This show is so good. I had absolutely no interest in it, but watched it after that Miz segment went viral. And it's become maybe my favourite 30 minutes of wrestling related content in the week.
If anyone was on the fence about whether WWE should do away with scripted promos, this show is proof that they should. We hear all the time now that there are no good promo guys in the company these days. But Talking Smack makes it pretty damn clear that most of the Smackdown roster has real potential as characters and personalities if they're allowed to shape their characters themselves.
Miz cut a great promo a few weeks ago, but he's far from the only one. Becky was great this week. Cena was great this week. Last week Ambrose probably cut his best WWE promo. Carmella was surprisingly effective in playing up her loathsome heel character. Even Baron Corbin wasn't that bad when he was on the show. These people know how to be pro wrestlers. The company just needs to let them do it.
I like how in the course of a conversation a wrestler can randomly throw out a line that ends up feeding into a story later. This is a great forum to come up with ideas and see what works before trying stuff out on the main show, and I think they could stumble across a lot of ideas here completely by accident.
Also, the show gives the wrestlers the opportunity to fill in the gaps of a story. If a feud doesn't make much sense as it was written, the wrestlers can make a little more sense out of it on this show. Becky made a great point this week when she said people have been betraying her and targeting her all year, because they knew she was a threat. Her being betrayed all those times made her look dumb before, but she's found a way to turn it in her favour and now it makes her look dangerous instead. You see a lot of that sort of thing on the show, which appeals to me.
It's a really nice blend of reality and kayfabe - the more casual and less scripted vibe makes you take the fake storylines more seriously. It gives Smackdown a nice edge over Raw. Renee and Bryan are a good pairing too. Bryan is likable and can offer insight on the wrestlers, while Renee is just really good at her job.
Any of you who haven't really checked this out yet, I'd recommend it. The show's not going to change your life or anything, and obviously there's no actual wrestling on it. But it's a consistently fun way to spend 20-30 minutes each week.