By Mark Rodriguez
Becky Lynch is still the Smackdown Champion and has finally kicked Charlotte to the curb. I can't wait to see what happens next. There's also a tag team match involving Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy, The Mizz and Rey Mysterio. What everyone really wants to see though, is how WWE will excuse Daniel Bryan from NOT participating in WWE Crown Jewel due to real-life behind-the-scenes political reasons.
AJ Styles calls out Daniel Bryan
AJ Styles comes out and calls out Daniel Bryan. With both men face to face, AJ Styles apologizes to Daniel. DB says he has no need to apologize since they both want the same thing, the WWE Championship. AJ says the Pele Kick he hit DB by accident last week was on purpose and he looks forward to do it again at Crown Jewel. AJ declares he will defend the title right now.
Shane McMahon shows up and announces he is back on Smackdown Live. He declares that AJ Styles will defend his title against Daniel Bryan tonight and calls for a referee.
First Match- AJ Styles VS Daniel Bryan- WWE Championship Match
Both men started trying to out-grapple each other. They get face to face and shove each other as their animosity rises. DB targets Styles' left arm. Styles hits DB with a dropkick. As DB tosses Styles out of the ring, he does a suicide dive and plants him on the floor outside.
Ads for Extra gum, Doritos and Arbys play as the guy continue to fight it out in the ring. Once the ads stopped playing, Daniel Bryan is hitting AJ with the Yes Kicks and AJ escaped this by attacking the left knee. It seems the earlier suicide dive injured Daniel's knee and now AJ has a target. AJ would grab DB's leg in an Armbar to bring on the pain until he managed to get out of it. Even so AJ kicks the leg out from under him, sending Daniel back to the mat.
AJ lifts DB and slams his knee into the top turnbuckle and gets his knee back into the Armbar. DB kicks his back several times with the other leg and gets back up. Daniel catches AJ's moonsault attempt and knees him in the face several times. He slams him down and goes for the Yes Kicks again, even though it hurt his left leg again. As DB runs towards him, AJ hits him with a dropkick. AJ gets on the post for the Phenomenal Forearm but DB grabs him and slams him backwards onto the mat, and both men are down.
After the break, Daniel gets AJ in the Yes Lock but AJ grabs the ropes and breaks the hold. AJ throws Daniel out of the ring, landing knee first onto the hard floor outside. He's pick him up again and slam him knee-first onto the announcement table. Daniel manages to throw AJ into the steels steps. Both men beat the count out and take the action back into the ring.
In the end, DB got AJ in the Yes Lock. After a long struggle, AJ would lift DB and slam him down with the Styles Clash. He would then grab DB in the Calf Crusher on the injured leg. With nowhere to go, DB had to tap out. AJ Styles retains his title.
Both men shake hands in respect but suddenly Samoa comes out and attacks AJ Styles. He gets AJ in the Coquina Clutch and knocks him out. DB attacks Samoa to get him off AJ, but Samoa attacks the bad leg and also knocks him out with the Coquina Clutch. Samoa Joe raises the WWE Championship belt declaring his intentions.
Paige and Charlotte
Paige congratulates Charlotte on her big match against Becky at Evolution. She asks her to be the Captain of the Smackdown Women Team at Survivor Series. Charlotte is unsure due to her recent loss but Paige tells her to think about it.
Second Match- Cesaro VS Big E Halloween Trick or Street Fight
The New Day came in dressed as The Brood, the team originally composed of Edge, Christian and Gangrel. After the break we see that they chose Cesaro and Big E to represent both teams, though there are no disqualifications and the others can jump in too. Everyone got into the ring and madness exploded everywhere. Big E grabs both Xavier and Kofi and throws them out of the ring, soon followed by Big E. Big Show grabs Xavier and forces him to go bobbing for apples in the bucket of water. Cesaro picks up Big E and slams him into a bunch of Jack-O-Lanterns. He tries to do it again but Big E reverses it and slams him onto the pile of pumpkins.
Sheamus comes in but Big E flings him up against a table. Big E tries to grab Kofi and Xavier again but Kofi spits red mist in his face like Gangrel used to. Likewise, Big E would also spit red mist into Cesaro's face and slam him down and score the pin.
Shane talks to Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, The Mizz and Jeff Hardy about their role in the World Cup Tournament. He tells them that if they lose to a RAW superstar in the finals, they will no longer have a home on Smackdown Live.
AJ Styles talks to Paige and demands a match with Samoa Joe at Crown Jewel. Paige reluctantly agrees. AJ says she won't regret this, but Samoa Joe will.
Third Match- Shinsuke Nakamura VS R. Truth (with Carmella)
This is a non-title match. This was supposed to be a match against Tye Dillinger but since Randy Orton injured him, R. Truth takes his spot.
R Truth manages to hang with Nakamura, taking him down with a real cool leg flip take down. He then threw him out of the ring and called Carmella up onto the ring for a Dance Break. As ads for the Nintendo Switch and whatnot play, Nakamura gets Truth in a choke hold. Nakamura gets Truth into a painful abdominal stretch and jams his elbow into his ribs. Truth manages to throw him off him.
Truth runs Nakamura over and then hits him with a flying kick to the face and tries for a pin. Nakamura kicks out and kicks Truth on the side of the face. Nakamura gets Truth on the ropes and hits him with a running knee. After several hard strikes to the back of the neck, Nakamura runs at Truth and hits him the Kinshasa and scores the win.
Becky Lynch segment
Becky comes out and brags about her victory at Evolution. She says she's 'The Man' at the locker rooms of both Smackdown and RAW. She knows her next big match will be against Rhonda Rousey at Survivor Series but she says she doesn't scare her and she's ready to take her arm off.
Samoa cuts a promo, still threatening AJ Styles and his family. He says he will write the final chapter at Crown Jewel as he will be the new WWE Champion.
Main Event- The Mizz and Randy Orton VS Jeff Hardy and Rey Mysterio
Jeff started off strong against Randy Orton until he got on the ropes and Mizz tripped him up. Orton would attack Jeff, with Mizz landing some cheap shots whenever the referee was distracted. Jeff got out of Randy's hold and lept off the ropes, hitting him with a kick. Mysterio and Mizz are tagged in and Mysterio hit his rival with a DDT. Mizz would kick out of the pin and get Mysterio in a Back Breaker/ Neck Breaker but could not get the pin.
Rey Mysterio and Jeff would work together and attack the Mizz, sending him to the ropes. Rey would hit him with the 619 and Jeff would leap off the post and land the Swanton Bomb on Mizz and score the win.
Randy Orton would grab Jeff Hardy in the RKO. Rey would jump off the post and Randy would catch him with the RKO. Mizz would get up and pat Randy on the back, and also eat the RKO. No one is safe from Randy Orton as these four men prepare for the World Cup Tournament, now with their jobs on the line.
The Highs of Smackdown
AJ Styles VS Daniel Bryan and Samoa Joe- This was a pretty intense match, despite them still running ads during a Championship Match. I usually zone out during these stupid split screen ad breaks and it ruined it for me. The match was still pretty good and Samoa Joe appearing at the end was a good surprise. I can't wait to see these two clash at Crown Jewel.
Halloween Trick of Street Fight- Again, I wish the ads didn't cut into the match since I really wanted to see this cheese-fest in its entirety. I mean the ring was littered with Jack-O-Lanterns, they had a Candy Corn Kendo Stick, they had a table full of treats and pancakes and they even had the bobbing for apples bucket. Sheamus was dressed like a ghost or zombie version of himself and the New Day played homage to The Brood. It was good old fashioned cheesy wrestling fun.
R Truth still gets the crowd poppin'- It was kinda nice to see that Truth can still get the crowd behind him, and the Dance Break with Carmella is kinda catching on. I knew he wasn't going to defeat the current US Champ, but he put on a decent showing and showed off some sweet moves during his match.
Becky Lynch is still the champ and has moved on to someone else- 'nuff said
Jobs on the line- This was interesting thing Shane added into the mix. If one of the four guys representing Smackdown loses in the finals, he will be 'fired' and I assume will go to RAW. That is, assuming one of them makes it to the finals at all and loses. Sure, Smackdown can win the tournament, but I am curious who would be sent to RAW if they lose.
The Lows of Smackdown Live-
Still trying too hard to make Charlotte a likable face- This is probably my personal bias here, but I just can't stand Charlotte and she will never not be a heel to me, even if Becky is meant to be the heel here. Making her give an inspiring speech at the performance center, and now having Paige nominate her as leader of the Smackdown team with her doubting herself in an attempt to draw sympathy from the audience... Just stop it. No one cares. Or at least I don't. Make her heel again, but the evil kind. The backstabber she's always been.
The US Champ is still... just there- Despite his recent attempt to qualify for the World Cup, I honestly forgot Nakamura is the US Champ and has to defend his title from time to time. WWE is really dropping the ball here. I mean, is he even defending the title at Crown Jewel? With Samoa back in the picture, AJ Styles has a much more personal feud on his hands besides just defending the title. Nakamura needs a serious feud to make the title, as well as himself, matter.
Overall Opinions- Despite also showing scenes of Evolution, building up hype for Crown Jewel and announcing Survivor Series, Smackdown put on a much better show in 2 hours than RAW did in 3. Sure a big part of it was due to the championship match, but still... the Halloween match was fun and there actually was a main event.
WWE did a clever thing with dealing with the Daniel Bryan situation. Many times we have superstars about to face themselves at some upcoming PPV, and they get into each other's faces and say 'you know what, let's settle this right here, right now!' but they always pull back and save it for the actual event. This was the perfect chance to finally have AJ Styles say the line and have the Championship PPV Match actually take place on the show. That was awesome and clever thinking. Then having Samoa come back to have him take Daniel's place on Crown Jewel. Perfect.
The match itself was pretty good but I do wonder if behind-the-scenes Daniel Bryan was supposed to win the title at Crown Jewel originally. Since AJ will still be at Crown Jewel and I assume Samoa is healed up enough to fight, it would have made more sense to have AJ retain here. I guess we'll never know what would have happened at Crown Jewel had DB stayed.
Becky Lynch is still the Smackdown Champion and has finally kicked Charlotte to the curb. I can't wait to see what happens next. There's also a tag team match involving Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy, The Mizz and Rey Mysterio. What everyone really wants to see though, is how WWE will excuse Daniel Bryan from NOT participating in WWE Crown Jewel due to real-life behind-the-scenes political reasons.
AJ Styles calls out Daniel Bryan
AJ Styles comes out and calls out Daniel Bryan. With both men face to face, AJ Styles apologizes to Daniel. DB says he has no need to apologize since they both want the same thing, the WWE Championship. AJ says the Pele Kick he hit DB by accident last week was on purpose and he looks forward to do it again at Crown Jewel. AJ declares he will defend the title right now.
Shane McMahon shows up and announces he is back on Smackdown Live. He declares that AJ Styles will defend his title against Daniel Bryan tonight and calls for a referee.
First Match- AJ Styles VS Daniel Bryan- WWE Championship Match
Both men started trying to out-grapple each other. They get face to face and shove each other as their animosity rises. DB targets Styles' left arm. Styles hits DB with a dropkick. As DB tosses Styles out of the ring, he does a suicide dive and plants him on the floor outside.
Ads for Extra gum, Doritos and Arbys play as the guy continue to fight it out in the ring. Once the ads stopped playing, Daniel Bryan is hitting AJ with the Yes Kicks and AJ escaped this by attacking the left knee. It seems the earlier suicide dive injured Daniel's knee and now AJ has a target. AJ would grab DB's leg in an Armbar to bring on the pain until he managed to get out of it. Even so AJ kicks the leg out from under him, sending Daniel back to the mat.
AJ lifts DB and slams his knee into the top turnbuckle and gets his knee back into the Armbar. DB kicks his back several times with the other leg and gets back up. Daniel catches AJ's moonsault attempt and knees him in the face several times. He slams him down and goes for the Yes Kicks again, even though it hurt his left leg again. As DB runs towards him, AJ hits him with a dropkick. AJ gets on the post for the Phenomenal Forearm but DB grabs him and slams him backwards onto the mat, and both men are down.
After the break, Daniel gets AJ in the Yes Lock but AJ grabs the ropes and breaks the hold. AJ throws Daniel out of the ring, landing knee first onto the hard floor outside. He's pick him up again and slam him knee-first onto the announcement table. Daniel manages to throw AJ into the steels steps. Both men beat the count out and take the action back into the ring.
Both men shake hands in respect but suddenly Samoa comes out and attacks AJ Styles. He gets AJ in the Coquina Clutch and knocks him out. DB attacks Samoa to get him off AJ, but Samoa attacks the bad leg and also knocks him out with the Coquina Clutch. Samoa Joe raises the WWE Championship belt declaring his intentions.
Paige and Charlotte
Paige congratulates Charlotte on her big match against Becky at Evolution. She asks her to be the Captain of the Smackdown Women Team at Survivor Series. Charlotte is unsure due to her recent loss but Paige tells her to think about it.
Second Match- Cesaro VS Big E Halloween Trick or Street Fight
The New Day came in dressed as The Brood, the team originally composed of Edge, Christian and Gangrel. After the break we see that they chose Cesaro and Big E to represent both teams, though there are no disqualifications and the others can jump in too. Everyone got into the ring and madness exploded everywhere. Big E grabs both Xavier and Kofi and throws them out of the ring, soon followed by Big E. Big Show grabs Xavier and forces him to go bobbing for apples in the bucket of water. Cesaro picks up Big E and slams him into a bunch of Jack-O-Lanterns. He tries to do it again but Big E reverses it and slams him onto the pile of pumpkins.
Sheamus comes in but Big E flings him up against a table. Big E tries to grab Kofi and Xavier again but Kofi spits red mist in his face like Gangrel used to. Likewise, Big E would also spit red mist into Cesaro's face and slam him down and score the pin.
Shane talks to Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, The Mizz and Jeff Hardy about their role in the World Cup Tournament. He tells them that if they lose to a RAW superstar in the finals, they will no longer have a home on Smackdown Live.
AJ Styles talks to Paige and demands a match with Samoa Joe at Crown Jewel. Paige reluctantly agrees. AJ says she won't regret this, but Samoa Joe will.
Third Match- Shinsuke Nakamura VS R. Truth (with Carmella)
This is a non-title match. This was supposed to be a match against Tye Dillinger but since Randy Orton injured him, R. Truth takes his spot.
R Truth manages to hang with Nakamura, taking him down with a real cool leg flip take down. He then threw him out of the ring and called Carmella up onto the ring for a Dance Break. As ads for the Nintendo Switch and whatnot play, Nakamura gets Truth in a choke hold. Nakamura gets Truth into a painful abdominal stretch and jams his elbow into his ribs. Truth manages to throw him off him.
Truth runs Nakamura over and then hits him with a flying kick to the face and tries for a pin. Nakamura kicks out and kicks Truth on the side of the face. Nakamura gets Truth on the ropes and hits him with a running knee. After several hard strikes to the back of the neck, Nakamura runs at Truth and hits him the Kinshasa and scores the win.
Becky Lynch segment
Becky comes out and brags about her victory at Evolution. She says she's 'The Man' at the locker rooms of both Smackdown and RAW. She knows her next big match will be against Rhonda Rousey at Survivor Series but she says she doesn't scare her and she's ready to take her arm off.
Samoa cuts a promo, still threatening AJ Styles and his family. He says he will write the final chapter at Crown Jewel as he will be the new WWE Champion.
Main Event- The Mizz and Randy Orton VS Jeff Hardy and Rey Mysterio
Jeff started off strong against Randy Orton until he got on the ropes and Mizz tripped him up. Orton would attack Jeff, with Mizz landing some cheap shots whenever the referee was distracted. Jeff got out of Randy's hold and lept off the ropes, hitting him with a kick. Mysterio and Mizz are tagged in and Mysterio hit his rival with a DDT. Mizz would kick out of the pin and get Mysterio in a Back Breaker/ Neck Breaker but could not get the pin.
Rey Mysterio and Jeff would work together and attack the Mizz, sending him to the ropes. Rey would hit him with the 619 and Jeff would leap off the post and land the Swanton Bomb on Mizz and score the win.
Randy Orton would grab Jeff Hardy in the RKO. Rey would jump off the post and Randy would catch him with the RKO. Mizz would get up and pat Randy on the back, and also eat the RKO. No one is safe from Randy Orton as these four men prepare for the World Cup Tournament, now with their jobs on the line.
The Highs of Smackdown
AJ Styles VS Daniel Bryan and Samoa Joe- This was a pretty intense match, despite them still running ads during a Championship Match. I usually zone out during these stupid split screen ad breaks and it ruined it for me. The match was still pretty good and Samoa Joe appearing at the end was a good surprise. I can't wait to see these two clash at Crown Jewel.
Halloween Trick of Street Fight- Again, I wish the ads didn't cut into the match since I really wanted to see this cheese-fest in its entirety. I mean the ring was littered with Jack-O-Lanterns, they had a Candy Corn Kendo Stick, they had a table full of treats and pancakes and they even had the bobbing for apples bucket. Sheamus was dressed like a ghost or zombie version of himself and the New Day played homage to The Brood. It was good old fashioned cheesy wrestling fun.
R Truth still gets the crowd poppin'- It was kinda nice to see that Truth can still get the crowd behind him, and the Dance Break with Carmella is kinda catching on. I knew he wasn't going to defeat the current US Champ, but he put on a decent showing and showed off some sweet moves during his match.
Becky Lynch is still the champ and has moved on to someone else- 'nuff said
Jobs on the line- This was interesting thing Shane added into the mix. If one of the four guys representing Smackdown loses in the finals, he will be 'fired' and I assume will go to RAW. That is, assuming one of them makes it to the finals at all and loses. Sure, Smackdown can win the tournament, but I am curious who would be sent to RAW if they lose.
The Lows of Smackdown Live-
Still trying too hard to make Charlotte a likable face- This is probably my personal bias here, but I just can't stand Charlotte and she will never not be a heel to me, even if Becky is meant to be the heel here. Making her give an inspiring speech at the performance center, and now having Paige nominate her as leader of the Smackdown team with her doubting herself in an attempt to draw sympathy from the audience... Just stop it. No one cares. Or at least I don't. Make her heel again, but the evil kind. The backstabber she's always been.
The US Champ is still... just there- Despite his recent attempt to qualify for the World Cup, I honestly forgot Nakamura is the US Champ and has to defend his title from time to time. WWE is really dropping the ball here. I mean, is he even defending the title at Crown Jewel? With Samoa back in the picture, AJ Styles has a much more personal feud on his hands besides just defending the title. Nakamura needs a serious feud to make the title, as well as himself, matter.
Overall Opinions- Despite also showing scenes of Evolution, building up hype for Crown Jewel and announcing Survivor Series, Smackdown put on a much better show in 2 hours than RAW did in 3. Sure a big part of it was due to the championship match, but still... the Halloween match was fun and there actually was a main event.
WWE did a clever thing with dealing with the Daniel Bryan situation. Many times we have superstars about to face themselves at some upcoming PPV, and they get into each other's faces and say 'you know what, let's settle this right here, right now!' but they always pull back and save it for the actual event. This was the perfect chance to finally have AJ Styles say the line and have the Championship PPV Match actually take place on the show. That was awesome and clever thinking. Then having Samoa come back to have him take Daniel's place on Crown Jewel. Perfect.
The match itself was pretty good but I do wonder if behind-the-scenes Daniel Bryan was supposed to win the title at Crown Jewel originally. Since AJ will still be at Crown Jewel and I assume Samoa is healed up enough to fight, it would have made more sense to have AJ retain here. I guess we'll never know what would have happened at Crown Jewel had DB stayed.
Crown Jewel will be Friday at some odd time due to the difference in the time zones, and though WWE will no longer advertise where it's being held, they decided to keep it in Saudi Arabia. I'll be watching it Saturday with more time. Expect the usual review on Mark Marks Out Wrestling Aftershock Reviews sometime Saturday.
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