Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show where the women's division actually got three of the five matches this week, and almost a full two-thirds of total ring time! Normally we'd dedicate some real space in this column for that, but we have too many other things to talk about, from The Bloodline officially reuniting to Kevin Owens returning to smack Randy Orton with a chair to Indi Hartwell's last match in WWE. As you might imagine, we have strong feelings about all those things, as well as several more parts of Friday's show, spanning the full positive-negative spectrum.
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As usual, there's some stuff we're not really going to talk about in this case, most of the NiaJax/Liv Morgan/Tiffany Stratton angle but all the information you could ever need can be found on our "SmackDown" results page. This column, on the other hand, is for our opinions alone. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 11/1/24 episode of "WWE SmackDown!"
It was great seeing the Motor City Machine Guns claim the tag titles on "SmackDown" last week, but this week's tag team content was some pretty weak follow-up. The new champs got all of a backstage segment with A-Town Down Under, while the division's contribution to the in-ring aspect of the show was Pretty Deadly vs. The Street Profits, aka the only match on the show with zero storyline reason to exist. Nor did the match result or the finish set up any kind of storyline or prime the pump for anything interesting down the road.
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Honestly, the match was a bit of a no-win situation from the get-go. If Pretty Deadly won, that would be huge for them, and they could certainly use it, but I'm not sure where the Profits would have gone from there. Instead, the Profits won in clean, basic fashion, and ... I'm not sure where the Profits go from there. It's been almost four years now since they won title gold, and they've spent the majority of those years being perennial contenders but never actually reaching the top of the mountain again. I'm sure their inevitable title match with MCMG will be great, but I don't think they're winning, and if they don't what then? When you've got Montez Ford out here talking about how frustrated he is in interviews, it makes me feel like they might be breaking up, and that would be a massive loss to an already thin division. But it also never seems like it's their time to be champions again.
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These are the kinds of conversations that happen when a division is getting basically zero creative effort put into it. There are no storylines, there are just titles, and that means that you're either the champions or you're contenders or you're nothing at all. The Profits (and also Pretty Deadly, frankly, since they never win anything feel dangerously close to being nothing at all, and considering the degree of talent we're talking about there, that's legitimately insane.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
It stinks overall that WWE had to do Indi Hartwell like this and release her right before "SmackDown" went on the air, and right before a premium live event, but the fact the show had already been taped and Hartwell had a match on the show that still aired just seems like a slap in the face to me. Especially because it was a loss. Thankfully it was a tag team match; I would've felt much worse for the poor girl had it been a singles match. The decision to even have this match booked to tape is pretty interesting to me, and I guess this could say something about the way WWE handles releases and such.
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Did executives and whoever the powers at be not realize a week ago, when this episode was taping, that Hartwell was on the chopping block? Was her job a last minute decision at some point this week? It really gives fans a lot to think about when you really sit down and consider it all. This match could have easily been booked as a singles match for Candice LaRae against Bayley or Naomi, if WWE knew releases were coming and Hartwell could have been a part of those.
The biggest thing that stuck out to me on this match was commentary. I'm sure Michael Cole of all people didn't have a clue at the time the match was taped that Hartwell would not longer be with the company when it was airing, but him telling a story, true or not, about Hartwell realizing how badly she wanted to be a professional wrestler after she saw Bayley versus Sasha Banks at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn just gave me the ick. Of course, now, Cole is in Saudi Arabia for the show tomorrow, so it's not like the commentary could have been re-recorded for the match to make it seem anymore tasteful. Or even if I could, I doubt WWE would care. Releases are often the name of the game in WWE, but the timing of these three were pretty crappy overall, with the company seemingly getting them out there in the news cycle before the PLE news, which more people will pay attention to, and forget all about these releases. It's even crappier when someone who just lost what was presumably their dream job is still shown on the product right after wound was basically just opened, and in defeat, at that.
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Written byDaisyRuth
The Bloodline tale continues to be the Samoan Soap Opera of professional wrestling and I am more than happy to say I'm hooked, and this week's "WWE SmackDown" proved to be yet another correlative result on the graph of "How did I feel about that this week?" Yes, the match was technically announced before the reunion played out on TV. Yes, I do in fact hate that. But within the bubble of the story, this was yet another installment of character work that fit perfectly with the entire canon an all too rare occurrence in wrestling. Jey Uso made it clear he weren't back for Roman Reigns, only desiring an opportunity for revenge after Solo Sikoa and his faux Bloodline cost him the Intercontinental title, and he literally told Roman that he hadn't forgotten the emotional abuse he put him through.
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This was a man that had finally started to think he was free of the familial drama that had cost him before, pushed into a box as a twin brother for the entirety of his career he had finally got the symbol of his worth: the IC title. But it was his kin once more that cost him, and he came before Roman as an equal to tell him to his face that he wasn't there to acknowledge him. Jimmy Uso stood there, selling the atmosphere to this confrontation as mediator. It was his idea to bring Jey back, and he went ahead and did so of his own accord. So he was selling the idea that this could go wrong, either of Roman or Jey could have felt slighted and everything within the narrative could have fallen apart just as it started to come together.
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Roman sold his role well, not wanting to give any sort of indication to how he felt about being as his old self may have seen it demoted in the eyes of his former "Right Hand Man." The very basis of The Bloodline is entrenched in the idea that Roman didn't see Jey as his equal, rather someone to be molded as he saw fit, and had done everything in his power to ensure that remained the case. The landscape is just too different for him to continue with that idea; Roman needs Jey, and he knows it. So he relented with the only word that fit: "YEET!"
Throwing the ones up was just the cherry on the icing on the cake, an "Avengers Assemble" style segment and a perfect narrative ally-oop for what one can only imagine will be a demolition derby of wrestling stupidity (in all the best ways). Roll on Sami Zayn getting back in the mix.
Written by Max Everett
When Friday's edition of "WWE SmackDown" began with a two-minute women's match that resulted in a loss for the recently-released Indi Hartwell and her teammate Candice LeRae, any expectations going into the women's fatal four-way were not very high. By the time the bell rang, however, we were shown, once again, why the women should have been the main event of every WWE television show from this point forward.
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Perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration, but sincerely, the women absolutely blew the rest of the night's matches out of the water, and transformed the Brooklyn crowd into a buzzing ball of excitement. Multi-man matches, especially ones containing newer Superstars with vastly different fighting styles, can go sideways so quickly, what with so many moving parts and Superstars who are unfamiliar with each other in the ring. This is especially true when there is new talent in the ring, who might not be used to the beats of the meticulous, high-intensity environment that multi-man matches generate by nature of their stipulation. However, all women involved Damage CTRL, Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson, Piper Niven and Chelsea Green, and Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill absolutely overcame those intrinsic obstacles and created a match that raised the stakes, and the hype, of their imminent Crown Jewel match for the WWE Women's Tag Team titles.
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Despite having a variety of skill levels and wrestling styles styles that might not necessarily mesh well together if there was any less talent and skill in that ring all four competitors flowed together like they were always destined to be in the ring together. For everything Legend threw at her opponents, Niven had an answer for, which Belair had an answer for, which IYO SKY had an answer for. There was seldom an awkward moment throughout the entire match the chemistry the women had was palpable. You would have never guessed Legend was a recent NXT call-up, or that Niven wasn't a weekly show regular until a few months ago. All in-ring competitors worked so seamlessly together to create a compelling match full of story beats, of high-octane shocks, and tense close-call moments. If there was ever such a thing as in-ring magic, it would be this match.
What is even more impressive is how important the women on the outside felt. I will always lavish praise unto Green's performance (her ringside ad libs cracked me up seriously, I can hear her go on for hours), but Jackson's bulldog onto Green was so clean, you would've guessed Jackson was a seasoned wrestler. Sane did her part perfectly, and we cannot write about a women's tag match without writing about Cargill, who looked and performed like a million bucks (that run into the Big Boot looked devastating).
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Even if SKY got the victory, all women have a boost of momentum heading into Crown Jewel after that awesome match. If they can build off on tonight's match, the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships will feel like a big deal again.
Written by Angeline Phu
Here's the thing: I didn't mind the idea of the main event match between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton against GUNTHER and Ludwig Kaiser since there was some logic behind it and it served as a way for WWE to preview the Champion vs. Champion match between Rhodes and GUNTHER at Crown Jewel. I also thoroughly enjoyed the post match events with Owens attacking Orton with a chair and GUNTHER taking advantage by locking in a Sleeper on Rhodes. With all that said, the match itself may as well have been a 2-On-1 Handicap match with Rhodes taking on GUNTHER and Kaiser as the tag team match felt like it was so one sided.
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Rhodes spent the vast, vast majority of this match being the person inside the ring on his team, making Orton a bit of an afterthought. Orton is supposed to be looking strong for Crown Jewel when he takes on Owens but didn't even have the chance to do so while Rhodes spent ages being beaten down by GUNTHER and Kaiser. There was so much potential in this tag team match, but it didn't quite live up to the hype that it otherwise would've and fell flat because of it.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
Both may be preoccupied going into WWE Crown Jewel but it would seem we're on the path for an inevitable Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes title feud given a small tease during "WWE SmackDown," and it couldn't come any sooner.
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Orton is at present the most decorated on the roster, and while John Cena is constantly talked about as the one to end Ric Flair's 16-world title record (in WWE's canon anyway), it shouldn't be ignored that the "Apex Predator" is himself sat on 14 titles. He is also once again stuck in the middle of a conflict spurred on by his friendship with Rhodes, one that was precarious enough if you stretch your mind back to Rhodes' original run with Legacy, and has yet to be even glanced at as a potential challenger. With as many years as Orton has under his belt, you start to get a feel for how his character will perceive the current landscape. Sure, the way things are set you could argue that he is fighting Kevin Owens for his friend. Or you could also look at it as Orton removing the third wheel in this rivalry, trying to clear the waters muddied by a vengeful and angry KO, waters more befitting the "Apex Predator" on the hunt for his next bounty.
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That was exactly what was teased in just a brief segment before another run-of-the-mill tag match between Orton and Rhodes against Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser, as they discussed the upcoming event backstage. Rhodes asked that Orton leave something of KO for him to get his vengeance, to which Orton apologized and said there would be nothing left, glancing at the title behind Rhodes' back. Rhodes said he didn't know what he would do then, and Orton left a foreboding message as he glanced back from the title, "You'll think of something."
Orton turning on the WWE Champion remedies a problem for the "American Nightmare" now his story with The Bloodline has been put on hold, giving him a credible and a narratively rich adversary with few other options. If the suggestion that Triple H was protecting Orton could do anything for the betterment of the product, then it can be an awakening of the sadistic side of Orton, an unsheathing of the fangs of "The Viper," and a realization within the lore that even he has forgotten what Orton is capable of. I'm just trying to get across how needed an Orton-Rhodes feud is, and the very fact that it was so brazenly teased can only be a good thing. You've got to love the storytelling when it makes sense.
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Written by Max Everett
