The WWE and United States Champion Seth Rollins opens Smackdown because it's not enough that the heel has to open Raw every week. He brags about what he's going to do at Night of Champions, before mentioning tonight's main event. His partner tonight is Sheamus, who comes out to tease the Money in the Bank cash in again. He tries to make #RTH or Respect the Hawk a thing but I doubt it gets over. The opening contest features Becky Lynch and Paige against Naomi and Sasha Banks. As usual with these girls, the work is pretty fine. Naomi seems to be at her best when working alongside Sasha and she disappoints when in singles competition. She wins for her team here, rolling up Paige to continue Paige's losing streak. I suspect the heel turn coming rather soon.
We see a promo in the back from the Cosmic Wasteland about Night of Champions. I really happen to like this group. New Day is out next and cut a promo about saving the tables again. Seriously, the things that New Day does should not work at all but it always delivers. It's a testament to their chemistry and ability that they can talk about Mother Nature and trees and make it entertaining. They want the Dudleys to sign a petition to save the tables. It's on a clipboard, which Xavier Woods calls a "mini table". Kofi Kingston defeats D-Von Dudley with a cheap rollup. Time for Raw recaps as see highlights of the Rusev/Ziggler/Summer stuff. I still don't understand how Rusev is the heel in this feud? He's been the sympathetic character for sure. To continue the Raw recaps, we see footage of Nikki Bella setting the Divas Title record before they set up the BELLABRATION! They have 298 bottles of champagne, they name drop Kim Kardashian and Kanye West and it seems like Nikki is being a total bitch to her teammates. Next, we get a singles match between Big Show and Cesaro. Want to guess how this ends? It doesn't end with a Cesaro victory. It ends with a fucking Big Show win. Why? There is absolutely no logical reason for this. Cesaro beat Rusev on Raw, who actually has a match at NOC and couldn't really afford a loss, but he loses to Big Show is fucking hogging up a spot on the roster. This is so unfathomably dumb and they wonder why ratings are in the shitter.
Backstage, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns continue to tease their mystery partner for Night of Champions. They won't even tell Renee Young, despite her being infinitely adorable. Kevin Owens is out now for a match against Dolph Ziggler. Owens' entrance seems to just be far better in the intimate setting of NXT. With Owens and Ziggler being two guys that can go in the ring, this was a pretty solid showing from both guys but nothing out of this world. Owens continues to be one of the more entertaining things on the roster with his ability to draw heat and talk smack during matches. He goes for the apron powerbomb to end Ziggler but Ryback rushes out for the save, causing a disqualification. They brawl and Owens is able to escape up the ramp. Time for the BELLABRATION! Nikki expects a big crowd but, similar to the party AJ Lee threw when she was around, nobody shows. Team PCB shows up, despite not being invited. Becky Lynch is wearing three party hats because she's incredible. Charlotte tells her to prepare to be alone since she won't be with the Divas Title soon. "Party pooper" Adam Rose arrives to tell Nikki that her party sucks. Nikki wants to throw cake in his face but misses and the cake only catches Alicia Fox and Brie in the face. Funny little segment here, but Nikki Bella continues to be a very bad actress. To be fair, Charlotte's acting was bad throughout too.
We see Summer Rae come up to Dolph Ziggler to thank him for the gift on Monday. He says the gift is just a peace offering but then teases it could be more. RU RU IS GONNA BE PISSED! Main event time as Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns take on Sheamus and Seth Rollins. As you would expect, it was a decent match and the tension between Sheamus and Rollins was their downfall. It led to Sheamus eating a Superman punch and Dirty Deeds. Then the Wyatts appeared on screen to cut a promo. Decent little episode of Smackdown here. It didn't do much in the way of making me want to see NOC, but had some solid matches. Not the worst way to spend two hours as nothing was bad outside of the Cesaro/Big Show stuff and some of the Bellabration. 5.5/10.
