When we last left our heroes…
We survived Survivor Series! Smackdown lost the evening (although WWE never counted the preshow in previous years, so technically they tied), but proved their champions were better than RAW’s with Roman, Sasha, & The Street Profits all getting victories. Sami Zayn would’ve gotten one too if not for that diabolical cheater MVP…
We’re finally past Bland Supremacy & can officially put the focus back on the two shows as their own things going forward. Smackdown tonight tried to get back into their groove with mixed returns. In honor of Black Friday, they took about 50% off making the show enjoyable. WWE actually posted the entire episode online for free, which they’ve never done before & probably isn’t the best sign indicating they liked it. What parts were the stuffing & mashed potatoes of the night? Which were the burnt crescent rolls? Off we go.
Undisputed Best Thing On The Show
"I have an extensive background in talking."
We 💙 @BillieKayWWE 😂😂😂 #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/eP1lEGqSTu
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) November 28, 2020
Billie Kay is a treasure & we do not deserve her. Tommy Tutone be damned, I’m calling 555-867-5309 to see if she’ll announce the show for me over Zoom every week.
The Season Of Chair-ity
I don’t know who Roman Reigns thinks he is caring about losses at Survivor Series like this, but somebody tell him it’s not that important. There’s a bit of a disconnect here since if you recall, that show ended with Roman hugging Jey on the ramp after he defeated Drew McIntyre, so to see him here mad that Jey interfered is a bit jarring. I’m willing to forgive it however, as Roman’s mental torture leads Jey Uso into becoming a chair swinging maniac, hell bent on taking out anybody who has wronged him or Roman these past few weeks.
He manages to take down Otis & Bryan, directly leading into conflict with friend of the people, Kevin Owens. Sadly, he didn’t get to King Corbin before his match, but that needs to happen too if we’re being consistent. Get Rollins while you’re at it also. Seth & his husband may think they’re safe, but after their baby is born, instead of the doctor spanking it to check reflexes, it could be a chair shot. I’m just spit balling here, quit judging.
I would normally hate a main event ending the way this one did, but since it fits in with the narrative they gave us throughout the evening, it works perfectly. Funny how defining your character’s motivations & having them act accordingly can make the show better. Jey is finally starting to realize that Roman doesn’t care about him winning or losing, just making others understand that they run Smackdown now. What better way to get your message across than multiple beatdowns with chairs?
Possibly the best thing of the evening, non-Billie Kay division, is the return of an edge to Kevin Owens. I am admittedly a giant Owens mark, but even I have to admit he’s been a whole lot of nothing since WrestleMania & even that was just okay. Part of it is him being a babyface & another is they’ve run him up against boring opponents like Aleister Black. If it took Jey Uso bludgeoning him & others with a chair to awaken the pissed off KO we all know & love, hit him again just to be sure. I thought we were heading toward Bryan vs Reigns, but maybe now it’s going to be KO instead? I wouldn’t hate either option or getting all three into a match. Eventually Roman’s going to have to take care of business himself & you really can’t go wrong with either of the options available.
Three Ain’t Enough Man, We Need Ten
Sami Zayn is here to dump on Thanksgiving as a whole for its promotion of factory farming & taking of land from Native Americans. Noted pro-factory farmer & hater of indigenous people Daniel Bryan makes sure to interrupt & fight him about it. Wait… what? Do I have that right? Whatever, it gives us arguably the match of the night even with the dubious finish (you’ll notice that’s a theme on tonight’s show). Zayn once again steals a win by actively being smarter than his opponent & I guess we’re not supposed to like him for it, but I’m going the other way.
I enjoy Zayn’s new thing of trying to get countout victories as they’re “more impressive” than your standard three count pin. Given that outside of his match tonight, the others consisted of two flash roll-ups, a DQ & the faces knocking the heels’ foot off the ropes, he might be on to something. He may or may not have gotten help from a rampaging Jey Uso, but that’s neither here nor there. A win is a win.
All of this leads to a wonderful development & that’s Smackdown remembering Big E exists outside of shouting matches with The Street Profits. We’ve all been ready for the Big E title push for quite some time now, so here’s hoping they finally get moving in that direction after starting & stopping it a couple times already this year. Given how things are starting to take shape, maybe a triple threat with these two & Bryan for TLC can happen. Just watch out for Zayn handcuffing your ear to a ladder, guys.
Another good thing is how many guys are floating around the men’s singles title scenes. RAW has also been doing this with McIntyre, Orton, The Fiend, Miz & whoever wins the triple threat this Monday all circling The WWE Championship, but Smackdown ups the ante a little bit with Zayn, Reigns, Jey, Owens, Big E & Bryan all hovering around both men’s titles, effectively blending the top of the card with the midcard. That’s important, as in theory The Intercontinental Champion is supposed to be the second best person on the show. Having guys wanting to go after each gives credibility to both titles & makes it more believable that there are a bunch of viable contenders for both championships.
A Little Bit Of The BOSSbly
Now that Sasha Banks has proven she can go toe to toe with Bayley & Asuka, I have no choice but to believe that she should be able to snap Carmella in half no problem. The reveal of The BOSS Knuckles is laugh out loud dumb, but so much so that I think I love it. Given how WWE Superstars watch televisions, I am sort of surprised she didn’t see Sasha coming from a mile away.
Truthfully, this segment isn’t all that great, but gets put so high for its ability to be completely inoffensive & the rest of the stuff from tonight having major problems. Let’s… *sigh*… get to them.
The Real Boat Captain
I wanted to like this a lot more than I did, but I can’t quite nail down why. I know you’re all probably pointing to “NATALYA” in big flashing lights, which is part of it, however other stuff just didn’t work for me either. I don’t know why I noticed it more here because it happens all the time, but the forced interaction with somebody on commentary was particularly bad. Both of them aren’t really near Bayley when they fight to the outside, so she has to inorganically get closer to them. Even with that, it still looks like Bianca misses her with that punch by about a foot.
Bianca hitting Bayley also somehow leads to Natalya getting distracted by Bayley & Diva Driver’d for the loss, which is obviously another part I didn’t care for. Five matches on the show & four of them had a dirty finish. Come on, WWE. By protecting everybody, you’re protecting nobody. I can’t point to anybody on this show that would be irreparably damaged by a clean loss. Just let them happen. You think if somebody beats Lars Sullivan, that makes him less freaky? I doubt it. We already all think that.
The good news in this mess is that it looks like we’re getting a build toward Bayley against Bianca & yes fucking please. Bianca had a less than stellar showing at Survivor Series, which I thought would be her big breakout, so we’ll have to have miracle worker Bayley give her the shine she deserves. Bayley got a passable championship match out of Tamina earlier this year, so I expect nothing short of a five star affair with Bianca.
You Gotta Think This Gets Them A Title Opportunity!
This match in & of itself is pretty solid. The Profits & Roode are usually good for putting on decent to great matches & Ziggler works a lot better in a tag capacity as he’s way less insufferable in smaller doses. Honestly, this probably gets a lot higher on this episode’s Top-Down ranking if they skip the absolutely brutal dueling promos beforehand & there’s a better finish. I’m not going to break down the entire promo portion, but the most head scratching part is when Angelo Dawkins tries to insult Robert Roode by saying he can only grow a mustache & nothing else. For clarification, this is Robert Roode. I don’t care how Just For Men’d the thing is, the hair is there. Conversely, here is Angelo Dawkins:
Then there’s the finish, which sees the challengers pin the champions in a non-title match for possibly the ten billionth time. I don’t know, I’ll have to go back & check the math. One of these days we’re going to have a post about the worst tropes in WWE & this one is easily going to crack the top five along with distraction roll-ups & breaking up The IIconics.
The point has been beaten to death, but nobody wants to see somebody win against somebody else, just to see if they beat that same opponent with a title on the line. I’m not for something like AEW’s laughable power rankings, but there’s got to be a better way. Between tournaments, battles royal, multi-person matches, interrupting promos or complaining to management, you can land a number one contender a lot of other ways. I’d literally prefer Roode & Ziggler beat them in a Decathlon than pinning them in a non-title match at this point.
Wanksgiving
I’m not joking when I say I think this is the second worst segment I’ve had to review in my time doing these behind Smackdown Karaoke. There is not a likeable person in this entire outing with King Corbin somehow being the best one here against astronomical odds. The whole match is basically superfluous as it all revolves around The Mysterios cheating about a half dozen times throughout. It’s even more ridiculous when Cole announces prior to the match that Murphy is fighting for “The Mysterio Family honor” & they just cheat their asses off the entire time. I expect it from the one Guerrero out there, not the other two.
And yeah, sure, you can make the case that King Corbin is a jerk & deserves it, but it’s not like he’s been in their business at all until earlier in the night. All he even did then was just call them dorks, which to be fair, they are. I didn’t even get to the weird way Murphy is hovering his arm over Aalyah now as I can practically hear my skin crawl at the thought of it. Just awful all around. I didn’t think WWE could make it worse after Rollins with The Mysterios, but never underestimate their ability to make you question why you watch wrestling.
Overall
Worth Your Time:Â Uso vs. Owens, Zayn vs. Bryan
If You Have Time:Â Street Profits vs. Roode & Ziggler (MATCH ONLY)
Don’t Waste Time:Â Corbin vs. Murphy, Sasha & Carmella’s Brawl, Belair vs. Natalya
There you have it, friends. Certainly nowhere close to the best Smackdown we’ve seen, but I can’t hate it for what it’s trying to build to. You can’t be mad at the possibility of Reigns/Owens, Bayley/Bianca, Bryan/Zayn/Big E & Sasha/Carmella. Corbin & The Mysterios is horrifying, but if you subscribe to the idea that every wrestling show always has one feud that isn’t good going on that I just made up right now, you can get past it.
How are you feeling about Smackdown post-Survivor Series? Excited where we’re headed? Any ideas for TLC? Just happy that Brand Supremacy is behind us? As always, head down to the comment section or our Discord & let your thoughts be known. We appreciate any & all fan interaction. TLC wraps up the just likes to have fun year that is 2020, so look forward to ladders & chairs being shoehorned into feuds in the upcoming weeks. Maybe one will fall out of the rafters & clip the entire Mysterio Family. Cross your fingers!
