“I’m Better Than You, And You Know It”

"Every Man Has A Price For The Million Dollar Man"

"The Best There Is, The Best There Was, And The Best There Ever Will Be"

"Whatcha Gonna Do, When Hulkamania Runs Wild On You"

"And That's The Bottom Line Because Stone Cold Said So"

<h3>Preview</h3>
<p>The WWE Championship Match between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura at the Greatest Royal Rumble ended in a double count out. Styles attacked Nakamura with a steel chair and then with a Phenomenal forearm outside the squared circle. Even though both the superstars are scheduled to face off against each other at Backlash this Sunday, The Artist is <a href="http://api.wrestlingworld.co/news/shinsuke-nakamura-demands-apology-cruiserweight-star-challenges-kalisto-mike-kanellis-record/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">demanding a public apology</a> from  The Phenomenal One for his actions in Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p><em>Date: May 1st, 2018</em></p>
<p><em>Location: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Centre" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bell Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada</a></em></p>
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<h3><strong>Blunt Wedge</strong></h3>
<p>Back when The Miz was still running wild on Monday Night RAW (brother), he tried to sow the seeds of hatred between Finn Balor and Seth Rollins with the hope of turning them against one another. Tonight, The Miz tried doing the same thing to Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy. And just like on the red show, The Awesome One’s plan not only did not work but also backfired, leading to the two Miz TV guests joining forces against the host.</p>
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<p>And of course, a tag team followed, pitting Hardy and Orton against The Miz and Shelton Benjamin, who we only just remembered to still be part of the United States championship picture. We had so much hope on The Golden Standard when he returned, but the way he has been booked has left us disappointed.</p>
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<h3><strong>Size Matters (again)</strong></h3>
<p>Big Cass basically pulled a Mickie James tonight, as he body-shamed Daniel Bryan and used some exaggeration by calling in a mini-man in Daniel Bryan cosplay. This was nothing new to us, but what was worth noting and commending was the way Big Cass drew some serious heat.</p>
<p>Evil foreigner, check. Using superior stereotypes from the heel’s own city, check. Body-shaming, check. Giving a local miniman a few moments of glory before giving him the BIG boots, also check. Together with Big Cass’ powerful and effective body language and voice tone, it is safe to say Enzo’s former tag team partner had an outstanding promo tonight.</p>
<div class="youtube-embed" data-video_id="e_imGDjCIuQ"><iframe loading="lazy" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e_imGDjCIuQ?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<h3><strong>AND ANOTHER ONE</strong></h3>
<p>What was this one, six? Seven? One thing is for sure, though: If Nakamura were Thanos, and AJ Styles’ “jewels” (his word, not ours) were Infinity Stones, Nakamura would be watching sunrise by now. Nakamura got another A+ in playing the bad guy this week, now using the entrance music as a distraction for another attack on AJ’s titans. Also, the inclusion of Samoa Joe into the championship picture could lead to some interesting scenarios (Hint: At least one of them will include “TNA” chants).</p>
<p>Backlash will be <em><strong>LowBlowMania</strong></em> this Sunday.</p>
<div class="youtube-embed" data-video_id="PX2IZklnnW4"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Did AJ Styles apologize to Shinsuke Nakamura?: SmackDown LIVE, May 1, 2018" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PX2IZklnnW4?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<h3><strong>Your Soul. Is. Mine.</strong></h3>
<p>Yet another feud apparently being built on size. But for the time being, we will not complain. At one time in history, we cheered for a certain team because they went around and poured cereal into people’s mouths.</p>
<p>The New Day vs The Bar feud could do wonders if given proper time to find a direction to develop, and Woods vs Sheamus was another step in the beginning of the saga we hope the teams were telling.</p>
<div class="youtube-embed" data-video_id="9n54-MHelvg"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Xavier Woods vs. Sheamus: SmackDown LIVE, May 1, 2018" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9n54-MHelvg?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<h3><strong>Payoff Too Soon?</strong></h3>
<p>So the 3-on-3 match between Charlotte Flair, Asuka, and Becky Lynch against The Iconics and Carmella took place tonight. Great. And… now what? As fast-paced and exciting as the match was, such a question had to be asked. You have this 3-on-3 feud, but then you had them going head-to-head after 3 weeks or so on television. What was all the fun in that?</p>
<p>This giveaway of a match only went to prove the fact that the 2 3-women teams were just put together randomly by the writers and without any real direction. What about properly building Charlotte Flair vs Carmella with a proper 1-on-1 segment? It went well last week, why not capitalize.</p>
<p>We liked the little arc going on about Becky Lynch seeing herself on the losing end too often, but again, the arc could (and should) have been played out for some more time, instead of resolving it barely an hour later. It has been a recurring problem with the women’s team feuds, and we will not shut up until we see some improvements. Great match, but sad implications.</p>
<div class="youtube-embed" data-video_id="v0xBdIyNijk"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Charlotte Flair, Asuka &amp; Becky Lynch vs. Carmella &amp; The IIconics: SmackDown LIVE, May 1, 2018" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v0xBdIyNijk?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<h3><strong>Stuff worth noting but not worthy of their own entries:</strong></h3>
<p><strong>Nakamura</strong> vs <strong>Styles</strong> became no DQ. So…yeah, a stipulation that allows low-blows when they were the weapon of choice that the heel had been using to get the victory… Hey, at least AJ could exact his revenge now.</p>
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<p>The “<strong>Orton</strong> RKO-ing his rival out of nowhere” has become a little boring, to be honest.</p>
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<p><strong>The Bar</strong> finally flipped <strong>New Day</strong>’s pancakes, and New Day was one PG away from flippin’ the bird.</p>
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<p><strong>Lana</strong> returned and she started to imply to <strong>Rusev</strong> that <strong>Aiden English</strong> was the problem all this time. OH NOOOOOO PLEASE DON’T DISBAND RUSEV DAYYYYY!!!</p>
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<p><strong>AJ Styles</strong> line: <em>“Shinsuke is more interested in the wrong jewels”</em>.</p>
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<p><strong>Becky Lynch</strong>’s outfit needs more recognition.</p>
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<p><strong>Paige</strong> just dropped a bombshell to the blonde bombshell <strong>Mandy Rose</strong> and her partner <strong>Sonya Deville</strong>: <em>“Absolution is dead”</em>. No nepotism AND no more team. Rough night for Rose and Deville it must have been.</p>
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<h3><strong>Overall Review:</strong></h3>
<p>A solid show it was, with the highlight being the low blow from Nakamura and The Rockstar’s fantastic heel work as of late. The Big Cass segment was also great stuff; Big Cass really could work through a promo on his own. However, our biggest issue was the apparent randomness of the pairing of the women’s division. Let us hope WWE could treat them better next week.</p>
<p>But for now, let us anticipate Charlotte Flair vs Carmella as well as other matches at Backlash.</p>

WWE Smackdown Live Results & Review: May 1st 2018

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