Smackdown Live 10/24/2017

Hello Misfits. It’s time for this weeks Smackdown Live review. Last night on Raw, Smackdown invaded Raw and put them under siege holding their GM captive. Tonight the world is expecting Raw to strike back. Also, Brock Lesnar and more so Paul Heyman responded to Jinder Mahal’s challenge just totally burying Mahal saying he wasn’t even a threat to Brock Lesnar so it’ll be interesting to see Mahal’s response. We also know that Styles will be taking on one of The Singh Brothers tonight in Sunil. Also the teams for the Smackdown vs Raw Survivor Series teams will start forming and it’ll be interesting to see how they name the members of each team. Finally, Shane McMahon returns for the first time to Smackdown Live since Hell in a Cell, how will he react to this new alliance between Owens and Zayn. Lets see how things went.

Smackdown comes to us live from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

–  Michael Cole, Byron Saxton and Corey Graves are on commentary. Phillips has some time off still.

Shane McMahon Talks
Shane arrives, and dances around because he’s in a good mood after Raw. He’s happy to be back after a few weeks of physical rehab. He talks about Survivor Series and knew he had to strike first and that’s why they visited Raw last night. When Angle asked for a favor, he gladly allowed AJ Styles to compete and to stay an extra night. Angle should have been smarter when he appeared last night, and shouldn’t have insulted the Smackdown roster. What Kurt didn’t know is the Smackdown talent was waiting, which led to #UnderSiege being unleashed and the fans chanted “under siege” for that. Shane said they caught Raw by surprise, but they won’t be surprised by them because they are ready.
Sami Zayn interrupted Shane-O. Sami did some obnoxious dancing on his way to the ring and in the ring. Sami mentioned what happened at Hell in a Cell and wanted a handshake, but Shane pushed the hand away. Sami mentioned something about Shane not having any hard feelings about what happened. Shane went over Sami helping Kevin Owens because he was concerned with KO’s health and how they put Shane’s well being at risk. Shane also talked about Sami putting Owens on top of him to win. Shane said there are a lot of hard feelings. Zayn told Shane that if he was a competitor then Sami would take him out in one second and he would leave him hurting worse than what happened at Hell in a Cell. Zayn said that his brother Kevin Owens and him decided that they will be a part of Smackdown Live’s team at Survivor Series. Zayn said they are fearless leaders and the rest of the guys can follow. Zayn claimed that Shane needed them to be a part of Smackdown’s team at Survivor Series. Shane doesn’t want them or need them, but he will give him a chance. Tonight if he wins his match, he gets on the team. Shane reveals Randy Orton as his opponent.
Opinion
This was a great opening segment and it was great to see Shane-O back. Both guys delivered and it set the angle for the main event. Everyone was expecting Raw to invade and every segment you wondered if it was going to happen then but it didn’t happen here. I wonder if we’re going to get a Sami Zayn and Shane McMahon match down the road because it does make sense for it to happen. I felt like KO should have been out there.

Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable def. The New Day
In a solid competitive tag team match Benjamin and Gable defeated The New Day when Benjamin got a hard kick to the back of Xavier Woods for Gable to pin him for the three count. The Usos were on commentary for this match. Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston were the two members of the New Day who competed.
Opinion
This was a really solid tag team match. I’m glad to see that they have moved away from the New Day and Usos angle and are finally capitalizing on Gable and Benjamin team. I guess the tag title match between the two teams will be postponed until after Survivor Series since The Usos are scheduled to face the Usos. This was a big win for Benjamin and Gable overcoming the former tag team champions.

– The Smackdown women talk about getting revenge on Raw. Ellsworth is missing, and Bryan arrives and says that Raw won last year, but this year they have to work together. Charlotte Flair vs. Tamina vs. Becky Lynch vs. Carmella vs. Naomi will take place tonight, to see who the captain is, and all will be on the team as well.

– Its time for the Fashion Files!! This time it is a parody of the movie Resevoir Dogs starring Fandango, Tyler Breeze and The Ascension, who are in their wrestling gear. They argued about being Mr. Pink. James Ellsworth was shown tied up in a chair. Konnor and Viktor captured him. Konnor had a tank that said “GAS” on it and then he drank some of it. They took tape off Ellsworth’s mouth and he just barked at them. They think the answer is in the briefcase and that Ellswerth has it. Carmella walked in with the Money in the Bank briefcase. Fandango opened up the MITB briefcase and pulled out some dirty underwear that they said belonged to Ellsworth. Fandango put it on his shoulders. The Ascension told them that the Bludgeon Brothers are the one that have attacked. Breeze couldn’t figure out the 2B thing and then said “B in brothers is silent.” Fandango said things are bout to get stranger-er and Breeze said Stranger-er Things. It’s Stranger-er Things next week. This was hilarious and way more funny than last week. I’m looking forward to next week.

– Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon were backstage in the office. Bryan asked Shane why he did what he did on Raw. Shane said sometimes he has to make decisions. Bryan said he understands that Shane is the boss, but he thought they were a team that made decisions together. Bryan walked off looking frustrated.

Sin Cara def. Baron Corbin
In quick match Sin Cara defeated Baron Corbin by DQ when Corbin wouldn’t stop throwing punches at Sin Cara past the five second count. Corbin hit the End of Days of Sin Cara outside of the ring following the match.
Opinion
This was angle advancement because I guess we’re going with Corbin vs Sin Cara. I think they’re really confused on what direction to take Corbin in. He had some downs this year but a handful of highs too. I dont really know what this is.

Jinder Mahal Responds to Lesnar & Heyman
Jinder Mahal said that unlike the used car salesman Paul Heyman, he will tell us the truth. Mahal said he started at the bottom and now he’s the most powerful man in WWE. Mahal bragged about beating Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura while noting these people don’t give him respect like the 1.3 billion people of India. Mahal said that he is not Lesnar’s equal, contemporary or counterpart – Mahal said he is Lesnar’s worst nightmare. Mahal said at Survivor Series he will prove to all of us why the Maharajah Era has only just begun.
Opinion
This was short and straight to the point and not as long winded as Paul Heyman’s promo. I definitely wouldn’t say he won the war thought because Heyman did a really good job at feeding that fraction of the crowd that truly dislikes Jinder Mahal. The Maharaja didn’t really do anything to really to back up his threats and argument besides just talk. I would have loved if he destroyed someone in a quick match to show dominance. Maybe have an angle where he has a big match but sends the Singh Brothers to the back where he actually wins himself. Let him go to Raw and attack Lesnar. Lets add some fire to this bonfire pit.

AJ Styles def. Sunil Singh
In another quick match AJ Styles defeated Sunil Singh by making him tap out to the calf crusher. Jinder Mahal was sent to the back by Mike Chioda before the match even began.
Opinion
This was what it was supposed to be. Sunil wrestled in a undershirt and dress pants and didn’t get any offence really but he wasn’t intended too. The fans wanted to see one of the goons to get beat.

– Sami Zayn was in the locker room when Kevin Owens showed up in the locker room. Owens said he had a qualifying match next week for the Survivor Series team and he would be against Shinsuke Nakamura. Zayn said it’s perfect, so they can qualify and Smackdown Live becomes Kevin and Sami. Kevin corrected him saying Team Sami and Kevin.

– Jinder Mahal is backstage in Daniel Bryan office upset about what just happened. This lead to AJ Styles facing Samir Singh being booked for next week.

– Natalya arrives and demands to be introduced as the greatest Hart and queen of Smackdown live

Fatal Five Way to name Team Captain for Smackdown Women’s Team
Becky Lynch def. Charlotte Flair, Tamina, Naomi & Carmella
In a competitive brawl where everyone was trying to get some shit in Becky Lynch became the captain of the Team Smackdown for the women’s match after making Carmella tap out to the disarmher.
Opinion
This was a brawl more than a match where everyone was trying to get their spots in. I’m slowly getting over these 5 way or 6 way matches to involve all the women but this one did have a purpose as most of the time they do. I’m okay with Carmella taking the loss because her day is coming as Ms Money in the Bank. I think thats WWE’s thought process too because they usually have the briefcase holders lose a lot. Captain B is gonna lead team blue to victory.

– Renee is backstage and Ziggler interrupts and says he’s about to talk and no one will care. Well, he’s right. He then rants about catchphrases and talks shit on Bobby Roode, claiming he’s been right all along. Roode arrives and says Ziggler likes to talk, but he loves to fight. Roode suggests one more match, which leads to Roode suggesting a best two out of three falls match for next week. Ziggler agrees, and Roode says next week will be glorious.

Team Smackdown Qualifying Match
Randy Orton def. Sami Zayn
In a really solid main event with two guys who meshed really well together Randy Orton defeated Sami Zayn after a distraction by KO fails to work because it allowed Orton to hit the low blow and RKO on Sami Zayn for the win.
Opinion
These two just work great together and have great chemistry. Zayn brings the best out of Orton and it kind of reminded me of the Christian and Orton feud in 2011. I love Zayn’s heelish dancing now. He over does it and over acts just to get under the fans skin. Mid match he even made Orton crack a smile after he started dancing in the ring. I like how Owens was the reason Zayn lost because this will lead to Owens trying to make it up to Zayn since he’s on a “Zayn is my hero” kick right now. I also appreciate how Orton got the victory in the same fashion he lost to Sami last week in the tag match. He hit Sami with a low blow while the referee was distracted. This was a back and fourth match where no one guy was in charge the majority of the time and it was good.

– Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan were talking in their office. Shane said that Orton is the first member of Team Smackdown at Survivor Series. Bryan said he thought Raw would attack, but not tonight. Shane was happy about that. Bryan said they didn’t attack tonight, but they will eventually and Shane would have to be prepared for the consequences because that’s in his job description. Bryan left as the show ended with Shane left to think about what Bryan said.

Final Thoughts
There was no Raw invasion which made me realize that the WWE are some clever sons of bitches. They had people tuned in waiting for it and now they teased it for next week so people tune in again…waiting for it. This was solid show with a ton of angle advancement. They left us knowing we got two big matches next week with Roode/Ziggler in a 2-out-of-3 falls match and Owens/Nakamura in Survivor Series team qualifying match. The main event and tag match were both really good but other than that it was pretty standard show to progress storylines with no real big moment. Check it out if you have time.
Rating – 6.5/10

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