WrestleTalk Roundtable – WWE SmackDown Live – October 23, 2018

What was your favorite moment from SmackDown Live?

Ashley D’Altilio

Miz TV with Rey Mysterio. After having such a rough night watching Raw, it was great to see Rey Mysterio tonight. He pulled a fun, typical face/heel promo with The Miz, who continues to don his obnoxious round sunglasses.

I can see these two having a longer feud following their match at the ‘pay-per-view that must not be named’ (Crown Jewel). Mysterio came back as if he never left, and their match only showed how talented they both are in the ring.

Sean Patrick Eckmann

Seeing Rey Mysterio’s amazing acrobatics is a treat, and he and Miz were able to put on the match of the night. Honestly, this week’s SmackDown was a bit dull to me (and I sensed some of the same from the crowd), but Rey, even aged, breathed more life into it than at any other point.

Steven Lugo

Becky Lynch crashes the Performance Center. I love the way this segment was set up. As it was not in front of the live crowd, I did not expect what transpired, but alas I was taken by surprise, and grinning wildly by the end of it.

When Charlotte Flair entered WWE‘s Performance Center, she proceeded to give NXT hopefuls an inspired, if formulaic, speech before the company’s first all-women’s PPV. The ‘Queen’ took questions, and explained all about working at the highest levels on the main roster. She told them that she was excited for WWE Evolution, that you should never look down on your peers, and promised herself she wasn’t going to cry.

Then, entering the shot like a wild fire on the periphery was the champ, Becky Lynch. She injected some reality into Charlotte’s incomplete fairy tale. Friendships don’t always last, sometimes you need to self-advocate, and as Becky told Charlotte’s audience, it can be a fatal mistake to not strike your opponent first. It was great, felt real, and the pull-apart brawl that ensued was downright awesome!

Nicholas Holicki

For once I struggled to identify a segment that I really enjoyed. There was a lot of good: Miz TV, the ensuing match against Mysterio, and Becky Lynch spring to mind. But they’re always good and I don’t think this week was any different.

So, in the spirit of Evolution, I’m instead going to give my vote to two people who I believe often get overlooked. The IIconics.

Now I don’t know if it’s because I watched their appearance on UpUpDownDown shortly before SmackDown or because they were the only glimmer of hope in an otherwise barren wasteland of a segment, but I really enjoy these two.

They’re just the right level of obnoxious to be entertaining, generally feel organic and unscripted, and they always appear to be enjoying their work. As comedy heels, I think their work too often goes unappreciated.

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