smackdown results bleacher
Just 72 hours before World Wrestling Entertainment crowns a new world heavyweight champion at Survivor Series, the four Superstars competing in the semifinal round of that tournament rolled in to SmackDown, each looking to leave one final impression on the the WWE Universe.It was imperative that someone other than Roman Reigns separate himself from the others and give fans a reason to be interested in him ahead of Sunday’s WWE Network broadcast.Enter Kevin Owens, who shined brightly on Miz TV, stealing the host’s thunder and dubbing the segment “The Kevin Owens Show.” From there, he dinged Alberto Del Rio, telling him that no one missed him while he was gone.There was something about the complete nonchalance with which he approached the entire ordeal, never getting overly animated or bothered by anything that went on, that helped him stand out on a night when everyone else was concerned with getting the last word.The current intercontinental champion was the night’s biggest winner, but not the only one.And which of his fellow WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament competitors was the broadcast’s biggest loser’The answers lie below.Loser: Alberto Del Rio”Do you know who missed you while you were gone’ No one.”And with that sentence, Kevin Owens summed up the entire Alberto Del Rio experience.No one buys him as a threat to knock off Roman Reigns in the semifinals of the world title tournament. Worse yet, no one cares about him, his Mex-America movement or his pairing with Zeb Colter. He is a one-dimensional and uninteresting character, to the point that the reaction for his arrival is virtually nonexistent.For someone who was brought back into the fold and given a rare clean victory over John Cena at Hell in a Cell, one would have thought he would bother to alter his character or that WWE Creative would opt to add depth to his persona.Instead, he is exactly the same tired, boring guy he was when he left the company in 2014 and is thankfully poised to be eliminated from WWE World Heavyweight Championship contention early Sunday night.Winner: PaigeThe No. 1 contender to the WWE Divas Championship has had a banner week of sorts.First, she headlined Raw during a contract signing with Charlotte, evoking the name and memory of the champion’s late brother, Reid Flair. From there, she engaged the second-generation star in a wild brawl to close the show.Thursday night, she was delightfully evil, completely unapologetic following her insulting words toward Charlotte. She made it abundantly clear that the only thing she cares about is the title and, more importantly, warned Charlotte that she should not allow a few words to get under her skin if she is to be champion for an extended period of time.It was a brilliant bit of mic time from a female performer who is not concerned with getting a portion of the audience to like her. She is a heel who gets cheered, not a heel who longs to be cool for the sake of a reaction.Those are rare in today’s WWE.Winner: The MizEssentially a promotional tool for WWE at this point, the former world champion has been underrated and underused for well over a year now. Thursday night, Miz showed just how great a performer he actually is, arguing with his guests as they stole control of his talk show from him, only to eat a huge right hand from Dean Ambrose.Then, following the commercial break, he complained like the spoiled brat of a celebrity he is and demanded his match to be called off. Cesaro would have none of it and beat him in short order.Miz is a company man, a performer unafraid to make a fool of himself to garner a reaction. That is something he does as well as anyone: convince fans to respond to him. He is a great, old school wrestling heel who understands that it is his job to endure his comeuppance sooner or later and does it in excellent and dramatic fashion.At a time when WWE is struggling to produce stars, it is somewhat dumbfounding that it has not tried to rebuild a former main event star who has the crossover appeal that the company so cherishes.
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