Who’s the fifth man?
As we barrel toward “Survivor Series: War Games,” “WWE SmackDown” did its best 1990s WCW impression as we finally learned who would be joining the New Bloodline for the civil war match at the upcoming PLE.
When it came to the OG Bloodline, things are a little less murky but you don’t need to be a true Visionary to see where WWE is going with this one — see what I did there?
Onto the recap!
American HR Nightmare
At one point, near the end of the opening segment, Michael Cole suggested the problem between Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton and Kevin Owens was bigger than human resources. All due respect to Cole, if one colleague gives a piledriver to another in the workplace, I think legal would probably get involved too.
All kidding aside — no seriously, Rhodes was in NO mood for jokes, just look at his attire and facial expression.
Rhodes laid it on THICK during this promo, getting emotional, talking about having to call Orton’s family from the back of an ambulance (in kayfabe), reflecting on being called “Code Man” after WrestleMania 40’s main event.
Although we got the (unofficial) gem of the night in “Code Man,” just watch this whole promo and notice the way the crowd gets behind Rhodes when he shows a little aggression. That’s the feel this segment should have homed in on. “Code Man” is as big of a babyface as there maybe ever has been in WWE, let the man show a little aggression.
Anyway, despite what Nick Aldis said about not being able to have Owens at SmackDown because he’s too dangerous, we’re getting Rhodes-Owens in a face-to-face meeting next week.
‘If I can change…’
Maybe you opted to watch Mike Tyson fight Jake Paul tonight instead of SmackDown (that’s why we’re here recapping), but if it’s boxing nostalgia you want, I’ve got you covered.
In 1985, a former champion boxer came out of retirement to fight a hyped younger opponent. Of course I am talking about Apollo Creed and Ivan Drago in “Rocky IV.” Spoiler alert: Creed dies, Rocky Balboa rediscovers himself in the greatest training montage of all-time, and then defeats Drago (and communism, probably) in Russia.
I promise you, this is going somewhere…
How does this tie into the Bayley, Candice LeRae and B-Fab triple threat match in the Women’s United States Championship tournament?
I fully expected Bayley to win this match before the bell rang (and she did), but I’ll be damned if I didn’t convince myself that LeRae should have walked out victorious and advanced in the tournament. I would have loved if during the Tower of Doom spot, which LeRae capitalized on and nearly scored a pinfall on Bayley, the Poison Pixie would have won.
Anyway, if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change.
Here’s the full tournament bracket, by the way.
Red, White and who? ????????
L.A. Knight revived the United States Championship open challenge, drawing a response from Legado del Fantasma and a solid match with Berto, in which he inevitably retained his championship. I thought we were going to see this build for a few weeks before an inevitable challenge from John Cena (a license to print money).
We could have gotten some entertaining matches building to a blockbuster between basically an AI-generated Attitude Era star in Knight (not a complaint) and Cena, the workhorse who carried the company for the majority of this century.
Maybe we will get that eventually, but for now we’ll have to settle for a dark, brooding, returning Shinsuke Nakamura.
Craving the pop
Speaking of Nakamura, why not just have him answer the challenge and get the pop from the crowd? I understand it might not necessarily fit the new character, but fans would have loved it.
In addition, during the OG Bloodline vs. New Bloodline brawl in which Bronson Reed was revealed as the fifth man on Solo Sikoa’s side, why not just have Seth Rollins’ music hit and have him make the save? Again, I get it, we’re building toward something bigger at Survivor Series War Games, but the second Reed attacked Reigns, it’s basically confirmed that Rollins is gonna join the OG Bloodline.
Wrestlers talk about how addicting that crowd energy is….I guess they’re right because I’m just watching and writing about it and I’m craving the pop.
Uncrowned MVP of the night
Everything Jacob Fatu does is so pronounced, violent and amazing. I’m already thinking three months ahead and about how many eliminations he’s doing to have in the Royal Rumble.
All players in the Bloodline saga have elevated themselves to new heights — I don’t know if it works nearly as well without Fatu. For that, the Samoan Werewolf is our MVP for SmackDown.
Back to Black (and Gold)
Last week we got the first big tease of Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano splitting a la late-2010s NXT. That angle furthered this week when Ciampa broke up a Tag Team Championship match between Motor City Machine Guns and the Street Profits.
Even though this robbed us of a great tag match that felt like it belonged in the aforementioned Black and Gold NXT era, I am excited for where we are headed — a potential 6-man tag match between Gargano and MCMG vs. Ciampa and Profits (who also kind of turned heel here).
Fit for a queen ????
The finish was a little messy and there were a bunch of different angles to keep track of (Liv Morgan and Raquel vs. Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair; Tiffany Stratton’s MITB will she or wont she; Candice LeRae, Jax and Stratton’s blooming faction), but this may have been the best match of Nia Jax’s WWE career.
Just look at this spot:
And this segment:
And this spot:
And this finish:
On a show that featured a Bloodline brawl, Cody Rhodes, and MCMG vs. Street Profits in a title match, these two women got the main event spot and delivered.
Bravo.
Call Your Wise Man????
After getting beaten down and Jey Uso pleading with Roman Reigns to make the call earlier in the night, the OTC finally asked Siri to call the Wise Man.
In the words of Robyn
“Call your wise man
It’s time you had the talk
Give your reasons
Say it’s not his fault
But you just need somebody new [for War Games]”
Sadly, Paul Heyman must have changed his number. But at least we got a great pop and I was able to get my fix before the show ended.
Smack Talk ????
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WWE promoted the WWE 2K24 “WCW Pack” DLC. Awesome, love it, bring me back to WCW/NWO Revenge but with better graphics. Except — there’s always a caveat — why are we billing Mr. Perfect as a WCW star? The late Curt Hennig’s all-time character was more WWE than WCW before they were all under the same umbrella.
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LA Knight’s new shirt of him crossing the Delaware with the United States Championship is unreal.
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I wish Knight and Berto would have worn different color gear. Both wore red and while it didn’t really detract from anything, it would have been more aesthetically pleasing.
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Couldn’t we have gotten an OTC or OG Bloodline sign for the outside of Reigns’ locker room? The yellow and blue felt like a throwback to an entirely different character.
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WWE should give fans a light up bracelet for shows that Naomi is prominently featured on. Think about how much more captivating her already-cool entrance would be with an interactive feature.
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Chelsea Green is doing great work as a comedy act on WWE programming. She also eats an entire cake on her cheat day (One of us! One of us!)
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Speaking of epic cheat means, what a month The Rock is having: WWE showed his visit to Fallon earlier this week, his GQ magazine cover for being named “Entertainer of the Year” and promoted his films “Red One” and “Moana 2.” It’s good to be the Final Boss.
???? 8/10 crowns ????
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