Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show where sometimes you're a week away from the pay-per-view and you just kind of have to fill time before you get there! That's basically how the WINC staff felt about the blue brand's offering this week Bayley took down Naomi to finalize the Bad Blood card, sure, but beyond that, the most newsworthy thing that happened was an announcement about an exciting return happening next week. In other words, even the second-most interesting thing that happened on the September 27 episode was a teaser for the one on October 4. Not ideal.
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That said, there was still plenty of stuff to enjoy this week, including another CarmeloHayes vs.Andrade match and some interesting interpersonal developments going on amongst WWE's top babyfaces. For full details on the entire show, without commentary, check out our "SmackDown" results page. That's the place to go if you want to know what happened; this is the place to be if you want to know how we felt about it. Which is just a slightly longer way of saying, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 9/27/24 episode of "WWE SmackDown."
The fact Randy Orton is the reasonable one in this storyline (as someone who grew up watching Orton back in his more wild days when he was also younger) is pretty funny to me overall, but this week, the man absolutely had a point. First of all, I'll always love this iteration of Orton who is absolutely loving life and what he's doing in the ring these days, and this version of him opening up any show sets a good tone for the rest of "SmackDown." Also, he made a ton of sense. He questioned why in the world Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes would be teaming with Roman Reigns, of all people, after all Reigns and the Bloodline have done not just to Rhodes, but to all of his friends on the blue brand, as well, Orton included. He brought out Rhodes to explain himself and honestly, Orton asked the question all of us were really thinking, and something that probably needed answered in a storyline sense.
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I really liked the way Rhodes got Orton to understand his reasoning. He said he's standing in the ring with the "Legend Killer," and the legend of the rogue Bloodline has gotten so big, it's time for it to be killed, and he hoped that wouldn't be a problem for Orton. Orton was basically like, "Well, you got me there, works for me!" and shook Rhodes' hand, which is still fitting for the character he's portraying at this point in his career. But, the "Viper" persona isn't completely gone in Orton, however, with him slightly menacingly telling Rhodes it wouldn't be a problem at all, unless Rhodes "makes it a problem." That brought out Kevin Owens, who also of course needs an explanation from Rhodes more than anyone on the roster.
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The other person I have to give a few props to in this opening segment was Solo Sikoa, which to be honest, I don't often do. Everything Sikoa said when he interrupted Owens made sense, as well. He said that Rhodes hasn't been able to defeat the Bloodline with Orton and Owens by his side, so of course he has to team with Reigns. That's something that was blatantly right in front of us, but something I know I at least hadn't thought about as deeply as maybe I should have. Of course, the only way to defeat the "rogue" Bloodline is to team up with someone who knows them a heck of a lot better, someone in their own, well, bloodline. So, while the main purpose of this segment was to further the tag team match at Bad Blood as well as the main event of "SmackDown," a lot of sense was made across the board, and I quite loved it.
Written by DaisyRuth
When Naomi returned to WWE at Royal Rumble 2024 with an impressive, hour-long appearance in the famed match, we all assumed that Naomi would be getting a massive push in her second WWE run. After all, it was poor booking and unfair treatment that caused Naomi to leave WWE in the first place WWE would be stupid to put her on the sidelines again! While teaming with Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill to pick up a trios win at WrestleMania was cool, there was something missing with Naomi. While Belair and Cargill picked up the tag titles, Naomi was left to the side to lose every time singles gold was in her grasp, and to only win when the wins did not matter.
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What is the difference between Naomi pre-WWE walkout, and Friday's Naomi? Quickly.
Naomi took yet another loss in a championship-implicating match when she lost clean to Bayley in the first hour of Friday's edition of "WWE SmackDown," and it is beyond frustrating to see Naomi essentially revert to where she was in the company, pre-WWE walkout. It has been over seven years since Naomi last carried singles gold, and you're telling me that she isn't even an option to compete for Nia Jax's title? What makes other people Bayley, Tiffany Stratton, literally anyone else who has had a shot at Jax's title more deserving than Naomi? This is not a diss on any of those women, but it is a question of what Naomi is missing. This question should be hard to answer, because Naomi is not lacking compared to any of these women. She is incredibly charismatic, athletic, has a strong gimmick that can complement the title (as opposed to becoming consumed by it), and is decently over with the crowd. Tell me again, what is Naomi lacking, that she can't even get into a championship match?
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Of course, Jax is far too early in her reign to plausibly drop it to anyone, much less Naomi (although, from what we've seen with Bron Breakker's recent Intercontinental Championship reign over on the red brand, I suppose anything is possible). However, the issue here is that Naomi isn't just barred from the title, but she is barred from competing for the title. She is not only being denied the first helping of food at a dinner party, she is being denied a seat at the table. It is so incredibly odd to have incredible talent like Naomi someone who most people will agree is a staple of the women's locker room and a foundational member of WWE as a whole and not give her the opportunities she deserves. Randy Orton hasn't won a singles title in forever, but he's allowed to compete for them. We know that Orton wasn't going to beat GUNTHER, but he was given the opportunity to. Why can't Naomi get the same opportunity?
When Naomi walked out over creative frustrations, she at least had a title. Now, apparently she can't even challenge for one.
Written by Angeline Phu
Whether it's a surprise or it's announced ahead of time, returns are always exciting for fans especially when a star has been off television for well over a month. While AJ Styles' return is guaranteed to be fun to watch next week with how big of a name he is in WWE, the way it was teased for next week definitely was not.
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Style has been off television for more than three months, so to have his return to "SmackDown" only be hyped up on a show with an incredibly simple video package on a show that is already rife with them is quite disappointing. It was seemingly an ineffective way for WWE to try to accomplish what they were looking to do in order to get fans to tune in and see him. Styles could've at least spoken or appeared in the video outside of previous clips of him on television, hinting at what was next for him upon his return and get him excited about a match or other in-ring segment.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
This pains me to say, but the series between Andrade and Carmelo Hayes has officially gotten old, and it looks like we're going to a best of seven series. These guys eat and leave no crumbs every single match they have, and maybe it's just me, but after six matches, pretty much week-after-week at this point, I'm losing sight of what WWE is trying to do here. Both of these guys deserve so much more within WWE, and it's excellent they're showing their talents against each other, but goodness, is it ever time to move on, and I honestly can't recall the last time WWE went into a "best of seven" for a feud.
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Of course, it hasn't been completely based around just Hayes and Andrade, there's United States Champion LA Knight in there as well. Andrade had a match against Knight last week for the title, which Andrade lost, but everything seemed just fine between them after that match. Andrade went for a handshake, I believe Knight gave him a fist bump, and at the slightest and if my memory isn't serving my correctly, at least there wasn't a brawl or anything and the pair left the ring without any kind of post-match squabble. But, Andrade brought that back around as well, pretty much for no reason, but telling Knight he didn't respect him anymore for not shaking his hand. While, yes, I understand why Andrade would want to be traditional when it comes to an in-ring handshake after a match, come on, WWE. You couldn't think of a better storyline for Andrade? I just couldn't help but think to myself, once again, that he deserves more in the company.
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What I'm hoping a match next week, or the week after, once Bad Blood is in the books, is that Andrade and Hayes have their final match, now that their series is tied six-six. The winner of that match, which I'd imagine would be Hayes since Andrade has had his shot, faces Knight on another episode of "SmackDown," because I think all of this has run its course to even be a premium live event match at this point. The in-ring caliber that Andrade and Hayes has not dropped a bit since their first match, or even matches, but the storyline aspect just isn't there for me anymore. This could be completely exacerbated by the fact the blue brand is really lacking in the story department, in my humble opinion, other than what it's doing with Rhodes, Reigns, and the Bloodline. While I'd love for Andrade versus Hayes to be wrapped with a nice little bow and a US Championship shot for Hayes, I'm not confident in that happening.
Written by Daisy Ruth
I've always found "Michin" Mia Yim to be one of WWE's most underrated and underutilized performers, but credit where credit is due WWE gave her a shot at another push, and she's taken full advantage.
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Michin racked up a singles win over Piper Niven this week, and I just love it when that happens. After more than a year of being strapped to the dead weight that is The OC, she's had some work to do over the last few months to restore her credentials, but she's emerged as something resembling a true women's division midcarder someone you could absolutely see winning a new women's midcard championship, if WWE had interest in that idea. Between this victory, her win over TiffanyStratton back in July, and her tremendous WWE Women's Championship street fight with Nia Jax in August, Michin has been on a run, and has carved on a strong place for herself on the blue brand. Not sure I would have seen that coming for her a year ago, no matter how talented she is.
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It's good to see WWE investing time and effort into building up stars that have been waiting a while for their turn especially in the women's division. We got two women's matches on "SmackDown" this week (the same number as the men), both singles matches no less, and that doesn't happen if the brand isn't running a strong non-title women's feud with Yim and Chelsea Green. We're also getting two women's matches next week, and both women's singles titles are about to be defended on a 5-match PLE the following night. It's far from perfect, but it's also not nothing, and the fact that Mia Yim can now just roll onto an episode of "SmackDown" and win her match clean as a whistle is something to be celebrated as a sign of growth in the division.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
As my esteemed colleague pointed out at the beginning of this column, Cody Rhodes is getting what's coming to him. After forcing Kevin Owens, against his will, to take a title shot, Rhodes then turned around and joined forces with Roman Reigns, who was the mastermind behind the heartache and pain of basically the entire "WWE SmackDown" roster (and some of "WWE Raw's" men too, like Sami Zayn and Jey Uso). Randy Orton criticized Rhodes rightfully so in the beginning of the night, but I wanted to highlight just how interesting it is to have Rhodes, the babyface of WWE, get absolutely told off, and have it be perfectly reasonable.
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Owens has always been a realistic character, even when nobody around him is. Owens is the type to forgive, but not forget look at how he treated Seth Rollins when Rollins attempted to woo Owens into a buddy-buddy relationship back in 2022, or how he handled the whole Elias/Ezekiel fiasco in the same year. Owens has always had such a realistic gimmick, and it works beautifully when someone has the hard job of telling a babyface that they were (or currently are, and in Rhodes' case, it's both) in the wrong.
Owens doesn't budget out his reactions. He is so explosive. When Rhodes inadvertently cost him the victory in Friday's main event, Owens made his ire known, and immediately got in Rhodes' face with belligerence and exasperation. Yes! Let Rhodes pay for the price of his actions! Owens explicitly told Rhodes to not get involved in their match (and yes, I know that Orton effectively reversed that decision, but walk with me here), and Owens gave Rhodes his comeuppance. Owens isn't willing to overlook Rhodes' blunders by the virtue of him being a babyface. Owens is ready to let Rhodes know when he messed up, and it makes for a much more entertaining and captivating narrative than if Owens just let Rhodes' follies slide because he's Cody "Babyface" Rhodes.
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We're seeing this over on Monday nights with Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston, where WWE is allowing their babyfaces to be wrong, and it is so refreshing. So often in narratives not just wrestling narratives, but in all sorts of stories we see the protagonist make some questionable decisions, only to not be questioned by other by the sheer virtue of them being the protagonist. WWE is taking efforts to rewrite that rule by having their babyfaces pay the price for their heroic acts; their protagonists are not immune to the fallout of their actions. From Kingston to Rhodes, we are getting a more nuanced look at what it means to be a babyface. Add in the totally committed performances from Woods and Owens, and these storylines are shaping up to be very interesting narratives. These storylines are ones to monitor.
Kevin Owens consistently adds a layer of realism that brings the nuance out of the soap opera dramatics of WWE programming. It's even better when it comes at the cost of the company's top babyface.
Written by Angeline Phu
