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This week’s WWE SmackDown was loaded with some interesting matches and segments that allowed the brand to work towards the Survivor Series pay-per-view. A Triple Threat match was scheduled during the night to pick the next Superstar for the women’s SmackDown team.
A former NXT Superstar made her SmackDown debut during the show, while Otis got a chance to rebuild himself on the Blue brand.
Sami Zayn defended his WWE Intercontinental Championship after over a month during this week’s SmackDown. Carmella once again appeared to take out the SmackDown Women’s Champion, Sasha Banks.
However, it was the arrival of a Superstar from RAW to the SmackDown brand that provided the best segments during the night.
In this article, we will look at the five things SmackDown got right during this week’s show.
#5 Chelsea Green debuts, Liv Morgan books her ticket to Survivor Series on WWE SmackDown
A Triple Threat Match was scheduled to determine who’d take the third spot on Team SmackDown for WWE Survivor Series. Natalya tried one more time to find a place in the team, while Liv Morgan and Tamina Snuka were the other two competitors looking to bag the chance.
However, Chelsea Green debuted on SmackDown and was made part of the match to make it a Fatal Four-Way affair. Green had a short run on NXT following which she was moved to the Blue brand.
All four competitors got a lot of offense and Natalya tried her best to prove that she is the best of the lot. She managed to lock Morgan in a vicious chin lock but could not get her to tap out in time. Soon after, Morgan got back in business and finished off the match by hitting Tamina with a Codebreaker to pick up the victory.
This was a decent match that allowed the right competitor to take a spot on Team SmackDown. Morgan has had a good time in the ring in 2020, and she deserves some major chances on the big stage.
Green finally got to make her debut on SmackDown, but it was odd that WWE added her to a match she was not booked to win. Did WWE change the ending of the match after Green was injured mid-match? It will be interesting to see how they book her in the coming months.
Most interestingly, The Queen of Harts lost once again and she could be heading towards a character change from here on. Will we watch her appear during Survivor Series to attack Team SmackDown and cost them their battle against Team RAW?
#4 WWE SmackDown looks to rebuild Otis
At WWE Hell in a Cell, Otis was betrayed by his former best friend, Tucker, who struck him with the Money in the Bank briefcase during his loss to The Miz. Last week on WWE SmackDown, Otis took on Seth Rollins in a one-on-one match. However, Murphy appeared to help Rollins win the match.
This week on SmackDown, the creatives decided to book yet another match for Otis, this time against Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler and Otis have already had several matches in the past, and it seemed like WWE was trying to give Otis back some momentum by allowing him to compete against a man with who he already has a lot of chemistry with.
Robert Roode was at ringside and was trying to help The Showoff win the match. However, the former Money in the Bank briefcase holder wasn’t ready to go down in the contest without a fight.
After Otis hit Ziggler with the Caterpillar and then set up towards a Vader Bomb, Roode again tried to interfere in the match. However, Otis was able to hit his finisher and pick up the victory over the former World Heavyweight Champion.
This was a decent match that purely existed to get Otis some screentime on SmackDown and a victory. It looks like the creatives are still high on the big man, but they are unsure of what to do with him at the moment.
#3 Sami Zayn retains the Intercontinental Championship on WWE SmackDown
Sami Zayn won the Intercontinental Championship at WWE Clash Of Champions 2020, and successfully defended it against Jeff Hardy a week later on SmackDown. Since then, we hadn’t watched Zayn defend his title even once in over a month. This week on SmackDown, he was booked to defend his title against Apollo Crews.
Zayn wasn’t happy with the fact that he’d been informed about his title defense only an hour prior to the show and cut a promo to attack the WWE officials and Apollo Crews.
The former United States Champion came out for a fight and looked to win his second major title in the company. However, Zayn used his creativity more than his fists and managed to get the better of Crews.
After the fight spilled over to the floor, Zayn tied Crews’ leg to the ring. The referee counted to ten and then awarded the victory to Zayn via count-out. This was a good piece of booking that allowed Zayn to pick up a smart victory over the man Bobby Lashley had defeated to win the United States Championship.
The way Zayn won the contest allows Crews to not lose value and possibly stay in the title picture after Zayn is done with Lashley at Survivor Series.
#2 Seth Rollins and Rey Mysterio write the Final Chapter in their rivalry on WWE SmackDown
The Final Chapter of the extremely long rivalry between Rey Mysterio and Seth Rollins was set to be written this week as the two men competed in the squared circle on WWE SmackDown.
Rey Mysterio’s wife and children appeared at ringside for the final match between him and The Savior of SmackDown. While Rey Mysterio took control of the match early, Rollins took advantage when the fight spilled over to the floor.
Later in the match, The Messiah brought a table into the ring and powerbombed Rey Mysterio through it. However, the future Hall of Famer refused to stay down for the three-count.
Rollins removed the protective covering from a steel chair and attempted to poke Rey Mysterio’s eye out again. Dominik Mysterio pulled him out of the ring but ate a Superkick for his efforts.
Murphy handed Rollins a chair and then betrayed him with a knee to the face. This allowed Mysterio to capitalize and hit a 619 followed by a Frog Splash to pay homage to his late friend Eddie Guerrero before picking up the victory.
The Mysterio family embraced and Rey Mysterio gave his approval to Murphy and Aalyah Mysterio. This was another fun match that had a few messy spots. However, we’re likely done with the rivalry between the Mysterios and Rollins and will likely watch The Messiah go after The Juggernaut now.
Does Murphy still have a plan in mind for his former leader on SmackDown?
#1 Drew McIntyre sends a message to Roman Reigns on WWE SmackDown
Roman Reigns kicked off this week’s WWE SmackDown ahead of Survivor Series. However, he was interrupted by Drew McIntyre who looked to remind the Universal Champion and the WWE Universe that he has a title opportunity on Monday Night RAW and could end up becoming Reigns’ opponent for the pay-per-view.
McIntyre reminded Paul Heyman that he’d ripped through his previous client at WrestleMania 36 while Reigns was away on a break, and he would do something similar to his current client.
Later in the night, Jey Uso competed against McIntyre to teach him a lesson on behalf of The Tribal Chief. While Uso put on another good performance, he was no match for the former WWE Champion’s power.
Reigns instructed Jey Uso to lose the match if he had to but ensure that he teaches McIntyre a lesson. However, a Claymore Kick ended Uso’s hopes as The Scottish Psychopath stood tall at the end of SmackDown.
The opening and closing segments of SmackDown were great and finally allowed WWE to build some heat between potential opponents for Survivor Series. McIntyre was the right choice to appear during the show, and it was good to watch Jey Uso put up a fight against someone who recently rose up the ranks.
