Welcome toWrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show where there's always time for lengthy Anoa'i family promo segments now that RomanReigns is back on TV! Not only did "The OTC" return to his emotional cousin-confronting ways this week, but Jey Uso came back to "SmackDown" too, so it's really just a matter of time before an entire episode gets devoted to a bunch of Pacific Islanders standing in the ring and talking about their feelings.In that way, the blue brand is sort of like this column, which is all about the feelings the WINC staff had about "SmackDown!"
Beyond the Bloodline stuff, we'll cover both matches in the tag team mini-tournament that introduced the Motor City Machine Guns to WWE, Lash Legend winning her main roster singles debut, and Cody Rhodes talking to a title belt, basically. Sorry, second women's match we're glad you happened and we were even more glad to see Candice LeRae and we wereeven more glad to see Candice LeRae win, but WINC readers will have to check out our Friday night results page to get informed on that one. With that in mind, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 10/18/24 episode of "WWE SmackDown!"
Don't get me wrong, I like this Kevin Owens heel turn storyline from a character standpoint; he's doing great work as he always does and it makes total sense that, as the one guy who's been fighting The Bloodline since the very beginning, the return of Roman Reigns as a babyface would make him snap. It's the part about WWE trying to keep him off "SmackDown" that I don't really understand. The turn happening "off camera" was cool, but why is he not being allowed to address Cody Rhodes or the crowd? Why would someone higher up than Nick Aldis Triple H, presumably want to keep Owens vs. Randy Orton off the Crown Jewel card? It's so ridiculous that Owens even had to lampshade it in the social media promo they played on the "SmackDown" broadcast, where he correctly points out that WWE stars have come back to TV after doing far worse things than Owens did. I can't imagine what a logical explanation would be, but they haven't even attempted to give us one.
Of course, the actual reason for it seems to be that WWE is playing on recent reports of Owens being in contract talks, trying to craft a story that blurs the line between fiction and reality. There are two problems with this. First, there's no point. In the year 2024, wrestling promotions don't have talent publicly address contract disputes if the talent isn't already re-signed, so the fact that this is entering the storyline just confirms to me that Owens is staying in WWE. Second, Owens has already done something like this in his Ring of Honor days, back when he wrestled under his real name, Kevin Steen, and if you want to have a prayer of being compared favorably against that storyline, we don't need Kevin Owens cutting quiet, somber promos from home. We need Kevin Owens on the show every week, fighting security, wrecking people and being dragged away. He's been compared to Steve Austin so many times, and yet he's never really been allowed to cause violent chaos the way Austin used to. And maybe that's coming, but Owens wasn't on the show this week attacking Rhodes or Orton with crazed bloodlust in his eyes so this episode goes in the "loss" column; I don't make the rules.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
I wrote last week that I loved Jakara Jackson and Lash Legend getting a main roster shot for the Women's Tag Team Championships against Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill, which had previously been announced. This week, I loved the appearance of the Meta-Four ladies even more, because I didn't realize we'd be seeing more of the pair on the main roster following their title loss, especially not with Legend in singles action. Legend scored her first main roster singles victory against Piper Niven, who was an excellent dance partner for it, with Chelsea Green being a perfect adversary for Jackson to take out on the outside. With facing Niven, Legend was able to show off what puts her apart from most of the other ladies on "WWE NXT," her strength. Legend was able to get Niven up numerous times on her back and shoulders, seemingly (and hopefully) without hurting herself, to hit big moves to score the impressive victory. I initially thought we'd see Legend lose to Niven, as Niven and Green are still pretty over, but I already had myself convinced I loved Legend even getting singles chance on "SmackDown." I was pleasantly surprised that she scored the victory, especially with Belair and Cargill watching from the audience.
There's been no official announcement as to whether Legend and Jackson have been called up to the main roster, but they haven't been utilized on "NXT" much in recent weeks. The Meta-Four as a stable has been floundering on the developmental brand since an injury to Noam Dar has him on the shelf for a few more months, and Oro Mensah is stuck in a feud with Lexis King that really isn't going anywhere. So, to me, it makes sense to have the ladies get some reps on the main roster when there isn't really much for them on "NXT." Of course, Belair and Cargill can, and have, defended their gold on "NXT," but the tag team championships will forever seem like a main roster championship, and it seems doubtful that any real tag teams in "NXT" have an actual shot at winning. So, why not bring the "NXT" teams to the main roster to add depth to the women's tag division? It makes all the sense in the world to me.
While Friday's match was short, Legend looked extremely impressive against Niven, and if you're a fan of "NXT," you can tell how far she's come as an in-ring performer. Even though Jackson didn't get in the ring herself, she was excellent interacting with Green. If Jackson isn't as ready as her tag team partner for singles action, she's a perfect valet for her friend to help out at ringside while she continues to work as a tag team talent. Lash Legend is a developing star, in my eyes, and Jakara Jackson is close behind, and I really believe these two have bright futures on the main roster, officially, sooner rather than later.
Written by DaisyRuth
Another night, another Cody Rhodes promo with a lot of talking and not much being said.
"SmackDown" is only a two-hour show with a limited number of slots for segments, so having an entire portion of the show dedicated to promoting Crown Jewel and the Champion vs. Champion Match between Rhodes and GUNTHER seems unnecessary, especially when it was already promoted plenty by commentary at other points on the show and on "Raw" this past Monday. There was no reason to have Rhodes come down to the ring and recite an entire essay as to why he should be the first ever Crown Jewel Champion. WWE could very easily be using the time in the segments they've had Rhodes and GUNTHER in over the course of the past several weeks to build up some sort of storyline like they have with Nia Jax and Liv Morgan, but instead, they've decided to spend their time simply doing promotion. It's pointless, and eats up an unnecessary amount of time on the show.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
I feel like I've written about this here before, but I don't love a lot of the ways modern wrestling uses specific types of match finishes to protect the image of the losing wrestler(s). It feels like we get a lot of distraction finishes these days, a lot of "the ref doesn't see the interference" finishes, a lot of people kicking out of the first and maybe even the second finishing move. Sometimes these finishes will even get strung together; for example, a wrestler might get distracted and get rolled up, but then kick out of the roll-up, then get hit with a finisher which they also kick out of, etc. This isn't a WWE vs. AEW thing either both companies do this, though often at different times and in different ways. And I get it, people don't like taking clean losses and you want your stars to be protected, but there's another way, and it was showcased in the first three-way tag team match on "SmackDown."
For those who don't remember or didn't watch, the match ended with referee Jessika Carr delivering a three-count while Tommaso Ciampa and Montez Ford were pinning Kit Wilson and Elton Prince, respectively, at the same time. Normally the trope here would be that there is no definitive winner and we need to have another match or something. Instead, Carr explained to ring announcer Alicia Taylor that Wilson was the legal member of Pretty Deadly in the match, meaning DIY were the winners since Ciampa pinned the legal man (Carr didn't clarify whether Ciampa himself was legal, but whatever). There's no second match, they didn't do the weird thing where the ref didn't notice who the legal man is even though that's literally her job Ford did visibly pin someone, but it wasn't the right person and Carr was on top of it, so DIY wins. The end.
I tend to push back on the idea of making wrestling feel more like sports, but this is one area where I think wrestling benefits from having a sports mindset. Sometimes two sports teams play each other and they're both really good, but one of them wins because one little thing goes right. A football player fumbles and the other team happens to recover it; a basketball player hits a game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer, only for it to be ruled a two-pointer because his toe was on the line. These things happen in sports and they should happen in wrestling, and they're way more believable to me than a wrestler kicking out of a second finisher. WWE has seemingly been vibing with this philosophy lately, to some extent see also Sami Zayn vs. GUNTHER from a recent "WWE Raw" and the result is that everyone comes out looking good in a way that also feels authentic. To me, that makes wrestling feel more like "real" sports than blood or complicated tournament rules or (god forbid) a ranking system.
Written byMiles Schneiderman
The Motor City Machine Guns were one of the biggest free agents in wrestling, but their debut wasn't treated as such. Last week, Nick Aldis hinted at their arrival with a surprise tag team opponent for Los Garza. Shortly after an ad that said "MCMG" was coming next week. There goes that surprise. And then, prior to Friday's show, a video was posted to WWE's socials showing Aldis meeting with Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley following their contract signing. Aldis mentioned their history before letting them know that their tag match was now a three-way. The winner will be facing the winner of the other three-way tag match for a shot at the tag team titles.
MCMG made their way to the ring and the fans seated by the ramp didn't react to them (although the crowd noise would suggest otherwise). Of course not everyone is going to know who they are, especially those who didn't watch TNA prior to their relationship with "NXT" or don't keep up with the indie scene at all. Corey Graves immediately established their importance by stating "they're your favorite tag team's favorite tag team." He continued to put them over all match long, while Wade Barrett did the opposite, talking up the other teams in the match instead. It felt like when Vince McMahon used to tell commentary what to say in their headsets. While he wasn't burying them, it was giving a vibe of "they didn't make names for themselves in WWE, therefore they aren't as important as they think." I've seen it happen many times and was one of my concerns when it was reported they were WWE-bound.
The match itself was fine, if on the shorter side. They got to show the WWE Universe a taste of what they can do and hopefully they'll get to show even more against #DIY. Another positive is that the Guns will be in the title picture quickly. On the other hand, a dream match against #DIY is being hotshotted to their second match with the company with a week's build. Assuming MCMG win, they'll face Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa for the tag titles, which are in the New Bloodline vortex and aren't likely to leave it anytime soon. Then what? How do you handle a team with as much prestige as MCMG losing their first title shot?
Aldis told Shelley and Sabin that they were on the blue brand to shake up the tag team division. It remains to be seen just how serious that statement is, or whether they'll instead be lost amongst the tag teams that aren't orbiting the Bloodline.
Written by Samantha Schipman
What drew me to "Tribal Chief" iteration of Roman Reigns and the subsequent Bloodline tale was the psychology on display within the family dynamic, from the origins of the faction when Reigns beat both of the Usos into submission and subservience to the recruitment of Sami Zayn purely as a way of demoting Jey within the faction. While everyone within the group has their own arcs and subplots, the faction is rooted in the conflict between Jey Uso and his cousin. He was screwed out of becoming the WWE Champion three separate times by his family, literally told he was nothing without them effectively every day after the fact, but has since won his first singles title without them. He did what he set out to do, proving he was more than a member of The Bloodline. And now, because Reigns is on the receiving end of the abuse he dolled out, Jimmy expects Jey to come back to the fold.
Friday night was yet another logical step in the mind of a character like Jey Uso undergoing the arc he is on, coming to the ring alone to confront his little brother as an impartial party. He didn't want to be a part of either side of another Bloodline civil war, but he also didn't want the familial drama to continue, and he further took issue with Sikoa's entourage of the Guerillas of Destiny and Jacob Fatu. I specifically enjoyed that they have provided lore for Fatu, simultaneously addressing why he wasn't brought in sooner (He was in MLW) with the idea that he was considered too dangerous. It actually helps to cement Sikoa's Bloodline as a faction of mercenaries, extending the idea that he isn't the true "Tribal Chief," as he has to conscript help from those on the outside.
As the night went on, Reigns and Uso came face to face backstage, and the "Original Tribal Chief" told his former "Right Hand Man" that he was proud of him. That was more of a slight than anything to the Intercontinental Champion, considering all they had been through perhaps the words should have been, "I'm sorry," but as I have said previously this is a Reigns who has to confront himself before he can even dream of stopping his enforcer's mutiny. He is still just too unchanged, too arrogant, and too self-centered to get over this hurdle, an element that was touched on in his main event segment with Sikoa; peace was never going to be an option, as Reigns simply views everyone around him as less-than, and Sikoa treated him with the same malice he had previously afflicted to his title challengers. It truly feels like the story is going the right way, for the "Original Tribal Chief" to learn humility and resolve towards his kin, rather than just putting the OGs back together for the sake of getting to the point, and it makes for great episodic TV as its being built up.
Written byMax Everett
