Here's my ratings for Smackdown, yo!
The Miz opened the show with a great heel promo. Ambrose got a nasty looking slap from Maryse and we're off. Love it. It wasn't too long, it wasn't boring, it wasn't convoluted. We had a simple, effective open to the show.
Ziggler vs Corbin was the first match and again it was very good. I actually watched the Styles/Corbin/Ziggler triple threat last week because I'd heard it was good (it was) and I enjoyed the Corbin/Ziggler partnership again. Corbin impresses me more and more every time I see him wrestle (he's come along way from his NXT debut) and he looked strong picking up the big win.
Ziggler turned heel afterwards which I hope will be a positive change for him. He's been a pretty run of the mill good guy for a while now so I think this is needed. I'm giving it a positive mark for now though I hope this doesn't mean he's going to be feuding with Kalisto because who would care?
The whole Becky Lynch/La Luchadora stuff wassss meh. I actually didn't mind the 'twin magic' thing they pulled and thought it would have been an effective move...if Luchadora picked up the win. Instead the second Luchadora wound up being Alexa Bliss who tapped out. I didn't get that decision, Becky outlasted two separate Women and out of those two the champion took the loss, not the imposter - why? This all made Bliss look a bit weak and a bit thick so it's my first down vote.
I'm fully on board with Styles vs Cena again now. Electric promo at the contract signing from AJ (loved the comparison to The Rock), Cena's rebuttals were effective if not a bit standard for him at this point. He's always passionate which is great but I'm a bit sour on him because I'm 99% sure he's winning the title at the Rumble and that annoys me. Corbin coming out was a random surprise, but a nice one. He looked tough threatening Cena and was elevated by being in the ring with two stars. Good stuff.
Carmella wrestled Aliyah and got the win courtesy of a James Ellsworth distraction. This was never going to be the best thing in the world BUUUUUTTTTT I actually like this. If Carmella is just stringing Ellsworth along because he'll help her out then she'll look crafty and intelligent which is brilliant. (The worst thing that could happen is if they actually go with a love story for this, surely they're not that daft)
American Alpha get the squash win but they're cut off post-match by The Wyatt Family...who are coming next week. I'll give this an up rating purely because AA looked strong against known opponents (albeit comedy jobbers) and I noticed a little jealousy from Harper after Orton did the "run" catchphrase. I think we all know Orton is trying to drive Harper away so he can get Wyatt alone but despite it's simplicity this is still good, complex storytelling on the show. Very good.
Natalya and Nikki Bella are two of the most naturally unlikable people on the roster. Boo.
AHHHHHH I'm torn on how to rate the main event. Dean Ambrose won the IC Title and I hate that however the match was really good and I'm intrigued to see if this is going to be another bow in the Miz's quiver when he says Bryan is against him. Maryse (who is an absolutely amazing manager) got Miz DQ'd but the official didn't make the call because Ambrose...asked him not to? That didn't make sense; since when do the officials just decide things like that? HOPEFULLY that was intentional and they play up to that next week - I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt because the rest of the show was good. Up rating.
= 7
= 2
So what I've learned from this is that Smackdown is by far a better show than RAW and I actually really enjoyed myself. I'll definitely be watching again next week. Good job blue brand, good job.