This week’s Smackdown has Michael Cole on commentary instead of Mauro Renallo. I almost skipped it because of that.

A few weeks ago I questioned why Smackdown has a Raw recap at the beginning. I asked "Who is watching Smackdown that doesn't watch Raw?" Well I am the answer to that question. I stopped watching Raw but still watch Smackdown.

Anyway Smackdown was off to a bad start. No Mauro Renallo. My excitement has gone down a great deal.

Kevin Owens fucking with Byron Saxton and Michael Cole never gets old.

Apparently the Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio 2 out of 3 falls match is going to be on the Fastlane preshow. That is bullshit. The title should be treated with more respect.

We start with a trios match. Lucha Dragons with Dolph Ziggler vs. the League of Nations. As noted Kevin Owens was on commentary.

The match was fine. There were some great dives, some good back and forth action, everyone looked good. I have no complaints.

If Mauro was there it would have come off better. I don't hate Michael Cole, I really don't, but Mauro makes these matches important. He does that by actually calling the match. Michael Cole doesn't do that.

Even when there are people at the announce table Mauro continues to call the match. That is important.

I would also have loved to see how Owens and Mauro interacted.

I think much of what I say about this episode of Smackdown will boil down to "would have been better with Mauro".

I really try not to be 'that guy'. The one that feels the need to constantly comment on how women look, but Naomi has an amazing body. The woman is built like a brick house. If you looked up the word 'DAMN' in the dictionary you would see a picture of Ron Simmons looking at a picture of Naomi.

Since I'm in that state of mind, am I the only one who thinks that Tamina is beautiful?

Enough of that let's get back to the wrestling.

Before Sasha Banks came out a video, that was posted on the WWE Facebook page, was shown. The video was of an encounter Team Bad had with Becky Lynch.

The video wasn't full screen. Most of the screen was made to look like Facebook. Why? Isn't saying the word 'Facebook' enough do you have to have the screen mimic it as well?
                                                

God, they really are going with Sasha being the 'Beyonce' of the WWE. What does that even mean? That she is the biggest star in the Divas division. Is Beyonce even the biggest pop star anymore? Wouldn't that title go to  Taylor Swift?

Or do they mean that Sasha is a unique talent. In that case wouldn't Pink or Lady Gaga be a better choice?

I'm guessing they are going with a Boss/Queen parallel. Of course I never bought Beyonce as a Queen. Aretha Franklin sure, Beyonce no.

I totally got Sasha calling herself the ‘Beyonce’ of Team BAD, but that should stop there.

After the match, which was ok, Naomi and Tamina attacked Sasha. Becky Lynch came out, to a great reaction, and made the save. Sasha was less than appreciative.

Becky Lynch is the most over person in this feud. I would have thought Sasha would be but Becky has the fans on her side.
                                          

The Miz should use "The Real A Lister" as his moniker from now on. It fits his character and has a nice ring to it.

Chris Jericho came to the ring to call out AJ Styles. The Miz came out instead. Is there a better pure heal than the Miz right now?

Jericho and the Miz had a decent match. It wasn't great nor was it terrible. Jericho won and then went back to calling out AJ Styles.

AJ comes out and Jericho tells him there will be no 3rd match. Styles attacks Jericho to provoke him. It works. Styles/Jericho 3 is set for Fastlane.

Styles attacking Jericho isn't normally what a face would do, but it should be. How do you get a match with someone who doesn't want to give it to you? Give them a reason to fight. Simple, smart story telling.

I know it's not exactly a unique position to believe that Dean Ambrose is a better all around talent than Roman Reigns. But you can't watch this Ambrose/Heyman promo and tell me that Ambrose doesn't show more personality here than Reigns has shown throughout his entire career.

This promo is just fantastic. Paul Heyman being fearful of the unpredictable Dean Ambrose is great. Heyman really sells just how dangerous a crazy man can be.

I love Danial Bryan but that love does not transfer over to Brie Bella. I want to see Charlotte destroy her.

Goldust rapping, with the gold chain, and the hat is funny but he actually had black makeup on his face. I know that's his normal face paint but they might have wanted to change that up.

I liked the early Golden Truth promos but they're starting to get a little old. I want to see these two actual work a match together.  It just occurred to me that this R Truth/Goldust thing is an exact redo of the Jason Jordan/Chad Gable angle. How did I not see that before?

The Dudley Boyz have turned heel and stopped using tables. That's great they're too good of a team to not be utilized properly. What they really need is to drop the camo, they already got rid of the stupid glasses. An image change would help them a lot.

Speaking of the Dudley Boyz, Bubba really needs to shave his head. He has to accept his baldness and move on.
                                 

The match was OK at best. There were a few cool spots, like Bubba’s bump from the second rope. Aside from that this was just a slow run of the mill match.

Before Roman Reigns, of course, could get the win Brock Lesnar came out. This was were I started to get annoyed. Brock ran through Dean Ambrose unit Reigns got in the fight. The only time Ambrose got any offense in was when he was working with Reigns.

Roman accidentally speared Ambrose who then attacked Reigns. Brock finished them off and left the ring as HHH's music hit.

And the show went full retard right here. HHH standing at the entrance ramp looking on at three men that will fight for the opportunity to face him. The three men he CHOSE.

Let's look at those three men shall we?

You have Roman Reigns who has already beaten the holy hell out of HHH. He beat the man so badly he was off TV (Raw) for weeks.

Then there is Dean Ambrose. He is a young, hungry, crazy man who has no problem destroying himself for what he wants.

Finally you have Brock Lesnar. The man killed HHH once before. He is unbeatable.

All three of these men were chosen by HHH for the #1 Contenders match.

Why? Why would he want to fight any of these guys? The only thing worse than a dumb face is a dumb heel.

If I was champ and could choose my opponents I'd have the Miz facing Heath Slater for that #1 Contenders shot. That way whoever wins, I know I can take them out.

This is one of those time when Kayfabe takes it in the ass for the sake of business.

That's it for Smackdown. It would have been better with Mauro Renallo.

So now it's time for me to choose my show of the week.
 
                               

                                

It should come as no surprise. Lucha Underground won this week hands down. NXT was a close second though.

On to the news.

Word is that Cedric Alexander and Tony Nese were at a recent WWE tryout. This may have been for a chance to be on the Global Cruiserweight Series. These are great choices. Not only are both guys great in the ring but Niese has a unique look for a cruiserweight.

ROH should offer Cedric Alexander a contract right now. He is doing great work for them and I'd hate to see him leave. The angle he has with John Grisham is fantastic.

That's it for wrestling this week. Fastlane is on Sunday I should have my thoughts about that up on Monday.