The annual question of “which is better: SmackDown or Raw?” is set to be answered as the two camps go head to head at Survivor Series this Sunday. The go home SmackDown before the clash looked to see which side would be sending out one last message to the other. There has been no retaliation from Raw yet so no prizes for guessing who had the final blow last night. No, it wasn’t your mum. She just blows. Welcome to the most must-see Vulture Hound weekly review in history; welcome to… The SmackDown Review.

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Once again, Shane McMahon opened the show. However, it wasn’t inside the ring or in front of the crowd. He was giving a pep rally to his SmackDown roster backstage. Meanwhile, back in the arena, Daniel Bryan made his return – no, not to in ring competition you mark – and said, just like SmackDown Live, he doesn’t stay down. Bryan invited new WWE Champion AJ Styles to the ring, and offered to be Styles’ very own Paul Heyman. Bryan and Styles hyped up the match against Brock Lesnar on Sunday whereby Styles vowed he will emerge victorious.

The bits yer Da loved:

– Baron Corbin defeated Sin Cara in a match for the United States Championship. Corbin hit the End of Days and pinned Sin Cara to retain, presumably, putting an end to this short lived push for the faceless one.

– In her home town of Charlotte, North Carolina, the titular Charlotte defeated Natalya to become the new SmackDown Women’s Champion. Charlotte got Natalya to tap out to the Figure Eight to win the title. A nice touch to the moment saw Ric Flair come out to celebrate with his daughter. Flair’s place on the Women’s SmackDown team at Survivor Series is now vacant meaning there is room for a shock Paige return to SmackDown. My guess is Carmella cashes in her MITB on Alexa Bliss and switches to Raw meaning there’s a space on the SmackDown roster for Paige.

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— Backstage, Daniel Bryan said that after Survivor Series he would need to have a conversation with Shane McMahon about “cohesion”… whatever that means.

– Jey Uso defeated Chad Gable. Though Gable dispatched Jimmy Uso from the ring apron he was then struck by a super kick from Jey and then pinned.

SmackDown vs Raw: Here Comes The 2KMercy

The nights main event saw the The New Day square off with a begrudged Owens and Zayn. Before the match started the unicorned trio bragged about how they’re going to defeat the Shield on Sunday. In the middle of the match, the Shield’s music hit and they entered through the crowd. The New Day and Zayn and Owens stood united. That was until The Shield got up on the apron then Zayn and Owens bailed faster than your Dad on Christmas. As the Shield attacked the New Day, the Usos came running in to save their former rivals, but then Sheamus and Cesaro entered through the crowd to join in what was now becoming a Raw siege.

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Backstage, the Raw women stormed the women’s locker room in search for their blue brand counterparts. More and more Raw roster members kept hitting the ring until Shane McMahon led the SmackDown roster to defend their show. It was then that Raw’s secret weapon, Braun Strowman, became the turning point as Raw laid out everyone, then delivered a Shield assisted powerbomb to Shane McMahon at the order of Kurt Angle. Angle then delivered an Angle Slam to McMahon which could be a sign of things to come on Sunday. There was then one final Shield powerbomb to close the show.

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Complete chaos and we wouldn’t want it any other way heading into Survivor Series!

By Bradley Tiernan

"Wrestling is better than the things you like" - John Oliver