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WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER
OCTOBER 4, 2019
LOS ANGELES, CA. AT THE STAPLES CENTER
AIRS ON FOX NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EDT
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Announcers: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, “Special Contributor” Renee Young
Arena and Items Advertised by WWE
The long-awaited night is here as Smackdown makes its debut on the FOX Network and returns to Friday night for the first time in nearly five years. There has been a lot of talk here at PWTorch, advertisement on various platforms, and anticipation for this move that was announced around the summer of 2018. If you watch any Fox programming, they have had numerous commercials during football games, TV shows, appearances by WWE wrestlers on Fox & Friends, and on and on. Ronda Rousey even made a guest appearance on the drama 9-1-1. It has been a crazy week with the “season premiere” of Raw, NXT going head-to-head with AEW’s Dynamite which made its long-awaited debut. The week is not over yet though, as WWE’s “blue brand” unfolds on Fox. Oh by the way Hell in a Cell takes place in two days just in case anybody forgot about that! Tonight, will be the go-home show for that event.
Smackdown will emanate from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif., which is an appropriate setting for tonight’s festivities. It is the home of both the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers of the NBA, as well as the 2012 & 2014 NHL Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings. The arena opened in 1999 and has frequently hosted WWE events including the 2018 Survivor Series, an event I had the pleasure of attending while on an LAX layover with my job. Smackdown emanated from here two nights later.
WWE has advertised numerous matches and segments in advance of tonight’s show, which I touched on in last week’s Smackdown primer. This is no surprise considering it’s the debut show on Fox. Here’s what’s on tap for tonight:
Kofi Kingston accepts Brock Lesnar’s challenge for Friday Night Smackdown debut on Fox
The Rock returns for Fox premiere of Friday Night Smackdown
Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon to put careers on the line in Ladder Match
Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair to Battle Sasha Banks & Bayley on FOX premiere
Roman Reigns faces Erick Rowan when Smackdown premieres on FOX
Matches & Segments:
WWE Championship: Kofi Kingston (champ) vs. Brock Lesnar (challenger)
Kofi Kingston has held the WWE Championship since defeating Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania. Last week on Smackdown, he talked to Michael Cole about his run defeating the likes of Bryan, Samoa Joe, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, and of course recently Randy Orton. He will have his tallest task to date tonight, as he defends against Brock Lesnar.
Lesnar is no stranger to holding a world championship, as he has been at the mountaintop seven times throughout his on-and-off 17-year WWE career. Most recently, he was the Universal Champion until dropping the title to Seth Rollins at SummerSlam. He held the title three times since 2017 at times under a cloud of scrutiny what with his part time status and WWE framing him as a guy who “didn’t want to be here.”
Several weeks ago, Lesnar officially challenged Kofi for the WWE Championship. He gave him an F-5 for his troubles. As I touched on in a previous primer, Kofi and Lesnar have history as they had a match at Beast in the East back in 2015. Earlier this week on Raw, Lesnar appeared on Raw as advertised and attacked both Rey Mysterio and his son Dominick, sending Dominick to the hospital. Tonight, Lesnar and Kofi go at it for the WWE Championship. Here’s a little Twitter trash talk from both Kofi and Lesnar’s advocate Paul Heyman:
Facing @brocklesnar this Friday was about challenging myself & further solidifying my WWE Title reign.
As a father, after watching what he did to @reymysterio & his child, now it’s about beating a reckless, egotistical, asshole & making him go away forever.
Let’s go.#SmackDown https://t.co/FpOMuUnJHJ— KOFI (@TrueKofi) October 1, 2019
Frank’s Analysis: The law of averages tells you that Lesnar should win this right? They’re starting on FOX, they want to have a big name around, he’s twice the size of Kofi, and let’s be honest title matches with Lesnar are always a big deal. There are a million reasons to go with him winning the title, which is why I’m going with Kofi. Kofi winning would give him that big win in a much bigger way than his defeating Randy Orton. Also, I’m guessing everyone is expecting Lesnar to win. I’d rather be right about something that’s a long shot. If I’m wrong, so be it.
The Rock
On a night where there will be much to do about Smackdown, it’s only appropriate to have the man who coined the phrase appear on the show. After some doubt, WWE secured one of its all-time greats to make an appearance tonight. Here’s the tweet from our friend Dwayne Johnson, better known to us as “The Rock,” which was seen on Raw:
I’m excited too.
This passion venture has been years in the making. Smart strategy and relentless hard work from my partners.
Pathway to market was not to be rushed though.
Patience til perfection.
Come have a… https://t.co/K2Pi36D5fU— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) October 2, 2019
The Rock began in WWE as “Rocky Maivia” in 1996. His character name was a tribute to his father Rocky Johnson, and his grandfather “High Chief” Peter Maivia. After fans resented him, he eventually joined the heel stable Nation of Domination which featured eventual WWE Hall of Famer Ron Simmons (as Farooq). He started referring to himself in the third person as “The Rock” which would become his character name, dropping Rocky Maivia. He would main event WrestleMania three times with HOFer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in both the heel and babyface roles. In fact, their third ‘Mania match in 2003 was Austin’s last. He was infamously and indirectly involved in the angle where his cousin, HOFer Rikishi, was revealed as the man who ran over Austin with a car in 1999. Rikishi claimed “he did it for the Rock.” In 2002, he faced his long-time hero Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania in a match that saw nWo heel Hogan turn babyface by the crowd.
After focusing on his movie career in 2004, he returned to WWE in 2011 to be the host of WrestleMania. He started an angle with John Cena that lead to a two-match series at the following two ‘Manias. The match in 2012 was announced the night after ‘Mania in 2011, making it the first time ever a match was announced a year in advance. In their second match in 2013, he dropped the WWE Championship which he had won at the Royal Rumble defeating C.M. Punk. He has made sporadic appearances since, most notably going into the crowd at ‘Mania in 2015 and bringing out Ronda Rousey for a confrontation with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. He last appeared on Raw in 2017.
I could type a whole report on Rock’s WWE career. He’s a multiple-time WWE Champion, Intercontinental Champion, and Tag Team Champion co-holding the title with HOFer Mick Foley in the much-beloved Rock ‘n Sock Connection. Fans would hang on his every word and often chant one-liners he would say in a promo. He would often ask his foe a question and before they could answer, he would interrupt and say, “IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT (whatever Rock would ask).” He always ended his promos with “IF YA SMELL …. WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKIN’!” Most importantly, he famously told his opponents he would “lay the Smackdown on your candyass.” Here’s a few top 10 videos WWE has on its YouTube channel for the Rock, including appropriately top 10 moments from Smackdown:
Rock makes his return to Smackdown tonight.
Frank’s Analysis: I would guess he opens the show, as a hot crowd will give a rousing ovation and it would seem appropriate to start that way. Smackdown exists in part because of The Rock.
Career Ending Ladder Match: Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon
From the legendary to the ridiculous, as we now move on to talk about Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon.
These two have gone at it for quite some time now. Owens actually beat Shane at SummerSlam in a match where Owens’ career was on the line and Elias was a special referee. Fast forward to September 10th at MSG, where Shane fired Owens after Shane tapped out to Chad Gable in the Smackdown King of the Ring final. Owens then sued Shane for wrongful termination and $25 million. Last week at the close of Smackdown, Shane and Kevin discussed the lawsuit. Shane offered Owens his job back provided he drop the lawsuit, otherwise he would drag him in court for years. Owens countered by offering to have a match where both of their careers would be on the line, only it would be in a ladder match, referencing Shane always talking about “climbing the corporate ladder.” Shane accepted, and that match takes place tonight.
Frank’s Analysis: Hopefully this feud comes to an end tonight as it’s been a mess. Owens’ character is all over the place and Shane has worn out his welcome. It’s possible Shane wins, and Owens comes back in a mask, which actually wouldn’t be terrible, but then at some point Owens would have to get revenge on Shane which would drag the feud out even longer. Don’t do that WWE, please.
Four Horsewomen Collision: Charlotte Flair & Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley & Sasha Banks
It’s been quite a whirlwind during the past few months involving the Four Horsewomen. Becky Lynch retained her Raw Women’s Championship over Sasha Banks at Clash of Champions but lost the match via DQ. They go at it this Sunday inside Hell in a Cell for the title. Bayley retained the Smackdown title at the same event over Charlotte Flair, utilizing an exposed turnbuckle.
They had this same tag team match before Clash, which saw Charlotte hit Bayley with Natural Selection to score the pin for her and Becky. Last week, they had the tag match again only it was Carmella instead of Becky teaming with Charlotte as a result her helping her a week earlier. Sasha and Bayley won that match when Sasha tapped out Carmella to the Bank Statement. This past Monday Sasha and Becky cut promos on each other. Becky said she’s going to make it painful for Sasha. Sasha said she has Hell in a Cell experience, and no man will win her match. Last week on Smackdown, Sasha attacked Becky at the end of the show when Kayla Braxton was interviewing her.
Nothing is on tap for Bayley and Charlotte one-on-one, but tonight the Four Horsewomen go at it again when Bayley and Sasha team up to take on Becky and Charlotte. This came out last week in regard to Becky and Sasha’s match at Clash of Champions:
Frank’s Analysis: This is another big match as WWE loads up the card for the Smackdown debut. They’ll likely run an angle to put some more juice into the upcoming Hell in a Cell between Becky and Sasha. I’m sure something will be set up for Bayley and Charlotte as well. Hall of Famer Trish Stratus was advertised on TV as appearing, so it’s possible she gets involved somehow considering she just had a match with Charlotte. She’s obviously not wrestling anymore, but this could be a spot for her in some capacity.
Roman Reigns vs. Erick Rowan
Last week on Smackdown, Erick Rowan defeated Daniel Bryan with the help of Luke Harper. After the match, they double-teamed Bryan until Roman Reigns came out for the save. Once they cleared the ring of Harper and Rowan, Bryan asked the fans if they wanted to see him and Reigns attack “their disrespecting asses,” to which the fans answered “Yes!” as expected. Later in the evening, it was announced that Bryan and Reigns would be teaming to face Harper and Rowan at Hell in a Cell.
Before that, Reigns goes one-one-one with Rowan tonight. This is a rematch from Clash of Champions where Rowan defeated Reigns with the help of Harper, who returned to WWE programming after a long absence. Rowan had previously revealed himself as the person behind the attacks on Reigns that happened around SummerSlam.
In advance of Bryan and Reigns teaming at Hell in a Cell, WWE released a top 10 video of Reigns unexpected teammates:
Frank’s Analysis: They’re sure pushing Rowan giving him wins over Bryan and Reigns. Then again, Buddy Murphy got a win over Bryan and where’s he been? I’m not too worried about the result tonight as they’re just going to do something to put some life into the upcoming tag match at Hell in a Cell. I don’t buy Bryan’s babyface turn but given how WWE has done a lot of these “soft turns” through the years it may be where they’re headed. The draft starts next week.
Legends Returning
WWE doesn’t have it on their preview, but legends have been advertised in commercials for the show. Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Sting, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Trish Stratus, and others have been mentioned as appearing. This past Monday on Raw, it was announced that “Team Hogan” would face “Team Flair” at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia on October 31. Thus far, Universal Champion Seth Rollins and Rusev are on Hogan’s squad while Randy Orton and King Baron Corbin were announced for Flair’s team. There are three more wrestlers to be tabbed for each team. We could see some of those choices made tonight.
Other Match Results and Segments from Last Week
- Chad Gable defeated Mike Kanellis. Elias then appeared on screen and made short jokes, as Kanellis did on the way to the ring.
- Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Ali in a non-title match. Sami Zayn got involved to help Nakamura.
- Smackdown Tag Team Champions New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) defeated The B-Team (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel)
- The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane) defeated Fire & Desire (Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville)
Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Questions and discussion are welcome. Thank you for reading!
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