SDL Is Fit For A King - 8/13/2021

[Dolfan in NYC]

 

 

[Eivion]

The Roman/Cena segment was good.

Nakamura/Apollo was fine. Glad to see Nakamura a champ again.

Ford was lucky the landing wasn't worse when he overshot that dive on Otis.

Corbin/Owens was fine. A part of me will miss Corbin begging for ridiculous amounts of money. Not sure about Corbin/E as a feud, but I have oddly found Corbin to have one of the more interesting stories the past six weeks or so.

The Sasha/Bianca segment at the end was decent. Its good to see this feud getting highlighted as main event worthy.

Decent show though it kind of peaked early with the Cena/Roman segment.

[The Natural]

[Eoae]

Randomly losing the title on a tv match with no build seems like Vince giving up on Apollo.  Shame.  The character - and Apollo's accent - were ridiculous and over-the-top, but I thought it was a better gig for Apollo than generic smiling babyface.  Feel like his momentum stalled out where the added Commander Azeez to the act.  Big guy doesn't strike me as having a lot of charisma and mostly stands around until it's time for his spot.  Maybe Apollo will become his second?  i don't have high hopes for Azeez but he is hopefully better than Omos (though I suspect Omos has more charisma).

Sasha stuff is ok, but I'm not a Sasha superfan and don't have a lot of interest in Bianca, Carmella, or Zelina Vega.  Am mildly curious if Carmella and Zelina are going to be Sasha's flunkies or it was a one-time deal.  Big step down from Golden Role Models if they are a new unit.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Only two matches i care about on the SummerSlam card are Sasha vs. Bianca 2 and John Cena vs. Roman Reigns.   Both delivered last night on the build.  One more SD! before the event. 

[The Natural]

19 minutes ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

Only two matches i care about on the SummerSlam card are Sasha vs. Bianca 2 and John Cena vs. Roman Reigns.   Both delivered last night on the build.  One more SD! before the event. 

Yeah, those are the only SummerSlam matches I want to see.

[Eivion]

1 hour ago, Eoae said:

Randomly losing the title on a tv match with no build seems like Vince giving up on Apollo.  Shame.  The character - and Apollo's accent - were ridiculous and over-the-top, but I thought it was a better gig for Apollo than generic smiling babyface.  Feel like his momentum stalled out where the added Commander Azeez to the act.  Big guy doesn't strike me as having a lot of charisma and mostly stands around until it's time for his spot.  Maybe Apollo will become his second?  i don't have high hopes for Azeez but he is hopefully better than Omos (though I suspect Omos has more charisma).

Eh, they have ben building Nak/Apollo for a couple of weeks now at least. Figured a title match was coming and that Apollo was losing. Apollo has been more interesting, but his gimmick has been terrible and off-putting with the accent. Blaming Azeez is weird. They haven't really done much with him at all. He is more mobile than Omos and has wrestled a lot more as well. He doesn't have Omos's charisma, but I don't think he is necessarily sufferings a lack of it.

[Kang]

Overnight ratings: 2.5 million so far.

[Ultimo Necro]

The Cena promo was brilliant.

Boogs getting ejected while cutting a crazy guitar solo was brilliant, as was the Boogs / McAfee celebration!

Highlight of the night though was….

”I mean, who even begs for 100 grand”

”uh, someone who needs 100 grand”

I think I tell myself that Dynamite is my current favorite show, but I am often much more entertained by Smackdown.

 

[Eoae]

2 hours ago, Eivion said:

Eh, they have ben building Nak/Apollo for a couple of weeks now at least. Figured a title match was coming and that Apollo was losing. 

Ok, I stand corrected.  I've watched the show the past few weeks, but obviously don't remember much of it.  I vaguely remember something about Boogz and Azeez now that you mention it, but that's about it.

I don't think I'm blaming Azeez for the act not getting over better, but - for me, at least - he hasn't added a lot to it.  I think he'd be better off with his own gimmick, but then again, maybe they don't want him in the ring on a regular basis.  

As a manager/bodyguard, I wish he'd do more.  He seems to mostly stand there until it's time to do his interference spot.  But that's my complaint about most managers of the past 20 years, so it's probably a Vince thing.  I wish we'd go back to the 80's/early 90's where managers go to do more.  Sheri Martel should be the template for every new manager.  When she managed Savage, she was constantly involved in the match, even if it was only yelling at the ref and wrestlers.  Sheri interjected herself early and often.  It kinda bugs me when managers just sit and watch while their guy eats a finisher and a three count.  Heenan would be on the apron trying to keep the ref from counting.  Sheri would probably be trying to get in the ring to break up the count.

[HumanChessgame]

I didn't think I'd be able to care about a John Cena match in 2021 but here we are. That promo probably should have closed the show but I get them wanting to stress the importance of the Sasha/Bianca match.

So is Dominick turning heel after they lose the tag title match?

[NoFistsJustFlips]

8 hours ago, D.Z said:

Overnight ratings: 2.5 million so far.

Yes, counting in the Fox stations that showed preseason football instead of Smackdown. Should drop a bit around 2.1 mil for the final number.

I liked Cena & Reigns promo. But even for a good promo 26 minutes at the top of the show is just too much for my tastes.

[The Natural]