SmackDown

Pat McAfee is doing an excellent job at the commentary desk for SmackDown alongside Michael Cole. WWE likes to mix up its announcers every few years, and this move is working out well. Some members of the WWE universe will recognize McAfee from NXT from which he had two excellent performances – one against Adam Cole in a singles match at Takeover: 30 in August and the other end of November at Takeover: WarGames.

Roman Reigns retains the Universal championship against Daniel Bryan and introduces a new entrance song which has been in the works for months; The Tribal Chief is becoming one of the most dominant champions in WWE history

That was probably one of the greatest main events in the entire history of SmackDown since the inception of the program back in 1999 (thanks to The Rock) to supplement Monday Night Raw and give more television time to superstars who had earned it. Personally, I have not lived long enough to remember every main event of the program – but this one featured two of the top five WWE superstars of the last decade, as well as being promoted very well (with several WWE superstars putting promos about it.

The Tribal Chief has finally debuted his new music. I read about plans for this right after Roman became Universal champion, and the work finally came together. This new music will grow more and more on the WWE universe as they hear it associated with Roman Reigns. I would have guessed that this new music would have debuted at Mania (the biggest show of the year), but instead WWE opted to introduce it in a WrestleMania rematch of sorts (this was a rematch against one of the two Mania challengers).

One could easily imagine a story in which Edge becomes jealous that Bryan was given a one-on-one title match against Reigns and he didn’t receive one. This could ultimately lead to a Universal title match down the road between Roman and Adam Copeland.

The Head of The Table is clearly being protected by WWE management for one, or multiple, massive matches and he will most likely remain Universal champion until they happen – which is largely dependent on how long this pandemic in the United States lasts. I don’t know exactly who the opponents are that Roman Reigns is being protected for (it could be John Cena, The Rock, or even Brock Lesnar), but he will likely hold onto the title until conditions evolve in such a way so that it can happen.

It was somewhat surprising to see the Head of The Table sandwich the head of Daniel Bryan between two steel chairs. It makes perfect sense from a storyline standpoint because Roman did the same thing to Edge in the main event of WrestleMania 37 just a few weeks ago – not to mention that Edge has become famous for doing that exact thing to his opponents throughout his career (The Rated-R Superstar did this most transiently at Mania 36 to deceive Randy Orton).

But it’s surprising that WWE would allow Roman to do this to Edge due to his history with neck issues. Adam Copeland sustained a broken neck in a classic match on SmackDown with Eddie Guerrero (another one of the program’s all-time great matches) in 2002. There were complications during surgery, and he was fully aware that he was wrestling on borrowed time. Edge finally had to call it quits in 2011 after Mania 27 until he was able to fight his way back nine years later.

Daniel Bryan has a similar story of having to retire early. Edge had to do it at 37 years old and Bryan was forced to do the same at 34. Daniel sustained a serious neck injury in 2013 but continued to power through until WrestleMania 30. Bryan finally had to step away from WWE to prepare his neck about a month later before returning in January 2015. Daniel was unable to win the Royal Rumble match but went on to capture the Intercontinental title at Mania 31 in 2015. Unfortunately, he would again have to relinquish the title shortly thereafter because he was experiencing disorientation among other problems with his head.

As it turned out, Daniel concluded that he needed to step away from WWE once again to allow his head time to heal because he and his wife had already decided on having kids. Doctors advised the same thing for his health. Bryan wanted to ensure his children would have a healthy father, so he made the difficult decision to retire from wrestling in 2016 (in Seattle – near his hometown – on a cold February night). Daniel Bryan returned in 2018 at Mania 34 to revive the YES! Movement and is now being gradually ushered out as a full-time WWE superstar. His loss in a title match to Roman Reigns to be banished from SmackDown is a strong way to go out.

He is not retiring by any means – Daniel will still wrestle probably every couple of months – but his primary objective is to be present for his wife and kids.

Mr. McMahon was deciding between Roman Reigns and Big E as the last two men in the decision-making process for who was going to be the next face of WWE after John Cena in 2015. It has been a slow but steady rise to the top of the company for Big E, but any intuitive member of the WWE universe could have inferred that (it’s still not complete until he wins a world title – that will happen when the time is right). As Paul Heyman alluded to a couple of weeks ago, this Intercontinental championship victory last week was the first step for E in reaching the same status as Roman Reigns.

The last time the current champion won the IC championship he held it for roughly 6 months, so he might hold the same title this go around for the same amount of time or longer to give him credibility as a champion right now and as a Universal champion in the future. 2021 is off to a great start for E, and this might be the time in his career that he remembers most fondly when it is all said and done. The New Day will be a wonderful chapter in his career (and maybe the most fun), but it will probably not be what he is most fondly remembered for.

Overall this is an absolutely fantastic time for SmackDown because the brand is led by two of its top athletes and most dynamic characters – Roman Reigns as Universal champion and Big E as Intercontinental champion. It is finally starting to pay off for Big E after 8 years on the WWE main roster, now it will be rather poetic if an incredible worker and surprisingly charismatic Cesaro were to experience something similar in the next couple of years. Cesaro is a man who has spent a significant portion of his career (just like Big E) as a tag team wrestler, largely with Sheamus as The Bar.

Big E will begin his second Intercontinental championship reign by defending against Apollo Crews just two weeks after winning the title on Christmas Day. It is very encouraging to see Apollo being spotlighted again by WWE after not having been featured on WWE programming since September when he feuded with Bobby Lashley over the United States championship on RAW. Crews was drafted to SmackDown in October 2020 and is beginning 2021 the right way with an intercontinental title opportunity. This is also the first Apollo has been used in the months since he switched brands in the draft.

Crews has moved between RAW and SmackDown more times than most people care to keep up with since being called up to the main roster from NXT in 2016 (right after WrestleMania 32). He was drastically underutilized on the main roster until the night after Mania 36 when he defeated Aleister Black (who Mr. McMahon is not particularly high on). The vibe and in-ring style Black presents are almost tailor-made to what Triple H and Shawn Michaels want to present in NXT but not as much for the main roster. Black has asked WWE management about returning to NXT, but he was told no.

Crews has undoubtedly had the greatest year of his WWE career so far, having become United States champion (his first title on the main roster). Right now the 33-year-old is kind of in the same boat as Ricochet, another former United States champion who Mr. McMahon is also not particularly high on. According to the Chairman of the Board, Ricochet was always more of a Paul Heyman project, so the push of The One and Only slowed along with that of Aleister Black when Heyman was relieved of his duties as Executive Director of Monday Night RAW.

Paul Heyman was only in charge of the booking duties for Monday Night RAW for a little over a year, but it doesn’t make much sense right now because the ratings for the program were experiencing a resurgence with Paul in charge. New superstars were being focused on and that was drawing many viewers. Now Monday Night RAW is in the proverbial toilet right now from a ratings perspectives (the program received its lowest rating in its history on December 14 of 1.527 million viewers).

But for right now the primary focus is Apollo Crews who Mr. McMahon is high on (there have been no reports to the contrary) and will be challenging Big E next week for his first intercontinental championship. It would also be his second title on the main roster.

Big E is a 2x Intercontinental champion, and it looks like he has done the inner work necessary to become the most authentic person of himself and embody his own energy. While E is IC champion, perhaps Sami Zayn could do some work with Kevin Owens; they work so well together, and Kevin has seemingly wrapped up his storyline with Roman Reigns for the Universal championship. This would be fitting as both men have just lost title matches.

The push of Big E has been a slow burn over the past 8 years that has required some serious patience. Roman Reigns, who debuted on the main roster about a month earlier and was chosen as the next phase of the company after John Cena, had more of a direct path to the top. The Shield lasted for less than two years and his rise to the top of the company started immediately after that. Big E had roughly a two-year run on the main roster which included an IC championship reign. The New Day was incredibly successful over six years before splitting in October for E to officially begin his singles run again.

After feuding with Sheamus (and coming out although rivalry looking strong) back in August, one could have conceived that it would make the most sense for WWE to continue that momentum of E by booking him in a title feud immediately following this. However, Vince McMahon decided to wait a few months before orchestrating for E to win the Intercontinental championship for the second time in his career. No one will forget this title victory because it took place on Christmas. While he has already accomplished this once before in his career, this was still an excellent idea because it has been a very long time since Big E was a singles competitor (most kids under 10 years old don’t even remember). He will still absolutely weighing many world titles throughout his career, and this second run with the Intercontinental championship will serve to remind fans of why he has earned it over the years (Patience is a virtue).

The match between Daniel Bryan and Jey Uso was one of DB’s better performances of 2020 (excluding Pay-Per-Views). Jey Uso has also become a top-level main event superstar on SmackDown; his brother Jimmy will instantly be thrown into that same position when he returns from injury in January or February and joins The Bloodline with their cousin Roman Reigns giving orders as the Head of The Table.

Back to Daniel Bryan, he appears to be in an excellent place in life – nothing appears to be weighing too heavily on his consciousness right now. He is in a transitional phase in life in which he is wrapping up his full-time WWE career and looking toward the future where his family is the top priority. This man appears to have an excellent conceptualization of his priorities in life. His family is at the top of the list, and everything else just kind of falls into place.

Even though Bryan is looking toward the future and what that may bring with two kids and a wife to take care of, for now he is 100% focused on accomplishing the one thing he has never done in WWE, and that would be to win a Royal Rumble match. Back in 2015 – the year Roman Reigns won it – the entire WWE universe was clamoring for Daniel Bryan to get the victory. The two men would meet again in the main event of the Fastlane 2015 the following month before Roman went on to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31 (Seth Rollins walked out of that event with the WWE World Heavyweight championship after cashing in his Money in the Bank contract). Bryan captured the Intercontinental championship for the first time in his career

Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens dominate SmackDown at the beginning and at the end; KO wraps up the night by taking a terrible beating from The Tribal Chief

Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens dominated the beginning and the end of the night. The Head of The Table delivered a beating to KO (with the assistance of Jey Uso) because he would not acknowledge Roman as the Head of The Table. This may or may not lead to a potential feud between Uce and Owens beginning immediately after TLC. There is also the possibility that Daniel Bryan will begin a rivalry with Jey Uso after TLC. This might be a smaller-scale rivalry which takes place on SmackDown for several weeks if WWE decided to go this route, because there are reportedly plans in place to have Daniel Bryan challenge Roman Reigns for the Universal title at Royal Rumble.

Back to TLC, one other possibility is that during the match at Pay-Per-View between Reigns and Owens is the possible return of Bill Goldberg to cost Roman the Universal championship. Rumors have been circulating that Goldberg might make his return at TLC to set up a WrestleMania 37 encounter with the Head of The Table. This would obviously be a rematch of sorts – Reigns and Goldberg were originally scheduled to headline the 36^th edition of this event in 2020, but those plans were put on hold when Reigns made the decision to put his family first and take several months away from WWE to care for his newborn twins (which is extremely commendable because Roman gives so much of his life to WWE. It’s nice to know he has his priorities straight).

Sasha Banks is the face and The Standard in the women’s division for right now, but it won’t be long before Carmella takes over that role at least for a little while

Carmella is an absolute star in the making with her new character that is extremely authentic to her. Personally, I don’t resonate with it a whole lot, but that doesn’t matter. I respect her character, because it’s authentic to her and that’s the reason it’s going to get over. If she can become a champion with an inauthentic character, she’s virtually guaranteed success with an authentic character.

She will most likely not win the SmackDown Women’s Championship this Sunday because Sasha Banks still has too much momentum on her side, not to mention at only 28 years old Sasha still has much more to accomplish in her WWE career. However, it won’t be a very long time before Carmella is champion yet again.

Perspective on the Bayley – Belair result.

It seems over the past several months, WWE has had a propensity to book 1 or 2 rivalries that seem like they will only at show up at the next Pay-Per-View event, and the match occurs on the go-home edition of SmackDown; this week was no exception.

The Street Profits retained their SmackDown Tag Team Championships against Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode. The challengers do have some momentum on their side, but maybe not quite enough yet to challenge for the titles. However, Montez Ford’s wife Bianca Belair was not so fortunate against Bayley. This might have been the most interesting match of the night, because it was somewhat of a perplexing finish, but it can be understood with perspective.

Bayley is still relatively young (even though she has been on the main roster for several years now), so she will most likely be turned into a massive star in WWE, and she is already one of the top stars in the women’s division – on any brand. On the other hand, Belair will also have a similar fate to Bayley and become one of the cornerstones of the women’s division in WWE, but she has many more years ahead of her to make this happen. Bayley does also, but she is already a pretty darn big star in the company and WWE has decided to use this opportunity to make her an even bigger superstar.

Results like this in WWE are sometimes nice because they give fans an impetus to think about what the company is thinking in the booking process and it gives one the opportunity to put oneself on the same wavelength as far as thought patterns go. The result is perplexing at first, but you think about that enough and it starts to make sense because you put yourself on the same wavelength.

The intention of the pairing of Chad Gable and Otis might be to formulate Gable into a bigger star and gradually assimilate him into more of an integral role in WWE – because this alliance certainly is not doing Otis any favors. The big man was much better off with Tucker and Mandy Rose earlier in the year, so this may be a way to subtly integrate Chad Gable into the mix while his presence is on the back burner in the collective minds of the WWE universe.

The fact that Otis is not being spotlighted is the primary phenomenon being focused on, but the booking might have the intention of getting Gable over. In life, oftentimes when things go one way the universe pulls something completely out of left field that is totally unexpected (and much better), and maybe that’s what the company has planned for this storyline. Just a thought to move on.

Carmella may be a viable threat to the SmackDown Women’s Championship several months down the road but putting the title on her now would be way too early since this was her first match back after quite a while away from the ring

Carmella is in the process of establishing herself as a legitimate threat to Sasha Banks’ SmackDown Women’s title and positioning herself as a major presence in the collective consciousness of the WWE universe, and it’s largely working. As for now, keeping the title on Sasha Banks is absolutely the right way to go. Carmella is on the right path, although Sasha – for right now – is the much more established superstar. Banks may very well end up defending the title against Carmella in a rematch at TLC in nine days, but the right decision was made for the time being.

A second run with the Intercontinental title could be exactly the thing Big E needs to ultimately be propelled to WrestleMania main event status

In theory, Big E will most likely challenge Sami Zayn for the IC championship at TLC to give his renewed singles push momentum after the splitting of The New Day despite losing a match this week to The Great Liberator. E winning the IC title for a second time in his career (he won it seven years ago when he was doing the five-count gimmick) would provide a nice plateau for him to springboard off and be launched into the next tier of superstardom in WWE.

As for Zayn, there are similarities between he and The Miz in the way each of their characters are presented on WWE programming. Both are cowardly heels who will do just about anything (absence of moral compass) to retain the title. Zayn getting the victory this week will serve to make it so that the WWE universe will be wanting The Great Liberator to lose the Intercontinental championship even more come December 20 at the Pay-Per-View. If he becomes an even bigger heel right before he drops the title it will serve in the long run to make E into an even bigger star. This is exactly the reason I am a bigger fan of heels – because they have the ability to put over faces much more often and make someone’s career – which is extremely rewarding both personally and professionally.

Chad Gable and Otis are both finding their Way

Chad Gable has been an extremely underrated superstar since he first started in NXT tagging with Jason Jordan. Gable is somewhat reminiscent of a smaller version of Kurt Angle – primarily because he is also an Olympian (2012) – with a rather decent amount of charisma. He was able to shed the Shorty G moniker given to him by King Corbin in 2019, and hopefully this run with Otis goes somewhere. Meanwhile, Otis dropped the Money in the Bank briefcase to The Miz because WWE made the decision to rely on established superstars (this makes sense during the pandemic era). Otis is obviously still in the process of establishing a presence in the company.

It’s a miracle – Dolph Ziggler actually got a victory over Montez Ford for the first time in seemingly a half decade. Expect Angelo Dawkins to get the pin over Robert Roode next week on the Go-Home edition of SmackDown before TLC to create some suspense for the tag team title match.

R.I.P. Pat Patterson. There is absolutely no way WWE would be anywhere near as big a production as it is without you. This is one of the few men who is more fondly remembered – at least by me – for the work he did for the business after his in-ring career was finished (even though he was crowned the first Intercontinental Champion in 1979). Patterson was one of Vince McMahon’s lead writers during WWE’s most prosperous era – The Attitude Era in the late 1990s and early 2000’s. He was essentially Vince McMahon’s right-hand man for many years and most importantly, he developed a very meaningful relationship with countless WWE superstars across several different eras. He touched the hearts and lives of so many people, which I feel should be the goal of every human being throughout their lives.

Dolph Ziggler, Shinsuke Nakamura and Rey Mysterio didn’t provide a ton of storyline continuity in this match, but it didn’t matter much because the primary purpose of it was to pay tribute to Pat Patterson. With the other three superstars in the match, a case could be made for Daniel Bryan to challenge Sami Zayn at TLC, but he might be more effective challenging Jey Uso (the new main eventer has so much momentum right now that he needs a bigtime opponent at TLC, and Bryan fits perfectly because he is already so established in the company).

In the meantime, Big E can challenge Sami Zayn for the IC title at the Pay-Per-View – and most likely take the Intercontinental Championship for the second time in his main roster run. E will be able to provide a level of seriousness and legitimacy to the IC title picture that Zayn (who is established as a cowardly heel right now) simply cannot – Mr. McMahon even viewed him as a potential face of the company before deciding to go with Roman Reigns about six years ago.

Jey Uso is a new main eventer which WWE always needs because stars are not created every day that resonate with the WWE universe; Kayla Braxton is given a major opportunity; Otis shines in the main event, and Roman Reigns has created a very human character everyone can relate to

Roman Reigns is gradually introducing the WWE ThunderDome to one or two sects of this incarnation of his WWE character each week. The Head of The Table is also taking an adequate amount of time to get every nuance of his character over as much as he possibly can, so the WWE universe becomes familiar with the character and slowly resonates with it. Roman originally got the idea to portray this sort of character from the role Daniel Day Lewis portrayed in the 2002 film Gangs of New York.

Lewis’s character was so identified with his own delusions that he began to act as though his worldview was the ideal one to live by – even though he was committing what most other people would consider to be atrocities. In essence, this is all any of us are doing in this life – living by our own set of standards and we all have our own various justifications as to why our behavior is okay, when others might see it as awful. We are all human beings doing our best with the level of consciousness we are at, and constantly striving to evolve. Roman Reigns chose a very human character that everyone can somehow relate to.

The Tribal Chief has also turned his cousin Jey Uso into a top-level main event star. SmackDown has experienced its highest viewership totals of the entire calendar year 2020 in the past five weeks, in which Jey Uso has participated in the main event every one of those weeks (six including this past week). Make no mistake about it – this is the case because of Uso’s familial affiliation with Roman. Either way, Seth Rollins is not the only man in WWE who has been focused on putting over younger superstars as of late because his former Shield brother Roman Reigns has done the exact same thing over the past 2 ½ months by putting over his cousin Josh (one year younger) and making him a new main event star in WWE.

Paul Heyman graciously gave his Talking Smack co-host Kayla Braxton the opportunity to interview Roman Reigns. She did a good job overall (even though Roman and Paul didn’t think so but he apologized ) in the role Renée Young occupied for years. As a quick side note, there is also a very small wrinkle to the entrance track of Kevin Owens. Otis received the biggest spotlight he has ever received in WWE by getting the opportunity to participate in a tag team match with Kevin Owens against The Big Dog and his cousin Jey Uso – Otis also got his first opportunity in the company to interact with Roman Reigns – by taking a beating courtesy of the steel stairs.

Jey Uso’s brother Jimmy might be returning to action in WWE in about a month – this will be similar to the timing of Seth Rollins’ return from paternity leave; his wife Becky Lynch should be able to return to action not long after that – presumably to the SmackDown brand. She was a member of Monday Night Raw before her pregnancy, but Vince McMahon likes to keep couples on the same brand, so they have the opportunity to spend as much time together as possible.

Big things in store for Bianca Belair, and those big things start with knocking off Bayley

The spot WWE is intending to get to regarding the push of Bianca Belair is to position her as a top contender to the women’s title – she will most likely become champion within the next 6 – 12 months. The steppingstone WWE is positioning her to overcome before that is by defeating the woman who has been on top for most of the past two years – Bayley. The company is most likely headed towards booking a match between Bayley and Belair for TLC on December 20 – Belair should go over – at least I would expect.

Sasha Banks has to be appreciated for bringing up James Ellsworth this week. Despite that this was 3.5  – 4 years ago, there were still some fun moments to be appreciated and that’s what WWE is all about – creating moments that stick out in the memory banks of people

The rivalry between Murphy and King Corbin will likely come to an end at TLC since both men have scored one victory over the other, albeit each one was with help from the outside. Murphy was assisted by the Mysterio family last week, and this week Corbin brought out Wesley Blake (who ironically used to comprise a tag team alongside Murphy in NXT about five years ago (who can forget Alexa Bliss, so this fit perfectly into the framework of the story) and Steve Cutler to help him pick up the victory.

All the sudden the SmackDown tag team division is getting crowded. Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler beat The Street Profits clean last week so they have definitely earned a title shot, not to mention they were also scheduled to challenge The Street Profits for the championships on Monday Night Raw before both teams were drafted to the blue brand. However, now another team is asserting that they should be in the title picture – Cesaro and Nakamura, who lost the titles in July. In my view, Cesaro absolutely needs to be WWE champion at least one time before he retires. His level of charisma is more than enough (the ripping apart of the beach ball at SummerSlam 2017 when he was part of The Bar with Sheamus.

On that night Cesaro was hyper-present, listened to what the audience was giving him and thought to himself “they’re all entertained by the ball more than me. I need to do something with the ball and be brave enough to just see if I get any reaction. He allowed the WWE universe to energetically put him on the wavelength he needed to be on.

Jey Uso fails again to impose the will of the Universal Champion on the rest of the Roster; Kevin Owens finally being integrated on SmackDown for the first time since the WWE draft on October 9

it could have been anticipated that Kevin Owens would receive a major opportunity to shine on SmackDown this week given the fact that he was a guest commentator on NXT this week – filling in for Wade Barrett for the week and bringing the KO Show to NXT. Roman Reigns saw earlier in the night that Owens did not respect him as the undisputed leader of the locker room, so he tasked his cousin Jey Uso to beat some respect into Kevin (which largely was a futile effort because Kevin Owens is so outspoken).

Owens followed this by calling out the Head of The Table, so it seems likely that KO will be Roman’s next challenger for the Universal title on December 20 at TLC. Kevin Owens has been basically in WWE purgatory for the last eight months since ‘Mania and the rivalry with Seth Rollins, so it has to be encouraging for him to finally be incorporated into a storyline with significant meaning for the future.

Daniel Bryan to feud with Jey Uso in the immediate future before ultimately beginning a Universal championship rivalry with Roman Reigns right around Royal Rumble time in January; Daniel Bryan undertaking a backstage role in the production of WWE programming and executing the job extremely well

Jey Uso attacked multiple superstars this week, so his direction is somewhat difficult to figure out for someone who does not follow WWE programming on a regular basis. Uce attacked Otis, Daniel Bryan, and also participated in a match with Kevin Owens. He was basically fighting his cousin’s battle for him with KO, and Mr. McMahon most likely wanted to give Otis a spotlight for another week because Vince is a massive fan of Otis and what he could potentially bring to the table for the next decade in the company (he is not even 30 years old yet). In all seriousness, however, WWE would like to explore in more depth the rivalry between Jey Uso and Daniel Bryan.

As Daniel Bryan has previously stated, this run for him through WrestleMania 37 will be his final run as a full-time superstar. Bryan is transitioning into a backstage role on the WWE creative team. He is currently working on SmackDown as both an in-ring competitor as well as sitting in on headsets with Mr. McMahon and throwing himself into learning the intricacies of how WWE goes about producing its television programs. Bryan is also waiting in the Gorilla position consistently to give superstars advice on their performances.

Daniel Bryan’s fingerprints are essentially all over the production of SmackDown in the past few weeks – he also participated in a match with Sami Zayn (a ‘Mania rematch which undoubtedly would have been an unbelievable match if it were given the adequate amount of time). The company is in the process of portraying Sami in light of a delusional character.

Bryan got an opportunity to earn an IC championship match, but it looks like that will go to Big E to further his singles push by putting the intercontinental title on him for the second time, while Bryan goes after Jey Uso.

Bianca Belair also continued her ascent in the women’s division with a victory over Natalya. The EST of WWE is on pace to become a women’s champion in WWE within about 6 – 12 months. The Street Profits (Bianca is married to Montez Ford) meanwhile could not get it done against Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler. They will most likely not win the titles in the near future, but they will serve as great challengers to the titles considering they are both former tag team champions.

King Corbin cuts a phenomenal heel promo, putting down Rey Mysterio while putting over Murphy in the ring and getting his singles run off to a solid start with a victory over a sizable name just one week after the conclusion of the long-term rivalry between Murphy and Seth Rollins. Congratulations to Seth on the birth of he and Becky Lynch’s child which should be coming in a couple of weeks.

SmackDown has been on a streak of putting together several months of excellent programming, particularly the go-home episode right before a Pay-Per-View.

Three examples are:

1. The finals of the Intercontinental title tournament after Sami Zayn relinquished it earlier this year between Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles right before Backlash,
2. The Intercontinental championship match between Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles on the go-home episode right before SummerSlam,
3. And, even the recent encounter between Seth Rollins and Murphy, all three of which were Pay-Per-View-quality matches.

The November 20th edition of the program was quite possibly the greatest episode SmackDown has presented in 2020 because of the excellent transitions into each segment. Every part of the show seemed to flow together brilliantly.

Daniel Bryan was one of the highlights of the night. This edition was so well-done that there were about three segments that could have been perceived as the highlight of the night, but this was an awfully big deal, nonetheless.

The superstar Mr. McMahon opted to focus on most heavily this week was Daniel Bryan, which makes perfect sense in theory because he does not have a match scheduled for Survivor Series this Sunday. Bryan got some retribution by getting a victory over Jey Uso after being attacked by him several weeks ago. Speaking of Uso, he has benefited every bit as much as – if not more than – his cousin Roman Reigns in the past couple months since the storyline began between the two family members. Uce has been firmly established in the main event scene right beside his cousin and is serving as almost an indentured servant to The Head of The Table.

The leader of the Yes! Movement also hinted at the possibility of potentially beginning a rivalry with Sami Zayn starting immediately after Survivor Series for the Intercontinental title. Zayn has Bobby Lashley to worry about this Sunday, but Bryan has been involved on and off in the IC championship picture since June of this year. He has always been a proponent of the idea of the Intercontinental Champion defending the title on a weekly basis. AJ Styles didn’t share the same sentiment earlier in 2020, and Zayn has had similar disagreements with Bryan in recent weeks.

The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns is portraying a character right now who is so arrogant and sure of himself that people cannot help but like him, even though they know in the back of their mind that he is behaving in a very conceited manner. It is reminiscent of the way Paul Heyman’s mentality was when he was advocating for Brock Lesnar. Now that Roman has established himself as The Head of The Table and the unquestioned leader of WWE, he can now let loose and rule exactly how he sees fit.

If my memory is correct, Paul Heyman told Roman in 2015 (the year Reigns won the Royal Rumble which was not received very well – the WWE universe was clamoring for the returning Daniel Bryan) during the buildup to the WrestleMania 31 main event against Brock Lesnar that he was “the right guy, in the right place, at the wrong time.” So it’s extremely ironic that Roman does the same thing to Drew McIntyre just five years later – with Heyman at his side. This is a full-circle moment and maybe it will turn out differently for McIntyre – on the other hand, maybe it won’t. We will find out at Survivor Series.

Rollins, Mysterio and Murphy have told a brilliant story with many layers and nuances over the past six months. Murphy got the victory over Seth and it will hopefully launch him as a major superstar (as was Rollins’ intention all along. Young people like Dominik Mysterio also benefited.

The open storyline between Seth Rollins and Murphy was extremely well-done and executed nearly to perfection. It was about as good as a long-term story gets in WWE – primarily because it did its job effectively of writing Rollins off TV for his paternity leave presumably after Survivor Series. It also firmly established some groundwork for Murphy to work off of and it will hopefully springboard him into superstardom – now having an affiliation with the Mysterio family and being closely tied with them.

It’s great to see that the company found meaningful work for Chad Gable after dropping the Shorty G moniker – Otis as well after Tucker departed from SmackDown for RAW after the draft to seek greener pastures. Otis as well as Chad Gable now each have something meaningful to occupy themselves with now that Otis – with Gable in his corner – is the fifth member of Team SmackDown. And The New Day is always a welcome addition anywhere they decide to show up – now they dominate both brands, which is great marketing.

Bayley is also providing continuity between storylines by proclaiming herself the captain of the SmackDown Women’s Survivor Series Team. Bianca Belair might have something to say about that given how she has dominated every woman on the roster since WrestleMania 36. The company is looking to establish her as the next major superstar in the women’s division. Carmella also made sure Sasha Banks did not forget about her challenge for the title after her rivalry with Asuka finishes.

The Big Dog and The Messiah are creating new stars in The Uso’s and Murphy – bringing them up to the top-tier

So The Uso’s are out of the Samoan Dynasty – the Anoa’i family – if Jey Uso is unable to win the Universal Championship from his cousin Roman Reigns in the first-ever “I Quit” Hell In A Cell match. This could be setting the stage for the faction on SmackDown which is most likely going to manifest within the next several weeks, with The Uso’s as the first two members. Throughout the initiation process, they will most likely become subservient to The Samoan Tribal Chief.

An interesting fact is that Jey Uso became the first WWE superstar to pin Roman Reigns on the main roster in September 2013 when the odds were stacked against The Shield (they had already established themselves as a dominant faction 10 months earlier).

This is exactly what the WWE universe has been waiting to see from Murphy – a Pay-Per-View quality match with a top-level superstar (not sure why the company would not elect to schedule a match like this for two days later at HIAC – most likely because nearly all of WWE’s revenue in the last few years has come from TV). SmackDown tends to place a heavier amount of emphasis and focus on quality in-ring performances, so someone like Murphy will fit right in. He actually has history on the blue brand as he previously had encounters with Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns (losses) before he became the disciple of Seth Rollins.

Rollins, meanwhile, is accomplishing his primary goal right now of putting over younger superstars like Murphy. WWE bookers are also looking to gradually segue the Mysterio family out of this storyline, making it a rivalry involving just Seth Rollins and Murphy (to give Murph more of a direct spotlight.

The seemingly never-ending saga between Sasha Banks and Bayley may be coming to an end (or at least there’s an avenue for it to potentially end)

Sasha and Bayley have been heavily featured in the same storyline since becoming the first-ever Women’s Tag Team Champions in February 2019. But not just that – they have been featured in the same storyline with one another on and off for the better part of the last 3.5 years. After this long it may be time for WWE to finally move on from this storyline, simply because it’s getting a little repetitive.

Maybe just have Sasha win the SmackDown Women’s Championship and move on. WWE originally planned for this storyline between Bayley and Sasha Banks to end several months ago, but both women were embracing their roles so effectively. Because of that the company made the decision to keep the tag team titles on them for a few more months.

Chad Gable and JBL unexpectedly get a significant amount of time to shine this week

Shorty G quit just like JBL did at WrestleMania 25 in 2009 (good foreshadowing considering there is an “I Quit” match scheduled featuring the face of the company this Sunday). He didn’t quit wrestling altogether; he just doesn’t want to embody his current persona any longer of “excepting who he is” (King Corbin gave him the moniker Shorty G last year at Hell In A Cell). Lars Sullivan looked dominant as always, but Chad Gable was the real priority here, which was refreshing to see as he hasn’t been taken seriously since tagging with Shelton Benjamin in 2017 – 18.

JBL and Ron Simmons presided over the trial between Otis and The Miz. The match between these two men this Sunday will have actual stakes (unlike Elias – Jeff Hardy). Otis may be more of a comedy act right now, but the WWE universe has to remember that he is relatively young – not even 30 years old – and has the backing of the Chairman of the Board. When superstars have Mr. McMahon on their side they tend to have prosperous careers, so expect Otis to be around for a long time.

The EST being established as the next true superstar in the WWE Women’s Division

The powers backstage in WWE are working to establish legit superstars in the Women’s Division – at the moment most of the women in WWE are relatively young and don’t necessarily have the experience (the women who do, like Becky Lynch (maternity leave) and Charlotte Flair (overexposure) are out currently. Bianca Belair is at the top of the priority list right now to be established as a main eventer in the Women’s Division. The same issue is being addressed on Monday Night Raw.

It was encouraging to see Daniel Bryan back in action for the first time in approximately four months after taking paternity leave. There is a small chance he could form a tag team with Kevin Owens, since Kevin has not had a significant storyline to be able to sink his teeth into since WrestleMania (where he got his first true ‘Mania moment by defeating Seth Rollins – and also jumping off the WrestleMania sign). Their hypothetical team could emerge as contenders to the Street Profits and the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, along with the two heel tag teams of Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode and Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura (who they competed against in this 8-man match to help bolster the presence of the tag team division).

Seth Rollins will likely feud with Daniel Bryan after his Paternity Leave

Seth Rollins should fit like a glove on SmackDown considering he is probably one of the top three stars in WWE (in addition to Roman Reigns and Randy Orton – the reason I don’t put Brock Lesnar in there is because his contract with WWE expired at WrestleMania 36 and Mr. McMahon did not renew it). SmackDown has historically focused on placing a heavier emphasis on in-ring action going back to 2002 when Michael Cole and Taz called the action with a slightly more frenetic tone to their voices.

The members of the WWE universe that have followed the company in the last several years are well aware that Seth is extremely capable in the ring (the year he put together in 2018 as Monday Night Rollins – especially during his time as Intercontinental Champion – was a perfect example, for his Universal Championship defense against AJ Styles in 2019). Monday Night Raw typically places more emphasis on emotionally hooking people with compelling promos through excellent storytelling, which Rollins has improved significantly over the years – and he was not bad to begin with.

This week on the season premiere of SmackDown Rollins explored the potentiality of clashing with Daniel Bryan (who has just returned from paternity leave, which is ironic because Seth will be taking paternity leave in a couple months) in the near future. That will have to wait for several months at least, because Rollins is currently embroiled in a feud with his former disciple Murphy. This will write him off TV once Murphy ultimately gets the better of him.

King Corbin has taken more losses than wins recently, and that’s a good thing (DDP). It is Ironically a testament to how naturally gifted of a heel he is

Ironically, the fact that King Corbin has taken so many losses over the past year is actually a testament to how great of a heel he is. Very few heels have the ability to embody a character that is so naturally unlikable that they don’t even need to win or carry a title to be hated. Corbin has taken losses to the likes of Elias at Mania 36 as well as eating a pin from Matt Riddle at Payback on August 30 – the last WWE Pay-Per-View in which he competed.

Corbin is a valuable commodity to the company. He is not a heel like Triple H was who was obsessed with titles. Corbin has proven his value in WWE in multiple roles – The Lone Wolf, Constable of Monday Night Raw, and now King Corbin.

Roman Reigns is looking to leave WWE in a better state than when he found it by ushering in a new era of characters in professional wrestling where they are no longer reliant on the heel/babyface dynamic, but instead always behave in a manner that is authentic to the individual. Whatever mold that happens to fit into – this would allow performers the freedom to be themselves. This makes for the best overall product – because superstars are loose and not trying to necessarily appease anyone.

It is a primary goal of Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman evolve WWE and the wrestling business as a whole to a point where the need for traditional babyfaces and heels is rendered completely obsolete and antiquated. Instead, WWE characters will be placed in positions according to storylines where they react as any typical human being would and the business becomes more relatable to the average person as a result. Roman begin this process back in 2016, after WrestleMania 32, when he cut a promo stating that, “I’m not a bad guy, I’m not a good guy, I’m the guy.”

The goal of the current Samoan Tribal Chief/Universal Champion incarnation of Roman Reigns is to present a “forward-thinking” character who is not a traditional heel or face but is always extremely authentic to his own emotions. The vision WWE has behind this character is to make the persona extremely relatable at all times rather than trying to force it to fit into a traditional mold. Rather than doing that, why not just create a brand-new model for how to shape a wrestling character.

This week was clearly some of the best work in Roman Reigns’ and Jey Uso’s career because there are real emotions and family ties in the storyline – which cannot be replicated. The Samoan Tribal Chief was being authentic to himself yet again, this week he just so happened to feel like acting more akin to a traditional heel. Last week, however, Reigns the slightly more reserved and was not quite as much of a presence. The wrestling business as a whole will be much better off when every superstar can feel free to become the most authentic version of himself on TV to present to the world, whether people like them or not is up to specific individuals.

A bittersweet end to The New Day era

The New Day got a victory on their final night together before they split for good. Xavier Woods came up with the idea six years ago to create a team that was completely centered around the notion of experiencing success together – and fortunately the WWE universe resonated profoundly with that idea. Just the history of having been involved in this team will serve to make all three men successful singles competitors. Big E will obviously be first because he is already getting a huge push and Kofi and Xavier are Tag Team Champions on Raw.

Jeff Hardy unselfishly gives Lars Sullivan momentum to begin his run on SmackDown

Despite the fact that Lars Sullivan has had issues outside the ring that have caused some people in WWE to question his commitment and level of reliability, the company is still willing to go ahead with his push for now. This week Sullivan got the rub from Jeff Hardy. It makes sense for Hardy to take a loss here because he no longer needs momentum on SmackDown as he will be moving to Raw. Jeff will most likely be heavily featured on the red brand as WWE is intending to keep him happy and away from AEW (where his brother Matt is).