One thousand episodes of Smackdown Live!  That is hard to image, but it is now the second longest weekly episodic show in television history.  What is number one?  Monday night RAW.  WWE has been a staple on cable television for over twenty-five years.  The celebration of the one thousandth episode of Smackdown Live did not disappoint.  A lot of special guest, and some great matches too.  So let’s get into it!

Truth TV Returns!

Truth TV made its return last night, much to the delight of the Washington DC crowd and the WWE universe.  I personally love R-Truth and Carmella together, and their dance breaks are hilarious.  Also, Carmella is very easy on the eyes, so anytime Truth TV is on, it has my undivided attention.  The guests last night were some pretty important names in the WWE.  The McMahons, Stephanie, Shane and Vince were all guest and even participated in the dance break suggested by Vince McMahon.  Fun and entertaining segment and a great start to Smackdown Live 1000.

Huge win for the Uso’s

AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan will wrestle one on one at Crown Jewel, but last night they teamed up to take on one of the greatest tag teams of all time, The Uso’s.  The Uso’s haven’t been on TV for a few weeks, but always deliver when they are.  A great match that saw Daniel Bryan inadvertently hit AJ Styles adding to the growing tension between the two.  The Uso’s then hit AJ with a superkick, and then they both hit Daniel Bryan with a double superkick to win the match.  Hopefully that catapults the USO’s into the tag team title picture.

Evolution back for one night

Evolution were back together last night and I have to say, everybody still looks great!  Including sixty-nine year old Ric Flair, who has been through the ringer with his health over the last year.  I heard last night that there are forty-nine world championships between the four men.  All will be WWE hall of famers one day.

Every superstar got a chance to speak, and put each other over.  With the exception of Randy Orton who is really playing up to his current heel character.  Orton cut heel promos on the other three members of Evolution.  Batista had the most mic time last night.  It honestly went a little long in my opinion, and Batista was a little awkward on the mic, but got his point across.  He even had a funny line when he told Ric Flair to “keep that thing in your pants.” which got a huge pop from the DC crowd and even the other three men in the ring.  Probably didn’t make Vince to happy since WWE is PG now, but it probably made him chuckle at the same time.  But it was when he told Triple H that “he has done everything in this business, except beat me.” that received an even bigger reaction.  Clearly seeds have been planted for a future match between the two.  Who knows when it will be, or if it will even happen, but the wheels for that storyline are now in motion.  Great segment that went a little long, but was very entertaining.

Miz is in the World Cup

The quickest match of the night goes to The Miz vs Rusev.  The match was probably supposed to be longer, but I think the Evolution segment went a little longer than it was supposed to.  I would be surprised if the match was a minute long.  Aiden English ran down to the ring and disrupted Rusev and The Miz was able to roll up Rusev and get the quick victory, making him the seventh entrant into the World Cup tournament.

After the match, Lana had a few choice words for English and then kicked him in the man parts.  Rusev then came out of the ring and put a beating on him.  Throwing him into the steel steps and the ring post.  Rusev was able to get a little revenge on English, but I think it will take a gimmick match like a no DQ or maybe something like, winner gets Lana for 30 days.  I doubt they would go that route in today’s WWE but it would make this rivalry a little more interesting.

The Cutting Edge

The Cutting Edge returned last night with WWE Hall of Famer Edge making an appearance.  By the way Edge is one of my all time favorites, so it was great to see him and listen to his entrance music.  The best entrance music of all time, yes even better than Real American.  Edge’s guests last night were supposed to be Smackdown Womens champion Becky Lynch and number one contender Charlotte Flair.  Becky was introduced and came to the ring to quite the ovation from the DC crowd.  Edge was surprisingly playing the role of moral compass last night.  He was explaining to Becky that he sees a lot of himself in her current attitude.  He told Becky that the attitude worked for him, he has all the championships he ever wanted.  But when your time in wrestling is done, that’s all you have.  You have no friends and you sit alone looking at all the titles on your wall.  He also said that “the kicker is, you won’t even like yourself!”  Becky responded with “You’re right, I don’t like myself… I LOVE myself!  Now quit being so condescending to the champ and get out of my ring.  And don’t re injure your neck again going through the ropes.”  She absolutely buried one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.  A clear heel statement and the DC crowd went nuts, still cheering for Becky.  Charlotte came out and was booed through out her promo, and even the scuffle between the two incited a Becky chant.

The double turn has to happen, Becky will not get booed no matter what they do.  She could punt puppies across the arena and still get cheered.  Look for Charlotte to take the title from Becky at Evolution, and turn heel in the process.  This is the hottest rivalry in the WWE right now and if it doesn’t close the show at Evolution it will be a crime.

New Smackdown tag team champions

The Smackdown tag team titles changed hands last night, when The Bar was able to enlist the Big Show as a back up.  The New Day has always been a three-man group where any man could defend the titles at anytime.  I wonder if this will be a similar situation or if Big Show will act as more of a body-guard or manager for The Bar.

The match itself was really good, but a dangerous bump from Cesaro had me wondering if he injured himself.  Big E lifted him up and dropped him on the back of his head and neck.  It was either a great sell by Cesaro or he legit looked to be knocked a little senseless.  The match went back and forth for a while until The Bar tried to put Kofi through a table when The Big Show’s music hit.  The Bar looked as if Big Show was coming after them.  But Big Show picked up Kofi and choke slammed him through an announce table.  This distracted Big E, and when he turned around he caught a brogue kick to the face, and lost the match and the tag team titles.  The Bar is now five time tag team champs.

How great is the tag team division on Smackdown Live?  The Bar, The New Day and The Uso’s just to name a few.  Great teams that could all put on great matches.

Rey Mysterio earns final spot in World Cup tournament

The returning Rey Mysterio took on the U.S. champion Shinsuke Nakamura last night in the main event for the final spot in the World Cup tournament, that will take place at Crown Jewel.  Mysterio looks great for a guy in his mid forties.  He looks like the same Rey Mysterio from a decade ago.  He had a solid clean win against Nakamura last night.

My concern is for Nakamura.  He has been somewhat irrelevant since winning the U.S. title a few months ago.  Even more irrelevant than Nakamura, is the U.S. title.  I am not sure how to make the title mean something.  It is probably the least prestigous title on the main roster.  If you were to ask me what would make it relevant again I would say put it on a babyface, like Rusev and have him defend it week after week in an open challenge again.  Or put it on someone like The Miz who has a history of restoring titles to their glory.

As far as the World Cup tournament, the field is stacked!  All wrestlers involved are former world champions.  My pick right now is for Orton to win it.  His heel character right now is fire, and he could use this tournament to put him in the WWE title picture.  The wrestler I would like to see win it is Dolph Ziggler.  He has been portrayed as the weak link lately, and I think winning the tournament would be great for his career.  No matter what the turn out, it’s the first time since the 1998 Survivor Series tournament, that I have been this invested in a tournament.  I typically am not a fan of one night tournaments, but this one will be good.

Undertaker makes an appearance

The Undertaker made an appearance to close the one thousandth episode of Smackdown Live last night.  His entrance was longer than his promo as all he said was “When it comes to DX and Crown Jewel, I only have three words for you, Rest In Peace!”  It was rushed due to timing but, that is all you really want from the Undertaker.

Crown Jewel

Still on mention of Saudi Arabia on WWE television.  Crown Jewel is being heavily promoted, but the location is not.  When it comes to the tragic events involving Saudi Arabia the WWE’s only comment is “They are monitoring the situation.”  WWE has a ten-year contract with Saudi Arabia to bring their product there.  But now that the tragedy has become political, WWE is treading lightly on the situation.  There are still a couple of weeks before the show is to take place.  The question is still the location.  I personally think the show will go on. However I wouldn’t be surprised if a few wrestlers back out on going.  Like the WWE, I will be monitoring the situation.

Thanks for checking out gohomepwb.com.  Comment or like this article and let me know what your thoughts on Smackdown 1000 or how you think Crown Jewel will play out.  Tomorrow, the weekly top ten.  Thanks for reading!