WWE SmackDown Live returned last night (Oct. 23) from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey (the happiest place on Earth). You can find all the results at the the masterpiece of a live blog here.
But Why?
Like last week, the question this week was whether or not AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan could get on the same page and tag with each other. And like last week, I ask, “Why?”
WWE didn’t give us any reason for them to team up last week and didn’t bother this week either. Here are two men who will be feuding for the top prize on Tuesday nights in less than two weeks at Crown Jewel in Boise. We needed a reason they bothered to team up last week and even more so why they felt they needed another chance to get it done this week.
Plus, it’s such predictable booking. Of course AJ was accidentally going to hit Bryan since it happened the other way last week and that’s how these things are always booked.
The match was fine but the lack of creativity rendered this pointless.
Best in America
This week we had two matches between men who are in the World Cup tournament set to happen at the Crown Jewel pay-per-view in less than two weeks in Des Moines.
Rey Mysterio def. the Miz
This was set up by a Miz TV segment. The A Lister ran his mouth and then the Ultimate Underdog cut him off with one winning line: “I thought I was on Truth TV.” There was no coming back from that.
Then they had their match and one thing mainly stuck out: Rey Mysterio is in fantastic shape. I’m looking forward to a run where he matches up against an array of today’s talented roster.
Randy Orton def. Jeff Hardy
This was the main event. It was what you’d expect. Randy was sadistic, Jeff did something stupid, RKO outta nowhere.
It was an overall underwhelming main event for a rather underwhelming show.
Video Attack
WWE teased us with the photos of Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair fighting at the Performance Center this weekend. Here they gave us the video.
At this point, there isn’t much they’re going to really add to the story. These two have been at each other’s throats for months now. Having the segment elsewhere was a nice change of pace and illustrates that this feud isn’t just confined to the arenas.
While Becky has me convinced of who she is every time she swaggers into a room and opens her mouth to speak, I’m not feeling that with Charlotte right now. Her discussion with the NXT women felt too rehearsed and her video promo after didn’t have me buying in like it’s so easy to do with the Lass Kicker. (Though I enjoyed her shouting “Who are you?!” during their pull apart.) Not that it takes away from the story but shows that the champ is on another level right now.
All the Rest:
Difference maker: After the New Day lost their titles to the Bar last week, due to a big assist from the Big Show, Kofi Kingston challenged any of those three this week. Kofi got Big Show, and it did not go well. Big Show soon got the upper hand and wouldn’t stop delivering chokeslams until the rest of the New Day tried to get help. However they all got beaten down by the Bar. They get a rematch for those titles at Crown Jewel in Biloxi.
Rusev def. Aiden: I realized this week that throughout this entire feud, I just wanted them to get it over with to do whatever they’ll do next. It doesn’t help villain Aiden is just a creep. Hopefully, this is it.
Battle Royal Stuff: All the women on the “Get everyone on the card” battle royal at Evolution had a segment where they all attacked each other. Standard battle royal fare and pretty whatever for one of the two go-home segments for Sunday’s show.
This episode was rather meh in general. Plus, it was meant to be the go-home show for the Evolution pay-per-view, and the women were rather an afterthought on this show. You can argue that SmackDown’s women don’t have anything on the PPV outside the title match, but who’s fault is that?
Grade: C
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