This is it folks! It’s the final SmackDown before WWE goes ahead and pulls off the much-maligned Crown Jewel event this Friday. Now, WWE won’t actually admit where it’s taking place at this point, but we all know, and the majority of fans seem to be against it…but that ship has sailed. So, with things moving forward, it means that we will see some changes. Daniel Bryan has already gone on record as stating he won’t go to the host country, and with that news out there, SmackDown will surely be shuffling things up for Crown Jewel on the go-home edition of SmackDown. So let’s crack open this Nutshell!
Best Match of the night:
AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan for the WWE World Championship. Yes, the match opened the show. But, regardless of where it was on the card, it was an outstanding match. WWE gave these two over twenty minutes to work things out and tell a compelling story, and it worked. Honestly, as they hugged and talked post-match, I was waiting for a Bryan turn, but instead we got Samoa Joe returning. All told, it was a really strong match.
Worst match of the night:
It’s the Halloween themed show. Need I say more? This one goes to the Trick or Street Fight. It’s a gimmick match that I guess they can’t or don’t want to get away from, but it was just as you’d expect it to be…which is, not good.
Crowd Chants of the Night:
AJ Styles
Daniel Bryan
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Becky
Star of the Night
I hand this to not one, not two, but three Superstars.
AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan need no real explanation, but in case you aren’t sure…scroll up and see what earned best match tonight. That should help clarify things.
On a similar level, I give a nod to the returning Samoa Joe. Presumably he’s not being rushed back (as much as WWE needs to fill a hole in a massive match, I don’t think they’d rush back an injured Superstar), he comes back at the perfect time and it’s like he hasn’t skipped a beat.
Spot of the Night:
Some nice action in the main event. The unique near Skull Crushing Finale which Rey reversed out of was neat. Orton’s show closing three RKOs were nice too.
Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:
I honestly wasn’t actually expecting a Joe return so soon, but there he was, beating the tar out of both AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan after those two gave us a very good World Title match to open the show. I honestly had not seen a whisper about Joe returning this soon (perhaps I just had blinders on, which happens from time to time). In any case, I had actually wondered when Joe’d be back as recently as this morning, and with Daniel Bryan not going to Saudi Arabia, how things played out made a ton of sense. Joe and AJ work well together (even if, frankly, I am over the singing and taunting Joe involving AJ’s family). While I don’t know if Joe and AJ can deliver a match better than what AJ and Daniel Bryan gave the show Tuesday night, I know both men will try their hardest to do just that, and it should be fun to watch regardless.
LOL Moment of the night:
OK, the Halloween match is generally a forgettable trainwreck-and honestly, this one was too. But, it was hilarious to see New Day dress up like The Brood. They came out in Brood attire, to their theme music. And, while WWE clearly does not use the stage with the elevator like Gangrel, Edge and Christian used, New Day and WWE improvised with a bunch of staff in all black body suits holding up faux torches to achieve the flame entrance effect. It was part nostalgia, part hysterical.
Noteworthy Moment:
As had been rumored, Daniel Bryan is out of Crown Jewel-but he still got his title shot. He did lose, which is a shift from what appeared possible just a couple weeks ago, but what can you do. In his place at Crown Jewel? One angry, title-hungry Samoa Joe.
An additional tidbit from Shane McMahon later on in the show: to any of the four blue brand participants in the World Cup. If you lose the finals, you are no longer on SmackDown (Officially, the announce team repeated several times that if they lost they’d be fired). Interesting….so which one of these four makes the most sense to make it that far and then give Shane an excuse to boot them? Or, more precisely, with Roman down and out, and with some other issues at the top of the RAW roster, which of them makes the most sense to shift brands? My money is on Miz or Rey, to be quite honest.
Overall lowlights:
The Halloween themed match. Look, I am sure they had some stage hands work very hard on carving the pumpkins and all…but I can do without it.
Overall highlights:
The show opening World Championship match was exceptional.
The replacement for Daniel Bryan is a good one.
The main event tag match was very good. I honestly think the title match should have closed-especially with Joe coming back to head to Crown Jewel…but I get WWE’s desire to set up the World Cup.
After the final bell:
Well, as much as a lot of us wanted to see WWE cancel or move the show, our wishes did not come true. The show is basically here, as the Superstars that are going to perform are about to head overseas. Forgetting the politics of it for a little bit, the set up was good tonight. WWE had to call an audible for a major match and it worked out pretty well, I’d say. All told, if you forget where Crown Jewel is being held, you can at least recognize it’s got a pretty captivating card.
