When you have anywhere from six to 11 hours of television programming in a given week, one of the hardest things to maintain is balance -- balance between the in-ring action and the time on the microphone, balance between the competitors in each rivalry and enough balance to ensure each match and feud receives the appropriate amount of time.Tuesdays No Mercy go-home episode of SmackDown Live was incredibly well balanced, and most of it was thanks to the substantial base the last few weeks provided it.For the second straight week, the rivalry for the WWE world championship was almost completely confined to the final 30 minutes of the program, and yet that was more than enough time to drive home each and every point they had to get across. The champion,?AJ Styles, looked and acted every bit the braggadocios, overconfident man he was, because he had the facts and evidence to back it up.Styles pointed out that SmackDown Live had become the land of opportunity, and hed taken full advantage: He had the opportunity to beat up?John Cena?at SummerSlam, where he?stole the show and walked away with a clean victory. Then, when given the opportunity to take down Dean Ambrose?and?claim the WWE world championship, Styles took full advantage of the opening and won the most historically prestigious championship in the world of professional wrestling.Ambrose quickly interrupted him as the final 10 minutes of the show quickly snuck up on us. He did something unusual in praising Styles, acknowledging his 15-year career and record of winning almost every other major title under the sun; Ambrose stopped one step short of name-dropping the TNA heavyweight championship, but Daniel Bryan did it while Styles was on set during the Talking Smack post-show, marking one of the very first times that championship had ever been acknowledged on WWE airwaves.Thered be a quick change of tone, however, as Ambrose lambasted Styles for having just this one mountain left to climb, a chance to win it straight up like when hed beaten Cena, and he instead decided to take the low road. He blamed Cena, whose distraction helped cost Ambrose the world championship against Styles, especially considering hed had AJ pinned for 27 seconds when Cena got fed up with cheap shots from both Styles and Ambrose and inserted himself into last Tuesdays main event.And what better time than that moment for Cena to insert himself once more. Right as he held the microphone to his mouth, Styles cut him off and laid upon Cena the exact same level of ruthless razor-sharp cutdown Cena had laid upon Ambrose on last weeks Talking Smack. He all but laid out exactly what he, Ambrose and everyone watching expected Cena to say, and then cut his opponent down line by line.How dare you compare yourself to an icon, a legend, like Ric Flair, said Styles, who has a fairly lengthy history with Flair from their shared days in TNA. I dont care how many championships youve won -- youll never be in the same conversation as Ric Flair.Styles slammed it home by urging Cena to focus on Sunday, and not some lofty career résumé highlight. You chase history, I make history, Styles finished up, all but dropping the microphone as he took a step back and waited for Cenas response. But before he could say a single word, Ambrose followed up by cutting him off and predicting what Cena was going to say about him.Ambrose replied to Cenas insistence that hes not on the same level as his former Shield brethren Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns by pointing out that hes in the ring day in and day out, with no days off, and that hes had the most matches wrestled in each of the last two years.He then decided to lay in his haymaker, as Ambrose accused Cena of an almost Hulk Hogan level of playing the game and being as tight as possible with the bosses in order to stay at the top of the WWE.Youre a master of the political spin, thats how you stayed on top for 15 years, said Ambrose, blurring the lines between the story and real life. Heck thats why youre in the match.Ambrose even accused Cena of going out of his way to derail his career. Anyone whos been a threat to you, youve undercut them, he said. [But] Ive never been one of these guys who kissed your ass, or looked to you for advice. Im not going to play by your rules.It closed with Ambrose taking one last shot at Cena for being fake and plastic: Have fun being the guy who plays John Cena on TV.Rather than lay out an impassioned speech, especially after getting run down by his two opponents, Cena only had three words.Talk is cheap. With that, he incited a melee between the three of them, first attacking Ambrose before throwing AJ out of the ring. An Attitude Adjustment to Ambrose later, Cena lifted up the championship -- only for Styles to attack and ultimately lay Cena out with a Phenomenal forearm. Just as it looked as if Styles would go out of the final SmackDown on top, Ambrose took a page out of Reigns playbook from Monday and struck from out of nowhere, hitting a Dirty Deeds on the steel entrance ramp as he stood tall.This kind of balance and struggle made all three men believable contenders (perhaps Styles and Cena slightly more so), and gave you just enough to want to tune in Sunday for No Mercy to see what happens.Not giving too much away, but enough to rile up the crowd -- one of the most important balances of all.From the moment it was announced that The Miz had produced a Dolphumentary to highlight the biggest moments of Dolph Zigglers career, it was clear to anyone whod watched more than a couple of hours of wrestling in their lives that this wasnt going to end well for Ziggler.What followed was a WWE24-style documentary entitled The Success of a Failure. Almost all of the lowest points of Zigglers career, from his debut as Kerwin Whites caddy (a short-term gimmick utilized by Chavo Guererro) to his role as Nicky from the Spirit Squad, his failed first world heavyweight championship run and all the moments of awfulness in-between.While a lesser man would have fallen apart at how much effort was put into this project demeaning him (and Ziggler did note how much production went into it during his Talking Smack appearance), he took it in stride. For every 10 embarrassments, there was one moment of pure joy, he said. He pointed out small things like a kid in the front row wearing his t-shirt and other shared moments, but The Miz couldnt help himself in taking the mockery one step further by raising Zigglers spirits.That the Miz would hire Kenny and Mikey, two of Zigglers former Spirit Squad compatriots, to both mock and then attack Ziggler was a wonderful surprise and put a nice bow on this rivalry heading into No Mercy. Not only did that step crystalize all the moments of failure that Miz was trying to prove, as Miz pointed towards Kenny and Mikey to show Ziggler his fate if he loses -- $5 autographs and bingo halls alongside his former spirit squad compatriots -- it also allowed Ziggler to shrug off a few of his demons face-to-face heading into Sundays pay-per-view.Given one last chance to speak on Talking Smack, Dolph hammered home how difficult a road hes had during his WWE career -- how big moments like his 2011 Royal Rumble match against Edge were wiped out by equally frustrating moments, like the glorified squash match that followed on SmackDown the next week.?He even pointed out how he was one of the few, and perhaps only, guy to get literally crapped upon on live television multiple times -- and how it might have been an actualization of how things have played out in his career.Hits and missesFor the second straight week, the Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton rivalry occupied the opening segment of SmackDown Live. Wyatt got his opportunity for revenge against Backlash opponent Kane, but because of Ortons distraction on the video screen, he couldnt even get a victory to balance things out. He instead wandered off, choosing to lose by count out, and then things got weird.Orton used Wyatts signature rocking chair to trap him in the back of a truck as he wandered around backstage. It provided an interesting turn to the one story on SmackDown that was meandering over the last few weeks, and created an interesting wrinkle; having Wyatt reach back to the earliest days of his time in WWE by mentioning Sister Abigail teleporting out of the locked truck reinforced his supernatural powers and threw the result of Sundays match further into question.We didnt get much of a chance to see Alexa Bliss vs. Nikki Bella, as the breakdown in the match caused by Carmella, followed by a save from Becky Lynch, led things to predictably transition into a tag-team contest. Unlike his frankly uncalled for (and continuously troubling trend of) speaking over whats supposed to be a silent and atmosphere-setting moment like Wyatts entrance, JBL was much better in the earliest stages of this tag match -- especially when he pointed out Bryan was channeling his inner Teddy Long by making this match.It was another good storytelling match in the womens division, as Bliss picked up a pinfall victory on Lynch and Nikki Bella and Carmella got just enough shots in on each other to build interest for their eventual in-ring showdown at No Mercy.We got a pretty good match from The Hype Bros in a victory over the seemingly forgotten Vaudevillains. The Ascension made an appearance too, giving us a reminder of what exists beyond Heath Slater and?Rhyno, The Usos and American Alpha on SmackDown Live. Of these three teams, the Hype Bros seem the most likely to be middle of the road and in line for the occasional tag title match in the future. Between Zack Ryders lingering popularity and Mojo Rawleys Rob Gronkowski connection, they have far more working in their favor than the rest of the lower tier of the SmackDown tag team division.Neither the tag champions nor the No. 1 contenders were in tag-team action Tuesday, with Jimmy Uso getting rolled up for a quick loss to Jason Jordan. It didnt do much to harm The Usos, who look poised to win the SmackDown tag team championships on Sunday. Slater and Rhyno coming out to save Jordan was a nice touch, and a way to prevent the implication of a serious injury that would have lingered and felt a little too similar to the fate suffered by Chad Gable.The ending of Jack Swagger vs. Baron Corbin was OK in principle, but the execution was poor -- potentially failing to soften the blow of a loss for Corbin. For better or worse, were likely to see more from these two in the weeks to come.Jonathan Lewis Jersey . The formidable trio of Canadian receivers -- individually known as Chris Getzlaf, Rob Bagg and Andy Fantuz -- will share the field at Mosaic Stadium one more time on Sunday. Tyler Miller USA Jersey . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. http://www.soccerusateamonline.com/John-Brooks-Copa-America-Jersey/ .C. -- Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Bobcats got off to a fast start, and the Sacramento Kings were never quite able to catch up. Geoff Cameron USA Jersey . Giroud, who wasnt in the starting lineup for two matches after allegations about his private life and a decline in form, scored twice in the first half. Tomas Rosickys chip made it 3-0 before half time at Emirates Stadium, while defender Laurent Koscielny scored an unmarked header in the second half. Gyasi Zardes Jersey . Malkin got tangled up with Detroits Luke Glendening early in the third period and his left skate took the brunt of collision with the boards behind Pittsburghs net.BRASILIA, Brazil -- Brazil started its quest for an Olympic gold medal in mens soccer with a disappointing 0-0 draw against South Africa, a result that prompted loud jeers by some of the home fans.Despite an attack led by Barcelona striker Neymar and talented youngsters Gabriel Jesus and Gabigol, Brazil was not able to find the net at the packed Mane Garrincha Stadium in Brasilia.Gabriel Jesus, newly signed by Manchester City, had the games best chance in the 69th minute but missed an open net with a close-range shot that struck the post.I have the obligation to score that goal, he said. Im not used to missing those chances. Im disappointed. I wont be able to sleep tonight because of that one.Neymar and Gabigol threatened a few times but also couldnt score.We had the best chances but the ball didnt go in, Brazil coach Rogerio Micale said. And we also have to give credit to South Africa, which has a very determined team and made it difficult for us to impose our game.South Africa played a man down from the 59th after defender Mothobi Mvala earned a second yellow card for a hard foul on Brazil right back Zeca.In the other Group A match in Brasilia, Iraq and Denmark also played to a scoreless draw, leaving all four teams tied.Brazil plays Iraq on Sunday, also in Brasilia, while South Africa faces Denmark.In Rio de Janeiro, Portugal defeated two-time Olympic champion Argentina 2-0 with goals by Paciencia in the 66th and Pite in the 84th in front of 45,000 fans at the Olympic Stadium, the vast majority cheering for Portugal. Earlier, Honduras defeated Algeria 3-2 in the other Group D game in Rio.In the jungle city of Manaus, Colombia and Sweden drew 2-2 in Group B. The Colombians got on the board with Teo Gutierrez in the 17th but allowed the Swedes to move ahead with goals by Mikael Ishak in the 43rd and Astrit Ajdarevic in the 62nd. Colombias equalizer came from a 75th-minute penalty kick converted by Dorlan Pabon.Nigeria found strenght to defeat Japan 5-4 in the heat of Manaus only about six hours after arriving in the city. The team had its trip to Brazil delayed by aa mix-up at an airport.ddddddddddddMidfielder Oghenekaro Etebo scored four goals for the 1996 Olympic champions. The thrilling match at the Arena Amazonia was tied 2-2 by the 13th minute, but Nigeria eventually pulled away before Japan scored twice late.In Group C, defending champion Mexico drew 2-2 with Germany despite twice having the lead in the northeastern city of Salvador. Oribe Peralta scored Mexicos first goal, and Germanys 78th-minute equalizer came from 2014 World Cup champion Matthias Ginter. In the other group game, South Korea routed Fiji 8-0. In its eighth straight Olympics, South Korea scored seven of its goals after the 60th minute. Three goals came in a two-minute span.The Olympic gold is the only major trophy Brazil hasnt won in soccer. The countrys team has won the silver medal three times, including four years ago in London, when Neymar was in a squad that lost the final to Mexico.Brazil controlled possession but wasnt able to create many significant chances until late in the second half. South Africa, playing at the Olympics for the first time since 2000, also came close several times.The Olympics is Brazils first tournament since the senior team was embarrassed at the Copa America after failing to advance past the group stage of the continental competition. Neymar skipped that tournament to be able to play at the Rio Games.Brazil also finished second at the Olympic tournament in 1984 in Los Angeles and in 1988 in Seoul, the second time with a team that included Romario and Bebeto. The five-time World Cup champions won the bronze in 1996 in Atlanta with striker Ronaldo, and in 2008 in Beijing with playmaker Ronaldinho.South Africa defeated Brazil 3-1 in the group stage of the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Brazils under-23 squad beat South Africa by the same score in an Olympic warmup earlier this year.---Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/tales-azzoni ' ' '
