Instant Reaction - WWE Smackdown 4/20
By Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

Overall Score - 6.0

Tonight's show started off great, but slowly fell apart from there. The opening segment with Bryan and A.J. was great. A.J. showed a great range of emotions, and Bryan's heel comments were awesome. "I wish you were never born" is on the fast track to being the best quote of 2012. The match that followed it also played out well, leaving viewers to wonder about A.J.'s emotional state while also showing off her ruthless side. And, then the rest of the show, WWE started to coast.

I've already documented my love for Brodus Clay, so even Hornswoggle crashing the party didn't ruin my enjoyment of his segment. I don't see it being bad that Hunico lost to Brodus - despite his athleticism he hasn't done anything while on Smackdown and has absolutely zero charisma or conviction behind the mic. He'll end up being an upper mid-carder at best, if he doesn't step up his game. The Teddy Long torture stuff has been done before, but I like the approach they're taking with Aksana's character, making her seem like a deceitful witch. It also provided a solid introduction for Antonio Cesaro, whom I'm excited to see step into the ring eventually.

The "Superstars of NXT" didn't do much for me. Much like Hunico, Titus and D-Young need a big step-up in presentation and charisma before anything can be done with them. Having the Usos lose to them isn't the best idea (by the way, isn't it weird that the Usos are the oldest active team in WWE, to my knowledge? The division really has seen better days...). Del Rio vs. Show served its purpose, but wasn't too special, and Cody's run-in was weak. He needs a credibility boost after being made out to be a punk several times by Show, and this wasn't it. The Ryback squashes are continuing to improve, though. At the same time, can he please ditch the terrible tights and 1980s generic rock music?

The main event six-man tag match was just there. It didn't further any stories, the Khali injury angle was lame, and the match itself was just decent. And, so ends a Smackdown that had so much potential, but ended up falling a bit flat after the first half hour. They really need something to spark the brand, because there appears to be nothing exciting on the horizon in terms of stories.

Any questions or comments? Follow me on Twitter at BTuckertorch, or e-mail me at btuckertorch@aol.com.

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