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This week's episode of WWE SmackDown was a very loaded affair and despite a few questionable decisions, the two hours did fly by very quickly. The faster pace of WWE SmackDown is a lot easier to invest in, than RAW, and this week's episode was a lot of fun.
While the episode was far from perfect, and even though Survivor Series doesn't seem like a very exciting affair, from the way that things are stacked, WWE SmackDown continues to remain two fun hours of sports entertainment. Of course, if you felt differently about this week's edition of WWE SmackDown, be sure to leave a comment and let us know what your views were.
What do you think WWE SmackDown did right this week, and what could those in the creative team have done differently?
#1 Best: Ruby Riott regains her momentum on WWE SmackDown, and yes, Billie Kay shows her personality as well
Ruby Riott has always been one of the more talented Superstars in the entire roster, and on WWE SmackDown this week, we were reminded of just how good she can be. Kudos to Natalya and Zelina Vega as well, for making her look like a million dollars on WWE SmackDown, as Riott went on to Survivor Series 2020.
With Bianca Belair and Ruby Riott on the WWE SmackDown Survivor Series team, it does seem like they will be a more exciting squad than the RAW team, where only Lana had to qualify for her position. Yes, it is weird that Natalya got another chance to qualify for Survivor Series when she lost last week's match, but hey, WWE has made far bigger booking mistakes over the years.
Even Billie Kay showed excellent comic timing on WWE SmackDown and it would be cool to see her on the WWE SmackDown Survivor Series squad as well.
#1 Worst: Sasha Banks and Bayley had a great match, and Carmella vs. The Boss could be great, but...
Shouldn't a Hell in a Cell match be the very culmination of a feud because everything that follows, especially if it's a no-frills, straight-up match will never live up to the expectations of the match prior? Sasha Banks and Bayley had a solid match and The Boss earned a well-deserved victory, breaking the 'curse' of not being able to hang on to her title, but it was nowhere near the Match of the Year candidate that we saw at Hell in a Cell.
But a bigger issue could be doing the Sasha Banks vs. Carmella feud so soon, considering that the current SmackDown Women's Champion needs a few wins under her belt and also considering that Carmella has just been repackaged, for her to lose her first big feud upon her return may not make any sense at all. One of these two women has to eat a pin when they clash, and it may not be the best idea to fast-track this contest.
#2 Best: Roman Reigns does not make life easy for WWE SmackDown star Jey Uso at all
Being a part of Roman Reigns' entourage doesn't mean it's all sunshine and rainbows, but there's a chain of command involved, and WWE SmackDown star Jey Uso now needs to run every decision by his 'Tribal Chief'. This is completely in line with Roman Reigns' character and also maintains a certain degree of drama throughout WWE SmackDown, even between the two cousins. And yet, Roman Reigns looks out for his family, as we saw from the events of well, the main event.
Can you imagine the level of drama in the WWE SmackDown men's Survivor Series team going forward, between Kevin Owens and Jey Uso, who now have to coexist for the benefit of their team?
No, Sheamus, AJ Styles, Keith Lee, and Braun Strowman cannot coexist either but the dissension between Jey Uso and Kevin Owens just seems so much more real, so much more intense than anything on RAW. Who would have thought that Jey Uso would become one of the more intriguing Superstars on WWE SmackDown?
#2 Worst: Something about Lars Sullivan on WWE SmackDown just isn't connecting with anyone
Even if you ignore everything that's happening with Lars Sullivan's ongoing controversy outside of WWE, something about his promos just seems to be falling flat. The words he uttered on WWE SmackDown this week did not make him come across as a terrifying 'freak', as was the intention, but as a man trying too hard to be scary, with a heavily scripted promo. Lars Sullivan clearly needs a mouthpiece on WWE SmackDown, although it's hard to imagine who could potentially fill the role.
There's just a vast gulf between the lines that are fed to Roman Reigns on WWE SmackDown and the kind of verbiage that is offered to someone like Lars Sullivan.
One has to admire AEW in this regard, where big men like Brian Cage and Lance Archer, who are both better promos than WWE SmackDown star Lars Sullivan, mind you, have Taz and Jake Roberts handling microphone duties for them. Who would you book as his manager?
#3 Best/Worst: Murphy and Seth Rollins aligned on WWE SmackDown this week, but it came at the cost of Otis
It was the right decision to have Seth Rollins go to Survivor Series with his big win over Otis on WWE SmackDown, but one has to wonder what the point of breaking Heavy Machinery was if neither Otis nor Tucker is picking up wins at this particular point in time.
Moreover, if Murphy told Aalyah Mysterio to trust him on WWE SmackDown, pretending that the heel turn was all a ruse, can't Seth Rollins watch the footage back and realize that he is being played by his disciple, Murphy?
But for all the silliness in the storyline, this is just one of those car crashes where you cannot look away.
Be sure to share your thoughts about WWE SmackDown and the build to Survivor Series in the comments below.
And whenever you have a minute, do check out Rick and Denise from Sportskeeda running through the events of WWE SmackDown by clicking on this YouTube link.
