WWE SmackDown (The New Roster) October 18th, 2019

[Bill Casey]

WELCOME TO





SmackDown Men’s Division


Brock Lesnar, Nakamura, Roman Reigns, Kofi Kingston, The Fiend

Daniel Bryan, Braun Strowman, Ali, The Miz, King Corbin

Shorty Gable, Elias, Sami Zayn, Apollo Crews, Cesaro

Luke Harper, Drew Gulak, Drake Maverick, Heath Slater

---

WWE SmackDown! Women’s Division


Bayley, Sasha Banks, Alexa Bliss, Nikki Cross, Lacey Evans

Carmella, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Tamina, Dana Brooke

---

WWE SmackDown! Tag Team Division

The Revival, The New Day

Roodolph, Lucha House Party

Heavy Machinery, The B Team









HOME OF THE WWE TITLE!
TONIGHT!

---

EIGHT MAN TAG!





Four of the top teams in SmackDown's new division will square off in eight man action. Who will be victorious?

---

SIX PACK CHALLENGE!





Six women will compete for the opportunity to face Bayley for the SmackDown! Women's Championship. Who's getting the shot?

---

INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE!



Roman has set his sights on intercontinental gold. Will he walk away champion?

---

FIND OUT



TONIGHT ON

[Badger]

Roman hasn't been IC champ yet right? Fairly sure he's winning it.

Love for them to prove me wrong though.

[Mazer]

Is it even possible for this man to take a bad picture?

[Bill Casey]

[BGMaverick]

Roman hasn't been IC champ yet right? Fairly sure he's winning it.

Love for them to prove me wrong though.

He won the IC title back in 2017.

You can make a case they'd probably want him to be the IC champ if Lesnar is going to be the top champion and not around a lot. Pretty sure that was a similar thought process when he was the US champion.

[Badger]

He won the IC title back in 2017.

You can make a case they'd probably want him to be the IC champ if Lesnar is going to be the top champion and not around a lot. Pretty sure that was a similar thought process when he was the US champion.

Ah fair enough, forgot about that.

Wouldn't be surpised if he won tonight though.

[BGMaverick]

Nakamura's sliding snapdragon suplex is so good.

[rom7878]

Please no Corbin vs Roman

[Bill Casey]

[rom7878]

It’s like kofi was never champ

[BGMaverick]

It’s like kofi was never champ

There was a subtle nod to his angst as he crushed the pancakes when he talked about how he has the power of positivity and didn't need his spirits lifted after losing the title.

[Badger]

Please no Corbin vs Roman

But we could get Shinsuke vs Bryan for the IC title down the line.

[Bill Casey]

Please no Corbin vs Roman

What if it means Bryan vs. Nakamura though...

[Badger]

Trust WWE to take bad short jokes and have Gable try and embrace it.

[Bill Casey]

Can we appreciate this is the second match and we're only at the thirty minute mark?
No 20 minutes of exposition...

[Bagel]

I must've missed when they started announcing him as Shorty. Just give him Natty's farting gimmick and a helmet too.

[Bill Casey]

They did the thing. He's Shorty G now...

[rom7878]

Shorty g lol there it is

- - - Updated - - -

Morrison I bet is on Hogan’s team

[Bagel]

Painful

[Bill Casey]

But is he a certified G?

[Bill Casey]

Can't wait until he forms a hip hop dancing team with Braun Strowman, who they rename Tally B...

[Badger]

They could've easily got Gable over without referencing his height. A lesson WWE never learned.

Or to put it another way...and you can't teach that!

[Bill Casey]

[Badger]

If Otis and Tucker recruited Big E permanently, Heavy E rapping stable. Tribute group.

[Bill Casey]

Heavy Day should make their own Voltron...

[Bill Casey]

They did the thing...

[Badger]

Hey Saaha's here too!

Love Bayley's new music!

[rom7878]

Nxt has so much talent yet Dana Brooke is in this match

[BGMaverick]

G and Ali essentially had the same promo, more or less, yet one didn't have to be saddled with a silly approach to try to get over.

[Bill Casey]

[BGMaverick]

This has been a low-key solid episode in terms of getting lots of different performers TV time.

[Badger]

Miz TV segment was good. Solid promo by Bayley and Miz got in a couple of good shots comparing Sasha to Heyman.

[Badger]

Cross vs Bayley should be wild.

[Bill Casey]

[Nash Diesel]

This show has been whack.

All that I have enjoyed is the minimal interaction with Nak and Bryan.

#IStandWithBischoff

Fuck man all you need to know about sucking dick as a booker is Shorty G. But yea...Fire Bischoff for some lame shit.

[Badger]

Return of the Powerpoint!

Ah Braun you spoiled it.

[Bill Casey]

[Badger]

This show has been whack.

All that I have enjoyed is the minimal interaction with Nak and Bryan.

#IStandWithBischoff

Fuck man all you need to know about sucking dick as a booker is Shorty G. But yea...Fire Bischoff for some lame shit.

It's not been great but not that bad either. Solid show which could have been worse.

Liked the Bayley stuff and happy with Cross winning and we might get Nak/Bryan in a proper match in the future.

I marked out a bit for Gulak powerpoint even if briefl

[rom7878]

I missed the face DB

[Badger]

Fun main event.

Bryan getting the pin hopefully sets up a great IC title match.

[BGMaverick]

They were going out of their way to tell a story for quite a few weeks with Bryan and Reigns set up to square off. Who knows if it was the draft or whatever, but they definitely zigged when most people thought they would zag. Here we are, with Daniel Bryan a face again. As I mentioned during the first match of the night, I could see them wanting to have a more prominent figure as the IC champion if Lesnar isn't going to be around. Made logical sense to look at Reigns but Bryan makes just as much sense.

I really hope they continue to tease Kofi's denial of being in low spirits after losing the title. There's definitely a variety of ways they could go with that. Let that be a slow burn.

Feels like Ali and Gable are pretty much running the same approach to conveying their character (at least based off Gable's promo) but Gable has the crappier gimmick. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Gable finds a way to get himself over more than Ali.

Bayley's turn seems fairly stock or paint by numbers right now but there's enough rope to work with in order to really get aggressive with the turn.

All in all, I was whelmed with this episode.

[Badger]

Yeah there's definitely ways they can go from here. Smackdown generally has the uncanny ability to outshine Raw even if on paper Raw no matter what hand they're dealt plus being on Fox now they have to really impress.

There is bones there for a really good product.

[Bagel]

Enjoyed this more than RAW but it wasn't as big a difference as other times. Maybe it was not being bogged down with emphasis on the draft, but instead integrating those new pieces in a useful way.

[Badger]

Laughing at the folks on Facebook criticising Cole bringing up Fury being the first undefeated heavyweight champion in the WWE to face a superstar and saying "But Floyd...."

Floyd's not a heavyweight you muppets!

[Bagel]

I caught that Monday night when he brought it up and thought of Floyd immediately except for that one extra word he used.

[Badger]

Key word though,

[Rancid_Planet]

Smackdown viewership now down to Raw levels.

Not horribly surprising.

[lotjx]

The ratings are what I thought it would be, huge for the first night then treanding towards a stable number. Sadly even if it was not on FS1 next week, I think the numbers would still drop. They don't have a champ as long as Brock has it and they don't have a must watch talent or feud.

[Donald]

Man that's true with most shows. Look at most TV series, the debut episode of the season gets big numbers and then it falls throughout the season, with the season finale posting big numbers. You could have the Rock, Stone Cold, Hulk Hogan, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, CM Punk, and Ultimate Warrior, all in their prime, on the show and ratings would still drop week after week.

There's just too many options, too many distractions, these days to retain the same viewership week after week.

And how does Brock having the championship mean they don't have a champ? Puzzled.

[VHS]

If WWE was to unhook the trailer and be more about the wrestling and less about the entertainment.... and give the product some balls... then maybe just maybe more people will start tuning in. But that's been their thing for the last decade or so.

[mth]

If WWE was to unhook the trailer and be more about the wrestling and less about the entertainment.... and give the product some balls... then maybe just maybe more people will start tuning in. But that's been their thing for the last decade or so.

Lots of people, even on this very board, have said they prefer the entertainment over the wrestling and tune out more during the matches than the talking parts. Pretty sure the highest rated segment in RAW history was not a match.

[VHS]

Lots of people, even on this very board, have said they prefer the entertainment over the wrestling and tune out more during the matches than the talking parts. Pretty sure the highest rated segment in RAW history was not a match.

True, true. However... HITC we just had quite possibly one of the worst endings to a PPV because they over-entertained the frick out of us w/ some pure bred schlock instead of giving us an actual match.

[Nash Diesel]

Lots of people, even on this very board, have said they prefer the entertainment over the wrestling and tune out more during the matches than the talking parts. Pretty sure the highest rated segment in RAW history was not a match.

I'm guessing you're talking about The Rock and Mankind doing the "This Is Your Life" segment? It is no doubt the highest rated NON-WRESTLING segment, but it's not the highest rated segment. Austin v. Undertaker June 28th, 1999 is the highest rated segment in Raw history.

Now, with that said, I doubt a shit ton of fans were like "Fuck yeah this is going to be a technical masterpiece!"

But the truth is, the WWE is not the WWF. What the WWE finds entertaining is more than likely what has turned a lot of people away over the years. Nowadays you need to be entertaining both on a serious and comedic level as well as being an above average worker. You can't be dogshit in the ring these days, it doesn't fly with the majority of the audience. John Cena, that dude had to get with the times. Think about prior to say his feud with CM Punk. He had maybe 2 classics, the HBK match on Raw and the TLC match with Edge. Outside of that, nothing really. But as the in-ring work became just as important due to lackluster attempts at recreating the old days, Cena had to step it up or he'd look even worse.

And I don't disagree that there are people who find the non-wrestling stuff more entertaining or they found it more entertaining back in the late 90's early early 2000's where the superstars were so incredibly over and in tune with the way the world was at the time it's no surprise. But there is already a generation or 2, like mine and my sons' generation that doesn't really want to see the days of 20 minute non-wrestling segments because the cast is different, the writers are for the most part different, and Vince has taken his product down a path that isn't fully in tune with today.

[3puppies]

I thought I remembered reading that the highest rated wrestling segment was the Mean Street Posse vs The Stooges. But maybe that was the highest rated segment on the highest rated overall show

[Donald]

One would think the highest rated segment would be anything involving RVD.

[Nash Diesel]

I thought I remembered reading that the highest rated wrestling segment was the Mean Street Posse vs The Stooges. But maybe that was the highest rated segment on the highest rated overall show

It's in the top 6-7. What Culture has the top 10 highest rated segments of all time.

- - - Updated - - -

One would think the highest rated segment would be anything involving RVD.

Or Godfather, X-Pac, and Road Dogg lol