WWE Week in Review: The Undertaker returns, dissension in the Wyatt Family

WWE SmackDown Live

I know I already mentioned Carmella in the intro but what I forgot to mention was the awesome throwback look of her opponent, CJ Lunde. The match was absolutely terrible but the “Let’s go, Jobber” chants were hysterical. But this doesn’t do anything for Carmella. Sure, the stuff with her and Ellsworth is mildly entertaining but it’s putting her in a weird spot in the Smackdown women’s division and she deserves more than this. But how good is this division? Natalya is one of the most talented women that this roster has ever seen and this “I’m better than everyone” gimmick is working perfectly for her. This feud with Nikki just continues to get better and it shows that you don’t need the title to have a good program, something that RAW hasn’t quite learned yet.

Speaking of the title, the ongoing saga of Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss and La Luchadora continued this week as Becky watched some footage with Daniel Bryan in the back. Bryan wondered if Eva Marie was under the mask, which is wrestling lingo saying it’s not her, and Becky’s response of “she’s way too vain” for that was great. Becky thought she should get a title shot, Alexa shows up saying she doesn’t and then Bryan made a title match for next week in a steel cage. And what was so great about this segment is that the announcement of the cage match was so simple. While Bryan did use the “first time ever” line, it didn’t seem out of the ordinary. The match was made like so many men’s steel cage matches and this is what’s expected of the women’s division now and I’m digging all of it.

How are we liking this Dolph Ziggler heel turn? I’ve always been a fan of Ziggler and he’s always been great in this role but this is a lot more aggressive than what we’ve seen in the past and I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes. His inability to win matches, outside of the one that saved his career, is a solid storyline and he’s finally just snapped. What it’s also done is given Apollo Crews a seasoned professional to work with. Crews has just kind of been “there” for a while now and I think this could really help him. As for Kalisto, can he just be traded to RAW already? He belongs in the cruiserweight division and could put on some great matches with all of those guys. He’s being wasted on Tuesday nights.

I’m really liking this rivalry between The Miz and Dean Ambrose. I know that there’s a lot of people who think Ambrose is the highlight of this rivalry but I have to respectfully disagree. The Miz is doing the best work of his career right now and he’s so good at what he does. Since the return of Maryse, he’s been on fire in every program that he’s been in and it would not shock me at all if he gets some big minutes and big moments in the Royal Rumble. I don’t know if I’d call him a dark horse candidate to win the whole thing, but he’s being pushed very heavily right now and deservedly so. And yes, Ambrose will likely play a big role in the Rumble as well. Throwing Renee Young into this whole thing only adds something extra to this as well. We’ll likely see this feud continue for a while and I’m okay with that.

Is it just me or did Baron Corbin get knocked back down to Earth just a little bit this week in his match against John Cena? Yes, it is a big deal to main event the night with the 15-time champ and the outcome was really never in doubt with Cena set to take on AJ Styles at the Rumble but he’s really the one that deserved a participation award on Tuesday night. With the mini-push he’s been getting recently, I thought that creative might have something a little better for Corbin but I suppose it’s nice seeing a new face at the top. He’ll likely make a little noise in the Rumble match but this did nothing to move him forward. The focus shifted to Cena and Styles at the end of the night, and that’s where it should be, but I hope they have more for The Lone Wolf next week.

We’ve seen this dissension in the Wyatt Family between Luke Harper and Randy Orton for weeks now but this is getting really good. First of all, the tag match with Bray and Orton versus American Alpha was very solid. It had good timing and a nice pace to it and the finish was excellent. The youngsters didn’t get thrown under the bus here and it set up a very nice little segment that saw Bray take a kick from Harper that was obviously meant for Orton and he didn’t look at all happy with either of them there at the end. They’ll all likely butt heads for the next couple of weeks leading into the Rumble and somebody will end up eliminating somebody else which will lead to even more tension. I like where this is headed.

All in all, SmackDown Live was pretty good this week. Stories are building as we get closer to the official start of WrestleMania season and I’m really looking forward to that cage match next week.