The Taz Show Recap – Smackdown Analysis, Is Rusev Disgruntled? What Was the Best Part of Smackdown? More!

Block 1:

A listener calls in to open today’s show, saying he’s really looking forward to watching Backlash this weekend. The caller also hopes that the United States Title match between Kevin Owens and A.J. Styles main events the show. Taz says that he can understand that opinion, because those two guys can potentially steal the show, however he thinks Randy Orton and Jinder Mahal are going to have a great match as well.

Taz says that he didn’t like WWE’s utilization of Kevin Owens last night. He doesn’t believe that Owens should be stealing Chris Jericho’s gimmicks, and he thinks that Owens should be standing on his own because he’s better than this. Taz assumes that Jericho will be returning sooner than later and these two guys will revisit their feud, but Taz wonders how long WWE can drag out this program. It has already been ongoing for multiple months, and it doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon.

A listener calls into the show and says that reforming The Shield is the only way that Roman Reigns is going to get over as a babyface with the WWE Universe. Taz disagrees and says reforming The Shield right now would be admitting defeat and would be a step back for Reigns and the company as a whole. He believes that turning Reigns full heel for a year or more would eventually result in the audience getting on Reigns’ side, then the company can flip him back to babyface.

Singles Match Added to Sunday’s WWE Backlash Event

Shane McMahon announced on tonight’s episode of Talking Smack that Erick Rowan would face Luke Harper at Sunday’s WWE Backlash event. Here is the updated card:

WWE Title Match
Jinder Mahal vs. Randy Orton

SmackDown Tag Team Title Match
Tyler Breeze and Fandango vs. The Usos

WWE United States Title Match
AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens

Naomi, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch vs. Tamina Snuka, Carmella and Natalya

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Dolph Ziggler

Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin

Erick Rowan vs. Luke Harper

Kickoff Pre-show
Aiden English vs. Tye Dillinger