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WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER
NOVEMBER 13, 2018
ST. LOUIS, MO. AT THE ENTERPRISE CENTER
AIRS ON USA NETWORK 8:00 P.M. EST
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH SPECIALIST
Arena / Recap of Last Week / Items Advertised by WWE
WWE returns to the Enterprise Center (formerly Scottrade Center) for Smackdown after Raw appeared in April on this year. We’ll wrap up the build to this coming Sunday’s Survivor Series from the Smackdown side tonight and get ready for a big weekend which will also feature NXT TakeOver: WarGames on Saturday.
Last week, we learned that Daniel Bryan and the Miz would co-captain the men’s Survivor Series team. They mutually chose World Cup winner Shane McMahon for the team, who humbly said he’s not necessarily the best in the world (glad he said it). Rey Mysterio joined the team after defeating Andrade “Cien” Almas; however, he was treated to an RKO out of nowhere by Randy Orton. Samoa Joe rounded out the squad by defeating Jeff Hardy in the main event, after which chaos broke out. Joe and Bryan got into it which lead to Joe being put in the Yes lock, to be broken up by the Miz, which lead to Miz and Bryan going at it and eventually Bryan and Shane. The show ended with Bryan going up the ramp staring at Miz, Joe, and Shane in the ring.
As far as the women’s team we learned that it will consist of Sonya Deville, Asuka, Naomi, Carmella, and Charlotte Flair. When Paige announced Charlotte, she didn’t come out. Mandy Rose came out instead and had words for all women in the ring, which lead to a brawl when Mandy essentially commented to Naomi about her marriage to Jimmy Uso.
Now what is confusing is when the Raw announcers were discussing the match last night, they showed Charlotte’s spot as blank. Granted she initially declined G.M. Paige’s offer to captain the team, but she was announced as a teammate last week. Even though Mandy Rose came out instead of Charlotte, she clarified she wasn’t taking Charlotte’s place. Charlotte came out with the Smackdown women during their attack on the Raw women’s roster to close out the show, which furthered the confusion. We’ll get clarification tonight. Speaking of the invasion it ended when Smackdown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch left the ring with a bloody nose after she initially attacked Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey in the back and joined the brawl later on. Words cannot do justice to the visual of what we saw last night, and so here’s the clip:
WWE Champion essentially guaranteed victory over Universal Champion Brock Lesnar when he said beating him is “not a prediction, it’s a spoiler,” stealing Paul Heyman’s line. The Usos defeated New Day for the right to captain the Survivor Series tag team back; however, they would ask New Day to join them on the team following the match citing their long rivalry. New Day accepted in a show of respect on both teams’ part.
Back to Becky Lynch, she rebutted Ronda Rousey’s promo last week and said she was looking for a fight. Sanity, whom we haven’t seen in quite a long time, came out only to introduce NXT’s Nikki Cross whom had been a part of Sanity when they were all in NXT. Becky came out victorious in a competitive match.
Thus far, WWE.com has advertised these items for tonight:
- How will Raw react to Becky Lynch’s invasion?
- Can the men’s Survivor Series team get on the same page?
- Will Charlotte Flair captain the women’s team this Sunday
- Who will join the Usos and New Day at Survivor Series?
At the moment, no matches have been announced.
Raw Response to Becky Lynch’s Invasion
As I talked about earlier, Becky Lynch attacked Ronda Rousey in the back and put her in the Disarm-her. She later came out to the ring with the Raw women’s roster waiting. The Smackdown women, including Becky’s “former friend” Charlotte Flair, appeared out of nowhere and a brawl broke out. Smackdown commissioner Shane McMahon had a little smack talk for Raw on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/shanemcmahon/status/1062199156129910786
Somewhere amidst the brawl Becky got a broken nose, which you can see in the clip I included earlier. She hit Ronda with a chair twice, much to the delight of the crowd. The Smackdown women would leave through the crowd and Becky stood at the top of the arena, bloody nose and all. Here’s a photo from Twitter:
Irish war paint. pic.twitter.com/AmW4ufsbUW
— The Man (@BeckyLynchWWE) November 13, 2018
As one could expect, Raw commissioner Stephanie McMahon emasculated interim G.M. Baron Corbin for allowing this to happen at the close of Raw. She questioned what he’s going to do about it. Tonight, we can expect some level of response.
Frank’s Analysis: It’s brand supremacy season folks so we have to get our dose of Stephanie emasculating her G.M.’s and putting things she’s responsible for on them, such as allowing the Smackdown roster to attend Raw. Aren’t you part of management that requires them to be there? In either case in the brand split era 2.0 we tend to get invasions of one roster to the other. As far as the response tonight it’s just a matter of whether it’s the women or the men or both. I’m not worried about the invasion, but rather Charlotte and Becky essentially being on the same page last night following their intense feud which ended just a few weeks ago. If they were trying to keep us in suspense about her being on the team, much less being the captain, her coming out as basically part of the Smackdown furniture doesn’t do the story any favors.
More importantly, Becky certainly came out as the more popular figure, especially after Ronda Rousey’s incredibly tone-deaf promo earlier in the evening. As far as Becky walking out of the ring with the bloody nose, you could essentially harken back to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin when he was bleeding in his historic match with Bret “Hit Man” Hart from WrestleMania XIII. That match solidified him as a top star and last night did the same for Becky, if she wasn’t a top star already. Speaking of the tone-deaf promo, here it is. I’m sorry but people don’t talk like this, but apparently Ronda does:
Men’s Survivor Series Team
I discussed the men’s Survivor Series team earlier. It will be co-captains Daniel Bryan & The Miz, Shane McMahon, Rey Mysterio, and Samoa Joe vs. Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Finn Balor, and Bobby Lashley. Last night on Raw, Balor was selected by Stephanie McMahon and Baron Corbin. Lashley won a match with assistance from Lio Rush via count out over Elias to earn his way onto the Raw team.
The Smackdown team ended the night in disarray as I discussed earlier. Mysterio was attacked by Orton following his victory over Andrade “Cien” Almas. Tonight, we’ll see how the team comes together if at all.
Frank’s Analysis: There’s a number of ways they can go here. The key here would be Shane McMahon. It was fair to question whether or not his World Cup victory was meant to be a heel turn. Last week, he appeared to try and be more sympathetic in his being humble about the win, but of course had to throw in the line about not letting Raw have the World Cup. I don’t read too much into that because it’s “brand supremacy” season so that line is expected. It was interesting to see Shane stand side by side with the heels in the ring as Daniel Bryan was leaving to close the show. I got the sense the story is going to eventually be about Bryan and Shane. They do have history with Bryan being the Smackdown G.M. before his return to active competition. Whether or not that’s called upon is anyone’s guess, but you can sense the story is with Shane and Bryan, depending on where things lie with the Miz and Samoa Joe.
As far as what they do tonight, they could pair the babyfaces (Bryan & Mysterio) vs. the heels (Miz & Samoa Joe in an effort for everyone to get their issues “out of their system.” WWE historically likes to give us variations of upcoming PPV matches.
CHECK OUT THE WADE KELLER PODCAST COVERING LAST NIGHT’S WWE RAW…
PWTorch editor Wade Keller is joined by cohost Cameron Hawkins from the PWTorch East Coast Cast to discuss WWE Monday Night Raw from Kansas City, Mo. including Becky Lynch’s bloody invasion, Ronda Rousey’s odd millennial and avocado toast rant, the latest Survivor Series developments with Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman, and much more including an on-site correspondent and mailbag.
-On Stitcher HERE
-On Apple Podcasts HERE
-Or search “Wade Keller” on your podcast app of choice
Charlotte Flair and the Women’s Survivor Series Team
I talked earlier about Charlotte Flair declining the offer to captain the women’s Survivor Series team a few weeks ago. Last week she was announced as part of the team but did not come out. Mandy came out instead, putting down the other four members of the team.
I talked also about the Smackdown women’s invasion of Raw last night to close out the show. Charlotte took part in the invasion. She also put up some tweets showing her being a part of “team blue.” Here they are:
https://twitter.com/MsCharlotteWWE/status/1062203532403720192
Blue side is the BEST side. WOOOO! #raw pic.twitter.com/aySMABNsEc
— Charlotte Flair (@MsCharlotteWWE) November 13, 2018
Tonight, we will find out if she indeed will captain the team.
Frank’s Analysis: With Becky Lynch’s popularity soaring, especially after last night, you wonder if they are changing course with Charlotte and turning her heel. It could have been part of the plan all along as turning her heel initially in this storyline would likely have not worked as well as what they’ve done with Becky. There was a sense of mystery surrounding Charlotte that was quickly dispelled last night when she came out and basically just “part of the furniture” when the Smackdown women attacked the Raw women. Perhaps they’ll tell the story that she had an epiphany of some sorts. There’s also the thought that the seeds for Charlotte vs. Ronda Rousey are being planted and last night was just the beginning. Rousey did mention Charlotte in her….promo (it’s going to take me a while to purge that one). Either way it’s anyone’s guess but her coming out last night did not do the story any favors. Historically when WWE does things like this you detach yourself because the timeline doesn’t make sense.
Who Will Join the Usos and New Day?
As I said earlier, the Usos defeated the New Day for the right to captain the 10-on-10 Survivor Series tag team match. They then asked New Day to join them on the team, citing their long history. I included the YouTube highlight clips from this segment as I loved the sportsmanship between these two teams:
Last night on Raw, we learned that Bobby Roode & Chad Gable will captain the Raw team. It will feature the B-Team, the Ascension, the Lucha House Party, and the Revivial. That’s pretty much the Raw tag division folks! Tonight, we find out who joins the Usos and New Day.
Frank’s Analysis: There’s not much of a mystery here. You have the Good Brothers (Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson), Sanity, and the Colons. Epico of the Colons was out with an injury earlier in the year but returned in late August to wrestle in a triple threat tag match against the Bar and Gallows & Anderson. Speaking of Anderson his wife recently gave birth, and thus he received some time off. Barring an NXT call-up or some sort of mish-mosh team being put together (Tye Dillinger & R-Truth for example), I would think those three teams would join. What isn’t clear is do all three members of New Day take part in the match? If Sanity is in do all three members take part as well?
Mixed Match Challenge and Royal Rumble Implications
In a somewhat related matter to Smackdown, the winners of the Mixed Match Challenge will be entered #30 in their respective Royal Rumbles in 2019 according to various wrestling media outlets. They will also receive an “all-expenses paid vacation to anywhere in the world.
From Smackdown, Asuka & The Miz and Charlotte Flair & A.J. Styles lead the standings at 3-0. From Raw, Ember Moon & Bobby Lashley and Mickie James & Jinder Mahal sport the same records.
MMC airs on Facebook Live following Smackdown.
Start Time & Matches Advertised
The arena website shows a start time of 6:30 p.m. local. They advertise the following matches:
- A.J. Styles & Daniel Bryan & Rey Mysterio vs. The Miz & Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura.
- Smackdown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte
They also show New Day appearing, Smackdown Tag Champs the Bar, Samoa Joe, and “many more.”
Follow me on Twitter @FrankPeteani. My e-mail is fpeteani@gmail.com. Questions and discussion are welcome. Thank you for reading!
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