WWE Super ShowDown 2020 had a lot of potential to be a game changer, so throughout the event, I was keeping track of my ongoing reactions to each match. All of those thoughts are down below, followed by my usual Smack Talk Pay-Per-Viewpoint post-show podcast, which reviews the event in more detail.
Was this a noteworthy show for the better, for the worse, or the type of thing you didn’t need to bother watching?
Here were my thoughts:
The Viking Raiders vs. The O.C.
- I’m tired. I have no energy for this pre-show. This match better wake me up.
- Sadly, that isn’t the case. I’m not surprised, though, as this isn’t a fresh match and has zero build to it.
- What’s up with all the microphone issues?
- I guess we have a running theme in Saudi Arabia going where Gallows and Anderson beat Erik and Ivar. It’s a shame this means nothing.
Tuwaiq Trophy Gauntlet Match
- Starting off with R-Truth and Bobby Lashley was exactly what I expected.
- I didn’t think they’d bother having Lashley attack R-Truth afterward, though. I figured they could just have the next heel beat R-Truth straight-up.
- Disappointed Lana was out, but Zelina Vega wasn’t.
- Wait, what? Andrade lost to R-Truth with an inadvertent head collision? I can’t help but laugh and assume that’s a punishment for his Wellness Policy violation or it just made Vince McMahon chuckle.
- The question’s been brought up, but I’m seriously wondering: How did Erick Rowan kayfabe get that cage through security?
- And now Rowan is disqualified. Wow. This is not at all how I saw this match progressing. I figured Rey Mysterio would be the babyface to go a long distance.
- Some good pyro for AJ Styles.
- What’s with all the dancing?
- I hope they filmed the stuff with Rey Mysterio backstage during Raw so that he didn’t have to bother traveling.
- The Undertaker is my #2 favorite of all time, nearly tied with Shawn Michaels. I’ll never not think his entrance is cool.
- Just a chokeslam? Well, at least they didn’t waste the WrestleMania match, but I still feel like they made a mistake. Styles should have won this and Taker should’ve attacked him post-match, rather than making it so The Phenom wins the “prestigious” trophy.
SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day (c) vs. John Morrison and The Miz
- So much pyro!
- I was really looking forward to this match, but I feel like all the energy has been sucked out of it. Is it just me feeling off, or did anyone else think that?
- Didn’t expect Big E to kick out of the Skull Crushing Finale.
- “This is awesome” from the crowd. I guess it is just me who is feeling off. That’s a shame, as I’m a huge fan of all four of these guys.
- That was a weak ending. These “chair weakly to the stomach” things just have no impact to me. I don’t want unsafe head shots, as that’s just a recipe for concussions, but chairs haven’t meant much for years and when they’re done even weaker than normal, that’s saying a lot.
Angel Garza vs. Humberto Carrillo
- Oh great. WWE’s answer to waking me up is to repeat Garza against Carrillo. This match JUST happened on Raw this week and it’s happened like a dozen times before that. I like Garza a lot, but I’ve never been into Carrillo. I’d rather the event end early than to have this match on the card.
- Carrillo’s pyro doesn’t even go off when it should. Yeesh.
- Okay, it’s been 30 seconds. Can this just end already?
- Okay, Garza took off his pants. Funny enough, that’s probably going to be the most interesting part of the match. Can this just end already?
- Just end. Stop it. Nobody cares.
- Thank God this is over. Hey, WWE, does anyone in the company think this did anything for anybody, helped push this feud in any direction, or served any purpose whatsoever? I didn’t think so.
Raw Tag Team Championship Match: Seth Rollins and Murphy (c) vs. The Street Profits
- I wish I had something to say about this match, but we’re several minutes in and I’m just finding myself distracted. Again, I’m a big fan of these guys, but this isn’t going well for me. Either the crowd is dead (which seems to be the case, as they were louder before) or there’s a weird noise vacuum going on. That and my lack of sleep and nothing particularly interesting happening to wake me up out of that is really sucking out my energy.
- At least the ending with the stomp was a logical conclusion.
- I really feel like I might have to rewatch this match on another night, but I’ll probably never get the time to do that.
Mansoor vs. Dolph Ziggler
- So is this glitch thing a Killer Kross tease for SmackDown or for NXT, or for both in some weird cross-branded thing that shouldn’t make any logical sense? Or are they doing 2 separate teases that seem similar?
- Did they really get Robert Roode to fly over to Saudi Arabia so he could come out and be ejected from ringside before the bell rang?
- Anyone else see that guy in the crowd hand someone a big paper bag filled with stuff? That looked more like groceries than a swag bag. What’s up with that? #HurricaneHelms
- This was nowhere near as good as the Cesaro match, but it was still fine.
- Time for the ceremonial pro-Saudi promo after the match.
WWE Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Ricochet
- This is going to be quicker faster than I can even have any reactions.
- Ricochet isn’t going to get a single move in. That’s a shame.
- Yup. There you go. Completely wrecked.
- Clearly, WWE saw this situation as “it’s more important to put Lesnar over as a 100% dominant person, as if anyone questions that, so that when he fights Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania, he’s rehabbed from not being absolutely perfect at WrestleMania.” It’s a shame the company’s so black and white like that, though. Nobody thinks Lesnar is any less of the top dog and one of the most protected people in WWE history. However, they still thought they had to completely and utterly sacrifice Ricochet for that. He couldn’t even get in one hit, as he had to be swatted away. Guaranteed, WWE doesn’t have the foresight to know that they should give Ricochet some wins after this to counteract it. They’ll have him lose to AJ Styles on Raw because Styles is the one who lost so fast to The Undertaker (another rehab situation) and then, they’ll forget about Ricochet. He’ll promptly disappear on the Road to WrestleMania, then be a random guy in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, won’t be featured, won’t win, and they’ll be wondering in April why nobody is invested in him.
- With that being said, obviously, Lesnar needed to win this. The execution was disappointing, knowing WWE’s track record, but the win/loss decision was the right call.
Steel Cage Match: King Corbin vs. Roman Reigns
- Sing along with me here: ♫ This should have ended at TLC or Royal Rumble ♫
- I’ll admit that I’m curious where the extra padlock and chain will come into play. At some point, it needs to be unlocked and used as a weapon.
- There goes the chain.
- I said in my predictions all over the place that this match would be a slog. It’s proven me correct. These guys weren’t tearing down the house in the ring. You can’t lock them inside a cage and have them put on a better match than when they had access to weapons and could go outside the ropes.
- A Superman Punch with a steel chain in an inconsequential cage match ends this feud that was dragged out by a whole extra two months or so. I hate it when WWE is lazy.
SmackDown Women’s Championship Match: Bayley (c) vs. Naomi
- Do the women have to wear the t-shirts on top of mostly just black full body suits, or can they wear customized outfits without a t-shirt? It seems like this is a missed opportunity to give them gear that shows their characters. Naomi has some colorful stuff going on, but still a shirt on top of that. Bayley’s not even trying with that blue shirt and black everything else.
- This isn’t bad…but I’ll admit that if this wasn’t my job, I would probably be doing something else other than watching this.
- Bayley wrapping Naomi’s foot in her shirt was interesting. However, Bayley’s move to finish the match wasn’t great. That kind of ruined it.
Universal Championship Match: Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Goldberg
- Whether it’s Goldberg, John Cena or Roman Reigns, anybody who wins that ugly Wyatt-faced belt is going to look awkward holding that up in victory.
- Did anyone else think they would call it quits at that one spear? I’ll admit that they got me with that.
- Okay, so they just did a few more spears and a weak Jackhammer after that, instead.
- Hahahahahahaha they gave him the blue title to avoid that awkward crap with the Fiend belt!!!!!!
For more opinions on the show as a whole, check out the latest edition of the Smark Out Moment wrestling podcast SMACK TALK as the panel reviews Super ShowDown with our immediate reactions following the event before the dust has fully settled.
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