and Miz acts like he’s going to fight and then leaves and Ziglar calls him a coward again. Miz charges the ring but is talked out of it by Marise & they go back stage.

Unfortunately, that was the high point of the evening. WWE needs to continue to capitalize on this but we’ll see how they handle it.

The first match is a tag team quarterfinal tournament match for the ongoing SMACKDOWN tag team titles and pits The Hype Bros (Zack Ryder & Mojo Riley) against the Vaude Villains. Pretty good match but not much crowd reaction and the Hype Bros score an upset by hitting the Hype Ryder finisher for the win.

Meanwhile AJ Styles is walking backstage telling everyone he’s the “face that runs the place” and cracks on Apollo Crews getting in a spelling contest with him. After a commercial, AJ comes in ring to continue telling everyone how he beat John Cena and will beat Dean Ambrose at BACKLASH. He’s interrupted by Apollo Crews who says Daniel Bryan has granted him a match with AJ and it starts now.

It’s a testimony to AJ that this was the best I’ve seen Crews look and he landed an impressive moonsault to the floor on AJ but alas, AJ hits the Phenomenal Forearm for the victory.

Next, we take a visit to Heath Slater’s trailer and him and Rhino being interviewed by Renee Young while being served Crackers, Cheez Whiz & Vienna Sausages. It’s a tragic, pointless waste of time but Rhino seemed to enjoy the snacks as they talked about the tag team tournament.

And then, Bray Wyatt comes to the ring talking about Randy Orton and how he’s the predator going after his prey, Orton at BACKLASH. Orton comes out to challenge Wyatt and when he runs into the ring the lights go out and camera’s cut to a commercial.

After the commercial, Nikki Bella is at ringside to do commentary for a ladies tag team match and they talk about the situation with her and Carmella, who jumped Nikki twice last week. The tag match itself is between Natalya and Alexa Bliss against Naomi and Becky Lynch. The match is not very good and you could tell Natalya and Alexa were frustrated with Naomi who screwed up some spots.

The end comes as Carmella attacked Nikki Bella again, distracting Becky Lynch and allowing Alexa Bliss to snap her head off the ropes, roll her up, grab her tights and score the win.

The last match of the quarterfinals of the tag team tournament involve the aforementioned Rhino & Heath Slater against The Headbangers (Mosh & Thrasher) making a return to WWE after sixteen years. The former tag champs dominate Heath Slater until one of the Bangers hit Rhino in the corner and really busted him open. Rhino appeared to suffer a cut over his eye. Rhino made the save on Slater and dragged him to the corner and tagged himself in, hit a Gore on Mosh and scored the victory to advance in the tournament.

OK, insanity time, some guy who says he’s Darren “The Milkman” Millman..wasn’t there a Jake “The Milkman” Millman or Milligan or something like that in the AWA twenty five or thirty years ago?? Anyway this guy says he’s been cleared to wrestle and he’s not leaving until he gets a match and starts stripping in the ring down to his tighty whitey Fruit of the Loom’s. Out comes Kane, choke slams him and walks off. WHY? Who knows…

Finally, it’s the main event, Baron Corbin against WWE World Champ dean Ambrose with AJ Styles doing commentary and it’s a flat match that you get with Ambrose from time to time. AJ gets involved, goes for the Phenomenal Forearm and knocks AJ legs out, giving him the longest recorded groin shot in wrestling history as AJ stays on the ropes in pain for a good two to three minutes. Who won? I’m not really sure as AJ actually kicked Corbin so Ambrose should have been DQ’d but I’m not sure they ever announced it and who cares? It’s the build up to BACKLASH.

RAW was OK last night but finished on a high note. SMACKDOWN started great and finished not so great. Hopefully, they’ll keep the Miz in the limelight doing what he’d done the last two weeks & they’ll let AJ win the World title. That’s what I’d like to see! See you next week!

And lastly, for all of our local fans, if you’ve never been to WRESTLECADE held in Winston Salem around Thanksgiving the last few years, you’re missing it! They have a huge fan fest the day of the event followed with a lineup of matches that evening. WRESTLECADE will have over ninety starts of the past but announced this week that the headliner for the show will be none other than sixteen time Worlds Champ and WWE Hall of Famer, the Nature Boy Ric Flair. Get more info at www.wrestlecade.com