Thursday, March 28, 2024
EditorialWWE Smackville: Heat Index PPV Match Card Rundown & Predictions

WWE Smackville: Heat Index PPV Match Card Rundown & Predictions

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Welcome to another edition of WWE Heat Index, wherein we discuss the interest level for the various feuds heading into the pay-per-view events. This time around, we’re focusing on the SMACKVILLE special coming this Saturday night.

The way this works is a pretty simple three-way breakdown of Hot, Lukewarm and Cold. If you like something and you’re very interested in how WWE is setting up the program, it’s Hot (aka Good). If you’re a bit on the fence about it and see some problems, but it’s not awful, then it’s just Okay or Lukewarm. The ones that are the most problematic that you have no interest in are Cold (aka Bad).

Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section to let everyone know what your thermometer reads for each feud as I tell you what my thoughts are below!

Without further ado, let’s get started!

INFORMATION ON THIS EVENT

This show is similar to The Shield’s Final Chapter in that it was originally a regular house show that WWE decided to upgrade to a WWE Network special. As such, the quality of the broadcast will be lower than what normal “pay-per-view” shows are, since they’ll be using the more basic set, stage, ring, lighting and so forth.

That also means there will be other matches that take place that will not be airing on the special and will be just for the live crowd.

In general, I’m not thrilled about this. I don’t see the point. WWE is overloaded with content as it is, and there isn’t anything on this that has to be done—not even to the extent that you could argue The Shield had one last match WWE tried to squeeze out of Dean Ambrose (even though that was nothing special that we hadn’t already seen before).

Basically, I look at this as a complete waste of time for anyone who is burned out on WWE, as well as someone like myself who is overworked and could have used the extra time this week dedicated to this for other things…like sleep. So when it comes to my Heat Index for this event as a whole and the general concept, I’m very Cold on it.

WWE Championship Triple Threat Match: Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Samoa Joe = Lukewarm

I would give this match a Hot ranking if this were the first time these three were facing off, and it were at SummerSlam or something that was more of an actual event. But it isn’t. Kingston has already beaten Joe and Ziggler on separate occasions, and it seems he has an opponent lined up for SummerSlam in Randy Orton, so there’s absolutely no way he’ll lose the title here.

That makes me Cold in regards to this, as far as predictability goes. There’s really no incentive to watch it other than if you enjoy the performers and are hoping they have a particularly good contest in the ring, since there aren’t any ramifications that will happen as a result of this match.

Luckily for them, since I’m still a fan of all three, that balances this out to a Lukewarm.

Prediction: Kofi Kingston wins.

Intercontinental Championship Match: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Finn Balor = Lukewarm / Cold

They already wrestled twice. Nakamura beat Balor twice. They clearly set up Bray Wyatt as a future feud for Balor, so I can’t imagine they’d have done that only for Balor to win the title back and have that be a feud for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam.

That means this is just a scenario of WWE literally doing a match with no build other than the match being announced, then repeating the match at a pay-per-view, then repeating it again with a variation of the “automatic rematch clause” that is supposed to be dead, but obviously never was truly abolished in a creative sense.

If you loved their first two matches, then you’re probably really looking forward to this. I have no problem with those matches, but this is a rerun, so if I wanted to watch that, I’d just watch the other two. I don’t go out of my way to sit down on a Saturday night and do a bunch of work revolving around old episodes of Seinfeld, but that’s what WWE wants me to do here, which is annoying. I’d much rather have seen Nakamura against Ali, or I’d be more into this if Balor had only lost the belt at Extreme Rules without wrestling a few days before that, too, and this was match #2.

Prediction: Shinsuke Nakamura wins.

Musical Performance by Elias = Lukewarm / Cold

I enjoy Elias, but I’m pretty certain I’ll be looking at this as a waste of my time unless they write some particularly funny stuff for him and it doesn’t go on long. If this is a lot of the most generic “Music City isn’t good enough for me” stuff with no real pizazz, I’ll be wanting them to hurry it along and move on to the next thing.

Here’s hoping they have some kind of special moments in mind that go over well and upgrade the segment from what we would see on any episode of SmackDown or Raw.

SmackDown Women’s Championship Triple Threat Match: Bayley (c) vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Charlotte Flair = Lukewarm

Hey, on the bright side, this isn’t just Bayley against Alexa Bliss in another rematch. Still, I’m not feeling this. The inclusion of Charlotte Flair makes that lackluster option more tolerable, but I’m not so starved for Flair that I’ve been waiting for her to return and get a title shot, either.

I think this will be fine, but ultimately fall under the category of “but I didn’t need to spend 20 minutes watching it and all this time writing up posts and previewing it, as I would have rather slept another hour and used my time that way.”

Maybe I’ll be wrong and it will be amazing. I hope so.

Prediction: Bayley wins.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day (c) vs. TBA = Hot / Lukewarm / Cold

So, it’s hard to say anything about a match that is still missing the challengers for the titles. Generally speaking, though, I’m a fan of The New Day, so this is good in that regard, even if it feels like it is unnecessary. That’s the theme of this event, anyway.

Prediction: The New Day wins.

Those are my thoughts, but how do you feel about these particular feuds? What’s hot and what’s cold in your mind? Fill us in on your point of view in the comments below!

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