SmackDown: 2 Superstars who flopped and 3 who impressed - Roman Reigns snaps again, Title match confirmed for WWE TLC (Dec 4th, 2020)   

This week’s episode of WWE SmackDown delivered quite an interesting show for the fans. The main event of the show featured Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens in action. Reigns teamed up with Jey Uso whereas Otis partnered with KO to avenge his brutal beatdown at the hands of Jey Uso last week.

We also saw two title matches added to the upcoming pay-per-view, TLC. The Universal Champion Roman Reigns will defend his title against Kevin Owens in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. In addition to that, we will see a championship match between Sasha Banks and Carmella for the WWE SmackDown Women’s title.

In this article, we will take a look at Superstars who flopped on SmackDown this week and those who impressed during the show. So, without further ado, let’s begin.

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#1 Impressed on SmackDown: Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns kickstarted this week’s SmackDown alongside Paul Heyman and Jey Uso in an interview segment with Kayla Braxton. Throughout his chat with the host, Reigns made it a point to constantly put Braxton down which evidently made him come across as the bad guy. He also took a dig at Jey Uso by saying that his cousin might be one of the greatest tag team performers of this era, but he owes his push in the last couple of months to Reigns.

He was then interrupted by Kevin Owens who has gone above and beyond to get under the skin of The Tribal Chief. However, it was good to see Reigns hold his own on SmackDown while he was involved in a conversation with one of the best talkers in the business. We also saw Jey Uso make an interference and reach for the mic which evidently made Reigns quite angry. Later in the night, Reigns teamed up with Jey Uso to take on Otis and Kevin Owens.

Fast forward to the main event; Roman Reigns ensured that he is the last one to enter the match. The delay in his arrival led to Kevin Owens and Otis inflicting a lot of punishment on Jey Uso. Ultimately, Reigns arrived and helped his cousin against their opponents. The closing moments of the match saw Reigns demanding Jey Uso to tag him in, but the latter refused to oblige.

An agitated Reigns then entered the ring and held KO into a submission maneuver. This led to the match ending in disqualification following which, Reigns and Uso brutalized Owens with multiple chair shots. But Reigns took it a step further and started beating up Jey Uso for not listening to The Tribal Chief, pulling off an ultra-heel move in the process, it will be interesting to see the consequences of these actions unfold over the next couple of months.

#1 Flopped on SmackDown: Bayley

On this week’s episode of SmackDown, we saw Bayley lock horns with Natalya in an extremely underwhelming encounter. The latter had a surprisingly great start to the match. Bayley, on the other hand, did not look nearly as good as she is inside the ring. If anything, Bayley ended up looking extremely weak inside the squared circle.

In the beginning of the match, Bayley seemed to have gained complete control over Natalya. In fact, she even took her sweet time to exchange words with Bianca Belair, who was sitting with the commentary team. But things quickly changed when Natalya managed to push Bayley into the ring post on WWE SmackDown.

It appears that the creative are building towards a feud between Bayley and Bianca Belair on WWE SmackDown. While that may be great for both Superstars involved, it is important for them to remember that Bayley’s historic title reign just came to an end. It would be a mistake to immediately book her in a weaker light, especially if they intend to use her in order to push Belair further up the roster.

#2 Impressed on SmackDown: Kevin Owens

Last week on WWE SmackDown, Kevin Owens challenged Roman Reigns’ power in the promotion. And tonight, he challenged The Tribal Chief to a title match at the upcoming pay-per-view, Tables, Ladders, and Chairs. He also demanded that their match at the pay-per-view should include all of the objects as mentioned above. While Reigns didn't accept the challenge, WWE did confirm that the Universal title match will take place between both Superstars at TLC.

During the main event of SmackDown, Roman Reins annihilated Otis which kept him down for the rest of the match. Back inside the ring, only Owens was left to face the wrath of both Reigns and Jey Uso. However, the former Universal Champion did extremely well in gaining the upper hand throughout their in-ring encounter.

Even when both Reigns and Jey Uso were brutally beating Owens, he came across as a stronger opponent when compared to others who have challenged The Tribal Chief. It was great to see someone step up to Roman Reigns without compromising the latter’s credibility on SmackDown. Their feud looks extremely promising, and we will see them clash for the Universal Championship at the upcoming pay-per-view.

#2 Flopped on SmackDown: Murphy

Murphy’s performance was not necessarily bad on SmackDown this week. However, the same can’t be said about the way he was booked for his match on the Blue brand tonight. Once again, we saw him lock horns with Baron Corbin only this time; it was the ‘King’ who managed to pick a clean victory.

As promised, King Corbin brought back-up with him and manipulated Murphy into losing his focus during his SmackDown match. Both the men who accompanied Corbin went and attacked Rey and Dominik Mysterio. As a result, a distracted Murphy went out to save his girlfriend’s family. Once he stepped back inside the ring, Corbin greeted him with a swift End of Days and pinned his opponent in the center of the ring.

Only last week, it appeared that Murphy got his strength from the Mysterio family. However, this week they ended up making him look weak. Even if WWE are planning a huge angle involving Murphy and Dominik Mysterio in the coming months, they can’t do that by booking Murphy in a weaker just when he has started gaining momentum on SmackDown.

#3 Impressed on SmackDown: Jey Uso

It would be completely fair to say that Jey Uso has benefitted massively from Roman Reigns’ heel turn on SmackDown. The ongoing storyline between the two cousins has proved that The Tribal Chief may talk about unity, but he is indeed hungry for power and looks out for himself. For Reigns, it has become more about leading his family, which has left Jey Uso in a confused state.

Jey Uso has been trying his best to help Reigns dominate the SmackDown roster, but it appears that nothing can please the ‘Head of the Table’. Once again, we saw Jey Uso take things in his own hand in order to impress Reigns. However, his plan backfired after Roman Reigns took offense when Uso refused to obey him.

To say that Jey Uso is nailing the role of a confused family member who is struggling hard to find what The Tribal Chief wants would be an understatement. Even tonight, we saw Jey Uso struggling continuously with his opinions about Roman Reigns, and it ultimately led to another brutal exchange between the two Superstars on SmackDown. We are sure that he will play a huge rule in ending Reigns’ title reign now, but it will be interesting to see how the creative will move forward with that booking on the Blue brand.