{"id":125825,"date":"2021-08-28T21:26:54","date_gmt":"2021-08-29T02:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=125825"},"modified":"2021-08-28T21:26:54","modified_gmt":"2021-08-29T02:26:54","slug":"wwe-smackdown-hits-misses-8-27-beckys-back-vinces-new-favorite-toy-happy-corbin-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2021\/08\/28\/wwe-smackdown-hits-misses-8-27-beckys-back-vinces-new-favorite-toy-happy-corbin-more\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE SMACKDOWN HITS &#038; MISSES 8\/27: Becky&#8217;s back, Vince&#8217;s new favorite toy, Happy Corbin, more"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3114063472\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><h3>Hits<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Becky\u2019s Back<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Becky is back, and with her comes a significant amount of star power that immediately translated to Smackdown. It was an unsurprising bummer that Brock Lesnar was not present this week, but Becky instantly brought a feeling of importance to Bianca Belair, who herself looked magnificent standing opposite Lynch. This faux outrage over how Becky won the championship still doesn\u2019t ring true to me considering how we\u2019ve seen Becky win in the past (most notably at the Royal Rumble), and is a good starting point for the program with Belair. If it feels rushed, it\u2019s because it is, but its also what the very shallow women\u2019s division needs at this point.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Storytelling That Makes Sense<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I enjoyed the show running story of the doubt that the Uso brothers had towards Paul Heyman and his subsequent nervousness around Roman. It is logical, fair, and it makes sense. I also like that Finn Balor is back, and with back up this time, to avenge his August treatment. Balor is the right \u2018next guy\u2019 for Reigns mostly due to both the immediate and long ago history of Balor\u2019s relationship with the Universal Championship. Works for Me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Happy Corbin<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I liked the Happy Corbin segment! That is shocking in it\u2019s own right, but this fast-tracked advancement of the Baron Corbin character worked because Corbin is such a natural heel. It is fair that many felt he was performing well in the down-and-out days, but he was hardly Meryl Streep out there. The new music, intro video, and outfit is tailor made for him. I wouldn\u2019t think this is still the best place for Big E to be, but he doesn\u2019t exactly fit anywhere else either.<\/p>\n<h3>Misses<\/h3>\n<p><strong>No Lesnar<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Did we expect him here? No. Does it stand out even more against the backdrop of releases, AEW debuts, and rising resentment over WWE dynamics? Absolutely.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2434116539\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><strong>No Movement<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It just doesn\u2019t seem like we are getting anywhere of significance for much of the Smackdown roster. Gable and Cesaro are so world class it\u2019s not even funny, but continue to play background to Otis (including literally Gable\u2019s entrance), who is a character that seems to also have a low hanging shelf life. Add in much of the women\u2019s division, notably all of Belair\u2019s challengers tonight, who seem to just be treading water with no real shot of having anything interesting happen to any of their characters. This leads to a pleasant enough show, but nothing all that memorable outside of the main event program.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The New Favorite Toy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It seems abundantly clear that Rick Boogs and King Nakamura are the new favorite toy of Vince McMahon, but, again, it doesn\u2019t exactly scream of a long-ranging impactful pairing. Sure the entrance is fun enough and it is always great seeing Nakamura in an inspired way, but what is the end game here? A feud between the two where the much less impressive Boogs goes over? The focus at this point should be on adding more depth to the act rather than jamming that already-annoying entrance down the audiences\u2019 throats.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jury is Out<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The jury is still out on the state of the Mysterio family drama, so this is only a marginal miss. Dominik has advanced fine enough and would probably grow significantly working opposite his father, but it all feels a little heavy handed to me without any one really to get behind. It feels for awkward than interesting.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>CATCH-UP:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2021\/08\/27\/8-27-wwe-smackdown-tv-results-kellers-report-on-becky-lynchs-return-to-smackdown-as-champion-reigns-celebrates-his-win-over-cena-nakamura-boogs-vs-ziggler-roode\/\">8\/27 WWE SMACKDOWN TV RESULTS: Keller\u2019s report on Becky Lynch\u2019s return to Smackdown as champion, Reigns celebrates his win over Cena, Nakamura &amp; Boogs vs. Ziggler &amp; Roode<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3880524686\"><div id=\"pwtor-3943849783\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Hits Becky\u2019s Back Becky is back, and with her comes a significant amount of star power that immediately translated to Smackdown. It was an unsurprising bummer that Brock Lesnar was not present this week, but <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2021\/08\/28\/wwe-smackdown-hits-misses-8-27-beckys-back-vinces-new-favorite-toy-happy-corbin-more\/\" title=\"WWE SMACKDOWN HITS &#038; MISSES 8\/27: Becky&#8217;s back, Vince&#8217;s new favorite toy, Happy Corbin, more\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":125407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,28,27],"tags":[72,71,117],"class_list":["post-125825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists_hitsandmisses","category-specialists","tag-smackdown","tag-wwe","tag-wwe-smackdown"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2021\/08\/Becky-Lynch-Summerslam.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125826,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125825\/revisions\/125826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}