WWE SmackDown
Episode 1050
#SDLive
Original Air Date: October 4, 2019
Event Date: October 4, 2019
(aired live on Fox)
City: Los Angeles, CA
Venue: Staples Center
Commentary: Michael Cole, Corey Graves
Ring Announcer: Greg Hamilton
Ring Area
Vince McMahon and Stephanie McMahon come out to the brand new stage. They welcome us to Friday Night SmackDown on Fox.
Intro Video
“Are You Ready” by AC/DC
Ring Area
The first superstar to head to the ring on this brand new SmackDown is the RAW Women’s champ, Becky Lynch. Lynch says it feels great to kick off the first episode of Friday Night SmackDown. This is the show where Becky rose and where the fans helped force people to pay attention to her. Becky wants a fight to start the show, but King Corbin comes out and heads to the ring.
Corbin says he should be the one to start tonight’s show. Corbin asks Becky if she still thinks she’s the man. Becky dares Corbin to take another step into the ring and find out. As Corbin begins to step through the ropes, The Rock’s music hits.
The Rock soaks in the cheers from the crowd before heading to the ring. Rock shakes Becky’s hand, but he just holds his hand up as he passes by Corbin. The Rock tells a story of when he spoke one word that changed the WWE landscape forever. Since then, the word “SmackDown” has become phenomenon. Now The Rock is here in front of a guy that looks like a “broke ass burger king on crack.”
Corbin interrupts Rock and says this isn’t his home anymore. “The Great One” is now King Corbin. Corbin tells Becky and Rock to shut their mouths. Rock and Becky take turns mocking Corbin, so Corbin throws a fit. He also insults the local sports team. Rock sets Corbin up by asking him what he thinks, and Becky cuts Corbin down. Rock and Becky continue to tag team and get the crowd to chant “STD” at Corbin.
Corbin gets mad and starts to prepare for a fight, but he is quickly and easily taken down by The Rock and The Man.
Backstage
Bayley and Sasha Banks smile and talk about stuff.
Ring Area
Trish Stratus, Lita, and Maria Menounos are in the front row.
Match 1
Becky Lynch (RAW Women’s Champ) & Charlotte Flair vs Sasha Banks & Bayley (SD Women’s Champ)
(referee: Charles Robinson)
Result: Charlotte submits Bayley with the Figure Eight
Time: 5:24 (1 break)
Match Thoughts
Good match. Bayley took quite a beating in this match. Sasha mostly stayed away from the action, though she did get into a brawl with Becky that seemed to bust her lip. That was fun, and it was a good taste of what might be in store at Hell in a Cell. Mostly though, this was a dominant performance from Becky and Charlotte.
Backstage
Erin Andrews welcomes the New Day. Kingston laughs when Andrews says people think he’s an underdog in his title match against Lesnar tonight. Woods and Big E say Kofi has asked that they stay in the back tonight so Kofi can prove he deserves to be champ.
Backstage
Seth Rollins smirks as he walks.
Ring Area
Tyson Fury is in the front row. Mick Foley and Kurt Angle are also in the front row.
Ring Area
Seth Rollins heads to the ring for a match. Before his opponent can come out, the Firefly Fun House appears on the screen. Bray Wyatt introduces his friends Abby the Witch, Mercy the Buzzard, and Huskus the Pig Boy. Rambling Rabbit shows up in a Seth Rollins shirt. Rabbit warns Rollins not to enter Hell in a Cell. Wyatt suggests that they show Rollins what’s going to happen this Sunday.
Rambling Rabbit enters a cage with Mercy the Buzzard. Mercy bites the stuffing out of Rambling Rabbit. Wyatt pulls Rabbit out of the cage and finds that he’s been decapitated. Wyatt laughs as he holds up Rambling Rabbit’s dead body. Wyatt says he and his friends have hurt for so long, and now it’s Rollins’ turn.
Ring Area
Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair are in the crowd.
Match 2
Seth Rollins (Universal Champ) vs Shinsuke Nakamura (IC Champ) w/ Sami Zayn
(referee: Danilo Anfibio)
Result: the match ends in a No Contest when the lights go out and The Fiend appears
Time: 1:46
Match Thoughts
This wasn’t really a match. There was some action, but it was just a setup for The Fiend to come out again. I’d like to see Rollins versus Nakamura have a full match with no titles involved sometime.
Ring Area
After the match, Rollins leaves the ring and heads up the ramp. The lights come back on a little, and we see Rollins on the stage looking for The Fiend. After a few seconds, The Fiend attacks Rollins from behind. The Fiend uses the Mandible Claw, then he pushes Rollins off the low stage. The lights go back out.
Match 3
Ladder Match
Kevin Owens vs Shane McMahon
(referee: Dan Engler; stipulation: the loser will be fired from WWE)
Result: Kevin Owens wins after powerbombing Shane McMahon onto a ladder in the corner of the ring
Time: 9:01 (1 break)
Match Thoughts
Good match. They didn’t have a ton of time, so Shane and Owens started the ladder violence very early in the match. Shane seemed to do more offensive moves, but both men were taking damage throughout the match. Owens had to persevere and shrug off a lot of damage as the match neared its end. This was fun, but if it had ended any other way I would have been supremely disappointed.
Ring Area
After the match, the winner gets on the mic, fires the loser, and attacks the loser one last time.
Backstage
Kayla Braxton looks nervous as she waits for Brock Lesnar outside his locker room.
Video
Snickers takes a look back at 20 years of SmackDown.
Backstage
Kayla Braxton welcomes Paul Heyman. Heyman seems to be in a bad mood. He doesn’t care what anyone else has said tonight, he just wants to show footage of Lesnar attacking Rey Mysterio and Dominic on RAW. Heyman says Mysterio was in Lesnar’s way, so Lesnar got rid of Mysterio. Tonight, Kofi Kingston is in Lesnar’s way, so we can figure out what happens next.
Match 4
Randy Orton & Dolph Ziggler (RAW Tag Champ) & Robert Roode (RAW Tag Champ) & AJ Styles (US Champ) vs The Miz & Heavy Machinery & Braun Strowman
(referee: Jason Ayers)
Result: Braun Strowman pins Dolph Ziggler after a running powerslam
Time: 3:11
Match Thoughts
Pretty good match. This was all breakdown. Everyone got in and hit a move, then Strowman ran around the ring. Strowman saw Tyson Fury at ringside and smiled at him for an awkward amount of time, and that led to Strowman running Ziggler into the barricade right in front of Fury. That one moment seemed to be the whole point of the match.
Ring Area
After the match, Tyson Fury hops the barricade, but security immediately holds Fury back. Fury is furious at Strowman, but he eventually leaves without any altercation taking place.
Video
From YouTube, a DJ named Marshmallow somehow pinned Carmella and become the 24/7 Champ (while the Bella twins, Heavy Machinery, and R-Truth watched). For some reason, Scott Armstrong was the referee.
Apparently Marshmallow lost the title after that, but Cole doesn’t say who the new champ is.
Match 5
Lumberjack Match
Roman Reigns vs Erick Rowan
(referee: Rod Zapata; guest commentary: Daniel Bryan; lumberjacks: Andrade, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Shelton Benjamin, Shinsuke Nakamura, Viking Raiders, Chad Gable, Ricochet, Apollo Crews, B-Team, Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins, Heath Slater, No Way Jose, Ali, Titus O’Neil, The Revival, Cesaro, Cedric Alexander)
Result: Roman Reigns wins via pinfall after a spear
Time: 6:05 (1 break)
Match Thoughts
This was okay. There was nothing wrong with it, but it went just about like I expected it to. Reigns and Rowan hit each other some, the lumberjacks got some chances to stomp each guy, then a big brawl started to break out. It felt like the whole match was building up to a spot where Reigns jumped out of the ring onto a sea of men. Luke Harper also came down to the ring, and that brought Daniel Bryan away from the commentary table. This was fine.
Ring Area
Rob Stone and Matt Leinart are in the front row.
Match 6
WWE Title Match
Brock Lesnar w/ Paul Heyman vs Kofi Kingston (WWE Champ)
(referee: Charles Robinson)
Result: Brock Lensar wins via pinfall after an F5
Time: 0:08
Match Thoughts
I’m pissed.
Ring Area
Mark Henry and Goldberg are in the front row.
After a few seconds to ponder what just happened, Rey Mysterio’s music plays. Rey comes out to the stage. His arm is in a sling, and to his side is Cain Velasquez. Velasquez heads to the ring and takes down Lesnar. Lesnar covers up and rolls out of the ring.
Lesnar and Heyman start to walk away, but Lesnar turns back around. The commentators talk about seeing fear in Lesnar’s eyes. Lesnar considers getting back into the ring, but he decides not to.
Show Impressions
I liked the show, but the WWE Title match send a wave of anger over me. I understand that the journey is more important than the destination, and the moments Kofi has had since before Elimination Chamber have been some of the greatest in WWE, but it felt like they threw it all away because they want MMA guys to fight.
Yeah, sure, I knew Kofi would eventually lose the title, but they could have done it in a better way. Kofi essentially said it himself earlier in the night; He feels like he has to prove himself with every title match. He’s proven himself to be a worthy champ time and time again, but every match gets tougher, and every match feels like he’s proving he can stand with the top-tier superstars. Tonight, it felt like WWE didn’t care. Other champs and former champs have faced Lesnar and lost, but they often put up a fight. Balor, Bryan, Styles, and more all faced Lesnar, but they all gave him a good fight. Kofi was crushed in seconds. It felt like WWE was trying to strip away the accomplishments Kofi had earned.
On top of that, it felt like something that WWE does over and over again. They took the title away with very little buildup and no story because they wanted to go in a different direction. They didn’t even try to make Lesnar and Kofi into a proper feud, or even a proper match. They just wanted the title on Lesnar. There was no endgame in mind for Kofi Kingston’s reign, and if there was, it was thrown out because this MMA guy showed up. It’s kind of infuriating.
Maybe Cain Velasquez is a good pro wrestler. I don’t know, but really, that’s beside the point. Even if Lesnar versus Velasquez is the greatest match in the world, Kofi’s reign deserved more of an emotional ending. Instead, Kofi was crushed (and he wasn’t even announced last in the match which I thought was stupid and strange right from the start). Then Kofi disappears as the commentators gush about a guy we’ve never seen in a WWE ring before. Kofi was not seen again tonight after he got squashed. We didn’t even see him leave the ring.
And again, I appreciate that Velasquez is an accomplished MMA guy. But I’m watching pro wrestling, not MMA. For them to bring in this guy and have him be the only guy that Lesnar has ever been scared of is not exciting to me (as the commentators repeatedly assured me that Lesnar was, in fact, scared). And then the commentators assured me that Velasquez is a “legit” fighter and so on and so forth. I f’ing hate it when WWE tells me that MMA fighters are “real” fighters and are “legit” tough guys. It absolutely feels like they are telling me that these people with MMA backgrounds are better fighters than the other pro wrestlers currently employed in WWE. Tonight, they told me that Velasquez is legit while Kofi Kingston isn’t. That’s garbage, and as a fan, it makes me not want to watch. I don’t want my wrestling show to talk down to me.
Additionally, I wholeheartedly dislike Lesnar as champ. I’m done with it. It’s boring. I don’t want to see him with a top title. I don’t get excited to see him lose it, I just want him not to have it.
Match of the Night
Kevin Owens vs Shane McMahon
Finally they allowed Shane to lose. If this had gone the other way, this show would have been a total waste of my time. I liked the match. I thought Shane probably got too much offense, but I still liked it. If they find a way to get Shane back on TV… I don’t know. But for now, I’m happy with this.
Official Results: https://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/wwe-friday-night-smackdown-oct-4-2019