It’s time for SmackDown Live and they’re coming from Norfolk, Virginia. Let’s see what they’ll bring to the table on the way to Survivor Series after Raw brought it bigtime on the night before.
Opening Segment
Shane McMahon’s music hit and the SmackDown Live commissioner Shane-O Mac came dancing out greeting fans like a true babyface. There were huge chants for Shane too.
McMahon hyped Survivor Series by telling the history of Raw vs SmackDown. When he said Raw has always looked at SmackDown as an inferior brand it got a huge boo. He said it came all the way from Stephanie, “yes the witch is back” all the way to the lowest Raw member.
McMahon told the story of how SmackDown went LIVE and created the land of opportunity. Then he said they all decided the best way to deal with Raw was to put them under siege but kicking them right in the mouth. Yup. This got some “under siege” chants.
Then they showed a clip of Daniel Bryan taking a chokeslam into the darkness by Kane. Yeah, dollars to donuts D-Bry took no real bump there. Shane said there’s going to be hell to pay for that.
Shane McMahon said Raw can bring whoever they want because SmackDown Live will see them in the ring. “Now let’s get this started.”
Bobby Roode vs Dolph Ziggler (2 out of 3 falls match)
Dolph and Bobby brought a great match to the table and really took each other to the test. Ziggler avoided a Glorious DDT early on and then it moved outside to allow them to take some bumps off the barricade. As soon as they got back in the ring, Ziggler nailed a superkick and got a pinfall.
Dolph Ziggler wins the first pinfall
Roode and Ziggler spilled out of the ring again and battled around for a bit before returning to the ring where Roode slapped on a headlock. Bobby Roode separated himself by launching Ziggler into the ring post and roll Ziggler up for another pinfall to tie up the match.
Bobby Roode wins the second pinfall.
They wrestled around some more trading moves left and right but kicking out each time. Ziggler finally hit an amazing DDT but Roode kicked out once again.
Both guys were on the mat but rose at the same time. Ziggler beckoned Roode to come on and jumped on his back for a Zig Zag but Roode reversed into a spinebuster. Roode went for a Glorious DDT and Dolph turned it into a Zig Zag. 1-2- kick out!
The place was lit at this point as Dolph got to his feet first and started tuning up the band like HBK. Roode sidestepped the superkick and they traded rollup pins for 2 counts. Roode jumped up and hit a Glorious DDT for the third and final pinfall.
Winner: Bobby Roode via pinfall
The New Day was in the hallway dressed in Halloween costumes. Xavier was Jimmy Hart complete with a megaphone, Big E was Akeem The African Dream, and Kofi Kingston was Brother Love. Yes, Brother Love finally made it back on WWE television. Kofi got a great chance to do a Brother Love impression too “I looooove candy,” it was classic.
Rusev and Aiden English walked up and said it’s all about Rusev Day and not Halloween and stomped on Big E’s candy. This really upset Big E and it looks like he’s going to have his way with Rusev.
The women of SmackDown Live were backstage and Becky Lynch was rallying her troops. James Ellsworth popped up and she sprayed him in the face with a water bottle like a dog and he sat on the ground like a good dog. Yeah, he was wearing a dog costume too which might not have just been because it was Halloween.
Then Natalya walked in and trash talked everyone to put herself over while the rest of the women looked on in hatred. The camera zoomed in on Charlotte’s look of disgust before the segment concluded.
Baron Corbin vs Sin Cara
Let’s have another rematch with Baron Corbin vs Sin Cara while The Lone Wolf and The Miz hype their fued online.
Corbin went straight for Sin Cara’s masl but Sin Cara fought him off. The masked wrestler was tossed to the floor and driven into the barricade while Baron Corbin continues his assault he continued to rip at Sin Cara’s mask.
Sin Cara jumped in the ring and went for a dive but caught a forearm to the face. Then Baron Corbin kept pulling at Sin Cara’s mask and he exposed his entire mouth that time before Cara could get away.
They moved to the outside and Sin Cara drove Corbin to the ring steps. Sin Cara jumped on Baron and pummeled him. Then Sin Cara tackled Baron Corbin on the announce table and the referee called for the bell.
It looks like this is what happens when you get signed to a new extension to your contract because that’s what just happened to Sin Cara and it really showed. He beat Baron Corbin senseless and when Baron went to escape, Sin Cara tossed a desk chair at The Lone Wolf.
Baron Corbin escaped through the crowd while the crowd was chanting “lucha!” It just goes to show you don’t mess with a man’s mask.
Winner: Nobody via double count out
The Usos were backstage doing an interview hyping Survivor Series and Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable came in and said they’d be facing them in a match next week on SmackDown. It was highly entertaining.
AJ Styles vs Sami Singh
Jinder Mahal came out and cut a promo on Brock Lesnar and kept calling him “the beast” then he said he will become the Beast Master at Survivor Series… that was neat.
The match didn’t go very far until AJ Styles beat him very cleanly.
Winner: AJ Styles via pinfall
Immediately after the match was over Jinder Mahal jumped Styles and beat him down. The Singh Brothers tossed AJ against the ring post and he took a stiff looking bump on his ribs in the process. Then they beat him down a little bit more and Jinder Mahal delivered a Khallas to Styles.
Mahal lifted his WWE Championship up high and walked off… but not before hitting a second Khallas to AJ Styles just to bring home his point. People were really booing him. Good lord, he’s turned into quite a heat magnet.
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens were backstage lamenting about Shane McMahon is the captain of Team SmackDown. They hated on him and Randy Orton. Zayn questioned what kind of man Orton is by winning with a low blow last week.
Then Owens said he’s going to make it right by beating Shinsuke Nakamura… once he does that he’ll lead Team SmackDown to victory and Shane will owe them and they’ll get everything they wanted… therefore they’ll get everything they want. It’ll become the Sami and Kevin Show after that. Ah, the best-laid plans of mice and men…
The Bludgeon Brothers got a nice little segment that was creepy AF… that’s turning out to be something interesting.
It’s Rusev Day… again!
Aiden English and Rusev were in the ring and English sang a nice song about how Halloween is stupid. He said New Day can play, but not on Rusev Day…
Then The New Day came out to be highly entertaining.
Big E vs Rusev
Big E spanked Rusev while in an abdominal stretch, that was fun and Big E had a big smile on his face.
Rusev made his way out to the apron and fought Big E off. They made it back in the ring and Big E found himself in a headlock and although he tried to overcome The Bulgarian Brute, Rusev kicked him down and just stomped away.
Big E laid in his corner while his New Day brethren cheered him on and had a little comeback but Rusev knocked him back down. It was a rather impressive display as Rusev beat up Big E while channeling the spirit of Akeen The African Dream (he was still in costume).
Rusev locked Big E in an arm submission but he fought out of it. It was no time before Big E was hitting suplexes and a belly-to-belly followed by a splash. He waited for Rusev to get up but Rusev avoided a Big Ending and kicked Big E in the head.
Rusev went running and Big E hit him with a uranage. Aiden English got on the table and started singing for Rusev Day and Xavier Woods (dressed as Jimmy Hart) came up and started playing his saxophone at him. A scramble ensued and Aiden English ended up in the ring.
Big E hit English with a Big Ending but Rusev kicked Big E in the head to score the pinfall.
Winner: Rusev via pinfall on Rusev Day
Sin Cara was backstage when Renee Young asked him about the significance of his mask. He said the mask makes him a superhero to his children and tonight Baron Corbin did the most disrespectful thing you can to a luchador. Sin Cara said he went through hell to get his mask and he is going to go through hell to keep it. This was a good promo but the mask he was cutting it through had no mouth holes at all so it was rather muffled. They should have planned ahead a little bit better on that one. After all, he has different masks.
Shane McMahon was backstage so Rusev and Aiden English walked up to him. English asked him how he celebrated the holiday “Rusev Day.” Rusev asked how excited he was for him. Shane said he was excited. Rusev said he wanted on Team SmackDown at Survivor Series.
McMahon said Rusev will get a shot to be in the match next week when he faces AJ Styles. Then he sang “good luck.”
Fashion Files Strangerer Things
These segments are just fantastic. I don’t even have time to watch anything but wrestling and it makes me want to see Stranger Things if it’s this funny.
They found waffles and they wonder who they belong to. Then Viktor walked up and said they aren’t his because they’re not gluten-free. It turns out they were Tye Dillinger’s.
Then Kane walked up but it wasn’t Kane, it was just Konnor. Suddenly the lights went out and the Christmas lights that were strung up around the corkboard with a bunch of pictures on it. Suddenly we heard a scuffle and bodies being thrown around.
The lights came back on and the camera zoomed on a little screen where a puppet looking like Jigsaw from the Saw movies pops up and said: “let the games begin”… neat!
Kevin Owens vs Shinsuke Nakamura
As soon as the bell sounded Nakamura was hitting KO with strikes. Owens rolled out of the ring and Nakamura told him to “come on.” KO rolled back in and Nakamura hit a nothing knee drop and his Good Vibrations move in the corner.
Nakamura hit another kick and KO rolled out of the ring. Nakamura followed and KO jumped him with some offense. But Nakamura would soon turn it around on him to send The Prizefighter flying into the barricade.
KO soon took control after a well-placed kick to the face and got a two count out and maintained control. Owens beat Nakamura down for a bit and Nakamura sold a lot because they needed to fill out the rest of the show.
Nakamura soon started to turn it around and started hitting some wicked kicks. Then Nakamura started delivering some elbows and knee strikes too because he’s quite good at that.
Sami Zayn walked down to distract Nakamura and KO rolled Shinsuke up for a pin but failed. Nakamura hit a kick and got another two count while Sami started to circle the ring to distract things.
The two moved on top where KO ended up hitting a wicked suplex off the top rope. 1-2- kick out!
Nakamura turned a popup powerbomb into a hurricanrana. Nakamura started to gear up for the Kinshasa and Sami dragged Owens out of the ring. Nakamura followed KO and Sami but Kevin pushed him into the steel steps.
He tossed Nakamura back in the ring and hit a nice bullfrog splash off the top rope. 1-2-kick out! The arena was electric that that point.
Kevin Owens told Sami to clear off an announce table and Sami started to do just that. Suddenly Randy Orton’s music hit and RKO showed up out of the crowd to suplex Zayn on the table. Good thing he cleaned it off.
Nakamura hit a kick and nailed a Kinshasa to secure the win. 1-2-3 and it’s over. Nakamura is added to the men’s Survivor Series match to represent SmackDown Live.
Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura via pinfall
