WWE FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN PRIMER 11/27: Survivor Series Fallout, Roman Reigns and the Bloodline, Pivoting Towards TLC

WWE FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN PRIMER
NOVEMBER 27, 2020
ORLANDO, FL. AT THE THUNDERDOME IN THE AMWAY CENTER
AIRS ON FOX NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EST
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH.COM CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Michael Cole and Corey Graves

Match Results and Segments from Last Week

• Raw Tag Team Champions New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) and Smackdown Tag Team Champions the Street Profits defeated Sami Zayn, King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, and Robert Roode. Here were the Street Profits in a WWE exclusive:

• Otis was chosen by Adam Pierce to be the final member of team Smackdown and celebrated with Chad Gable.
• Natalya defeated Tamina in her 137th chance to participate on team Smackdown. Here was Natalya in a WWE exclusive:

• Universal Champion Roman Reigns and WWE Champion Drew McIntyre (Raw) signed the contract for their match at Survivor Series.
• Murphy defeated Seth Rollins. Here’s Murphy in a WWE exclusive:

• Michael Cole interviewed Raw Women’s Champion Asuka and Smackdown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks ahead of their Survivor Series match. Everybody said their catch phrase and said nothing of substance.
• Daniel Bryan defeated Jey Uso.

See Monday’s Raw primer for a list of the Survivor Series results.

Items Advertised by WWE

We’re past Survivor Series and on our way towards TLC, the final PPV of the year on the WWE calendar. It will be the first PPV in Tropicana Field, home of the MLB AL Champion Tampa Bay Rays, in Tampa, FL. The string of shows in that venue starts two weeks from tonight with the December 11 edition of Smackdown.

As of this writing, WWE does not have their preview up nor any advertised items and segments. They put out a video talking about what’s next for Roman Reigns and his “bloodline.” Here’s that clip:

Since there’s nothing to preview, I anticipate these will be the items to which we should look in tonight’s episode:

What will be the TLC match from the Smackdown side?

They typically like to have a match from Raw and one from Smackdown. It’s hard to say what feud on Smackdown is at the level of TLC, but that hasn’t stopped WWE before. I suppose if I were to guess they could have something with Daniel Bryan against Jey Uso and/or Roman Reigns. I don’t think there’d be a triple threat match, but god knows, you can’t rule it out. I could see Daniel Bryan against Jey Uso with a stipulation of Jey needing to win to stay in Roman’s good graces, or Roman against Bryan for the Universal Championship. Bryan did beat Jey last week after all. Bryan and Roman’s name have been connected for years. I maintain to this day that it was Bryan’s return in 2015, amongst other things, that poured gasoline on the fire that became the long-standing negative reaction towards Roman. Thankfully, we’re in a better place with Roman as a heel, but lord knows how business could have went if they wised up and did what they’re doing now with him years ago.

Is Carmella positioned as Sasha Banks next challenger for the Smackdown Women’s Championship?

It’s apparent that the feud between Sasha Banks and Bayley has been tabled for now. With Sasha retaining over Bayley several weeks ago after Hell in a Cell and Bayley taking a pin from Raw’s Peyton Royce at Survivor Series, one can only wonder what’s next for her after holding the Smackdown title for over a year. Carmella has attacked Sasha three times in her new character, including last week after Sasha and Raw Women’s Champion Asuka met face to face ahead of their Survivor Series match. I think it’s safe to say Carmella is Sasha’s next challenger, with the question being do they do that match on TV or wait until TLC. I would save it for TLC and have Carmella get some wins ahead of time, but I get the sense that won’t happen. I’m not sold that Carmella’s ability in the ring has gotten any better so they may want to avoid exposing that.

Who will be positioned for the Intercontinental and Tag Team Championships?

Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn took the loss to U.S. Champion Bobby Lashley at Survivor Series while Smackdown Tag Team Champions the Street Profits defeated Raw champs New Day. I mentioned Daniel Bryan being involved in the Roman Reigns situation earlier. While I feel that is possible, his being involved with Sami Zayn is also on the table. They had a backstage interaction last week after Sami took the pin in the eight-man tag I mentioned earlier, and it was Sami who beat Bryan at WrestleMania to retain the Intercontinental Championship. I don’t know where that would leave Jey Uso and Roman Reigns. Since Murphy beat Seth Rollins last week, perhaps he gets elevated and moves into something with them? There is history with Murphy and Roman as they were involved in the “who ran Roman over” story last year, although I don’t know if it’s a good idea to revisit that!

As far as the Smackdown Tag Team Championship, I’d suspect Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode get rolled into a feud with the Profits based on their interaction last week. Otis and Chad Gable are possibilities, but that would be positioning a babyface team against a babyface team. I’d avoid that and get some wins for them to build them up strong, but no sense in being logical.

Other Expectations and Final Thoughts

TLC will be the focus and it’s anybody’s guess what Vince has in mind. With the previews and announced matches & segments coming out later and later, it seems like ideas are changed or they just don’t know what they’re doing until close to showtime. Outside of Carmella and Sasha Banks, which is a low-end story at best, others need to be started. I laid out some scenarios, but they’re educated guesses at best. Obviously, we’ll know for sure what’s going on when we tune in!

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