WWE SmackDown Live
Episode 949
#SDLive
Original Air Date: October 24, 2017
Event Date: October 24, 2017 (aired live)
City: Milwaukee, WI
Venue: BMO Harris Bank Bradley Center
Commentary: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton
Ring Announcer: Greg Hamilton
Video
Last night on RAW, Shane McMahon and the superstars from SmackDown put RAW under siege.
Ring Area
Shane McMahon heads to the ring. He says when you’re about to get into a fight, you need to strike first. That’s why he had his superstars attack the RAW roster. As he speaks, Sami Zayn’s music begins to play. Zayn dances to the ring.
Zayn smiles and offers his hand to Shane. No hard feelings, right? Shane refuses to shake his hand. There are a lot of hard feelings. Zayn tells Shane that if he were a competitor and not the commissioner right now, he’d take Shane out in one second. But that’s for another night. Tonight, Zayn would like to inform Shane that he and his good friend Kevin Owens are happy to lead the SmackDown team at Survivor Series. Unfortunately, Shane doesn’t want nor need Sami and Kevin to represent SmackDown. Shane will give Sami an opportunity though. If he wants to be on Team SmackDown, he’ll have to defeat Randy Orton tonight.
Backstage
New Day walks around in the back and comes across some raw fruit (which is clearly labeled as such). They get angry and throw it away. They laugh and resume walking.
Match 1
New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods w/ Big E) vs Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable
(referee: Danilo Anfibio; guest commentary: The Usos)
Result: Chad Gable pins Xavier Woods after Shelton Benjamin kicks Woods in the back
Time: 7:53
Match Thoughts
Good match. After the feud New Day and The Usos had, it’s going to take a lot to build up a believable next challenger for the SD Tag Titles. I don’t think this match did that, but it’s a good step in that direction. Benjamin and Gable looked good as a team and had some nice, hard-hitting maneuvers.
Backstage
Becky Lynch and Tamina tell Charlotte, Naomi, and Lana about their attack on RAW last night. Carmella walks up and tells everyone that James Ellsworth is missing. No one really cares. Daniel Bryan walks up. He also doesn’t care that Ellsworth is missing. He does tell the women that they will all be on Team SmackDown at Survivor Series. Everyone except Lana. Also, there will be a match between all the team members to determine the team’s captain. That match happens tonight.
Backstage
Breezango presents Fashion Dogs starring Fandango, Tyler Breeze, and The Ascension. The Ascension do “wasteland stuff” with Ellsworth tied to a chair. Apparently Ellsworth was seen with a briefcase. Carmella walks in carrying her Money in the Bank briefcase. Fandango opens it to find some dirty underwear…
Carmella frees Ellsworth as takes him away while Breezango and The Ascension are left to ponder many questions. Things are about to get much “strangerer.”
Backstage
Daniel Bryan questions Shane McMahon about the ransacking of RAW. Bryan doesn’t necessarily agree with Shane’s decision, and he seems a little frustrated.
Match 2
Baron Corbin (US Champ) vs Sin Cara
(referee: Ryan Tran)
Result: Sin Cara wins via DQ when Corbin won’t stop punching Sin Cara in the corner
Time: 2:32
Match Thoughts
Like last week, this wasn’t much of a match. It was short, but it was a decent follow-up to their previous match. I feel like Sin Cara is being used as a prop and this isn’t going to develop into a proper feud. Even so, this is a way to hit the reset button on Corbin after he dropped the Money in the Bank briefcase so suddenly.
Video
Clips of last night’s attack on RAW with clips from some of the superstars’ social media accounts. #UnderSiege
Ring Area
The Singh brothers introduce Jinder Mahal, and all three head to the ring. Jinder Mahal calls Paul Heyman a liar. He claims to be Brock Lesnar’s worst nightmare. He begins to talk about Sunil Singh when AJ Styles interrupts and heads to the ring.
Match 3
Sunil Singh w/ Samir Singh vs AJ Styles
(referee: Mike Chioda)
Result: AJ Styles wins via submission with a calf crusher
Time: 0:34
Match Thoughts
As expected, this was extremely short and one-sided. This was more of a minor plot point in the Styles/Mahal story than a match.
Backstage
Kevin Owens informs Sami Zayn that he also has a qualifying match, next week against Shinsuke Nakamura. Sami thinks that’s great. After they both win, they’ll lead the SmackDown team to victory. Together.
Backstage
Jinder Mahal is upset. Daniel Bryan assumes Mahal wants revenge on Styles once again. He does. Everyone looks at Sunil. Next week, Sunil will face AJ Styles in the ring.
Match 4
Fatal Five Way Match
Tamina w/ Lana vs Carmella w/ James Ellsworth vs Becky Lynch vs Naomi vs Charlotte Flair
(referee: Jason Ayers; at ringside: Natalya; stipulation: The winner will captain the women’s team at Survivor Series.)
Result: Becky Lynch forces Carmella to submit Dis-Arm-Her, Lynch becomes the caption for Team SmackDown
Time: 7:09
Match Thoughts
Good match. Slightly chaotic, but in a good way. The chaos helped make the eventual winner a good surprise. Everyone looked good and had a nice moment or two. Even Lana got into the action in a good way.
Video
The Bludgeon Brothers can do anything because they fear nothing.
Backstage
Dolph Ziggler interrupts Renee Young and call the WWE fans “sad idiots” for liking catchphrases. He also says that he proved he’s better than Bobby Roode last week. Roode walks up and smirks. He wants another match with Ziggler, a two out of three falls match. Ziggler hopes Roode’s ego can take being beaten twice in one night.
Match 5
Survivor Series Qualifying Match
Sami Zayn vs Randy Orton
(referee: Mike Chioda)
Result: Randy Orton wins via pinfall after a low blow and an RKO, Orton is the first member of the men’s SD Survivor Series team
Time: 10:18 (1 break)
Match Thoughts
Good match. Zayn held his own against Orton and the addition of Owens running to the ring late in the match helped add to the excitement. Regardless of the outcome of the match, I think this was a pretty good match for Zayn.
Backstage
Daniel Bryan tells Shane McMahon that even though RAW didn’t attack tonight, they will, and SHane better be ready to face the consequences of his actions.
Show Impressions
I liked this show. The matches were mostly pretty good, and the tension of RAW’s eventual retaliation hanging over the show helped make this interesting (even though RAW didn’t attack).
Match of the Night
Sami Zayn vs Randy Orton
I liked this, the opening tag match, and the fatal five way almost evenly. I think this match had the most intrigue though, mostly because of the stipulation but also because this is the first opportunity we got to see Zayn wrestle alone in his new character. I like it, and hopefully this wil be a turning point in his WWE main roster career.