14th August Edition Of The Friday Night Smackdown & Wrestling News

It’s not just coronavirus WWE have to fend off right now. There’s also the small matter of your younger brother’s mates trying to impress the older kids - the invading faction Retribution. But don’t worry, WWE have got two whole security guards on the front door to stop them getting in. I’m sure that’ll work. Spoiler: it immediately didn’t.

The opening match of Big E vs John Morrison didn’t even get started because Retribution ran in and beat them both up with even more obnoxious than usual camera cuts. This is all on you, two security guards. The midcard roster, babyfaces and heels alike, started to find common ground against Retribution backstage - where Big E positioned himself over Baron Corbin and Sheamus as the locker room leader. Much of this show, in fact was built around building Big E as a bigger star. With Retribution having already gotten in once, SmackDown then put more security guards around the ring, including - one of the guys who was originally guarding the front door. Who’s guarding the entrance now?

It seemingly let NXT and Raw’s women’s divisions just stroll in next for the Triple Brand Battle Royal to decide who will face Bayley for the women’s title at SummerSlam. You might think, we’ll that’s a bit soon to start a new championship program just a week out from one of your biggest shows of the year. And you’d be right! Because they just went with the feud from Raw. In what was actually a really well booked segment, Bayley and Sasha Banks played ring announcers, who were shocked when Asuka was amongst the participants - who won the match by using their prone bodies to stop her feet hitting the floor. Tamina got her standard ‘look how big and powerful she is’ spot, for Bianca BelAir to impressively throw her over the top rope, and Tegan Nox nearly made it to the final three, with Shotzi Blackheart as the other NXT competitor. Asuka going for both the Raw and SmackDown women’s titles at SummerSlam has a lot of potential, but it does come at the expense of the rest of the blue brand’s women’s division.

The now absolutely hideous Mandy Rose - look at her, get her horrid face off my screen with that slightly shorter hair, urgh - challenged Sonya Deville to a hair vs hair match at SummerSlam, which Deville accepted.

Sheamus told some of the security guards to take a break, so they just walked off. This is why your show keeps getting invaded, there needs to be clear chain of command her- And he then pretty much squashed Shorty G with a Brogue Kick - which the commentators put over as a valiant effort for Shorty G.

But move aside feelings of utter despair over Chad Gable’s booking - because Joseph Park is here with the new name… PISS! He’s gonna… he’s gonna piss! To show how much better than everyone else he is, AJ Styles then enlisted the help of the Phenomenal Intercontinental Statistic System, or ‘P.I.S.S.’ as in ‘taking the’, who was played by the always brilliant Abyss from TNA, repurposing his excellent Joseph Park character. After saying the word ‘statistics’ about 18 times, AJ said he’s going to bring in statistics into wrestling. Because he is a man who always listens to numbers and empirical evidence. You show him the science, and he’s going to trust in the conclusions. He then unveiled WWE’s rankings system to show AJ Styles...and no-one else! That actually works better than AEW’s, to be fair, which this segment might’ve been a shot at. Jeff Hardy interrupted for those extra 2012 TNA vibes, challenging AJ for a title match. Styles declined, so Jeff laid him out and wrote his ridiculously long signature on the board - which AJ later freaked out about because it was in permanent marker.

Kalisto then returned from injury, letting Gran Metalik beat Shinsuke Nakamura with the distraction.

Shorty G apologised to Matt Riddle for attacking him last week, bro - which he stupidly took at face value, to get attacked by Baron Corbin from behind.

Then came take two of Big E vs Morrison, with Big E still selling his leg from the Retribution attack. The lights started flickering, so most of the locker room came to the ring to stand guard - letting Retribution invade the backstage area and beat up loads of referees while Michael Cole helplessly yelled: the wrestlers down here don’t know what’s happening, somebody tell them to get backstage now! How about you Michael Cole, you’re literally right there with them? Big E made Morrison tap, Sheamus Brogue Kicked Big E.

And before you can let any of that sink in - BAAAAAAAAAALD. Bald Strowman made his shiny shave headed debut on SmackDown to tell the Fiend he’ll consume his entrails. It was a very well-delivered monster promo, but that line was writing for Kane. Following a very good sit down interview segment earlier, where she explained what good friends her and Braun are, Alexa Bliss came out to demand what’s going on. Braun wouldn’t look at her, though, simply repeating over and over again that she means nothing to him. Alexa started slapping him, causing Strowman to snap and get her into an overhead press - but Ric Flair punt style, we missed him throwing her when the lights cut out for the Fiend. When they came back up, The Fiend was now in the ring with Bliss selling on the floor, with Strowman having teleported to the Tron. Which was odd. I am really into the Alexa and Braun dynamic. Having small, blonde Bliss trapped between two giant monsters has a classic Universal Frankenstein movie feel that appeals to me greatly. And I think there’s some very neat character work here too, with Braun pretending he doesn’t care about Alexa in an effort to protect her from the Fiend. If Wyatt believes that, he might stop going after her. It’s a rather beautiful conflict of having to tell someone you hate them because you love them so much. Unfortunately, all that subtlety was undone for me by the teleportation, which doesn’t make sense. What did you think of the show? Let us know in the comments. It’s so nice watching a two hour WWE show. Even though Raw might have had better highs with Orton and Rollins, SmackDown is a far more digestible - and thus enjoyable. The steady building of Big E is effective, Asuka gets more title shots, and Joseph Park has entered WWE continuity.

Wrestling News

After the Controversy Creates Cash ethos of the Attitude Era, and Monday Night Wars, and the more realistically violent Ruthless Aggression Era, WWE entered the PG-Era in 2008 and has stayed that way ever since - creating such family friendly memories like when Brock Lesnar burst Randy Orton’s head at SummerSlam 2016, or Randy punting Pensioner Ric Flair’s head off on Raw last week - just two moments for the kids. The PG-era has been widely criticised, not just for its total focus on John Cena at the expense of everyone else - back when we didn’t like John Cena - but also because it has coincided with a steady decline in TV ratings for both Raw and SmackDown. Adult and teenage fans who were brought in by the more gritty, more violent Attitude and Ruthless aggression eras were potentially put off by the seemingly sanitised product. But after a decade plus of PG, it seems WWE might be changing tact to turn around their falling ratings - with last night’s episode of SmackDown being rated TV-14 - which is, by definition, for programmes that “many parents would find unsuitable for children under 14 years of age.” This supports the Wrestling Observer report last month that Vince is booking Attitude Era style storylines to hopefully bring back lapsed fans.

As part of June’s Speaking Out movement, Velveteen Dream was accused of sending explicit pictures to a minor - allegations which he denies - and he was quickly taken off TV following his NXT title feud with Adam Cole. Reports at the time said it looked like he was “done” with WWE. But on Wednesday’s episode, Velveteen Dream made his return to NXT. And reportedly, it wasn’t just a surprise to viewers. According to Fightful, very few people backstage were aware of his return, with only a handful of wrestlers being told ahead of time. Apparently Dream’s behaviour has led to a lot of backstage heat on him, and the belief is that anyone else in his position would have been fired by now. There is currently no update on any potential disciplinary action against Dream. This follows one of his original accusers posting a statement on Twitter after Dream’s NXT return, claiming they were never contacted about an investigation into the allegations. And that isn’t the only controversy WWE currently has to deal with.

Last week, WWE was supposed to pre-tape two episodes of SmackDown, but they only managed to tape one show. It was presumed Vince McMahon had just torn up the script for the 14th time that day, but according to PW Insider, the reason is far more serious. Mike Johnson writes that several people in the company had tested positive for Coronavirus. This would be the second Coronavirus outbreak in the company, with it being reported back in June that as many as 30 people within the company tested positive. Commentator Renee Young, producers Jamie Noble, Adam Pearce, and interviewer Kayla Braxton all announced they were amongst the positive cases, but any in-ring talent were reportedly banned from talking about their results publicly.