WWE SmackDown Live – September 3, 2019 (Review)

WWE SmackDown Live – September 3, 2019 (Review)

The only narrative that mattered heading into SmackDown Live was how the company would handle Bayley’s shock betrayal of Becky Lynch on Monday night.

It was an important development for several reasons. For one, of course, the move represented a paradigm shift atop the blue brand’s women’s division, with its greatest hero possibly becoming it most reprehensible villain. It also meant that a void was created for a top babyface on Tuesday nights, giving rise to the conundrum of who would step in to fill it.

Most interesting of all though was the question of how the heel turn would affect the woman in question. Bayley had, since her NXT debut in 2013, been a constant cheerful, doe-eyed presence on the brand. The persona she cultivated led to her becoming an unwavering fan favourite, eliciting choruses of support from every arena she visited.

The fans loved her, and she loved the fans.

But, like with so many of her developmental colleagues, things haven’t been the same since Bayley moved to the main roster. Her frequent failures on Raw and SmackDown have made her optimism turn to desperation. She spoke about winning more often than she actually tasted victory. And by the time her infamous feud with Alexa Bliss was unceremoniously wrapped up, her fate – at least in the eyes of the fans – was sealed.

So really the only option that remained was to turn her. Create a monumental character shift, with the idea of hopefully revitalising an ailing, albeit excellent, talent.

So how would the company reinvent its reborn star? Surely it meant the end of her side ponytail, the colourful, shimmering ring gear and the painted stars adorning her forehead? There’s no way a conniving heel, who had just battered one of her closest allies with a steel chair, could enter the arena to the sound of a bopping, high-energy pop track and flanked by an army of inflatable dancing streamers.

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With all the uncertainty, one thing was clear. We had never seen this Bayley before. And, even if all else fails, that should be exciting.

Oh, also featuring on SmackDown last night was Daniel Bryan’s ongoing quest to get an apology from Roman Reigns. Yeah, I don’t really want to think about it either.

On with the review.


The Best of SmackDown Live

Another Solid King of the Ring Performance

While I’ll reluctantly admit that the King of the Ring title means nothing these days, the tournament has nevertheless produced some of the best TV matches in recent months. Baron Corbin has never felt like a bigger star and, to some extent, the same can be said for Elias. Although I suppose being paired with Ali certainly helps.

Either way, the former ‘Drifter’ and Ali had a pretty good match last night. Elias spent much of the contest targeting the knee of his Cruiserweight opponent in an effort to keep the high-flyer grounded. In response, Ali took off whenever and wherever possible. It was a battle between speed and brawn.

Perhaps somewhat surpsingly, strength won out, as Ali missed a 450 Splash and Elias landed the Drift Away for the pin. So Elias advanced to next week’s semifinals, to face either Andrade or Shorty G.

The Little Guy Triumphs

Elias wouldn’t have to wait long to find out who his opponent would be next week.

After a pretty boring promo by Zelina Vega in which she first proudly claimed that Andrade would win the King of the Ring crown before subtly reminding Gable that he was short (Good God, we get it!), the pair went toe-to-toe.

While a commercial took up three-quarters of the screen.

But once I could again see what was going on, it appeared to be an excellent match. I’m sad I didn’t get to experience more of it.

Every time Andrade appeared to be getting the ascendency, Gable would respond with some outlandish feat of strength or leverage to survive.

The finish, in particular, was incredible. Gable looked to have the match won after a rolling German suplex, only for Vega to distract the referee from counting the obvious pin. Chad then turned into a vicious looking spinning elbow (I can see why Chris Jericho wins so many matches with it), but managed to kick out at the last second. As Andrade prepared to finish matters with the Hammerlock DDT, Gable spun out and rolled Andrade up for the pinfall.

What a great finish. And, hearteningly, the crowd seemed to be massively behind Gable here. Promising signs for someone who’s been criminally overlooked for years.

Aleister Black Goes to the Mountain

After months of sitting in a nondescript broom closet waiting for a challenger to magically materialise, Aleister Black finally realised that he may have better luck finding a wrestler in an actual wrestling ring.

So he abandoned his little hideaway in favour of the SmackDown ring, where his challenge was answered by Shelton Benjamin.

While this isn’t the calibre of wrestler that Black should be fighting at this stage, it was still an improvement over his previous situation. After a brief back-and-forth, the Dutchman hit the Black Mass for the win. Hopefully this marks the start of his tear through the division.

Daniel Bryan Hates Liars

And he wants an apology. For the accusation that he had been behind the attacks on Roman Reigns. For being speared last week. And most of all, for being labelled a liar.

It had been announced earlier in the night that Roman Reigns would be facing Erick Rowan at Clash of Champions. Rowan, of course, being the man who almost crushed Reigns under some scaffolding and boxes a couple of months ago. Or maybe it was his lookalike. And goodness only knows who tried to ram him with a car – that’s never been revisited.

But on this night, Daniel Bryan wanted an apology. As the ‘Big Dog’ made his way out to the ring however, he was jumped by the Rowan lookalike! Or maybe it was the real Rowan. I’m so uninvested in this shambles of a storyline. (I’m kidding, it was the actual Erick Rowan.)

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He mercilessly tossed Roman into every ringside object available, from ring post to steps. When Daniel Bryan attempted to intervene, Rowan tossed him aside too, eventually slamming ‘The Planet’s Champion’ through an announce table.

Rowan said that he was proud of what he had done to Reigns, clearly establishing that he was behind the attacks after all – but also exculpating Daniel Bryan to a certain extent. Perhaps Rowan was the brains behind the operation after all. Now that I think about it, Reigns does owe Bryan an apology! Once they’re able to dig him out of the ringside wreckage, that is.

This remains a pretty unengaging storyline that feels like it’s being crafted week-to-week. At this point, who knows who’s going to eventually be unveiled as the puppet master. It’s probably Vince.

With that said, I’m morbidly fascinated in seeing this slow-motion car crash play out now.


The Worst of SmackDown Live

Same Old Bayley

I devoted the entire introduction to how WWE would reinvent Bayley after she stabbed Becky Lynch in the back during Raw’s closing segment.

Then SmackDown started. And a beaming Bayley strode out, wearing the same colourful ring gear and headband holding back the same side ponytail. The same entrance music. Performing the same mannerisms. Even the damn inflatable idiots made an appearance!

And then, to top it off, Byron Saxton assured as that Bayley definitely had good reason for doing what she did on Monday night. As if there could ever be an acceptable reason for clobbering your babyface partner with a steel chair.

I hate this company so much sometimes.

Bayley’s Explanation

By the time Bayley launched into her lengthy explanation of her HEEL TURN this past Monday, it was clear that this segment was beyond saving. Her unchanged entrance and appearance had already assured us of that.

So when the SmackDown Women’s Champion explained that she had turned on Becky out of loyalty to Sasha and that she wanted to teach kids the value of staying true to your friends, I had already emotionally checked out.

This entire promo smacked of a poorly conceived turn, rushed through with little foresight. And now the company was getting cold feet. So what was left was a character not babyface, nor fully committed to the heel turn. Nothing much had changed and yet Bayley was somehow infinitely worse off now than she was a week ago.

Only WWE could damage a character by keeping them the same.

Babyface Charlotte?

Bayley’s guarantee to defeat Charlotte at Clash of Champions brought out ‘The Queen’. Charlotte wasn’t buying Bayley’s speech, calling the SmackDown Women’s Champion duplicitous and insincere. Because with Charlotte there would be no friends and no hugs… but also no cheap blindsides. Eh?

Although that was obviously a lie (Charlotte’s blindsided half the roster by this point), it nevertheless felt like a decided babyface shift for ‘The Queen’. A shift that was perhaps further underscored when Sasha Banks entered the fray.

Charlotte pre-emptively struck Bayley before turning to face Banks. She got a few good licks in before Bayley clobbered her with a chair. She and Banks then passed the weapon back-and-forth, each taking turns to gleefully batter Bayley’s challenger.

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If this indeed turns out to mark the return of another of Charlotte’s underwhelming babyface runs, then may God have mercy on us all. What an awful way to capitalise on the momentum coming out of Monday’s Raw.

Chad Gable is Short

In case you hadn’t noticed, Chad Gable isn’t the tallest member of the SmackDown roster. A point that WWE seem all too willing to point out repeatedly each week. Because in their myopic world, there is no greater measure of ability than height. It’s why The Yeti was such a tremendous success.

This week it was Samoa Joe’s chance to take shots at Gable. He called him “little buddy” and “Bilbo”, and said he’d look like a “big ol’ baby sitting up on his high chair” should he go on to win King of the Ring.

Most annoying though were not Joe’s tired jokes or the utterly misplaced criticisms of Gable’s height. It was that he did nothing about it. He just looked really sad. Unless we’re talking Orange Cassidy, it’s virtually impossible to get behind someone who’s entire gimmick is that he doesn’t do anything.

New Tag Team Challengers

Fire & Desire defeated Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross in a largely decent outing. That’s all well and good, but this victory supposedly granted Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville a tag team title match at Clash of Champions.

Are we just supposed to forget that Bliss and Cross soundly beat this pairing just TWO WEEKS AGO on Raw? 50/50 encounters like this is what makes weekly results feel like they don’t matter.

But, again, the match itself was actually okay.

Familiar Ground

Randy Orton and his henchmen, The Revival, again beat up Kofi Kingston again. And again, Randy Orton was raining down yells of “stupid” throughout. Again.

If it feels like there were a lot of “agains” in those two sentences, it’s because this entire segment felt like a rehash of past events. We’ve seen Randy beat up Kofi. We’ve seen him recruit The Revival to help him in this task. And we’ve heard him call Kingston “stupid” many times over.

This segment illustrates the problem with extending feuds – especially title feuds – across several pay-per-views. With the program expected to feature every week, you soon run out of material to stoke the flames. So angles get rehashed, each time with diminishing returns, ultimately leading to stuttering feuds.

Hopefully this one can be resuscitated before Orton and Kingston meet at Clash of Champions. It desperately needs an injection of something new and exciting.

Sami and Shinsuke Are Still a Thing

To demonstrate his sheer superiority, Shinsuke Nakamura made quick work of some jobber. Sami Zayn provided live running commentary of the short encounter. Sadly, he was the only one in the arena making any sort of sound, as no-one in the building – and dare I say no-one watching at home – cared about any of this.

24/7 Hot Potato

We saw the 24/7 Title bounce around again last night, in a series of devastating surprise rollups. First Bo Dallas claimed the title by rolling-up Drake Maverick, before Maverick won the belt back, only to lose it to R-Truth shortly afterwards.

None of this really mattered and it just felt like an unimaginative way of keeping the Championship on TV.

No KO

In just three short weeks, Kevin Owens has gone from SmackDown’s top babyface, to grovelling at the feet of Shane McMahon, to not even featuring on the show. What a fall from grace.


Overall Rating for the Show (From best to worst: SmackDamn, SmackTastic, Smack Bang in the Middle, SmackDowner and A Smack in the Face)

Despite having much on the agenda, there was in reality only one metric by which last night’s edition of SmackDown Live would be judged. And that was the follow-up to the shocking Bayley heel turn of Monday.

And disappointingly, on that front, the show failed miserably.

In an underwhelming reversal of an intriguing angle, Bayley emerged the night after her betrayal of Becky much the same character as she was the night before. She was still more or less the colourful, smiling, inspiring role model she had always been. Except maybe a little bit more moody and with an affinity for chairs.

Also, against most people’s wishes, Charlotte appeared more babyface this week. Live by the turn, die by the turn.

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Other than that though, SmackDown was a largely enjoyable experience again this week. The King of the Ring tournament has really bolstered the match quality, and allowed certain lesser-used talents to shine. Chad Gable in particular is demonstrating what most of us already knew – that he is a world-class wrestler who deserves to be featured more on weekly TV. (Although I could do without the “he’s short” gimmick.)

Sadly, I still can’t buy into the Roman Reigns storyline. And a match between him and Erick Rowan just feels like the ‘Big Dog’ is barking up the wrong tree. Although Bryan’s continued involvement naturally makes even this drivel oddly captivating.

Everything taken into account, SmackDown was a good show tethered by two particularly underwhelming angles. The show this week was a high Smack Bang in the Middle.

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5 years ago by Nicholas Holicki

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