23rd October Edition Of The

Friday Night Smackdown & Wrestling News

The 23rd October Edition Of The Friday Night Smackdown go-home episode for Hell in a Cell began with Kevin Owens hosting the KO show with special guest Daniel Bryan, which led to a couple of very exciting teases. Bryan said he wishes that the Intercontinental Championship was defended on SmackDown every week, and Kevin Owens offered the olive branch of a potential tag team between Bryan and himself, which means we’re either getting a reignition of the Bryan/Zayn feud or a tag team with Owens, or both, and I’m all for any possibility going forward. But then the segment was interrupted by every other tag team on SmackDown, with Ziggler and Roode, The Street Profits and Nakamura and Cesaro all coming down to the ring to say their piece. This naturally led into a 4-on-4 tag match playas - wait when did Bryan get his gear? He was on the KO show in a suit...does he just wear his in-ring gear underneath his suit the whole time?

The match itself was pretty fun, with Bryan selling his knee throughout after tweaking it on the landing of his top rope backflip. But once Angelo Dawkins got the hot tag, all hell broke loose, with everyone hitting all the moves in quick succession. Cesaro nearly got the pin but the referee spotted his feet on the ropes, and Ford capitalized with a huge Frog Splash onto him for the win.

Backstage the babyface team were celebrating when Zayn accosted Bryan, saying that as long as he was champion, he’ll do things his way. I’m all for the Zayn/Bryan feud, and if Owens is involved as well, that makes it even better.

Bryan revealed on Talking Smack after this episode that this is his last full-time run in WWE, so let’s hope it’s a nice long one with loads of great stories.

After this came the long-awaited Law & Otis skits, which came in three parts throughout the show. The first part saw JBL presiding as the judge, and Miz and Otis give their defences as to why there was or wasn’t Money in the Bank negligence. This was really dumb in a really good way, and after the first part I thought we’d be in for another skit series to rival Daniel Bryan and Kane’s anger management. But we didn’t get that, because then it got distinctly less funny as time went on.

The second part had witnesses join the stand, where Morrison spoke on the emotional scars Otis had left him, Rey Mysterio said that Otis won the briefcase fair and square, Asuka then reeled off some Japanese, to which JBL turned to an unseen figure asking if they got any of that. That figure then turned out to be Teddy Long? Who said he got every word. And then Asuka said HOLLA HOLLA HOLLA? What the f*** am I watching? Tucker got angry at Miz and said he wanted to beat him up right then, to which JBL called for a recess and then Teddy Long told everyone he needs to pee. Comedy?

The third part saw JBL give his verdict - to which he was originally going to side with Otis, considering Miz has absolutely no case at all, but then Miz bribed him and JBL ruled in favour of Miz, saying that Otis has to defend his MITB briefcase against Miz at Hell in a Cell on Sunday. Well hey, we got another match at Hell in a Cell!

After a quick video package hyping their match, Bianca Belair came out next and handily dominated Zelina Vega, while getting to show off her strength.

After a quick video package hyping their match, Lars Sullivan came out next and handily dominated Shorty G, while getting to show off his strength. Wait...they just did the same match twice in a row. But this one had an interesting wrinkle to it - as Shorty G said in a promo before the match that he was tired of being overlooked and wanted to prove he belongs here. And after getting squashed in a matter of minutes, he then said he quit. Backstage Adam Pearce accosted him, where he clarified, he’s quit being Shorty G. He’s sick of being the person who smiles and tells everyone they can achieve anything - they can’t achieve anything. But you know who can? An Olympian, and his name is Chad Gable. PRAISE THE LORD SHORTY G IS NO MORE! WE CAN REJOICE FOR THIS IS A MOST GLORIOUS DAY!

After this came an in-ring segment with Bayley, who said she still will not sign the contract for the match against Sasha Banks, but she can’t get rid of her. This brought out Banks, who proceeded to outsmart her, and force her to sign the contract by choking her out with a chair. This was pretty great and added a little more intensity into the feud which has stumbled a little in the past couple of weeks, with their throwaway match that ended on DQ beforehand.

After a wicked video package, we got Seth Rollins vs Murphy, in a match that really should have been saved for Hell in a Cell. The video package was PPV worthy, and the match itself would have benefited immensely from the PPV setting. That being said, the match was still really, really, good. Murphy appeared to tweak his shoulder after landing awkwardly on a Meteora, and Rollins took advantage, with Murphy selling his arm really effectively through the rest of the match. The ending sequence was a brilliant little technical showcase with counters upon counters, before Rollins managed to slam Murphy’s shoulder into the mat and hit the Stomp for the win. But before he could lay into Murphy with a kendo stick again, out came Aalyah Mysterio, who threw herself in the way to protect Murphy. She was followed by Dominik, who was then attacked by Rollins while Aalyah had to watch. This brought out Rey, holding a chair, who chased Rollins off, while the Mysterio family in-fought about who was right to be doing what. Meanwhile, Aalyah helped Murphy back to his feet and gave him a sort-of awkward one-armed hug to end the segment. Oof. Rey did not look happy. As much as this feud between Mysterios and Rollins has been stale, the Murphy element helps to keep it fresh, and I’m still pretty invested.

Then came the main event segment, with Roman heading to the ring to explain his Tribal Consequences for the I Quit Hell in a Cell match on Sunday. But before he can, Jey Uso pops up on the tron to distract him, but swerve, it wasn’t Jey, it was Jimmy all along! Out came Jey and attacked Roman, managing to hit a Superkick and a Splash on him. But before Jey and Jimmy got to celebrate too much, Roman then dropped the bombshell on them - if Jey quits on Sunday, he and Jimmy have to fall in line and take orders and if they can’t, they and their entire family will be excommunicated from the Samoan Dynasty. The segment ended with Jey and Roman staring down on either side of the Hell in a Cell cage wall, and I for one cannot wait for Sunday. This was a go-home angle. And this seems to be a combination of the two most popular theories about the I Quit match - it’s either going to form the Bloodline faction that people have fantasy booked for a while, or The Usos will be banished from the family. I love it.

Let us know what you thought of the 23rd October Edition Of The Friday Night Smackdown show in the comments below! I thought this was a killer episode of SmackDown, and a great go-home show. Granted, there’s only 5 matches announced for the card, and I would have rather seen Murphy/Rollins at HIAC instead of here, but overall this was a great way to build to Sunday, with a weird Law & Otis segment thrown in the middle.

Wrestling News

There’s some worrying news to start off today as it’s been reported by the Wrestling News that AEW star Abadon has been taken to hospital after an AEW Dynamite taping with an undisclosed serious injury. Abadon was set to take on former NXT star Tay Conti on next week’s episode of Dynamite, but this match will now likely have been scrapped as a result of her as yet undisclosed injury. Since she debuted in AEW earlier this year, Abadon has mainly appeared on AEW Dark, where she has racked up a string of impressive victories. The injury has come at a very unfortunate time for her, as it appeared she was set to return to TV. In the past few days, AEW has suffered a number of injury setbacks, with Alex Reynolds being knocked out on this past week’s dynamite, and Fenix also injuring himself during his AEW Championship number one contender match against Pentagon, which has ruled him out of the rest of the tournament. Everyone at Wantwhattoread wishes Abadon, Reynolds and Fenix a very speedy recovery.

The planning for the show didn’t go smoothly at all, Wrestling News reporting that the show was being written right up until it went on air. Fans noticed that not a single match was announced for the show ahead of time, and it’s been revealed by Meltzer that the reason for this was the Otis and Miz court segment, which was seen as the main part of the show. Meltzer also noted that people backstage had no idea why everyone was so concerned about the show, as it aired on FS1, and therefore likely to draw a much lower rating than usual. Things got so hectic that even Triple H was drafted in to help plan the show. This is far from the first time we’ve heard reports of scripts being re-written and shows being planned last minute in WWE, but most of that is reserved for Raw instead of SmackDown. So why has it suddenly switched to Friday nights as well? Wait...the draft! Miz has gone to Raw. Oh no. The Miz curse lives on.

But we end with some news of the happy variety, as it appears as though Rey Mysterio, who was drafted to SmackDown alongside son Dominick, will soon be making his return to the ring, as his triceps injury which has ruled him out for several weeks has nearly completely recovered. Rey Mysterio should be back any time now as far as in the ring. He said his partially torn triceps healed slower than he had expected but was at about 99 percent. It’s likely that upon his return, he will continue to feud with Seth Rollins, who was also traded to SmackDown to ensure that no fresh feuds could be started.