Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," where the fact that it was a taped show right before the end-of-year holidays doesn't totally excuse the lackluster product. Not to start out by being negative, but the WINC staff was pretty overwhelmingly down on this episode, whose women's tag title main event was essentially the only thing of note that occurred. As a result, it's probably no surprise to you that we have plenty of hates to pass around, and the general blah-ness of Friday's blue brand offering will absolutely be explored in more detail.
That said, did we find things to love, as well? Of course we did! And not just the main event, either! If you've already seen the show or if you haven't but used our "SmackDown" results page to get all the info, which is always a winning move let's go ahead and jump right into our strongest positive and negative opinions from Friday night, keeping in mind that some segments and matches will be discussed with more detail than others. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 12/20/24 episode of "WWE SmackDown!"
Did WWE's creative team leave for winter break?
I ask that as both a joke and in earnest. When the most recent episode of "WWE Raw" turned out to be a flop (outside of a few key segments congratulations, War Raiders), I didn't think the following episode of "WWE SmackDown" would be as bad. "SmackDown" has stronger performers on their roster and a more diverse assortment of storylines, so I felt like, even if "Raw" was a complete flop, surely something interesting will happen on "SmackDown."
Unfortunately, Friday's episode of the blue brand was even more of a can-miss show than "Raw." At least "Raw" had an upset victory and a title change "SmackDown" had four matches with either predictable or upsetting finishes (one match was, dishonorably, both predictable and upsetting, so that's fun), and one title change that only exists because of a technicality. WWE's creative team must be on some sort of winter break or have released a bunch of writers from right underneath our noses, because the December 20 episode of "SmackDown" was made with equal parts nothing and disappointment.
Let's recap. The Bloodline won their six-person tag match. Cool, but did you really expect the ragtag team of LA Knight, Andrade, and Apollo Crews to take down The Bloodline? Then Carmelo Hayes won via count-out against Braun Strowman. Need I say yawn? We had Johnny Gargano taking a win over Alex Shelley after Tommaso Ciampa ran interference expected and a title retention for Bianca Belair and Naomi, which can only be considered a title change if you consider Naomi a new champion. No returns, no new faces, no upsets, nothing. I know that sometimes simplicity is key, but that's only when you have matches worth watching. If your match quality is, well, television-level, you can't really expect people to be thrilled about just two hours of ok wrestling. It feels like WWE's creative team is just phoning it in. They got the Netflix deal, and they're going to be extending "SmackDown" to three hours in a new deal with USA Network. Creatively, everything that isn't actively building up to the inaugural episodes of these new broadcasting deals can just be tossed to the side. Perhaps they're conserving their energy and good ideas for the Netflix/three hour timeslot move.
When you dissect that train of thought, though, the logic quickly falls off of the rails. You don't build hype for a monumental television/streaming move by having your episodes be bad and inconsequential you do that by implementing stakes and changing the game to give people incentive to watch your product. If you want to hype something up, you don't put out bad TV and hope that people stick around in hopes of a huge payoff on the day of your new broadcasting move. You can't generate excitement for a new broadcasting move with trite, uninspired booking not on Saturday Night's Main Event, not on "Raw," not on "SmackDown."
WWE's programming all of it is can-miss right now.
Written by Angeline Phu
The opening segment of "WWE SmackDown" saw Solo Sikoa address his imminent Tribal Combat match with Roman Reigns, and while he wouldn't have to worry about "The Original Tribal Chief" being there, he was put on alert by someone he shares a great deal of history with: Drew McIntyre.
Sikoa agreed that he would leave his Bloodline out of it if Reigns did the same, and proclaimed to show once and for all why he calls himself the "Tribal Chief," only for McIntyre to emerge and push him into a watchful silence as he walked to the ring. Sikoa mused that he enjoyed seeing McIntyre attack Jimmy Uso last week, but wanted to know why he thought to interrupt him. McIntyre, staying true to his arc against the OG Bloodline, reminded Sikoa that not only was he among the group that he had warred with, but it was Sikoa himself that cost McIntyre the title at Clash at the Castle 2022. He questioned whether Sikoa ever wonders when it's going to be his turn, but admitted that he was torn as to whether or not to attack him for their shared hatred towards Reigns.
McIntyre and Sikoa would never resolve things fully, though, as Uso emerged along with LA Knight, Apollo Crews, and Andrade to lead into the following segment. It was cool to observe McIntyre and Sikoa remaining true to their character arcs, with Sikoa continuing to be sly and trying to talk his way into the good graces of his rivals' rivals, while McIntyre sustains Hater of the Year energy towards the OG Bloodline including Sikoa, though conscious it'd be no benefit to commence hostilities yet. McIntyre was also naturally distracted by Uso, while Sikoa and The Bloodline's attention was drawn to their opponents, as a means to pull the two away from one another without either backing down. McIntyre continues to thrive as the calculated villain he has been, surveying the situation for the best outcome at the right time, and it's made for compelling viewing each segment he's in.
Written byMaxEverett
Considering that this was an otherwise very lackluster and underwhelming edition of "SmackDown", the idea of a promo exchange between Drew McIntyre and Solo Sikoa is quite an intriguing one especially when you consider the fact that McIntyre is seemingly in the beginning stages of entering a storyline of some sort with Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, and Sami Zayn as well). However, in its execution, it didn't quite live up to what it could've with the actual content of this segment mainly focusing on Sikoa making his main roster debut to cost McIntyre the WWE Championship at WWE Clash At The Castle 2022 in his home country of Scotland.
While McIntyre's whole current character is centered around him being bitter about being cheated out of opportunities time and time again, Sikoa and McIntyre's encounter happened well over two years ago at this point. With it being so far in the past, it doesn't make much sense to be bringing it up now and feels like an odd choice especially because this segment still would've accomplished what it needed to if it had simply focused on the fact that the pair have common adversaries in The Usos and Zayn. It just didn't feel like the best of wayas to open the show and was a little out of left field given that the first half of the segment was Sikoa addressing Roman Reigns ahead of their "Raw" match on January 6 and the closing moments had Jimmy attacking McIntyre as revenge for their encounter last week.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa conversed in the locker room before Gargano's against Alex Shelley on Friday's episode of "WWE SmackDown." Ciampa pulled his eyes from his title just long enough to look at Gargano, confused (and perhaps a bit affronted) that Shelley was looking for not a tag match with DIY, but a singles grudge much with Gargano alone.
"You can't win the tag titles [with a grudge match]," Ciampa commented.
Later, Naomi and Bianca Belair were being interviewed mere moments before their WWE Women's Tag Team Championship title defense. Belair made it clear that Naomi was an appropriate replacement for the currently out-of-commission Jade Cargill, and attempted to offer Naomi one of the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship titles to hold before her entrance. Naomi gently pushed the title away and shook her head.
"Not until I earn it," Naomi told her.
It can often feel like wrestlers don't get to develop their characters much, aside from spectacular gear, in-ring OMG moments, and millions of dollars of pyrotechnics. Microexpressions, by nature, do not bode well with the dramatics of professional wrestling. When Friday's episode of "SmackDown" severely lacked in spectacular changes or stirring effects, however, certain Superstars took that opportunity to turn poor creative choices into very telling moments. These moments perhaps, were more impactful to their characters (and more telling of their performative capabilities) than any upset victory or title change.
Ciampia's ability to express his character in the subtlest of ways has me kicking my feet. IThe way morphed from one of affection into one of offended confusion at Shelley's perceived stupidity was great, but his words, however, made his small performance even better. He wasn't confused that Shelley wanted to exact revenge on the backstabbing Gargano; he was confused that Shelley wasn't gunning for the titles. The titles are what matter to Ciampa, not these fleeting ideas of morality or friendship. Ciampa didn't have many minutes, but he used what he had to tell you something very pivotal to this heelish persona.
While commentary was quick to write off Naomi's refusal to hold a tag title as superstition, I'm electing to believe it was another great snippet of character work. Naomi, as a babyface, is humble and always willing to be happy for other people (source: her recent work with Bayley, Belair, and Cargill). Of course she didn't just opportunistically take the title. Not until she earned it, she said. In just five words, Naomi showed a strong understanding of her character anyone else would've just accepted Belair's offer and endeared herself to the fans as a hardworking babyface, whose humility they can identify with and align themselves to.
Where "SmackDown" lacked in program booking, their talent made up for in subtly exciting performances. Really, these two moments had me kicking my feet more than, I don't know, half of the matches. I could just be a nerd, but I think Ciampa and Naomi made the most of their minutes, and that should be celebrated.
Written byAngeline Phu
I'm pretty indifferent to Braun Strowman, and I'm happy he's back and not injured, but his appearance on the Grayson Waller Effect with much more exciting things happening on "SmackDown" just didn't do it for me. It was cute that he came out dressed as Santa Braun and gave gifts out to the audience, but once he got on the mic in the ring, he sounded kind of silly, in my opinion. I think Strowman is one of those big men that does his best work by showing, not telling, and a sit-down interview with Grayson Waller and Austin Theory really proved that. The worst part of it all, however, was the fact I kept coming up with better uses for this talk show segment.
Chelsea Green just had a huge win as the first Woman's United States Championship. Her segment backstage with Byron Saxton was great, of course, because it's Green, but I can only imagine how great and obnoxious she'd be in the ring along with Waller and Theory... and then you could easily introduce her first challenger to interrupt the ongoing banter between them all. The other glaring thing about this show, and yes, I know it was taped, so that's probably why it wasn't mentioned, was the fact that "SmackDown" is going to three hours starting the first week of January. WWE quietly updated their "Where To Watch" segment on their website today, but didn't make any announcement. Again, I know, taped, pretty boring show, but you could have spiced it up with "SmackDown" General Manager Nick Aldis appearing on the talk show with an announcement to make, and then, maybe even bring Green in there to gloat about her win, then bring out a series of babyface challengers. It's honestly writing itself as I think about it now.
Instead of all those things I came up with, which I think make perfect sense, we got Santa Braun coming out to tell Theory and Waller not to antagonize him and just sounding straight up silly. Even worse, Carmelo Hayes came out to run back their squash match, which Hayes lost, from last week. And my, how far Hayes has fallen from being NXT Champion and having a great feud with Trick Williams, to getting squashed by Strowman in one match, and getting a chicken s*** win by count-out. With that, I'm certain we're getting a third match between the pair, which I just don't want. I know "SmackDown" is just spinning its wheels throughout the holiday season, and now, until it goes to three hours on the USA Network, but the creative team really needs to up their game to keep me interested in two hours.
Written byDaisyRuth
Of all the women's wrestling pioneers celebrated within the WWE, Naomi stands out as one often unsung hero having yet to truly be given the ball to run with. It feels like there is so much potential there waiting to be tapped, but for whatever reason despite several title reigns and prominent programs she has still yet to receive her flowers for the performer she is. Such has been the case, in my opinion, throughout the time between the formation of The Big Three alongside Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill. The trio went from their WrestleMania win to Cargill and Belair winning the Women's Tag titles, and gradually Naomi started to feel like the third-wheel of the group.
That was until Cargill was put on the shelf by an unknown attacker before Survivor Series, however, and Naomi made sure that gray cloud had a silver lining. With Cargill unable to do her duty as champion, Naomi offered to stand-in alongside Belair and defend the titles, with her and WWE making a big deal out of the idea she was earning herself into the title reign. She even got the pin to cement her place, and it's exciting to see that either by circumstance or design she is getting rewarded and cast into the spotlight. It also asks an interesting question as it pertains to Cargill; Naomi appears to have benefited from the attack, could it have been her doing as an attempt to pip her contemporary? In either case, how is Cargill going to feel about the ongoing situation and what does she intend to do when she returns?
Written by Max Everett
