Previously on Friday Night Smackdown…
Sasha Banks invested in a Zoom account after getting destroyed with a steel chair by Bayley upon her return, The Samoans shockingly won a Samoan Street Fight, & Alexa Bliss didn’t take kindly to Southern Sass.
This was the last show before Clash Of Champions this Sunday & with the card previously booked for the Smackdown side, all they could do was build upon what was already set for the pay per view. Let’s go ahead & check out how they did.
Ro-Man Of The House
If you told me coming out of Payback that I’d be most excited for Roman Reigns against Jey Uso heading into the next Network event, I would have called you a giant lying liar. But here we are. That’s not necessarily the knock it sounds like as Roman has been nothing short of spectacular since his return at Summerslam. The Usos, however, have never really been my thing. They can easily put on good to great tag matches, but everything outside of that hasn’t connected with me. It feels like they’re constantly in jokester mode & they have a weird sing-song cadence when they do promos that takes me out of them. If you don’t know what I mean, listen to Jey’s promo from earlier in the show & then compare it to the one that he closes with. See what I mean? I’m not saying it has to be one way or the other all the time, but I think you’d be hard pressed to convince anybody that the second one isn’t much better, both from a material standpoint & especially the delivery.
And let’s talk about that closing promo, because buddy, if that didn’t get you hyped for Sunday, you might want to check your pulse. Just listen to that tone & the words. I had to write most of it because it’s that good:
I’ve been battling this my whole life. You’ve been number one. You’ve been on top. ‘There goes The Big Dog, there goes Roman Reigns, there goes Mr. Main Event, Mr. WrestleMania.’ You know what they say when they see me? ‘Which one are you?’
“Which one are you?”
That line hits hard. I don’t know if we’re working ourselves into a shoot, but you just know that’s happened to Jimmy & Jey constantly in the past. For all their WWE accolades & being on television for the better part of a decade, they’re still Uso #1 & Uso #2 in the eyes of some people. You think that shit happens to The Bellas? Not a chance. Between that & WWE referencing history again with a video package of Roman & Jey’s family picking sides, they’ve added way more weight to this feud than I ever thought they would.
(Side note: Watch Paul Heyman during that entire Uso promo for a master class on conveying emotion with facial expression only. His growing concern as Roman looks more & more conflicted as Jey talks is great. The head tilt. The bug eyes. The pursed lips. A+. Everybody here is on point.)
And let’s not sleep on Roman here either. His promo would’ve been the best part of the entire thing had Jey not immediately surpassed it. Roman’s been big dogging Jey (pun totally intended) this entire feud & now we at least get a glimpse as to why. Him being condescending telling Jey he has zero concept of being on top in WWE is such an asshole thing to say, but true enough that he’s got a valid leg to stand on. He doesn’t want this for Jey since he knows what it entails & Jey would be better off sticking to tagging with his brother & staying in joke mode down in the mid-card. It’s bordering on delusional heel territory, but he makes some pretty solid points that you can buy into it if you wanted. Full heel territory comes after when Roman sucker Superman punches him, but we all knew that was an inevitability whenever Jey decided to get too big for his britches.
I am full on excited for this match heading into Sunday & very curious how it plays out. There’s a negative percent chance Jey pulls out the victory, but I want to see how it all goes down. Will it be competitive? Will Reigns just roll him? Will he feel remorse about it or will it be all business as he cements himself into the show’s top heel? Look at you go home show, making me excited for the pay per view. What a concept!
Red Alert
This story is just fun at this point. I believe that has a lot to do with Alexa Bliss being so committed to the bit. That seriously helps your cause, definitely in something like pro wrestling of all forums, as it’s ridiculous in just about every aspect. Whenever somebody completely leans into the role though, you can get significantly more out of it. It’s why everybody loves King Bookah & The Hurricane. Those guys were fully invested, so crowds took notice then appreciated it. Bliss appears to be in that same category in this role as well.
We’re learning that just saying “The Fiend” isn’t the only trigger for Bliss now either. The ominous laughter gives us just a taste, but the full on Fiend lighting gets the transformation done now too. I do find it kind of hilarious that little Alexa Bliss hulks up into this little rage monster & then just decimates twice her size Lacey Evans once she hits Fiendette Mode. But whatever, it works. I was a little upset when this wasn’t happening at Summerslam or Payback, but I think this slower burn has been more enjoyable to this point. As the header image suggests, it’s definitely heading somewhere after Clash. All the bonus points if Bliss hits Heyman with a Sister Abigail next week.
If You Want Ran-something Done Right…
Hey what’s this doing so high up??
Believe it or not (easily believable), Matt Riddle facing King Corbin under the radar stole the show. Best match of the evening where all the matches were really good. And I’m not saying they were good for a go home show, either. They were good for an any time show across the board. I knew it was a great bout too when as it started I had pretty much zero interest & was fully invested as it progressed to the end. That’s called a 205 Live Special. Both guys hit a lot of big moves & were flying around with a solid pace. Corbin’s Deep Six looked particularly good.
Corbin takes it, which feels like a weird call given how much he’s dragged Riddle these past… four months? Is Corbin contractually obligated to feud with somebody for six month intervals? His one with Roman Reigns lasted for about nine years if memory serves & now this one looks like it’s going to keep going as their series is tied at one win each. Does this also mean the King’s Ransom is done with? Did he just win his own half off appetizer gift card? Chad Gable must be pissed. Maybe he can put on all black & a Halloween mask, then head over to RAW as “Shortstack” or whatever.
Eyes On The Prize
Evil Lord Bayley continues her streak as smartest person on the show by, get this, continuing to pay attention to the damn details. Last week, Nikki Cross threw out the idea that Bayley is open to be beaten now that Sasha Banks is gone & nobody is in her corner to protect her anymore (Please ignore the fact that nobody is in Nikki’s corner anymore either as her friend is now a Demon Clown Sleeper Agent). Bayley quickly points out though that she murdered Sasha Banks in cold blood for having the slightest notion of trying to take her Smackdown Women’s Championship from her, so what does Nikki think will happen to somebody who overtly wants the title?
What’s crazy about Clash Of Champions on the Smackdown side is that most of the matches feel like they have obvious winners, but I still want to see them play out. We already talked about the Reigns/Uso stuff, but the Bayley/Cross stuff has a lot of the same going for it. I seriously doubt Bayley loses, but it’ll be interesting to see if she straight up takes it or if she tries to still cheat even without Sasha’s help. There’s also the clear threat of Bliss looming to smash Nikki and/or Bayley’s face into the ground to connect that story from the past few weeks. Go home show, you’ve done it again!
Welcome To The Wasted Land
The Ascension Ceremony to kickoff the show was inoffensive enough as a segment & worked to sum up every guy’s stance heading into Clash. We know all the beats from each guy by now, but they got in & out with it quick enough. What is offensive though, is essentially doing your match planned for Sunday two days prior. Granted, this wasn’t a ladder match, but it was a triple threat match, which can have ladders involved if they choose to since there’s no DQ. Why Adam Pearce decided to make that match is beyond me.
I would be lying though if I said the match wasn’t really good. I’ve thought this entire time that the eventual blow off match between these three would deliver & this one did. The problem is I think you gave away too much too soon. They would have been better off doing the scheduled one on one match or having one guy bail in this triple threat halfway through. Literally nothing is on the line & there’s no need for a guy to risk injury by getting involved in a no DQ match with ladders surrounding the ring before he challenges for the title 48 hours later. It’s the perfect heel move. By doing the triple threat in earnest with a clean victory, it feels like you’re going to be taking away a little bit of the shine come Sunday. We’ll see.
Styles does the Money In The Bank go home show special & climbs the ladder to pose with the titles, usually a surefire sign you’re not winning the actual match. Zayn also won the triple threat, so I guess Jeff Hardy is winning? (retaining?) I don’t know. This is the one match from Smackdown set for Clash that feels like it could go in any direction as far as the winner is concerned. Low key hilarious is Styles just kept the belts after. He also thinks he’ll win at Clash because he has a nickname. Solid plan, my dude.
Clash Of Kings
The custody battle for Gran Metalik continues as he’s again thrown into a singles match against one half of the tag champs who apparently want to kill him. This was another match that had no business being as good as it was as they kept the outside bullshit to the side & let Nakamura get a clean victory by kicking Metalik’s head off of his body. The infighting between Dorado & Kalisto happens again after the match as Kalisto decides to not get his ass kicked by a pissed off Nak & Cesaro, so that’s still happening. This is like the Garza & Andrade thing over on RAW except Zelina Vega isn’t there to make it interesting. Just break up already. We’ll see who represents LHP come Sunday, but whoever takes the loss, just kick them out & we can move on.
Random thing I just realized after typing that headline: Smackdown has four guys with King monikers on their roster with these two, Corbin & Riddle. That doesn’t mean anything, I just found it odd. Maybe once NXT Japan debuts, they can battle it out for Lord Of The Seven WWE Kingdoms.
Undebutable
If this lady doesn’t appear at Clash, we’re officially in Emmalina territory. We may well already be. Part of me at this point just wants it to be a swerve & the little tiny blonde ends up being Raquel Gonzalez or something. Chelsea Green has been floated around, but unless she smears that lipstick all over her face, I don’t care. Carmella re-debuting as Still Carmella doesn’t really move the needle either, guys. Unless that’s the NXT Oculus Mirror she’s using. Then we can talk.
A Bad Court Thingy
(You mean a mistrial?)
I’m no law talking guy, but this Money In The Bank legalese is raising way more questions than answers. So Miz gave Otis until this show to decide if he’ll forfeit his MitB contract over, Otis declined, so now they’re going to court? And Otis thinks they can forgo that & instead have a match, of which Miz doesn’t even respond to. Tucker also points out that the lawyers drew it up stating that Miz would get the MitB & not both he & Morrison, somehow shocking Morrison. What the hell did you think was happening, John? You’d both be the contract holder? After all THAT, Otis beats up Morrison & not Miz. Sure. As Tom Servo would say: ENNNNNNNNNNDDDDDD.
There’s your go home Smackdown, everybody. Pretty damn great if I’m being honest. Even the Otis/Miz & Not Carmella stuff only lasted about five minutes total, so I can’t even be that mad at it. Everything else got me pretty hyped for Sunday. What about you? Let us know how you’re feeling about Clash for The Blue Team below. We’ve had some movement in the SRP comment section lately, so please feel free to make an account & join us. If not, there’s always our Discord!
Be sure to come around again this Sunday for Clash Of Champions results & the ensuing review. I’m sure all the title contenders will do super well & not get destroyed by the champions! Nope. Totally love their chances!
