Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show where we get to watch all the matches that would have been included on the PLE card if PaulLevesque wasn't inexplicably loyal to the number five! Yes, it's the Bad Blood go-home show, which you might think would feature any of the four wrestlers who are reportedly headlining that event, but in fact did not one of the many interesting things we have to talk about in this column! Other such things include the potentially ill-fated return of AJ Styles, the rarely-seen Dumpster Match, and a ladder match for the tag team titles. We'll actually touch on nearly everything that happened in this episode (including the Nashville crowd) but for anything we left out, there's always our "SmackDown" results page if you need a refresher!
With that in mind, it's time to find out which matches and segments gave us the most positive or negative feelings on the blue brand this week. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 10/4/24 episode of "WWE SmackDown."
Last week, I wrote about starting to get tired of seeing Carmelo Hayes and Andrade facing off against each other seemingly every week, despite how darn good they are. So, this week, I thought it only fair to address how much I loved 'Melo getting his shot at something a bit more unique. However, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention AJ Styles coming back either to get legitimately injured or injured in a lame storyline. Either way, I didn't enjoy that whatsoever, but I really liked where this all was going at the beginning of the night, and Styles' injury doesn't appear to have affected anything when it comes to Hayes.
I didn't foresee Hayes being the one to interrupt Styles' return, but it really worked for me. I thought Hayes had some pretty good shots at Styles. He said he had to be the one to welcome Styles back, because there wasn't exactly a long line of guys waiting on his return after everything Styles has done. With the rumors that have been circulating online (even though I feel like this happens more often than not with Styles) that Styles is set to be winding down his career, Hayes bringing up a Legends contract was gold. He then of course had to bring himself and his struggles up, which then brought out United States Champion LA Knight and I'll never be mad about seeing Knight cut a promo on my screen. So while we're still going in the direction of Hayes hopefully being the one to take the US title off Knight, we got there in a different manner than with Andrade this time, which I enjoyed. It was different, but not too different to veer off the course of Hayes' storyline. Styles is a great dance partner and the match was cooking before the injury happened, which sucks, but, if it's real, it then gives Styles another story to come back and kick Hayes' butt, especially if he takes the gold off Knight.
While the final match in the best of seven series between Hayes and Andrade is inevitable, this week gave that story some breathing room, which I think it desperately needed. With just a little bit of a break and a different angle with Styles, I'm getting more behind Hayes and want to see him win the title from Knight. I think that could be an excellent title change for a big episode and big main event of "SmackDown" moving forward in the weeks between Bad Blood and Survivor Series: War Games, or WWE could build it up for War Games and get the US title on a premium live event. Either way, I was happy with how things went this week, outside of a potential injury to Styles, and I'm back to thinking there is energy in this story, especially when it comes to Melo.
Written byDaisyRuth
The go-home show before any premium live event should be a spectacle to behold, and to WWE's credit, they had stacked Friday's pre-Bad Blood "WWE SmackDown" with several can't-miss segments and matches. AJ Styles was set to return, Michin was to go against rival Chelsea Green in the first ever women's Dumpster Match, and the main event was to see six of WWE's most talented tag team wrestlers fight in a guaranteed-to-be-gruesome ladder match for the WWE Tag Team Championships. It was shaping up to be a hard-hitting show that would've hyped up Saturday's upcoming premium live event in nice fashion.
The fans came alive for the returning Styles. They were alright for Styles' blue brand homecoming match against Carmelo Hayes. Then, the energy died off.
Michin pulled out a Canadian Destroyer, from out of nowhere, onto Chelsea Green during the first ever women's Dumpster Match, and the crowd was dead silent in Nashville. Bayley dropped a full, unadulterated, uncensored "b****" in her promo against Tiffany Stratton and Nia Jax, and the Nashville crowd remained asleep. Naomi and Stratton had a spectacular back-and-forth match, full of clean reversals and counters, and Nashville didn't pop when Naomi finally got her first televised singles win in several weeks. Until steel chairs and tables began being used, Nashville was relatively quiet in the six-man Triple Threat Ladder match, compared to the absolute madness that all three teams were conducting in-ring. So many cool things happened on Friday's episode of "SmackDown," and the Nashville crowd only came alive for a handful of them.
The crowd's disinterest is infectious. I should not be taking naps on a show with two stipulation matches, an uncensored curse word, Carmelo Hayes and LA Knight, and a long-overdue win for Naomi, but I am incredibly guilty of taking 10 minute naps because of how inconsequential the show felt. So much happened on this episode of "SmackDown," and all the hype was basically negated by the lack of energy being provided by the crowd.
I get that Styles' ankle incident especially in his first match back, just a stone's throw away from home sucked to see, and I'm sure it was not what the people of Nashville were hoping for when they dropped hundreds of dollars on tickets. Still, the rest of the show was so good, it seemed counterintuitive, to an obstinate degree, to remain silent and unappreciative for the rest of the segments. Their unwarranted disapproval made at-home watching experience incredibly dissatisfying. This would've been a completely different narrative, had this show sucked, but the amount of effort WWE put into this card versus the crowd reaction was incredibly disproportionate, and I'd argue that it ruined the go-home episode of "SmackDown."
If we're looking for some silver lining, it's that the crowd's impact our impact on the wrestling product is not one that can be understated. However, with great power comes great responsibility, and Nashville caused one of the better episodes of "SmackDown" in recent memory to flop.
Written by Angeline Phu
In a world of Rhea Ripleys, Bianca Belairs, and Tiffany Strattons, it can be easy to get lost in the shuffle trying to be the most physical performer in WWE's stacked women's division. There are many on the roster who can plausibly go for 30 minutes to great effect, but the undercard on TV still needs entertaining nuggets to balance things out. That's where Michin and Chelsea Green shined through on Friday night; it was a relatively short bout, but their Dumpster Match managed to be the highlight of this writer's evening.
From the off, Green made it clear she was going to live the gimmick like she always does, donning her signature entrance attire with a trash-centric twist: sanitation uniform and a trashbag skirt. After weeks of victimizing Michin with a trashcan, it seemed all but confirmed that Green would be going into the dumpster. So it was on the competitors to deliver on the excitement which they did even with a milquetoast crowd working against them.
What ensued was an example of the entertainment and work-rate value both possess, little pockets of "wow" interceded with comedic character work. Green hit a Canadian Destroyer out of nowhere, only to find herself on the losing end of a powerbomb through a table into the dumpster. Both gave their all in this match, but the "Hot Mess" continued to perform once the bell had rung. Covered in an unknown excremental substance, Green sold the loss ringside and backstage, taking a long walk of shame to the ridicule of everyone including "WWE SmackDown" GM Nick Aldis, who finally advised she went for a shower before she stropped off. There aren't many on the roster who can lose a dumpster match and still manage to come off looking good. But one would say that's been the running theme of Green's current run in WWE: failing successfully.
Written by MaxEverett
"SmackDown" isn't exactly a show known for putting on full cards' worth of really good wrestling matches, but the in-ring this week was pretty fantastic (and it probably would have been better if AJ Styles hadn't gotten hurt). The Dumpster Match and the Ladder Match are going to get the most attention, naturally, and on most other shows, the match that came in between them would have been lost in the shuffle, ignored by the TV audience just as it was largely ignored by the live crowd. But on most other shows, the match in question wasn't Naomi vs. Tiffany Stratton.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not out here calling this match a five-star or anything, but the thing that really impressed me was the way the two women were able to get a disinterested audience to pay attention. In 2024, it seems like the majority of live crowds decide pretty early on if they're going to be into something or not, and it's difficult to sway them off that first impression. As my esteemed colleague has already pointed out, the Nashville audience died pretty hard after Styles' injury, and unless your match had anything to do with the word "Bloodline," it was going to be a tough room. And it was for Naomi and Stratton until it wasn't.
The tangible moment when you could feel the change in the crowd came in the X-Factor sequence, when Stratton blocked the impactful part of the former finisher, sprang back to her feet, then nailed Naomi with a dropkick. You could hear the collective "wait, what just happened?" spread through the stands, and the two wrestlers responded by maintaining their suddenly electric performance. It was a little piece of magic that hit its crescendo when Stratton went for the Prettiest Moonsault Ever; Naomi dodged it, but Stratton landed on her feet and rolled to the corner so smoothly and crisply it seemed to come right out of a video game. The match ended on a roll-up after that, which wasn't ideal, but the lingering effects of these two performers forcing the crowd to connect with them plus Naomi winning carried over into general appreciation for the more technical finish.
The point is, the audience didn't care about this match, and then they did, for the sole reason that Stratton and Naomi were too good to be ignored. You love to see it, and these days you don't see it often enough.
Written byMiles Schneiderman
There are benefits to doing long term builds in professional wrestling storylines, and one such includes not needing to dedicate a ton of television time to build matches between talent involved that come in the later stages of the program. Although this is the case for the storyline between Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, and The Bloodline given everything that's happened between all of them since last year, the build to their tag team match at Bad Blood has been way too limited and not much has been done to get fans invested in it, feeling like a way to pass the time until it comes time for the Men's WarGames match in November.
"SmackDown" was WWE's final chance to do something memorable to generate interest and hype for the Bad Blood tag team match, but yet all they did was show one extremely short video filled with clips from previous shows. Despite being mostly preoccupied with the Triple Threat Ladder Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship, Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga, and Tanga Loa were all present at "SmackDown" and there was seemingly no reason not to have either Rhodes or Reigns there as well. There was plenty of opportunity for an in-ring segment, and yet, nothing happened leaving a feeling of disappointment rather than excitement.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
The triple tag team main event on "SmackDown" between The Guerrillas of Destiny, DIY, and The Street Profits was awesome. GoD got a clean win, which is a positive; however, DIY's last title reign was way too short (LESS THAN A MOON CYCLE) and The Profits haven't held gold in way too long. And this leads to what I hated about this match.
As I've said in this space before, those tag titles are going to be held hostage by The Bloodline. The New Bloodline has something to prove to everyone, including the old guard. When the OG Bloodline had the tag titles, they held them for 622 days, and history seems likely to repeat itself in the new incarnation. On the one hand, it shows that GoD - and thus the current faction - is a dominant force. On the other, it holds back the division. We saw that with Roman Reigns' title reign, which eventually necessitated the creation of a whole new world title belt that was essentially a consolation prize. There are only a handful of tag contenders as it is; keeping the titles on one team for months at a time stagnates the division.
This state of affairs is made even worse by reports that The Motor City Machine Guns are on their way to the blue brand. Even though they're new to WWE, it's hard to not want to immediately belt a team of their caliber, but they can't win titles that are being held indefinitely by The Bloodline. Even if/when Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa do relinquish the belts, they'll probably lose to a reunited Usos, Jey Uso and SamiZayn, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens,Kevin Owens and Randy Orton, or some other tag team with direct ties to the dominant storyline. Unless MCMG get directly involved with that storyline, it's unclear what they're actually going to be fighting for.
While this week's main event was a reminder of the talent in the "SmackDown" tag division, it was also a reminder that there are teams (both now and in the future) who will never hold those titles as long as there's a version of The Bloodline dominating Friday nights.
Written by Samantha Schipman
