4th September Edition Of The Friday Night Smackdown & Wrestling News

The show kicked off with Paul Heyman and new Universal Champion Roman Reigns, the former of which cut a scathing promo, which essentially boiled down to a ‘you people’ promo, saying how nobody showed Reigns respect - which is kinda true. Reigns himself then had a couple of lines afterwards saying he all he has to do is Show Up & Win. BRANDING!

The first match of the night was Heavy Machinery vs Miz & Morrison - which was certainly a match. It was naturally building to a Tucker hot tag, but Otis just decided to win instead. Morrison then stole Otis’ Money in the Bank briefcase - oh yeah I forgot he had that - and it was revealed later in the night that Otis didn’t keep the contract in the briefcase, he kept it in his lunchbox. The briefcase was his actual lunchbox...Comedy.

It was announced before the show that the number one contender to Reigns’ Universal Championship would be decided in a Fatal 4-Way between Sheamus, Big E, Matt Riddle and King Corbin - 3 of which are exciting winners - but continuing their feud, Sheamus assaulted Big E backstage and hit a White Noise through a car windshield, writing E out of the match in an awesome looking spot. I think this is smart for many reasons - not only does it further the Sheamus and Big E feud, and E is gonna be pissed when he comes back, but it writes E out of a Universal Title opportunity without him losing.

After this came a rematch from Payback - Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax defending their new Women’s Tag Team Championships against Bayley & Sasha Banks. This was a very fun match, possibly more so than the bulk of the match at Payback, though Payback did have the better finish with Baszler being just the best. After Banks missed a Meteora and hit the ringpost, Baszler honed in on her knees, and Jax looked to take advantage with a top rope Samoan drop. Bayley saved Banks from that predicament, but then Jax crossbodied both Banks and Bayley and pinned them both, which unless of a fan of. But really, this match was all to set up the post-match angle.

After the least helpful EMT’s in the history of wrestling left Sasha to her own devices, Bayley was helping her out of the ring before she FINALLY snapped, attacking Banks, destroying her knee, and attempting to wrap a chair around her knee before instead deciding to wrap it around her neck and stomping on it from the second rope. This was a great turn from Bayley, and the viciousness really played well from the long story they’ve been telling. The great thing about the ThunderDome is that WWE are now finally pulling the trigger on stories they’ve been spinning for ages, and this definitely has been overdue. This also completely flips the dynamic of their classic NXT feud, which I’m all for and prevents them treading old ground. This time they’re forging a new path. I loved this. Aside from the goddamn sound design - someone sort out some proper crowd reactions please!

Michael Cole updates us that Banks has been taken to a local medical facility, but enough of your serious voice Cole, it’s time for Sami Zayn’s upbeat music - who hilariously put over that he’s the Intercontinental Champion, yelling at Greg Hamilton and to the production truck. This brought out Hardy and AJ Styles, and the three of them brawled, with Sami coming out on top and scrambling away with his title.

We then got a promo of someone in high heels and a long robe walking towards the camera - which might be a vignette for a returning Eva Marie according to her Twitter. Oh boy.

A very, very quick Firefly Funhouse promo came next, where Bray Wyatt mentioned that someone new is coming to the Funhouse, followed by an Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross promo where Ramblin’ Rabbit was seen in the background. Subtle. Alexa apologised for her actions last week and gave Nikki a hug, saying she didn’t know what came over her. I’m sure that apology will last a long time. I’m fully expecting Nikki Cross to show up on the Funhouse next week. Which wouldn’t make any sense, but why not, right?

After Big E was written out earlier in the night, Paul Heyman spoke to producer Adam Pearce off screen, and it was announced that Jey Uso would be inserted into the match instead. Uso then spoke to Reigns backstage ahead of the main event and Reigns told him that maybe he could win one on his own this time. I loved this decision, but I’ll get into this more later. This led into the main event Fatal 4-Way. Now, the order I’ve just said everything in makes sense right? A seamless show from segment to segment. Well that’s not the way WWE did it. Because here’s how it actually went down.

Matt Riddle made his entrance for the main event, then there was an ad break, then there was the vignette with the high heels, then Otis revealed his Money in the Bank switcheroo, then John Morrison and Miz found that out themselves, then Jey Uso and Roman Reigns had their promo, then King Corbin made his entrance, then the four people in the main event brawled around the ring, then there was another ad break, then there was the Firefly Funhouse promo, then there was the promo with Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss, then it cuts back to the ring, where the four of them have stopped brawling and are patiently waiting in the four corners of the ring for the main event to start. Makes perfect sense. The main event itself was pretty fun, with some fun spots peppered throughout, including Corbin throwing Jey Uso over the front row of LED screens. The finish was equally as fun, with Sheamus Brogue Kicking Corbin, allowing Riddle to hit a Bro to Sleep on Sheamus and a Floating Bro on Corbin, but immediately after he was hit with a Splash from Jey Uso who picked up the win. I didn’t think before today I’d be saying that Jey Uso facing Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship would be a good idea - but I think it’s a great idea. Of course heel Reigns would want to get his family in the title picture. Nepotism, right? But not only that - how much of a heel is Reigns going to be when he absolutely brutalizes Jey in that match? He either is going to absolutely squash him in a matter of minutes, or he’s going to slowly and purposefully dismantle him, and either way, what a dick. This is a perfect first feud for Reigns to solidify his heel character, so then he can go on to bigger feuds afterwards. I love this decision! Jey cut a very quick promo in the ring to end the show saying he made the family proud. I will be eternally grateful if Reigns absolutely demolishes Jey at Clash of Champions, holds up his lifeless head to the camera and says down the lens “I made the family proud.” Oh man. I’m so, so into this heel Reigns character. So that was SmackDown show, let us know what you thought of the smackdown show in the comments. I thought SmackDown was pretty great. The only real sour point was the Heavy Machinery and Miz & Morrison match and angle, which didn’t really have a point, but everything else was at least good if not great, and it’s building to some really interesting feuds going forwards.

Wrestling News

Unlike with most jobs, where you are employed by a company, a WWE star is in fact what is called an ‘independent contractor’, which means that while you have signed a contract with a company, you are not legally seen as an employee, meaning you generally have a bit more freedom in your role. Generally. Unless it’s WWE you’re contracted to. Because the exception to this rule appears to be being an independent contractor under Vince McMahon, who has now decided that wrestlers trying to make a bit of extra money on the side is a terrible thing, and has now reportedly banned it. According to wrestling news. Vince McMahon has threatened wrestlers using platforms such as Twitch and Cameo, that they could face being fired if they don’t delete their accounts within 30 days. Several WWE stars use both platforms to connect with fans, something you’d have thought WWE would want to happen. As per news, Vince composed a letter to his grapplers which read: "Some of you are locked in with outside outsiders utilizing your name and similarity in manners that are adverse to our organization. It is basic that these exercises be ended inside the following 30 days (by Friday October 2). Proceeded with infringement will bring about fines, suspension, or end at WWE's carefulness." Fightful Select has noticed that while some WWE stars aren't troubled by the news, various others are “livid” with Vince. One of the reported reasons for the ban is that WWE is upset with information leaking during streams. This has been seen as of late with AJ Styles affirming he tried positive for Covid-19 on his Twitch stream. Unsurprisingly, a number of people are very upset about this decision, especially considering several people such as Xavier Woods have very large audiences outside WWE with his UpUpDownDown YouTube channel, Peyton Royce has quite recently propelled her own YouTube channel, and AJ Styles, Zelina Vega, Paige, Drake Maverick and numerous others routinely stream on Twitch. Wrestling news reporting that “there has been a lot of talk among talents about pushing back against WWE’s edict”, though there is some confusion about what is and isn’t allowed going forwards. On his own Twitch stream, WWE commentator Mike Rome said that a ton of WWE stars would be "changing our Twitch usernames so it doesn't make reference to WWE in the smallest, legitimately there is nothing they could do for this situation". Renee Young took to Twitter to mock the decision, saying “Sooooooo guess now would be a good time to launch my Twitch and Cameo?? " Shut down that cookbook of yours! Shut it down!

The last time we saw Akam and Rezar of AOP in WWE was the March 9 episode of Raw, when they acted as Seth Rollins’ beefy enforcers. It appears that this was the last time we’ll ever see them in a WWE ring, as it was announced last night that both have been released by the company. Despite winning the NXT and Raw tag championship, their WWE run was plagued with injuries and bad decisions, such as splitting them from Paul Ellering upon their main roster debut. The latest injury to occur was a bicep injury to Rezar, and it seems this was the last straw for Vince and co. It’s a real shame as AOP could have had a great career in WWE in another life, and it’s sad to see their run end like this. Rezar has history with MMA - so we could see a return for him to cage fighting before long.

It’s been just two weeks since Roman returned to attack The Fiend and Braun Strowman at Summerslam, and just a week since he defeated both men at Payback to win the Universal Championship, aligning himself with Paul Heyman in the process. While fans have been asking for Roman to turn heel for what feels like years...oh that’s because it’s been years, not even in lockdown time, it appears the idea to have him turn heel came from the Big Dog himself. According to the Wrestling Newsletter, it was in fact Roman who had the idea to return as a heel following his hiatus, but it still isn’t known who actually pulled the trigger on the angle. Who’s a good boy? You’re a good boy, Roman. You’re a good boy.