SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Before we begin, a few quick housekeeping notes:
- Tonight’s episode is the final installment of WWE Smackdown on Fox. Beginning next week, the show moves to the USA Network alongside Raw until Raw moves to Netflix at the start of 2025. It’s been a solid five years of Smackdown on network TV, but we look forward to a new era for the blue brand on cable.
- After finally making his debut on Raw, Odyssey Jones has been removed from WWE’s roster page. While details are still murky, it appears he is gone from WWE.
- The first trailer for Netflix’s “Mr. McMahon,” a docu-series on Vince McMahon, recently dropped. WWE is supposedly not involved, in a rare move on the company’s part. Sources claim the documentary doesn’t censor any topics (including the Chris Benoit murders).
Smackdown moves to USA Network on September 13, 2024, and the programming hasn’t reflected it. Historically, the last few shows before a network change have often felt like “lame-duck” programming.
This time around, it’s a huge credit to WWE that I haven’t noticed a huge dip in quality. Aside from the dry spell the company often faces in late summer due to the string of B-PLEs until Survivor Series, there hasn’t been anything out of the ordinary. If this is Triple H’s version of holding back, it’s still plenty enough to keep audiences entertained.
It’s crazy to think that Smackdown was once being written off as a glorified clip show. In 2024, even at the product’s less interesting points, no one can say it isn’t being utilized as a proper storytelling platform.
And speaking of, let’s recap everything from Bash in Berlin…
Cody Rhodes vs. Kevin Owens
Latest Developments
On the go-home episode of Smackdown, Rhodes brought up Owens’ history of track records and listed off every reason for Owens to hold a grudge against him (including hinting at his exploits outside WWE). In retaliation, Owens brought up Rhodes’ recently injured knee, and wanted the assurance that Rhodes wouldn’t be facing him injured. The two men squared up, leaving their friendship in doubt.
At Bash In Berlin, Rhodes defeated Owens after a hard-fought match. Post-match, a betrayal was teased, but friendship endured as Owens willingly raised Rhodes’ arm in victory and gave him the spotlight.
Analysis
This feud had a pretty atypical build for WWE, allowing the conflict to arise from a set match rather than the conflict leading to the match itself. As stated in previous columns, this fit the characters of both Rhodes and Owens. Rhodes, the honorable champ, would naturally gift a title shot to his ally Owens. Owens, historically, has let his heel side fly when a title is put in his line of sight.
However, the go-home Smackdown’s promo segment felt overlong and introduced several plot points that ultimately didn’t lead anywhere (the knee injury felt like a simple MacGuffin for Owens to exploit, but this could have been setup far more elegantly). Additionally, Rhodes just listing out a bunch of reasons for Owens to be mad felt sloppy and rushed. Hearing this from Owens’ mouth himself would have been more powerful, or even leaving more of it unsaid. WWE, we’ve shown you we’re not idiots, you can trust your audience a little bit more!
The match itself was fine, with callbacks to the wrestlers’ long history together. KO bringing out his old heel moves was phenomenal in-ring storytelling, and while the knee injury was sloppily set up, the in-ring drama was executed well.
The ending was also a genuine swerve, which is rare for WWE recently. All signs pointed to Owens sinking further into obsession, as he’s done so many times in the past. Going a different route offers WWE the chance to move Cody to another feud while also keeping a heel Owens simmering in the background.
It still feels like this feud has plenty of mileage to go, and if the character dynamics are played correctly, this could be Smackdown’s answer to Punk vs McIntyre. However, with Wrestlemania looming closer, it likely won’t get that level of focus. Oh well. We’ll always have Berlin!
Grade: B+
L.A. Knight’s Open Challenge
Latest Developments
Several weeks ago, US Champion L.A. Knight announced he’d defend his title in an open challenge on the go-home episode of Smackdown in Berlin.
Last Friday, the challenge was answered by none other than Ludwig Kaiser, who received a hero’s welcome.
After a short but competitive match, Knight defeated Kaiser to retain his championship.
Analysis
Not really much of a storyline here beyond Kaiser getting a triumphant babyface moment in front of a hometown crowd. Kaiser’s done so well blazing his own path, many people forget he’s the son of German wrestling royalty Axel Dieter. Letting him shine and play to the crowd showed Kaiser in a different mode than usual, and it was cool seeing him flex those muscles.
Knight, meanwhile, was stuck playing situational heel. While it didn’t really work (the YEAH chant is just too damn over), Knight at least countered Kaiser’s style just enough to avoid getting the crowd split and softening reactions. He blended into the background and allowed Kaiser to shine, and the result was a perfectly serviceable (but slightly uneventful) match.
Knight is a born 80s-style babyface, and Kaiser is a born 80s-style heel. But it was a fun inversion seeing them play each other’s parts for a night. If anything, both men got to show off a different side of themselves, and still put on a show for the viewers.
This didn’t reinvent the wheel, but it did what it had to pretty dang well.
Grade: B+
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Andrade vs. Carmelo Hayes
Latest Developments
Two weeks ago, Carmelo Hayes celebrated after finally sneaking a win against rival Andrade in their recent series of matches. Enraged at the insolent young wrestler, Andrade demanded a 4th match.
On the go-home Smackdown, the two faced off in their most hard-hitting match yet where Melo once again won, bringing the grand total to 2-2.
Analysis
It continues to amaze me how well this midcard feud has been built with so little. It’s like the best version of an AEW feud. Each match features the participants in different headspaces, tells a continuing story and provides a clear reason for another match.
The story began with Melo wanting to prove his strength against a veteran who saw through his bluster. But when Melo finally snuck a win, he insulted the honor of Andrade, and now his tranquilo has been replaced with fury. Conventional logic would dictate that Melo be swiftly humbled, now that he’s unlocked the truest version of his opponent.
But instead, WWE went the more interesting route. Melo won again, but this time even cleaner than before. Andrade’s newfound aggression worked against him, abandoning his tactical eye to run into an exposed turnbuckle he would have easily avoided in their 1st 3 matches. By letting his passion guide him, Andrade slipped up, giving Melo another win to feed his ago and letting his frustration build even further.
This definitely doesn’t feel like the end, as an angry Andrade will likely stoop to even more dastardly means to force Melo into a rematch. Which, if it leads to a heel turn, could do wonders to rejuvenate Andrade’s one-dimensional character.
There’s online fantasy-booking about a Steel Cage blowoff match between these two. For a feud with less than 5 promo segments, no PPV time, and two midcarders, that kind of online hype is a hell of an achievement. Give. Me. More.
Grade: A+
Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill vs The Unholy Union
Latest Developments
After weeks of the Unholy Union dodging Belair and Cargill’s demands for a rematch, the two teams finally faced off at Bash In Berlin. The craftiness of the Scottish witches proved no match for the powerhouse babyfaces, who secured the victory and became two-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Analysis
A decent end to a supremely one-sided feud. I love that the Unholy Union finally got to show out on a PPV stage, after feeling like 3-way fodder at Clash At The Castle this year. Their heel tactics were on full display, but had a tactical edge beyond just “gang up on the babyfaces”. There were several little moments where they drew on Cargill’s in-kayfabe weaknesses by drawing her in and isolating her from Bianca so they could ambush her in a neutral corner. Atypically for a babyface team, Belair and Cargill secured the win by just bulldozing through the opposition (which sets up an interesting dynamic between them and the women’s division moving forward).
But honestly, after a month of one-sided promos where the heels made few appearances and the babyfaces had very little material beyond “we want another match”, the heat for this match was long gone. There was no doubt as to who the winner would be, the lack of investment in the Scottish Witches felt almost comical at times during the last month, and Belair & Cargill have been so much more powerful than anyone else in kayfabe that losing genuinely felt unrealistic.
At this point, I’m glad this feud is over and all parties involved can move onto other things. Fingers crossed the witches don’t just blend into the background again, and hopefully Belair & Cargill’s next opponents are at least presented as credible threats. At least the feud had a strong finish. Now if only there was a strong beginning and middle.
Grade: B-
Apollo Crews & Baron Corbin vs Legado Del Fantasma
Latest Developments
Last week, a bickering LDF was torn apart by Santos Escobar. Recent rivals Apollo Crews & Baron Corbin rolled up to mock the heels, and Escobar set up a tag match for tonight in retaliation.
Analysis
A match that existed for one storytelling beat: the LDF is useless without Santos and Elektra. While a necessary plot point to eventually arrive at the endgame where Santos snaps and clashes with Angel & Berto, this match felt like it buried the LDF a little too excessively.
Despite Baron Corbin’s ability to have chemistry with literally anyone, Crews & Corbin are still just a team that came together a month ago. To see them have more fluid in-ring chemistry than LDF doesn’t feel plausible. And if the story beat is “Angel & Berto don’t feel comfortable with Santos’ methods and can’t fight naturally”, that story needs to be teased out more in-ring instead of Santos running blatant interference and securing the win.
Right now, similar to the Alpha Academy storyline, this inter-faction squabble feels destined to leave everyone but Santos directionless. The tag division is bottlenecked by the Bloodline, and LDF has already had a run in NXT so there’s not much else to besides a non-title grudge feud which are few and far between for the lower card.
Overall, a middling segment leading to an ending I’m not super enthused with. Perhaps there’s a wrinkle I’m missing that will come more into prominence following Bash In Berlin.
Grade: C-
Nia Jax & Tiffany Stratton vs. Michin
Latest Developments
On the go-home episode of Smackdown, Nia Jax successfully defended the WWE Women’s Championship against Michin in a Street Fight.
Tiffany Stratton attempted to cash in (narrowly avoiding Jax’s eye) but was taken out by the returning Bayley. Jax successfully won the match to retain the championship.
Analysis
WWE did a fantastic job building up Michin for a title defense. Following the last two weeks of sensational babyface vignettes, Michin’s performance elevated a filler storyline match into a tour-de-force babyface outing. If you can’t ignore subpar booking, acknowledge it in kayfabe. By voicing her (likely shoot) frustrations at not getting opportunities, Michin lit a fire in the WWE audience and became an underdog instantly.
Jax, ever the powerhouse heel, played an incredible mountain. Michin looked super impressive by simply bringing Jax to her knees via repeated kendo stick shots. While this match style often turns off fans of more technical wrestling, the story was simple: Michin was relying on pure passion, no technique. And that night, her passion was enough to bring WWE’s strongest hoss to her knees. Classic David vs Goliath booking done perfectly.
Stratton is now planning to betray Jax, we’ve established that. While it was fun hinting that the only thing threatening to drive a wedge between Jax and Stratton was Jax’s own paranoia, it’s nice to establish that Stratton isn’t just her blind follower. After all, she’s still a heel, of course she was being opportunistic in the background the whole time. It’s the expected result, but that doesn’t mean it was the wrong result. I look forward to seeing if Stratton will try to cover her own ass against Jax tonight, which should lead to some hilarious promo segments.
Bayley’s return also throws a wrench into the mix. Taking out Stratton is an interesting mix, perhaps laying the grounds for a Bayley/Jax alliance??? Of all the “can they coexist?” possibilities in WWE, that one sounds by far the most enjoyable.
Grade: A-
DIY vs. The Street Profits vs. The Bloodline
Latest Developments
Nothing to report. None of the 3 factions made a huge appearance last week, a rarity especially for the ever-present Bloodline.
Tonight, the 3 teams pick up where they left off in a 3-way match.
Analysis
I wanted to include this section to highlight the strengths/flaws of the new Bloodline’s role on Smackdown. Following the return of Roman Reigns, it felt as if the Bloodline was destined to use up even more of Smackdown’s screentime in comparison to other acts. On the contrary, they’ve been relegated to background in the lead-up to Bash In Berlin, likely since Survivor Series will be the next large PLE for them
While it’s admirable to keep your hottest act off the show, it’s also indicative of the pitfalls of long-term booking. When a long-term story feels tailored to climax at a certain PLE, there can be large gaps where there isn’t much storytelling to burn through. In 2023, this led to repeated filler (remember the endless Judgement Day vs Cody/Sami/Ko/Seth matches on Raw?). In 2024, WWE seems content to allow stories to be removed off programming for a week or two.
While an admirable strategy, this also risks audiences’ investment stuttering due to the stop-start nature of booking. When a promotion’s hot, all is forgiven, but otherwise these little gaps will be put under a microscope (hi AEW!). Secondly, it feels like a waste of the peripheral players. Remember, The Bloodline are still Smackdown’s tag champs. If they’re biding time doing nothing, DIY and The Street Profits no longer have a goal to fight for.
It feels as if there could be better uses for the faction than just having them skip a week. I know this all feels a bit nitpicky (and admittedly, it probably is), but The Bloodline has always been the premier story in WWE, so it’s safe to analyze the story’s booking patterns as a likely indicator to the promotion’s collective booking patterns as a whole.
Grade: uhh…. C, I guess?
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