WWE FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN PRIMER 11/6: The Boss Attempts to Retain Against the Role Model, More Survivor Series Hype

WWE FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN PRIMER
NOVEMBER 6, 2020
ORLANDO, FL. AT THE THUNDERDOME IN THE AMWAY CENTER
AIRS ON FOX NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EDT
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH.COM CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Michael Cole and Corey Graves

Top Three Developments from Last Week

• Bayley challenged Sasha Banks to a match for the Smackdown Women’s Championship, citing her inability to successfully defend a newly won title.
• Aalyah Mysterio admitted to her father Rey and brother Dominik that she loved Murphy and kissed him in front of them. Earlier, Murphy tried to apologize for Rey and Dominik, but Seth Rollins got involved.
• Jey Uso qualified for team Survivor Series by defeating Daniel Bryan with his cousin, Universal Champion Roman Reigns, looking on. After the match he told his cousin he was with him, and “I understand now” about a hundred times while beating down Bryan. Jey is apparently in alignment with Roman.  On their website, WWE is saying that Bryan is “convalescing” at home because of the injuries suffered at the hands of Jey.  Here’s a WWE exclusive of what happened when Smackdown went off the air last week:

Items Advertised by WWE

We move towards Survivor Series as the teams are starting to fill out. This past Monday, Braun Strowman joined team Raw while Jey Uso and Kevin Owens qualified for team Smackdown on the men’s side. Bianca Belair qualified for the women’s Smackdown team by defeating Natalya and Billie Kay last week. All the champion vs. champions are announced and thus we await the remainder of the men’s and women’s teams to fill out. Here’s what’s advertised by WWE for tonight, and there’s only one item which we knew about from last week’s episode:

• Sasha Banks to battle Bayley in a SmackDown Women’s Championship Rematch

Smackdown Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks (champion) vs. Bayley

Less than two weeks after capturing her first Smackdown Women’s Championship, Sasha Banks must put her title on the line against Bayley, the woman from whom she took the title at Hell in a Cell. As I mentioned earlier, Bayley issued to challenge to Sasha citing her inability to successfully defend a championship. Sasha won the Raw Women’s Championship three times from July-October of 2016, ironically once in a Hell in a Cell match against Charlotte Flair at Hell in a Cell 2016 but lost it back to Charlotte each time. She defeated Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam 2017 but lost it back to Alexa eight days later on Raw. Finally, she defeated Asuka on Raw this year, only to lose the title back to her at SummerSlam. That’s five reigns with no successful title defenses.

As Sasha rolls on with reign number six, we’ll find out if Bayley will continue to add to Sasha’s misfortunes as she challenges her for the title tonight.

Frank’s Analysis: It’s so hard to know what they’re going to do since they’re having a rematch so soon. In theory I expect a wonky finish, but it’s hard to say because of the historical factor of Sasha not retaining. One thing is for sure, and that’s if Sasha retains via a crappy finish (DQ, count out, or something to that effect) than it trashes the whole story. She should retain for the first time via a clean pin or submission.

Other Match Results and Segments from Last Week

• Kevin Owens qualified for team Smackdown at Survivor Series by defeating Dolph Ziggler in a qualifying match. Here’s Kevin in a WWE exclusive:

• During an interview with Corey Graves, Lars Sullivan spoke about the origins of him being called the Freak and got emotional at one point.
• Bianca Belair defeated Natalya and Billie Kay in a triple threat match to qualify for the women’s Survivor Series team for Smackdown. Here’s Bianca in a WWE exclusive:

• Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn hyped his match with U.S. Champion Bobby Lashley at Survivor Series. He said he represents many countries while Bobby only represents one.
• Smackdown Tag Team Champions the Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) defeated former champions Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura.

Final Thoughts

I was the cohost on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post Show with Zack Heydorn this past Monday following Raw. If you haven’t done so, check out that show! We talked Raw, but also talked Survivor Series in general. We kicked around ideas to generate more fan interest around this time of year, which seems to decrease. It’s understandable since people aren’t interested in the battle for brand supremacy. I expect more Survivor Series hype tonight as well as more qualifying matches to fill out the teams as I mentioned earlier.

Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Questions and discussion are welcome. Thank you for reading!