WWE SmackDown Live recap & reactions (Oct. 30, 2018): Fallout and Go Home

SmackDown Live waltzed back into our lives last night (Oct. 30) from the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Find all the results at your mom’s favorite live blog here.

WWE Title Match

The shadow of Crown Jewel completely covered the opening segment of the show. And that opening segment was a full length WWE title match between AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan.

If you don’t remember the championship story they’ve been telling, let me sum it up for you:

“Hey, opponent, let’s team up for no reason. Hey did you hit me on purpose?”

“No... I mean yes!”

OK, you’re caught up.

The match itself was very good. Of course it was. It’s Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles. But I wasn’t as into it as I wish I were. Part of it is the weird Crown Jewel news about Bryan not going to Saudi Arabia and wondering how they were going to address that. Knowing all that made this just the answer to that question and stripped away the feeling of a meaningful title match. Another reason is the lackluster story. And then there’s the fact that both AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan have lost some luster in the last few months on SmackDown.

Bryan tapped clean, effectively ending the feud for now. I had wondered if they were going to have Miz interfere in their match at Crown Jewel, keeping Bryan protected. Here they obviously did not.

Afterwards, Samoa Joe attacked both men, which is the typical blueprint for setting up a triple threat match. But that triple threat match won’t be happening at Crown Jewel. No that’ll be Joe vs AJ and likely Joe failing to win the title from Styles yet again. (It’s kind of his thing at this point.)

The Man

Champion Becky Lynch (who has taken to calling herself “The Man” and who am I to stop her?) cut a promo on Ronda Rousey tonight. This brief minute promo was the only women’s segment on the show that’s a fallout of Evolution.

After listening to the champ spit straight fire at Rousey, one has to wonder if they don’t allow Ronda to promo battle her prior to their match. Badlass Becky is a natural on the mic. Ronda still seems to be finding her pro wrestling voice with scripted lines designed to pop the crowd but lacking the conviction she really needs. In short, she’d run the risk of getting shredded by Becky.

Becky will also be able to pro wrestle circles around Ronda, but surely will be tasked to help the Raw champion look good. (Not to put down Rousey, who has looked very good for being so new, but Bex is a veteran.)

I’m excited for this feud, but at this point, I’m excited for anything Becky does. Ronda has come out looking a head above all her opponents up to now, but I don’t see that happening against Lynch. The Lasskicker is the hottest thing going in the WWE, and it feels like we’re witnessing something special with her. Ronda is going to be challenged to keep up. I’m looking forward to seeing if she can.

World Cup

The four SmackDown members in the World Cup tournament had a pretty meaningless tag match in the main event of the show. It was right after Becky’s fire promo. It kind of felt like the champ was the main event and then USA network opted to air the meaningless dark match.

There was an interesting addition to the SmackDown side of the World Cup. Shane McMahon threatened to fire the SmackDown finalist if they don’t win the entire thing. Harsh, but at the same time, very McMahon.

But does that mean a heel like Miz gets himself DQ’d in the first match to protect his job? Does that choreograph a blue brand win or is someone moving to Raw to make up for the void left by Roman Reigns?

The Rest:

Trick or Street Fight: Halloween is tomorrow so of course we get a gimmick street fight. Just like we’ll get a food fight next month for Thanksgiving. The New Day are perfect for a match like this and their entrance as the Brood may have been the best part, though the entire segment was fun.

US Champion: A gentleman who goes by the name Shinsuke Nakamura and is apparently the United States champion defeated R-Truth in a non-title match. There was a dance break for R-Truth, but he couldn’t defeat this Nakamura character, who again, is United States champion. Did you know that?

For a show that opened with a title match, I was overall underwhelmed with the show. The title match was very good, but given all that surrounded it, it didn’t feel like the big deal it should have. Becky’s promo was great, but it’s disappointing to hear them hype up Sunday’s historic Evolution while barely featuring any women. And while the main event was fun, it was pretty inconsequential.

Grade: C+

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