Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show that's all set to play host to a war between the old Bloodline and the New at least, as soon as the old Bloodline stops being completely outnumbered.As you might expect, we here at Wrestling Inc. have a lot to say about the Bloodline angles that opened and closed the blue brand this week, and we also have strong feelings about Kevin Owens and the tag title match he interrupted, Naomi pinning Nia Jax while Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley battle around them, and the impending arrival of the Motor City Machine Guns!
Granted, there was some stuff that drew neither our eye nor our ire this week (sorry, LA Knight vs. Carmelo Hayes) but as always, you can read about anything not discussed here by going to our "SmackDown" results page. You'll also find objective facts there, whereas here, it's all about our opinions. These are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 10/11/24 episode of "WWE SmackDown."
There was some lingering tension in the air as Jimmy Uso and Roman Reigns opened "WWE SmackDown. Until April, Reigns had been the "Head of the Table," and Uso was just his lackey. A lot of time has passed since then, and "Big Jim" is the only one of the original ensemble still around. There was a sense of vulnerability to the "Original Tribal Chief," and a sense of acknowledgment for what he had taken for granted for so long, as he implored the crowd to similarly acknowledge his Saturday night savior.
Yet there were still the growing pains you would expect from the biggest villain of the decade thus far on the path to redemption. Reigns exhibited delusion as he undermined Uso's desire for vengeance, narcissistically claiming he was above the concept as a leader. Uso reminded him that his comments would have made sense months ago, but he was a chief without a tribe and whether he liked it or not they would need help to put down the animal they birthed.
The interaction continued to show Reigns settling into the way things were now, a sense of loss over what the end of his title reign had truly meant. Everything he had built, his "Roman Empire," has been laid to waste, its skeletal remains picked over by Sikoa and his splinter group. That's a bitter pill to swallow, and one that he has yet to manage, as he stubbornly denied a reunion with Jey Uso. Six months ago that would have been the end of discussion by decree of the "Tribal Chief," but now those words didn't carry the weight of the Undisputed WWE Champion. Uso ultimately walked out and left Reigns alone in the ring.
It makes sense for the first true verbal interaction between Reigns and his family since his return that this would be the first step in exploring the change in dynamics post-title reign. In the lead in to Bad Blood, it was all about Reigns making a point that he was looking to slide back into his role after absence, learning that he had been supplanted as both champion and chief by Cody Rhodes and Sikoa respectively. Now he is going to have to come to terms with what he never wanted to admit previously: he needs his "Right Hand Man" but it's not like Jey needs him anymore. This was a great first step in establishing the reunion arc in a way that doesn't completely retcon the narrative thus far. Reigns hasn't changed, it's just the perception now he is the lesser evil of WWE, and it shouldn't be an easy road for him to get those he abused and gaslit back on side. Putting Jimmy in the role of stand-in "Wise Man" and the adhesive to bring the Bloodline OGs back together elevates his standing in the group, giving him some much-needed meat to his character after it was butchered by his halted breakout run.
Written by Max Everett
It was supposed to be a huge day for Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson. Not only were they getting a main roster debut, but their first match on WWE's blue brand was to be against the esteemed likes of Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships. This was to be the biggest opportunity of both women's young careers, and as they made their iconic yellow and green entrance to uproarious South Carolina acclaim, it seemed that nothing could go wrong.
The way Owens interrupted their segment to incoherently ramble was uncouth and crass. I'm still fuming, and can't even come up with a witty one-liner about how he absolutely destroyed the aura Legend and Jackson tried so hard to establish.
I understand that calling a professional wrestling segment "uncouth" is kind of like finding a fork in the kitchen, but walk with me. The abruptness of Owen's segment is certainly its appeal, and if the segment didn't come at the expense of two other rising stars, I would have loved it as a really unique way to show Owens' deteriorating mental state and/or exponentially rising levels of rage post-Rhodes feud. However, and this is the sole reason that this segment is sitting as a hated part of the show, it is an awful look to hijack a segment that is not only someone's main roster debut, but one of the only two women's segments on the show. It is even more unsavory to do it when there are several opportunities on the card to pull off the same segment to similar, if not identical, effect.
It's not like WWE is starved for opportunities to include a Owens hijack segment. Have it done during the men's segments. Have it done during the main event Owens is a main eventer, and while his involvement with the Bloodline seems to becoming less and less relevant, he still exists on the fringes of it as collateral damage. Have it done during the odd transition point before or after a match, where commentary is just talking. The Owens promo segment could've just be an Owens promo segment no interrupting or upstaging required. All of these are incredibly valid and achievable alternatives than to overshadow Legend and Jackson's main roster debut, and we're not even in the pro wrestling writing rooms! It feels that the women's division is being sacrificed to make the men's division stand out. Yes, this Owens interruption part of the show is a really cool storytelling device, but can't WWE be bothered to think harder, for two seconds, about how to pull it off without devaluing their women's division?
If you hate the women's division and need a takeaway: WWE's creative is becoming lazier and lazier. What do you mean you couldn't figure out a way to have this segment without burying someone else's debut? Why is it that we can come up with these ideas, but not the people who are getting paid to write the storylines?
Written by Angeline Phu
Despite the rude interruption from a newly-heel Kevin Owens, we still go to see "WWE NXT's" Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson compete against the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill on "SmackDown." Despite the interruption for a much larger angle on the show, and the fact the match was honestly pretty short and the women of Meta-Four were never going to pickup the victory over the champions, it's still a huge win for them in my book. Usually, when it comes to the women's tag team belts, since they float between all three brands, it's always the champions going to "NXT" to show off, where the crowd always knows them, rather than the ladies of the developmental brand getting a shot on national television in front of a much larger audience. Sometimes, that happens with singles stars, like a Roxanne Perez in the Royal Rumble or a Lyra Valkyria after being called up in the WWE Draft, but never really with tag teams, and that's something the women's division on the main roster desperately needs.
The women's tag team division is forever so very lackluster, it's nice to see a "real" tag team, and by that I mean not one of WWE's randomly thrown together teams, get a shot at the titles. Whether they're "greener" talent like Legend and Jackson doesn't mean too much, in my book, because they're getting their reps in against a phenomenal in-ring talent like Belair, and a superstar force like Cargill. The match itself wasn't anything to write home about, and heck, Belair and Cargill already had a match announced for "WWE Raw" on Monday that was even acknowledged on this show, but I loved the fact that Jackson and Legend got a little bit of a rub from the main roster. As someone who watches "NXT" faithfully every week, the brand definitely has the strongest women's division. Even if some of these women aren't ready to move up to the roster full-time, they can benefit from shorter matches like this on the main shows, and it certainly doesn't hurt any of the women already on the red or blue brands. Even with the match kind of getting interrupted there at the beginning by the Owens/Cody Rhodes/Randy Orton angle, I was still a huge fan of this in general, and want to see more.
Written by Daisy Ruth
I am all for giving the women's division as many storylines as possible, but trying to put them all together at once is not a good way to tell all of them.
It's become apparent that WWE is looking to make a big deal out of the Champion vs. Champion Match between Nia Jax and Liv Morgan at WWE Crown Jewel, gearing up to have Tiffany Stratton cash in her Women's Money In The Bank contract against Jax to challenge her for the WWE Women's Championship, and is looking to keep the storyline between Morgan and Rhea Ripley going. While they're all good on their own individually, when you combine all of those things into a promo and a match, it becomes very confusing to follow. Jumbling all these storylines together makes them all feel as though they aren't each of their own importance and WWE is trying to cram in the build for everything at once before Crown Jewel and WWE Survivor Series: WarGames. There's no reason for them to even do so, especially when both of those events are in November weeks apart from each other. Furthermore, the storyline between Ripley and Morgan is being built on a completely different brand, with Ripley, Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, and Dominik Mysterio currently being drafted to "Raw" and the latter two Superstars not really needing to be present at all especially with how easy the disqualification finish in the match between Jax and Naomi could've been changed.
Written byOlivia Quinlan
One of the greatest tag teams of their generation is on their way to WWE. Last week, a vignette aired with the Detroit skyline, a fast car, and Joe Louis's fist. All signs point that Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin are headed to "SmackDown".
During a backstage segment with Legado Del Fantasma, General Manager Nick Aldis told them that he was bringing a new tag team to face Los Garzas next week. Instead of leaving that big hint of who would be at that, WWE aired a similar vignette as last week. This time, the letters M-C-M-G were shown along with "next week". The Brazilian commentary spoiled the not-so-subtle surprise last week when they revealed that the vignette was indeed for Motor City Machine Guns.
While debuting them on a random "SmackDown" instead of somewhere like "Survivor Series" is a surprise, MCMG fans have been chomping at the bit to see them. They left TNA in April and competed at various indie promotions both as a team and singles wrestlers since then. There were early rumors that they were AEW bound before the somewhat surprising route of heading to WWE. Debuting now could potentially set them up for a match at Survivor Series, which is one of the company's "Big Four" PLE events.
The Guns will hopefully breathe some life into the tag team division. It mostly centers around The Bloodline, A-Town Down Under, #DIY, and Street Profits. #DIY vs. MCMG has long been a dream match of many wrestling fans and it's closer than ever to becoming a reality. While the tag titles will likely be lost in the Bloodline void for months to come, MCMG should shake things up and keep it interesting.
Written by Samantha Schipman
Earlier, I went into the elements that I loved about the interaction between Reigns and Uso to open the show. But in typical WWE fashion, the approach this week was to take one step forward and three backwards, booking the freshly returned babyface against his treacherous little brother merely an hour and a half after he addressed the betrayal for the first time in six months. I'm not saying Jimmy Uso vs. Solo Sikoa should have been a "Tribal Combat" main event of Crown Jewel by any stretch. But is there really any other way of letting the fans know that Uso is a supporting character in The Bloodline tale than to put him in a previously unadvertised TV match and then have him lose it, even after cutting an impassioned promo about kicking his a**?
Less than a week after he returned for the first time in six months, it was him looking up at the lights after a run-of-the-mill match. Sikoa didn't really get over in victory, much in the same way he hasn't after SIX MONTHS of Bloodline interference, a thumb to the throat and a 1-2-3. And Uso was back where he was before Saturday, the cannon fodder for the real players in the game and needing one of them to make the save. I'm going to get ahead of the counter-points here and say: I am obviously not saying Uso should have beaten Sikoa. I am also going to say that I enjoyed the closing shot of Reigns and Uso broken in the ring, the latter trying to reinforce to the former that they need Jey Uso to balance the odds. But what I am saying is that it was a poor, impulsive, and detrimental decision to undercut the momentum of a newly-returned character by booking him in a first-time ever match with his little brother and having him lose so soon after he had done so. All it served to do was let us know as fans that no one in this angle matters more than Roman Reigns and The Bloodline (as an entity, not its characters), with everything else to be considered as secondary.
Some might enjoy the fact that there is a protagonist and an antagonist with little in between. But I feel like each character should have their own arc, a reason to exist outside of the fact they are related to the "Tribal Chief," and that's really what I found compelling about The Bloodline in the beginning. The fact of the matter is, while Jey Uso was given a platform to break out from that role, the tale of Jimmy has been his consistent quelling for the sake of fitting him into the role of jobber in the dynasty. And I'd say it should be criminal for someone so talented to remain typecast by dim creative, but even then it likely wouldn't stop WWE from doing its thing and making money hand-over-fist.
Written by Max Everett
