Another episode of SmackDown is in the books, meaning it’s time to look back at the show to identify the highs and lows of an episode that featured Tatum Paxley and Alexa Bliss defending the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship against Michin and B-Fab.
The Good
Blake Monroe
While better than last week, this edition of SmackDown once again felt very forgettable. Monroe, who has done nothing since joining the roster, at least got to shine at times during her street fight with Giulia. Specifically, the spot with the suplex onto a pile of chairs on the outside was the best thing on the show. It still boggles my mind how long it took to get here, though, as this feud went on for months with little-to-no progression. I’m also skeptical about what this will do for Monroe with the WWE audience as Giulia almost never wins. Monroe’s AEW run was excellent. We know what she’s capable of. Here’s hoping this serves as a springboard to better things.
Other Highlights
- There’s nothing else in wrestling right now like the CM Punk—Kevin Owens feud. The way they snipe at each other with little inside digs is fun, and I’m looking forward to their upcoming match, which, interestingly is not being held at Crown Jewel.
- Michin and B-Fab winning the titles was unexpected, and introducing an element of unpredictability is never a bad thing.
- Chelsea Green’s title defense against Roxanne Perez was mostly solid, though its ending was on the opposite end of the unpredictably spectrum. You can set your clock to Judgment Day interference each week.
The Bad
Haku’s Walking Stick
So, a scheduled match between the MFTs and Bakusai never got started after Kyoki swiped Haku’s stick and Nakamura started waving it around. Cool. The reverence with which they now treat the stick is hilarious because a few weeks ago IT BROKE! Clearly. On camera. It was already a dumb thing to center a feud around, but it was made infinitely dumber by having it break and then pretending that never happened. This “feud” cannot end soon enough. Also, Kyoki might be my least favorite character on WWE television right now with the possible exception of Joe Hendry. It’s still early days, though, so we’ll see what happens.
Other Lowlights
- I’m still not buying Trick Williams as a title contender to Sami Zayn. Again, I ask, if the plan was to move Williams into this spot, however temporarily, why was he so inconsequential at Money in the Bank? It makes no logical sense, either. He was in a match to earn a title shot, lost, and now he’s getting a title shot. That’s shoddy booking.
- Despite getting highlighted in the good section, Monroe’s match with Giulia could’ve done without that ridiculous mirror spot. Don’t get me wrong, it could’ve been cool, but if you’re not going to have Monroe bleed, then don’t do it. It was absurd that she got thrown face-first into a mirror and emerged unscathed. Somewhere, Marty Jannety is nodding in agreement.
- That Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton segment just covered the exact same ground they’ve already covered ad nauseum. It led to the match announcement, but it felt largely inconsequential.
The Ugly
Short Main Events
For the second week in a row, we got an abbreviated match in the top slot. It started as a tag, turned into a six-man, and ran less than 10 minutes with a commercial break. There were no stakes, and having Williams pin Ricky Saints meant nothing. I guess the idea is to keep Trick “strong” heading into his match with Zayn, but we all know Williams isn’t winning, so why not let Saints or Johnny Gargano cheat to pin Williams and set up a program for the U.S. Title? We all rave about the amount of main-event talent on SmackDown, but the actual main-event matches have been lacking.
Related: WWE Raw Review for Oct. 19: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
