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WWE NETWORK REVIEW: TALKING SMACK
OCTOBER 3, 2020
REVIEW BY NICK MORGAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Hosts: Kayla Braxton, Jon Morrison
This week’s guests: Jey Uso, Sasha Banks, and Sami Zayn
– Kayla Braxton welcomed everyone to Talking Smack and very flamboyantly introduced a special guest host, Jon Morrison. Morrison entered in full “Morrison-mode” dressed extremely stylishly in a grey three-piece suit looking very stylish. Kayla wished Morrison a happy birthday, strangely they dropped that quickly, talked a bit about the Thunderdome with Morrison actually making an interesting point, that at times all the lights can be a bit distracting. Kayla congratulated Morrison on his new movie, “The Speed of Time”, ok now I understand while he is there today. Got to love promoting stuff on WWE.
– They continued to banter a bit and discussed the spooky season of October and the spookiness of the whole Alexa, Fiend and Kevin Owens angle. They showed the clip of Fiend attacking Owens and how much Alexa seemed to like it. Morrison went a bit off the tracks and they quickly moved on to their first guest, Jey Uso.
– Jey came on set to his full music and on screen graphics and sat at the desk glowering while Morrison made a bunch of comments about the ending of the Clash of Champions match and about how it was hard to watch. Jey just sat stone-faced as Morrison continued on about how welcoming Jey and his brother were when Morrison returned to the WWE, while Roman didn’t say or do anything when he came back.
– At this, Jey finally started talking, staring directly into the camera and noting somewhat sarcastically that “Yeah, he acting real, real different.” Kayla noted that the Hell in a Cell match between Roman Reigns and Jey Uso was now official (always breaking big news on Talking Smack) and asked Jey how he felt about it and what did he think Roman meant when he said that the match would have the highest stakes in WWE history.
– Before Jey could answer Morrison jumped in with a stupid question about why Roman’s hair is always wet. “Is it a superpower?” Now, I must admit that this is a stupid question, but it was kind of funny and I have often wondered why wrestlers always seem to have wet hair? Anyway, this broke Jey up a bit as he started chuckling. As Morrison continued on, Jey tried to get himself under control, I think Morrison actually cracked him up, and Jey started staring and glowering into the camera again.
– As Kayla asked him his thoughts about Jimmy throwing in the towel in his match, Jey brushed that off and dead into the camera said that Roman had really hit a nerve. He called him Joe (his real name) and continued on about how he really hit a nerve and alluded to how things were different now, and this was not just about a wrestling match. He was very intense. With that he got up and left and they moved on.
– After Jey left, Kayla and Morrison continued to sell the end of the Clash of Champions match and how the match at Hell in a Cell was going to be brutal.
– Next up, Sasha Banks. Sasha came right out dumping on Bayley and stating that Bayley was a coward. Morrison asked what happened to Sasha and Bayley’s friendship. Sasha initially looking angry looked sad for a bit, then went on a tirade about how much Bayley needed Sasha instead of the other way around and how Sasha had done everything for Bayley. Sasha then laid down the law and before walking off set put it right out there by saying that Bayley was nothing without Sasha and that next week, you can forget about the title, because she is coming to “end you [Bayley].”
– Sasha put the mic down and walked off, leaving Kayla and Morrison a bit stunned.
– Morrison wondered why the show was so serious this week and Kayla alluded to the fact that nothing had changed except… and then pointed over at Morrison. The shtick didn’t really go anywhere so they quickly moved on to the next guest.
– Welcome, Sami Zayn. Sami came out looking his great disheveled self, I am not sure where they are going with this whole “Castro” look. Sami was at his heelish, whiny best, especially when Kayla asked him about “cheating” in the match tonight. Sami asked her if there was anything in the rule book about making some alterations to the ring prior to the bell. Morrison sided with Sami and Sami said that it is not cheating, but it is strategizing at a higher level.
– Sami continued to talk about how brilliant his strategy is and that at Clash of Champions everything he did was within the rules and that he was just thinking outside of the box. Kayla changed the subject by asking about it being disrespectful for Sami to dump the title belt he won from Jeff Hardy in the trash. This allowed Sami to go on a great rant about how he was always the legitimate champion and now all is right with the world. Sami thanked Kayla for recognizing him as the undisputed champion and left the set.
– Kayla and Morrison seemed to be genuinely amused by Sami and signed off almost chuckling and laughing. I must agree, Sami is great, and the end segment left me very upbeat and happy.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Show was pretty good this week without any real weak segments. A quick comment on Jon Morrison: He should have toned down his shtick a bit and while his “air-head” persona can be entertaining, in this setting it was somewhat disruptive, especially given the gravitas of the first two segments. Looking forward to the return of Xavier Woods.
As for the guests, Jey was appropriately angry and intense, his almost losing it to Morrison’s antics almost ruined things, but he was able to hold it together and brought off a good promo. Sasha was very good, and her facial acting was excellent, going from angry to sad and then to righteous with just a few subtle changes to her eyes and mouth was great. She has a long way to go to transition from her super-heelish persona to a baby face, but this angle of revenge beat down is a good start. I think it’s a bit early for this match (next week) but we will see what they do.
– Then there was Sami. Sami Zayn is a treasure. You just have to sit back and watch and let him take you on the ride. Sami you have been missed, and I am so glad you are back.
The show was only 22 minutes this week and totally worth the time. Check it out.
Well, that is it for now, see you all next week. Until then, take care and stay safe.
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