2012 » or League Baseball pegged the slot value, the recommended sig

Sometimes, keeping things simple gets the job done. SmackDown Live was handicapped in almost every way when compared to Raw post-draft, as Raw got the lions share of the top-level talent, the best new draft pick from NXT and the two women most ready for prime time. Sure, they had an extra hour to fill, but they also picked up the most popular woman in NXT history and an entire division of high-flying cruiserweights along the way.Something funny has happened since SummerSlam, though -- especially in the weeks since Kevin Owens won the WWE Universal championship in a thrilling Fatal 4-Way match. SmackDown Live has become a far more watchable program than its Monday counterpart, and its because theyre telling the better and more well-rounded stories -- both in the ring and out of it.The difference in execution only became more evident this week. While Raw featured its new top champion losing to a guy vying for a lesser title in the go-home show to a pay-per-view -- to say nothing of the sputtering start to the cruiserweight division -- SmackDown Live used the vast majority of its talents efficiently for the bulk of the allotted two-hour time slot to build upon already compelling stories.Take, for example, the Intercontinental championship feud centered around The Miz and Dolph Ziggler. There was a compelling social media back-and-forth based on contract negotiations between Miz and Daniel Bryan ongoing throughout the week, which carried over into live events where Miz refused to defend his title. That paid off on Tuesdays broadcast, as the fine print in Mizs freshly signed contract forced him to compete in a championship match or risk losing his newfound benefits.For a rivalry that has seen many iterations, and seemed far beyond its expiration date when it comes to compelling action, Miz and Ziggler have squeezed every ounce out of each and every one of their confrontations over the last few weeks. Their match at Backlash, which was a show-stealer and likely their best high-profile contest, brought a thrilling back-and-forth showdown with Maryse spraying Ziggler in the eyes with hair spray to help her husband Miz get the victory. It gave Ziggler a gripe, and ultimately led to him getting another chance on Tuesday -- one that didnt feel forced and served as a natural progression.Tuesdays showdown was another strong outing for both men, and with Maryse going for a repeat performance with her hair spray, she was sent away. Ziggler hit his finisher on Miz in the middle of the ring, but it garnered just a two-count that only put the result of the match further into doubt. A series of over-the-top distractions culminating with Miz bringing the Intercontinental title belt into the ring to occupy the referee ultimately allowed him to use the hairspray, conveniently left behind by Maryse. Another cheating victory left fans wanting more, and could easily lead to one more match at No Mercy in a few weeks.Now, if you told an average fan a few weeks ago that The Miz and Dolph Ziggler were two matches into another rivalry, only this time it was incredibly compelling and left you wanting a third match or more, youd have likely been laughed out of whatever room you were in. The Miz has, in his own way (as pointed out by Bryan on the Talking Smack post-show) brought a certain prestige back to the Intercontinental championship and injected a kind of energy into his matches and backstage promos that we havent seen from him since he held the WWE world championship and main evented WrestleMania against John Cena.Notice how far weve gone without even mentioning what would be the hottest rivalry on Raw if the three men involved were traded from SmackDown Live overnight. A.J. Styles is playing the cocky overconfident bad guy champion to a T, with the only real drawback being the lingering desire to get a cheesy knockoff phrase to catch on. Stop trying to make Champ that runs the camp happen -- its not going to happen.The two contenders to his championship are his two most recently dispatched opponents, and each of them has a genuine, believable purpose lying behind their actions. Cena lost one of the best matches of his career at SummerSlam, and now that Styles has the WWE world championship around his waist, Cena can finally knock out his revenge against Styles and get the long-awaited 16th world title reign thats hung over his head for the last two years. For Dean Ambrose, a low-blow that cost him the championship at Backlash gives him plenty of motivation, but its been his interactions with Cena in the last two weeks that have really brought the excitement of this upcoming championship match to a fever pitch.After Ambrose laid out Cena, his tag-team partner, on last weeks SmackDown Live, the pair faced off in the main event on Tuesday. A better-than-average match between Ambrose and Cena peaked with a somewhat forgivable rapid exchange of finishers that only drew two-counts, because it paid off in setting the match into a chaotic whirlwind that ended with Ambrose getting the roll-up. Cena eventually sat at the end of the ramp, evoking the imagery of his disappointing WrestleMania loss to The Rock, when Styles struck with a Phenomenal forearm after jumping off of the crowd barrier.?Ambrose ultimately won the night for the second week in a row after Bryan came out and announced Ambroses contractually obligated rematch would take place next week on SmackDown Live, ahead of the No Mercy pay-per-view. He put the cherry on top by hitting the world champion with a Dirty Deeds in the ring, and walked out having regained quite a bit of the mojo he seemingly lost after a disappointing SummerSlam match with Ziggler.More than telling great stories in the ring, and using elements like social media and Talking Smack to augment ongoing storylines, an attention to detail across the board has played a big part in SmackDown Lives recent success. Miz using Bryans moves to taunt the general manager was an inspired piece of in-ring work. Blurring the lines between backstage and the ring by having promos cut right outside gorilla position helps tie everything that happened together into one big package, rather than one structured segment laid out one after another.The overall execution has been stellar in recent weeks for dozens of different reasons, but only one really matters:?They keep making you want to tune in again next week to see what happens next.Hits and missesAnyone who has ever watched wrestling knows there is no such thing as a peaceful contract signing, and Alexa Bliss kept with tradition as she smacked Becky Lynch with the leather folder containing the contract and then flipped the table onto her leg. Some nice points from both Bliss and Lynch here; Bliss harping on Lynch, telling her, You were born to be a loser, was countered nicely by the good girl champion exclaiming, I was not born to be a champion -- I fought to be a champion.The return of American Alpha and the story they told with Chad Gables taped-up knee is a classic example of simple storytelling done right. Youre painting a giant bulls-eye that even the fans in the cheap seats can see and follow with that knee, and while Gable and Jason Jordan came out of the gate like a house on fire in their No. 1 contenders match with The Usos, that knee became the entire story of a good match. It all culminated in a chop block to Gable while he was trying to save his partner from the apron, a double superkick on Jordan and a splash from the top that earned The Usos a shot at Heath Slater and Rhyno and the SmackDown tag-team titles at New Mercy. Were just getting started in this showdown between the veteran Usos and upstart Alphas, and once the tag-team titles get involved, things will only continue to pick up.Speaking of Slater and Rhyno, it was another nice little touch with The Usos immediate interaction after walking backstage postmatch. Spending a little time to build up the right elements of a rivalry can go a long way.Despite entrances that took place just before a commercial break for both the intercontinental championship match and the Ambrose-Cena showdown, they waited a whole commercial break to kick off the matches. It was an easy and effective way to stress the importance of these matches when so many times youll come back from commercial to join a match already in progress.No entrance for Erick Rowan and the new gimmicky mask tells you everything you need to know about his current state of affairs. A quick win for Randy Orton and another spooky promo in the dark from Bray Wyatt predictably followed in one of the few low points for SmackDown this week (another being Baron Corbin and Apollo Crews forgettable encounter with Jack Swagger on commentary). In honesty, the biggest potential Wyatt news of the week happened far from WWE airwaves -- on Wyatts public Facebook page.?(Note: A post alluding to possible ties between Wyatt and his real life brother, Bo Dallas, has since been deleted from the page.)Naomis entrance was (although awesome) far longer than the womens tag-team match itself. While its nice to see real rivalries develop in the womens division, away from the title, this kind of blink-and-youll-miss-it match was exactly the thing that triggered the fervor that led to the WWEs womens revolution in the first place -- and its a delicate line to toe.Wholesale Jerseys USA .S. 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Cheap Jersyes . -- Ryan Blaney provided more evidence that Penske Racings No.CLEVELAND, Ohio - With Fridays 5pm et deadline looming to sign 2013 draft picks, it seems the Blue Jays and 10th overall selection Phil Bickford wont come together on a deal. "Right now it looks as though we wont be signing him," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I guess anything can change, tomorrow is the deadline, but I would say right now we probably wont have a deal in place." Bickford, 18, is a 64", 185 pound right-hander who pitched at the prestigious Oaks Christian School in Westlake, California. Bickford has committed to Cal-State Fullerton this fall in the event he doesnt sign professionally. Major League Baseball pegged the slot value, the recommended signing bonus, for the 10th pick at slightly more than $2.9-million. Its not known what the Blue Jays offered Bickford.dddddddddddd Per Major League Baseballs Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Players Association, if a club offers a player drafted in the top three rounds at least 40-percent of slot but the player doesnt sign, the club is guaranteed to pick in the same spot in the following years draft. All of that to say that the Blue Jays will receive the 11th overall pick in 2014 as compensation for not signing Bickford. Anthopoulos urged caution in jumping to conclusions about why the two sides couldnt reach a deal. "Out of fairness, like anything, offers are made no doubt about it," said Anthopoulos. "We definitely made an offer but it doesnt look like its going to be accepted. I wouldnt jump to conclusions (on why)." ' ' '