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5 Best WWE SmackDown Moments 5/19/16: The Bloodline vs. The Club by Mitch Nickelson

By Mitch Nickelson • Published 20th May 2016
TJR Wrestling

Extreme Rules is just a few days and I hope you haven’t begun looking for predictions articles just yet because we’ve still got SmackDown to go over. You didn’t forget about SmackDown, did you? It’s okay if you did. Looking at the ratings, many of you routinely forget about WWE’s Thursday night weekly show. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.

If you did miss this week, here are the best moments from the broadcast. These are the things most worth your time to try and look up. One honorable mention goes to Big E for this…

https://twitter.com/DeathToAllMarks/status/733287629177901056

5. Owens Wins, Laughs At His Foes

Sami Zayn got a little lost in the shuffle on commentary, but who could blame him? Not only is it regularly a three-person team as a base, both The Miz & Maryse were also mic’d up along with Sami. When The Miz and his lady tried to distract the in-ring competition, Zayn decided to put down the headseat and head into the ring. Inadvertently, Zayn’s involvement caused Cesaro to lose because Kevin Owens capitalized on the distraction for a roll-up pin. As the brawling continued after the match, KO exited back up the ramp while laughing.

All four of these guys bring something of value to this IC Title feud and I’m very pumped for their match at Extreme Rules. I don’t feel like Owens’ win here gives him any significant momentum considering the outside involvement and the cheap rollup, but it was still a good ending to solid opening match.

(This would normally be the part where I find a Twitter link relevant to this particular topic to break up the text, but I’ll go slightly off topic to show a bit of banter that Owens had during SmackDown’s broadcast with a restaurant that sucked…)

https://twitter.com/FightOwensFight/status/733448497911857153

4. The Man That Humbled Kalisto

Doesn’t The Iron Sheik always talk about breaking people’s backs and making them humble? Well, our boy Rusev has at least borrowed some of that phrase. In a backstage interview with Renee Young he and Lana proclaimed that his aggressive Accolade to Kalisto on Raw was an act of humbling. Lana called her man the greatest U.S. Champion of all time while Rusev said that people will soon be chanting “Machka, machka” instead of “Lucha, lucha.” Can that please catch on, if only for a night?

Since WWE has allowed Rusev and Lana to return closer to what’s worked for them in the past, Rusev has stepped it up as far as being his own mouthpiece. Lana can still vouch for the Bulgarian Brute but he can more than speak for himself. He’s very comfortable with his own voice and that’s why I picked this brief interview segment as one of the best moments of the show. The man deserves praise for his promo skills.

3. More Of Dana Brooke’s Winning Ways

With Becky Lynch on commentary, Dana Brooke scored yet another win in only her second week on the main roster. She defeated Paige, putting her overall SmackDown and Raw record up to an impressive 3-0. She’s not beating scrubs, either. Paige just pinned WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte on Raw less than two weeks ago.

Dana made sure to bad mouth Becky after she won, so it looks like that will be her rivalry for the time being. It’s a shame that Emma and (presumably) Sasha Banks aren’t along for this ride as well, but I won’t complain about a singles feud between these two.

2. A Clever Disguise

Chris Jericho entered the Ambrose Asylum before the cage and all of the different weaponry that accompanied it lowered over top of him. Y2J talked about how he’s been in every match that WWE has ever offered except for this new Dean-specific variation of a cage match. Chris also said he would make his opponent on Sunday spend 40 days in the hospital thanks to what he’ll do to him in this coming match. Chris said all of this without notice the hairy stage guy in the cage walking behind him.

The disguise wasn’t the best thing ever, but I found it amusing to watch Ambrose remove his fake facial hair behind a posing Jericho. It had a comical tinge to it, which WWE has been guilty of doing too much of to Dean in the past. This didn’t feel like too much cartoony stuff to me, it was just a goofy reveal before the assault. Ambrose then procured a kendo stick and wailed on Jericho repeatedly before he could escape the cage.

1. The Expected Bloodline/Club Brawl

Sure, having these six guys in the same location has historically proven that there will be a melee, but since it’s pretty much always great then the predictability is fine by me. Also, this stable vs. stable fight followed a fresh matchup of Roman Reigns vs. Luke Gallows – and it turned out to be a pretty worthy main event.

For whatever hesitancy Styles has had about embracing the heelish peer pressure of his buddies, he’s well beyond that at this point. It was AJ’s leg grab of Roman while the match was still going on that prompted all of the periphery players to get involved. The match didn’t technically end until AJ ordered Gallows and Anderson into the ring to administer the Boot of Doom to Roman. Styles looked ready to go even more ruthless when he cleared off the announce table. That move backfired against him and it was Roman who slammed AJ off of the table.

So, are all three members of The Club fully on the same page? As of the SmackDown main event, it would appear so. But, perhaps that’s precisely what I’m supposed to be thinking just to throw me off before Anderson & Gallows turn on AJ which will then be followed by the formation of the Balor Club on Raw the next night! Pardon the fantasy booking but I’ve been very into what WWE has been offering with this feud. I’m expecting some satisfying plot development/resolution to be given at Extreme Rules.

Here’s a .gif of AJ missing another Styles Clash on a chair…

https://twitter.com/MitchNickelson/status/733515849596698625

Here’s some more brawling off the air too.

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