Four days away from the company’s first all women’s pay-per-view, Evolution, the WWE put a Randy Orton vs. Jeff Hardy in the main event of SmackDown.
On paper this felt like the incorrect call and in practice, the brief 10 minute main event between Hardy and Orton felt completely out of place.
Prior to the main event, SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon was even trotted out to rally the Tuesday night live crowd. McMahon didn’t say much and mostly tried to hype up the WWE’s World Cup at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 2.
Weird.
Then the Orton and Hardy match-up took place and nothing really happened.
#TheViper @RandyOrton and The #CharismaticEnigma @JEFFHARDYBRAND are renewing their rivalry in #SDLive's main event! pic.twitter.com/0NtY3b3kUz
— WWE (@WWE) October 24, 2018
Sure Orton kept doing weird ear stuff and sure, we got a nifty RKO reversal out of it all, but it wasn’t enough.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Please no. No. No. No. Please stop. No. No. No. Seriously, stop. No. No. No.#SDLive @RandyOrton @JEFFHARDYBRAND pic.twitter.com/0aOOuEgILv
— WWE (@WWE) October 24, 2018
Smooth. pic.twitter.com/BEbmiM8wz8
— TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) October 24, 2018
Where were Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair for the New Jersey SmackDown live crowd?
Always hitting on the women’s revolution talking point, it was odd to see the WWE ignore the women of SmackDown for most of Tuesday night.
Get complete SmackDown results and coverage here.