BRM Reviews the 10/16/2020 Smackdown (New Day Farewell)

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 10/16/2020 Smackdown (New Day Farewell)

Post by Big Red Machine » Oct 18th, '20, 20:05

OPENING SEGMENT- bad
We’ve got the whole roster on the stage, and Hunter and Steph in the ring. Braun Strowman, Xavier Woods, and Kofi Kington are all standing there, but I’m certain they all got drafted to Raw. This concept of having a “farewell match” is silly enough (or at least it is if you’re going to have the new people on this show, too), but having Braun get a shot a Roman’s title is even sillier. New Day’s farewell match is a six-man tag against Cesaro, Nakamura, and SHEAMUS, thus defeating the whole purpose of Sheamus and Big E. having to have their blow-off last week because they might not be able to face each other again.
Jeff Hardy is wrestling Lars Sullivan. For something they’ve built up as being a big deal, this first post-draft show doesn’t feel very different.
Also there is Daniel Bryan, so I guess he’s back.
Hunter and Steph went on f*cking FOREVER with their “look at all of this great talent here!” It was a huge waste of time. I had thought we had finally moved past the days of the McMahons coming out here, eating up everyone’s time, doing their little comedy bits and trying to hype things up while really making themselves the center of attention, but apparently not.
It all broke down into a random schmoz for a while. Then Lars Sullivan came out (apparently he wasn’t standing out there on the stage like everyone else. I didn’t see Roman, either, now that I think about it) and beat up a bunch of babyfaces. Jeff Hardy managed to force him out of the ring. We went to a commercial and came back to…

JEFF HARDY vs. LARS SULLIVAN- 5.75/10
They did something resembling power vs. speed. Lars won clean.

BIANCA BEALAIR VIDEO PACKAGE- good

NEW DAY PROMO- This was pretty much real. I was extremely surprised that WWE let them go out there and do this.

KAYLA BRAXTON INTERVIEWS SHEAMUS, CESARO, & SHINSUKE NAKAMURA- good
They hate New Day for various reasons and thus want to ruin their moment.

FOOTBALL PEOPLE MAKE PREDICTIONS FOR THE ROMAN REIGNS VS. BRAUN STROWMAN MATCH- bad
They came off as actors reciting lines instead of people who knew anything about the product and could talk about it with real enthusiasm.

THE NEW DAY vs. SHEAMUS, SHINSUKE NAKAMURA, & CESARO- 7.75/10
This felt like it meant something. They picked the right opponents for a New Day farewell match out of all of the available talent, and they gave this time and had the babyfaces win. I was shocked that WWE handled all of this so well.

KAYLA BRAXTON INTERVIEWS OTIS- fine
Sami Zayn showed up to interrupt before Otis had to talk. Sami said that “there are winners in this world, and then there are Otises.” I popped. Otis shoved Sami.

SEGMENT WITH A BUNCH OF PEOPLE- fine
Bryan comes out. He’s happy to be here. Seth wants him to be a disciple. Bryan says Seth’s vision is dumb so Seth attacks him. Rey and Dominik come out. Seth tries to convince Bryan to fight the Mysterios but Bryan just leaves. Murphy comes out and fakes like he’s going to team with Seth but then attacks him. Murphy offers the Mysterios a handshake but they don’t accept.

They kept pushing this idea that if Braun wins the Universal Title from Roman, SD would have no champion and this would be “catastrophic.”
1. Not really. Brock was the champion and wasn’t around for months at a time and it never seemed like much of a problem.
2. If this situation would be so catastrophic, why was the match booked in the first place? Or why aren’t there rules in place to prevent this, like “if you’re a champion, you have to stay with the show to which your title belongs.”

STREET PROFITS PROMO- bad
These guys are way too cartoonish.

WWE SMACKDOWN TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Street Profits(c) vs. Bobby Roode & Dolph Ziggler- no rating, meh segment
This was a short match that ended as a no contest when the referee lost control of things. The babyfaces stood tall at the end; I guess this was a fine way to have the babyfaces stand tall while still keeping things going, but I think it would have been a lot better to have a non-title match and let the heels win to actually make them feel like worthwhile challengers.

SASHA BANKS/BAYLEY CONTRACT SIGNING- bad
They cut promos not really saying anything they hadn’t before… and then Bayley walked away without singing the contract. What was the point of this whole thing, then?

WWE UNIVERSAL TITLE MATCH: Roman Reigns(c) (w/Paul Heyman) vs. Braun Strowman- 4/10
They had good intensity, but the match was short. Roman used his low blow on the kick-out, so we know it was on purpose now. He won with a guillotine, which felt like “oh, crap. He’s going into a match he can’t win with the spear, so we need to give him a submission finisher!”

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh
Jey Uso came out. Roman played his character well, but the drama here forced to me. It felt like they were just looking for stuff to do at this point. I understand them wanting to make Jey look strong and yet also have Roman stand tall heelishly at the end, but I don’t even think Jey looking strong matters because everyone knows he won’t win.

This was a pretty meh episode of Smackdown. It really felt like a lame-duck show. Watch the New Day stuff, but that’s all that was worth seeing.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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