SmackDown Report for 11/8/19

SmackDown on Fox Episode #6
SmackDown Episode # 1,055
Manchester, England – Manchester Arena
11/8/19

We open this week’s SmackDown with a promo from King Corbin who talks about how Roman Reigns has been off a step or two lately and is not the locker room leader that he once was, he then insults Reigns by claiming that his balls have shrunk to the size of marbles. Corbin says that the bark that Reigns used to have has started to sound more like a yapping Chihuahua and this leads to an image of the Cerebus dog coming up on the tron and sounding like a Chihuahua. He then says that the crowd should pull out some dog poop bags so that when he is done with Reigns they can take home Reign’s shit for a souvenir. All this leads Corbin to say that Reigns isn’t at the arena at the moment so they will face off later tonight. 

The idea of Corbin doing a solo promo to open any show isn’t the best idea and to make things worse the material he was given here was complete shit. This would’ve worked much better if it was a promo Corbin cut while being interviewed by Kayla Braxton backstage right before the match and not the fifteen-minute show opening promo, this was a waste of time and a terrible way to open the show.

The New Day is interviewed by Kayla Braxton about their SmackDown Tag Team Championship match against The Revival that is coming up next. New Day say they will become seven-time tag team champions because how else will they catch up to Charlotte’s reigns as a champion, they say they will win the titles for their brother Xavier Woods. We go to commercial as Big E has his arms around Kayla as if he were a mother consoling her child. 

Match #1: The Revival © vs The New Day (SmackDown Tag Team Championship)
Kingston and Dawson start the match and immediately Kingston tries several different pin attempts to try and end this early, but Dawson easily kicks out of all of them. Dawson stops Kingston’s momentum with a forearm to the face and then tags in Wilder. Kingston fires back on both members of The Revival before tagging in Big E, Kingston leapfrogs over Big E’s shoulders and delivers a Boom Drop to Wilder for a 2 count. Wilder goes to leapfrog Big E and when he lands Wilder starts favoring his knee and it looks like he may be injured, as the referee checks on Wilder we go to commercial.

As we come back from break we are shown that the injury was a ruse set up by The Revival so that they could get back in control. Big E hits a belly to belly suplex on Wilder and then both men make a tag to their partners. Kingston is a house of fire as he hits clotheslines and dropkicks on The Revival and then takes both men out with a flying trust fall dive to the outside. Kingston rolls Dawson in the ring and hits him with a top rope crossbody. Kingston tries for the Trouble in Paradise on Dawson, but Wilder is able to pull him out of the way in time. The Revival hit a Power-Plex on Kingston which would have finished Kingston off, however Big E breaks up the pin at the very last second. Big E hits an overhead belly to belly on Dawson only to get hit with a tornado DDT by Wilder moments later. Wilder tries to hit the tornado DDT on Kingston but he gets pushed off and hit with the SOS for a 2 count. 
Winners: The New Day via Pinfall (New SmackDown Tag Team Champions)  Match Rating: ***

This was a good match as you would expect from these two top tier teams, but what would’ve made it even better is if they had taken some of the time they gave Corbin at the beginning of the show and give it to this match instead. If this match had gotten more time we may have had a TV match of the year candidate. Not sure why they decided to have New Day win the titles here, maybe they thought New Day would be a better fit for the triple threat match at Survivor Series or maybe it was just to give the UK audience something to be excited about since nothing else on this show was worth getting excited about.

As we come back from commercial we see Daniel Bryan walking down the hall and he runs into Sami Zayn. Zayn continues to try and persuade Bryan to join his side and says that if Bryan won’t listen to him then he should go ask Nakamura or Cesaro (Cesaro has now joined up with Zayn and Nakamura) how Zayn has changed their career or better yet Bryan should come down and get a closer look when Cesaro and Nakamura take on Shorty G and Ali later tonight. 

We are set to see Heavy Machinery in action next, but as they get into the ring they are jumped by Imperium. Imperium is quickly chased off by a group of the SmackDown babyfaces before they even get a chance to do much harm to Heavy Machinery. 

While I like them involving members of the NXT UK roster in the NXT invasion I was hoping for more than what we got. Imperium is supposed to be this imposing force in NXT UK but in this case, they looked like chicken shit heels. I think it would’ve worked better if they had tried to fight off the babyfaces if even for just a couple of minutes instead of immediately hauling ass out of the arena. 

Bayley and Sasha Banks are interviewed backstage and talk about how they were the ones that made the NXT Women’s division relevant and the women down in NXT today will always stand in their shadow. 

Match #2: Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro w/ Sami Zayn vs Ali & Shorty G
Right before the bell rings, Daniel Bryan makes his way out onto the stage to watch the match. Cesaro wastes no time as he immediately hits Gable with a running European uppercut and then tags Nakamura in. Nakamura sits Gable up on the top but Gable quickly locks in a hanging armbar. Cesaro gets tagged back in but Gable is able to throw him out of the ring, Gable tries to leap across the ring to make a hot tag but Cesaro catches him in mid-leap and slams Gable into the corner. Gable fights Cesaro off and attempts a victory roll but Cesaro pushes him off which propels Gable into his own corner allowing him to make the tag to Ali. Ali hits Cesaro with a head scissors followed by a rolling X-Factor and then a big spinning DDT which only gets a 2 count as Nakamura breaks up the pin. Gable catches Nakamura coming off the ropes with an overhead belly to belly to the outside 

Gable is looking to dive onto Nakamura on the outside, however, he gets caught by Cesaro with a pop up European uppercut. Cesaro throws Gable out of the ring and then Ali dropkicks Cesaro out of the ring, Ali hits a tope suicida that sends Cesaro over the barricade and into the first row. Ali rolls Cesaro back in and goes for a top rope crossbody, but Cesaro once again shows off his strength as he catches Ali and hits him with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker that gets a 2 count on Ali. Cesaro tags in Nakamura as Ali tries to fight back, but Cesaro puts him in a fireman’s carry position that quickly gets broken up when Gable hits Cesaro with a front chop block and transitions into an ankle lock. Cesaro kicks Gable off and sends him out of the ring and then Ali tosses Cesaro over the top. Nakamura hits Ali with the inverted exploder and looks to hit the Kinshasa but gets a face full of boot instead as Ali hits him with a superkick. Ali goes up top but Sami Zayn jumps onto the apron to provide a distraction but Gable stops him, however, this allows Cesaro to crotch Ali on the top rope. Nakamura hits Ali with the Kinshasa to pick up the win for his team.
Winners: Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro via Pinfall   Match Rating: **¼ 

This was the perfect example of what an average TV tag match looks like because there was nothing special about this match at all. The match did have some awful camera work that kept missing spots as it switched back and forth between the ring and Daniel Bryan. 

As Sasha Banks makes her way to the ring we can hear that her music has changed as she now has the version of her theme that is performed by Snoop Dogg, if she wasn’t Boss enough the fact that she now has one of the greatest rappers of all time performing here theme music just puts her Boss-ness over the top.

Match #3: Nikki Cross vs Sasha Banks w/ Bayley
They lock up and Sasha beats down Nikki before hitting her with a snap suplex. Sasha chokes Nikki across the middle rope while giving a shout out to Bayley who is on commentary for this match. Sasha hits a running Meteora on a seated Nikki but moments later Nikki hits her with a flying head scissors followed by a running crossbody to a seated Sasha for a 2 count. Sasha is sent to the outside where Nikki hits her with a wrecking ball dropkick followed by a diving crossbody off the apron. Nikki runs over and starts attacking Bayley as she is now in a frenzy, Nikki grabs the headset and starts saying something that was hard to understand. Nikki gets back on the apron to go after Sasha but Bayley grabs her leg which allows Sasha to kick Nikki and knock her back to the floor. Sasha rolls Nikki back into the ring and looks to pin her, but Nikki grabs Sasha and rolls her up out of nowhere for a 2 count. Nikki hits yet another running crossbody which causes Sasha to roll out to the floor in order to catch a breather as we go to commercial.

Sasha Banks comes off the middle rope with double knees to the mid-section of Nikki as we come back from commercial, meanwhile, Bayley has rejoined commentary after all the craziness before the commercial. Sasha gets Nikki in the corner and delivers some forearms before Nikki fights back and hits a tornado DDT out of the corner, meanwhile, Bayley wants another headset after Nikki put hers on. Nikki hits a couple of running forearms and then hits the avalanche in the corner followed by a bulldog out of the corner. Nikki comes off the top with yet another crossbody, but Sasha rolls through which leads to several attempts at a roll-up to no avail and then Nikki dropkicks Sasha. Sasha is in the corner and ends up getting a sunset flip roll up that turns into a jacknife pin for a 2 count. Nikki attempts to hit The Purge, but Sasha counters it into a backstabber and then locks in the Bank Statement which makes Nikki quickly tap out 
Winner: Sasha Banks via Submission   Match Rating: **½ 

After the match, Bayley attacks Nikki (as Sasha walks up the ramp) until Shayna comes in from the crowd and attacks Bayley from behind hitting her with a gut-wrench slam before leaving back through the crowd as Sasha runs back down to help Bayley.

First and foremost, Nikki really needs to find some new offense as it felt like every other move she hit was a crossbody, but other than that the match was fine. I know many people are not liking the heel emo Bayley but I am quite enjoying it and think she is doing well in the role. It was announced during the match that Sasha would be the captain of SmackDown’s women Survivor Series team and that got me to thinking of how much of a cluster these elimination tag matches are going to be with fifteen people involved, or even worse thirty people if they do the elimination tag match that involves all of the tag teams. 

Backstage the Zayn and Bryan story continues with Zayn saying that he thinks Bryan has already made up his mind and that Bryan wants to go forward not back to the Yes! Movement. The lights then begin to flicker before they go out completely and when they turn back on we see the red light of death as The Fiend has arrived, The Fiend grabs Bryan and locks him in the Mandible Claw.

I guess Bryan vs The Fiend will be the Universal Championship match at Survivor Series since it doesn’t look like we are going to get the triple threat with the three top champions of each brand. This could be a fun match, but I was hoping that we would get to see Bryan go against one of the NXT stars as there are a lot of people down in NXT that Bryan could have a great match with at Survivor Series.

As we come back from commercial it’s time for Tyson Fury, Fury says that he has unfinished business with Braun Strowman, this leads to Strowman making his way to the ring. Fury thanks Strowman for the fight at Crown Jewel and says that Strowman is one of the toughest fights he’s ever had, both men shake hands. Fury suggests that if they ever fight again it should be as partners and then Strowman says that nobody in the back is dumb enough to face the two of them. The B-Team make their way to the ring and as you would expect Strowman and Fury make quick work of them with Fury knocking out Bo Dallas and Strowman hitting the Powerslam on Curtis Axel. 

This was a decent segment but I hope this is the last time we see Fury for a long time as the match at Crown Jewel ruined him for me as it was that bad. I get this segment was done so Fury could get a hometown pop, but it felt like another unneeded segment and was a waste of time that they could’ve used on something that would further the build to Survivor Series. 

Match #4: Fire & Desire vs Dana Brooke & Carmella (Winners qualify to be on Team SmackDown)
Sonya takes Carmella down with some rear waist locks before hitting a ripcord clothesline. Carmella tries for a quick roll-up that gets a 1 count and then hits a flying head scissors which Corey Graves called the “Mella-Go-Round”. Sonya stops the momentum of Carmella with a knee to the gut. Sonya and Mandy work over Carmella in the corner while making quick tags to each other. Mandy taunts Carmella and then hits her with a fallaway slam for a 2 count. Fire & Desire attempt a double suplex, but Carmella fights out of it and tries to make a comeback only to get hit with a kick to the head from Sonya for a 2 count. 

Sonya grounds Carmella with a body scissors until Carmella fights out of it, Carmella ducks a clothesline and finally makes the hot tag to Dana. Dana hits some forearm shots followed by a handspring elbow and a bulldog out of the corner. Dana gets the crowd behind her before hitting a cartwheel splash that gets 2 as Mandy breaks up the pin. Carmella hits a superkick on Mandy and then sends Sonya out to the floor which leads to Dana dropkicking Sonya into the steps. Dan rolls Sonya back into the ring and goes up top where she hits a senton atomico to get the surprising win. 
Winners: Dana Brooke & Carmella via Pinfall    Match Rating: **

I definitely didn’t see this one coming as I was for sure that Fire & Desire would be on Team SmackDown and to make it even more surprising Dana was the one who picked up that win. I guess this could finally be a push for Dana which is completely cool with me as she has improved significantly over the past year. Although she didn’t win I did like that Sonya worked most of the match and had time to shine as I am a big fan of hers and think she could really be something special in the future. I’m curious as to who the final two members of Team SmackDown will be, hopefully, it will be Nikki Cross and a healthy Alexa Bliss (that is if they can pull Alexa away from watching Disney+ long enough to have a match).

Match #5: Roman Reigns vs King Corbin
Reigns waste no time going after Corbin as he attacks him before the bell rings as he clotheslines Corbin out of the ring and proceeds to beat him up at ringside while also fist-bumping some of the fans. Reigns rolls Corbin into the ring and the match officially starts, Reigns sends Corbin into the corner and starts hitting him with mounted punches until Corbin pushes Reigns off. Corbin takes control and hits Reigns with some mounted punches in the corner until Reigns escapes and yanks Corbin off the turnbuckle. Reigns hit his ten clotheslines in the corner followed by a big boot, Reigns is looking for the Superman Punch but Corbin rolls to the outside. Reigns rolls Corbin back in and again signals for the Superman Punch but this time he sees Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode coming down the aisle, so he deals with them before they become a problem as he leaps off the steps and hits Roode with a Superman Punch and then hits a Samoan Drop on Ziggler. Reigns gets back in the ring where he is hit with the Deep Six which only gets a 2 count as we go to commercial. 

Corbin is still in control as we come back from commercial and then talks smack to the fans while just standing around doing nothing. Corbin works over Reigns with some body punches in the corner before sending him out of the ring where Ziggler and Roode get in some cheap shots. Corbin sends Reigns into the barricade before rolling him in the ring where he is met by a right hand by Reigns. Corbin regains control and hits Reigns with the slide out of the ring and back in clothesline which gets him a 2 count. Corbin hammers down elbows to the neck of Reigns before putting him into the patented Corbin rest hold. Reigns tries to fight back as both men trade right hands. Reigns hit a couple of clotheslines and looks for a jumping clothesline but is caught by Corbin and hit with a chokeslam, but that is still not enough to finish off the Big Dog. Corbin delivers a knee and a running right-hand Reigns continues to try and make a comeback but is stopped each time before he can really build any momentum. Corbin tries to jump on Reigns who is draped over the top rope but Reigns moves and sends Corbin throat first across the top rope. Reigns hit the flying clothesline he was looking for earlier and then gets into position for the Spear, however as Roode distracts the referee Ziggler goes to attack Reigns only to eat right hand and then Reigns knocks Roode off the apron with a Superman Punch. Reigns does hit a Spear on Ziggler only to turn around and get hit with The End of Days to give the King a win. 
Winner: Baron Corbin via Pinfall   Match Rating: **

This was a very lackluster main event that gave a very anticlimactic finish to the show. I really feel like this trio of Corbin, Ziggler, & Roode is going to get tiring really quick as I imagine they will be used in a similar way as the trio of Corbin, Lashley, & McIntyre were used at the end of last year going into the beginning of this year. 

This was one of the least exciting episodes of SmackDown that I have seen in a while and except for the New Day title win and The Fiend attacking Daniel Bryan you could have missed this show and you would be perfectly fine because almost nothing happened, even the NXT invasion stuff couldn’t save this episode from just being a two hour waste of time, but then again I should’ve expected that as they never have great shows when they go over to the UK.

That’s it for this week, hopefully, since they won’t be in the UK next week they will decide to put on a show worth watching.