WWE SmackDown – October 4, 2019 (Review)

WWE SmackDown – October 4, 2019 (Review)

Capping off one of the most anticipated weeks in wrestling history, SmackDown made its much-hyped return to Friday nights and FOX. And on such a monumental occasion, it seemed only appropriate that the blue brand would pull out all the stops. Because after the “season premiere” of Raw, the full-length USA debut of NXT and the inaugural weekly episode of AEW, it stood to reason that SmackDown would put on a big show.

Factor in the move to a new network, and that “big show” was destined to be an all-time monolith. Or, according to reports, a “small WrestleMania”. Which I took to mean that it would feature at least two celebrity guests and a 30-minute Triple H match.

But more realistically, amongst the rumoured surprises for the event were returns from the Usos, Drew McIntyre, Edge and – per usual – CM Punk. Although an appearance by the Chicago native may seem unlikely, remember that the identity of the man responsible for Maria Kanellis’ impregnation is yet to be revealed. And Punk is a noted ‘Chick Magnet’. It’s in his name for goodness sake.

Additionally, like Raw and Mickey Rourke, SmackDown has undergone a bit of a facelift. Revamped logos, a new theme song and a redesigned set bring a much-needed fresh feel to our Friday night indulgence.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3NJ_LwHXwP/

And if that wasn’t enough, WWE’s Four Horsewomen would once again be going to battle in tag team action, Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon put their careers in the line in a ladder match, and Kofi Kingston faces the impossible in his title-defining defence against Brock Lesnar.

And all of this in just two hours!

So, with all this excitement, with all this anticipation, and to end an incredible week… let’s get to the review.


The Best of SmackDown

The Rock and The Man

Becky Lynch came out to start the show proper. She reminisced about her tenure on SmackDown, calling it the place where she her journey to becoming ‘The Man’ began. It felt like a sincere reflection on a period that meant a lot to her.

It wasn’t long though before she was interrupted by King Corbin, who proclaimed that, as royalty, he deserved to be highlighted on a night as monumental as this.

And then a true star emerged.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3N29BMh7Hb/

The Rock’s music hit and the crowd erupted. He soaked up the ovation before making his way to the ring, cooly greeting Becky and mugging off Corbin. He announced that he was finally home, reminding everyone that he had coined the phrase “SmackDown” many years ago. And then he called King Corbin “a broke-ass Burger King who looked like he was on crack“. I laughed – for old time’s sake.

The Rock and ‘The Man’ had some fun at Corbin’s expense. And I have to admit, they had WAY more chemistry than I expected them to, almost certainly bolstered by the fact that The Rock was far smoother than he’s been in recent live appearances. Apart from encouraging a rather cringeworthy “STD” chant, he was funny, engaging and… electrifying.

And Becky was more than his equal. This is the best she’s been presented in some time.

Anyway, they beat up Corbin and The Rock got the last line – promising an action-packed show. What a start!

Two-Man Booth

Calling the action throughout the night were Michael Cole and Corey Graves. And the fact that SmackDown had limited itself to two announcers – something we haven’t heard in years – was immediately noticeable.

Commentary felt cleaner, uncluttered by three voices speaking over each other or the annoying bickering that’s become a staple of recent years. It felt, dare I say, like a professional broadcast. I loved it.

New Faces Backstage

SmackDown seemingly sent its automatons in for servicing (I’m kidding, I like Kayla Braxton), and replaced them with broadcasters with actual personality.

One of the benefits of moving to FOX is that the blue brand now has access to all of the network’s talent. And last night, Erin Andrews – notable for doing the sideline reporting for NFL games – interviewed the New Day ahead of Kofi’s battle against Brock Lesnar.

Now, legitimate questions can be asked about how much knowledge Andrews has of the product. She certainly appeared slightly unsure when introducing the pancake-loving faction. But she undeniably has charm and personality – two traits often lacking from WWE’s other backstage interviewers.

“We’ve Been Hurting for so Long”

This was perhaps my favourite ever instalment of the Firefly Funhouse.

After each of the puppets reintroduced themselves to the FOX audience, Rambling Rabbit popped up, dressed as Seth Rollins. He expressed his admiration for the Universal Champion, much as he did for Finn Bálor, before pleading with Rollins to walk away from his match against The Fiend at Hell in a Cell.

Bray Wyatt, however, dismissed such talk a poppycock and balderdash. He suggested, instead of telling Seth what he thinks is going to happen on Sunday, Rambling Rabbit should show him.

So Bray stuck Rabbit in a cage with Mercy the Buzzard, who quickly tore the well-intentioned animal to shreds, showering Wyatt with Rabbit’s stuffed insides. All the while, Bray Wyatt laughed hysterically.

This was legitimately, and in a very weird way, incredibly unsettling.

Then, during Seth’s ensuing match against Shinsuke Nakamura, the lights went off. Seth apparently used the cover of darkness to run away, because as the strobe light illuminated the arena, he was standing at the top of the ramp. After a few seconds, The Fiend jumped him from behind and locked in the Mandible Claw.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3N6bs7hBxi/

This might have been more effective had Seth just spent the night in a state of paranoia, looking over his shoulder all show long. Especially as we’ve seen The Fiend attack the Universal Champion three weeks in a row now, and WWE is running the risk of overexposing its biggest star. But for now, it still largely works.

Two Careers Hanging in the Balance 

There’s really not much to say about the ladder match between Shane McMahon and Kevin Owens. It went exactly as we’d expected.

The two men clobbered one another with ladders and chairs. Shane drove Owens through the announce table with an elbow drop from the top rope. KO returned the favour by frog splashing McMahon through a ladder perched at ringside.

We saw a coast-to-coast dropkick… into a ladder. And Owens powerbomb his boss… onto a ladder. It was pure insanity.

That last “move” (if you can call it that) was enough to allow KO to scamper upwards and claim the briefcase above the ring, granting him the power to fire Shane McMahon. Which Owens promptly did, emphasising his victory with a Stunner.

As fun as the train-wreck of a match was, the payoff was wholly uninspiring. There were no theatrics, no major angles. KO just told Shane he was fired and then gave him a Stunner. This match, while good, seriously suffered from the constraints of a card so packed with other segments. For that reason, the conclusion felt rushed and completely forgettable.

Strowman’s Next Feud?

This was a weird one, so buckle yourselves in.

The team of Braun Strowman, The Miz and Heavy Machinery took on Dolph Ziggler, Robert Roode, AJ Styles and Randy Orton. Before you get too tied up in trying to figure out how that random collection of individuals came to be in the ring together, rest assured that none of it mattered. The match went five minutes and Braun pinned Dolph with a Running Powerslam.

This was, however, all a pretext for what happened at ringside. During all the ruckus, Braun singled out boxing’s linear heavyweight champion – and man seemingly too busy to find a shirt that matched his ridiculous suit – Tyson Fury.

The two exceptionally large men stared each other down, seemingly goading the other to strike first. Then, after the match, Fury hopped the barrier to exchange further words with Strowman. Sadly we couldn’t hear those words because Fury was apparently being too colourful in whatever he was saying, so most of it was bleeped out. This heated back-and-forth continued while he was being restrained by a battalion of security and ultimately steered away.

As morbidly engaging as this was, it’s hard to see where it could lead. Fury is still actively involved in chasing boxing’s heavyweight crown and only recently signed an exclusive deal with Top Rank and ESPN. That obligation makes it unlikely that he’d ever step foot in a wrestling ring with Strowman… but then again, stranger things have happened.

Too Big for Lumberjacks to Contain

Roman Reigns took on Erick Rowan in a fairly decent a lumberjack match, two nights before they meet in a tag match at Hell in a Cell.

The real highlight, however, was Daniel Bryan on commentary. He used the opportunity to reiterate his distaste for liars and let us know how disappointed he is by Rowan’s authoritarian principles.

When Luke Harper made his way out to the ring to tilt proceedings in favour of Rowan, Daniel Bryan sprang into action. He took care of Harper, while Reigns speared Rowan to seal the win. Then, in the post-match, Bryan and Roman shared an uneasy handshake.

Bryan appears to have made a full babyface turn, yet there remains some distrust between him and, in particular, Reigns. They’ll team up to face Rowan and Harper on Sunday, in a match that suddenly has a lot of layers to it. Much like an ogre.

A Ghost from Lesnar’s Past Resurfaces

The immediate aftermath of Lesnar’s underwhelming victory over Kingston (more on that below) felt like an even greater disappointment.

I’m a fan of Rey Mysterio, but when his music interrupted Lesnar’s title celebrations, I felt at best lukewarm at the prospect of a feud between the two. Surely it would’ve only been another instance of Brock tossing around the smaller man for a bit before winning.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3OCJCVB5rC/

But when Mysterio emerged on the ramp, he didn’t do so alone. Standing beside him was none other than Cain Velasquez, the man who knocked Lesnar out for the UFC Heavyweight Title almost nine years ago to the day.

Lesnar looked like he had seen a ghost, genuinely putting over Velasquez as a real threat to the ‘Beast Incarnate’. This fear was only further highlighted when Velasquez ran down and tackled Lesnar, raining down punches before Brock bid a quick retreat. As he made his way up the ramp, Brock barely acknowledged Paul Heyman’s attempts to hand him the WWE Championship he had just won. Lesnar was still in shock at seeing Velasquez emerge on SmackDown – the show he thought he had just claimed as his own domain.

Although I haven’t seen Cain Velasquez’s wrestling debut at Triplemania XXVII in August, I’m told that he did a remarkable job. So his inexperience in the ring doesn’t necessarily worry me. In Ronda Rousey, we’ve seen how quickly mixed martial artists can pick up professional wrestling.

And with the added context of history – of Velasquez being one of the few men to ever conquer the ‘Beast’ – I’m rather excited.


The Worst of SmackDown

McMahon’s Everywhere!

On a night branded as being a new beginning. On a show intended to present a new dawn, a clean slate, a fresh start… we still can’t get away from those damn McMahons!

As a prelude to the actual event, Vince and Stephanie came out onto the ramp to announce that this represented a new beginning for SmackDown. Apparently they don’t understand the concept of irony.

I sincerely hope this isn’t a sign of things to come. Because the last thing SmackDown needs is to be contaminated by the McMahon stench that so often permeated Tuesday nights.

The Four Horsewomen

This may be a controversial one, because the match was naturally pretty good.

But I just don’t understand why we need to see people wrestle one another two nights before they presumably do so on pay-per-view (Charlotte vs. Bayley hasn’t been officially announced as of writing, although is expected). I also don’t understand why we needed to see this match three weeks after the exact same contest was featured on Raw. Or why Sasha Banks and Bayley are booked to keep losing, despite their recent heel turns!

This match, fine as it was, was just a lesser imitation of their contest from last month. With Charlotte once again picking up the victory over Bayley, effectively erasing any momentum her and Banks had built up. This is the definition of sacrificing characters long-term for the sake of one show.

The 24/7 Title

Michael Cole introduced a clip showing Marshmello accidentally – AND FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER! – bump into Carmella very gently and pin her to win the 24/7 Championship. Rather than apologise and hand back the belt like a normal person, he instead bolted with the Title. Then again, he does make a living wearing a giant plastic marshmallow on his head, so maybe that was asking a bit much.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3N7nC4BFVk/

Cole then instructed us to visit WWE.com to see what happened next, because apparently Marshmello soon dropped the belt to someone else.

This entire charade, including the half-hearted sell job afterward, just screams that WWE doesn’t care about this championship anymore. It’s quickly becoming something that only features on YouTube, which is fine, but I’d prefer that it didn’t sit around SmackDown’s neck like an anchor. Cut it loose if you’re not going to put in any effort!

Oh, and for those who care, Marshmello dropped the belt back to Carmella after being ambushed trying to make a quick escape in his limo.

A Record-Breaking Title Victory

I hate that Kofi, despite the immense challenge that awaited him, continues to joyously flinging pancakes into the crowd to the sound of Xavier Woods’ trombone. I get that the ‘Power of Positivity’ in his entire gimmick, but it just feels artificial. As if he’s forced to embrace this persona always in order to shift merchandise.

Even when his compadres were being savagely attacked, even when he was being DDT’d onto concrete, Kofi was laughing and dispensing baked goods like some sort of maniac. It just makes the prospect of a match against Brock feel like a bit of a joke – when it’s meant to feel like the greatest challenge of his entire career.

I think we all expected Lesnar to walk away with the WWE Championship. But very few would’ve guessed that the match would last all of five seconds, as Kofi jumped right into an F-5 and lost.

But shocking doesn’t always mean good. And in this case it just felt like the final devastating nail in a largely (and sadly) underwhelming title reign for Kofi Kingston.

Thankfully it wasn’t the last thing we saw last night.


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

On reflection, it’s entirely appropriate to see The Rock back on SmackDown, because last night – the Friday night debut on FOX – the show “just brought it”.

There was action aplenty from beginning to end, barely allowing the audience a moment to catch its breath. There was a brutal ladder match, The Fiend staged another attack on Seth Rollins, Braun Strowman picked a fight with a celebrity, The Rock and Becky Lynch demolished King Corbin, and Brock Lesnar won the WWE Championship… only to be left dumbfounded by the surprise appearance of Cain Velasquez.

But it was due to the multitude of twists that SmackDown felt lacking in its more intimate, story-driven moments. Everything felt a bit rushed, as if WWE was battling to cram as much into the two-hour runtime as possible.

As a consequence, Shane McMahon’s firing felt entirely underwhelming and soon forgotten. Likewise Kofi, having lost the belt to Brock to end his Cinderella run, was quickly swept aside in the aftermath – one can’t help but feel never to be seen in the main event again. It was an anti-climatic finish to a reign that had meant something dear to a lot of people.

 

With that said, while the show was far from perfect, it remained wholly captivating from start to finish. For pure shock value, and because the show will long live on in our memory, SmackDown’s Friday night debut is SmackTastic.

Follow WrestleTalk on Twitter to stay up-to-date with all the latest wrestling news, and join the conversation with the entire community on Discord.

4 years ago by Nicholas Holicki

Trending

Get the latest wrestling news straight to your inbox

By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from WrestleTalk