We are now well into the FOX era of SmackDown. The roster having been drafted last week and on the latest episode of Monday Night RAW has set the way for new storylines to develop. Yet, much of this week’s episode was centred around already existing feuds and hyping up the matches that will be taking place at Crown Jewel on October 31st. Welcome to the most must-see VultureHound review in history; welcome to… The SmackDown Review.
Results:
– Roman Reigns vs Shinsuke Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship ended in a DQ win for Reigns.
– Chad Shorty Gable defeated Curtis Axel.
– The New Day and Heavy Machinery defeated The Revival, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode in an 8-Man tag team match.
– Nikki Cross defeated Carmella, Dana Brooke, Lacey Evans, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville in a 6-Pack challenge to be named no. 1 contender for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
– Braun Strowman defeated Drew Gulak.
– Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns defeated King Corbin and Shinsuke Nakamura in a tag team match.
Bradley’s Best Bits:
The show got off to a great start with plenty of energy coming from the company’s star player Reigns and Intercontinental Champion Nakamura. Unfortunately, it would end in a DQ when for some reason King Corbin attacked Reigns. This brought out the real people’s champ Daniel Bryan to make the save and set up the main event of the evening where two teams of unlikely allies would face each other in tag team action.
With Bryan getting the pin on Nakamura, this match has done well to create a bit of underlying tension between Reigns and Bryan where the latter now has a valid claim to face the champion for the Intercontinental title. The only person who felt slightly out-of-place after his recent feud with Gable was King Corbin who seemed a bit shoe-horned into this weeks main event. Who knows? He might also get a shot at the white strap and then this suddenly becomes a very interesting 4-way for the title.
Leading into the biggest-ever Tag Team Turmoil match at Crown Jewel, the babyface pairing of New Day and Heavy Machinery picked up a solid victory over The Revival, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode.
This might be WWE’s desperate attempt to compete with AEW’s stellar tag team division, but even if it has started in earnest, it is great to see these hard-working teams getting to put on such a fun match for the fans. Especially when the raw sexual tension continues to build between the gyrating Otis and Big E.
Bayley’s segment on Miz TV was the prelude to a 6-pack challenge to determine who would challenge for her SmackDown Women’s Championship. Sasha was there in support for her best friend whilst The Miz attempted to goad the champion into giving an explanation for her recent actions.
After The A-Lister hit Bayley with the low blow of “not being a talking champion like Lesnar”, the former hugger finally retorted with an excellent response which was also a great throwback to a promo once uttered by Vince McMahon. “So you guys want some inspiration? Life sucks, and then you die.” Perfect.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdEDg0Owtxs]
Eventually, the participants for the 6-pack challenge all interrupted one another before we got into the match itself. It was a nice little showcase of what these women are capable of, with Dana Brooke, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville particularly impressing. Lacey Evans was also there…
In the end, it would be Nikki Cross who would claim the victory. Although it would be nice to finally see Dana Brooke given a chance, the result makes sense given the previous involvement with Cross and Bliss against The Boss & Hug Connection.
Bruan Strowman was out to give someone his big old hands in frustration ahead of his Crown Jewel match with Tyson Fury. The unlucky individual would be Drew Gulak who did his best as a “combat sports historian” to convince Strowman not to take Fury lightly by showing him one of his enjoyable trademark PowerPoint presentations.
Before he could get into his 345-slide presentation, Strowman tore Gulak apart in what was a glorified squash match which, if anything, proved the point that The Monster Among Men goes straight into destruction mode without thinking about a game plan. You can see why this happened as it allowed Gulak to sow the seed of doubt as to whether Strowman has what it takes to beat a heavyweight boxing world champion by his usual “get these hands” tactics.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHJ_w-_xsXE]
For FOX Sake:
It looks as though Shorty G is now officially a thing, with Chad Gable giving himself the name after defeating Curtis Axel. Sadly, this was the worst part of an otherwise pretty good show this week.
WWE has gone to great efforts to make childish remarks about Gable’s height despite the fact he’s not even the shortest man on the roster. As a result, the company have ultimately ruined any potential that the G Man had of ever being a mid-card champion.
Seriously, you can’t picture it – “aaaand neeeew generic mid-card champion, Shorty Gable!” It just doesn’t work. At least, Curtis Axel got on tv this week though.
All pics and videos courtesy of WWE