WWE SmackDown Review: John Cena Returns, Bobby Lashley Puts WWE on Notice, AJ Styles vs Solo Sikoa

This is WW superstar Drew McIntire and you're listening to the WWE podcast, the
show the one that everybody wants me stop. Three sixteen says, just clist
your ass is my or you're gonna acknowledge me? What's going on? Everybody?
Guys and girls, welcome back to another edition of the SmackDown Review right
here on the WWE podcast is Always. I'm one of the hosts of the
show, Michael Ritter. You can find me on Twitter or x at Michael
five Ritter, and also one of the hosts of the Football Function podcast,
available on all of your podcasting platforms, including the one that you're listening to
this show on, and also available on Patreon if you're tired of those pesky
ads and you just want a more enjoyable listening experience, and I definitely advise
you to go subscribe over on Patreon for not only the WW podcast and all
of the goodies that you get throughout the week on that platform, but also
the Football Function is it's also a growing family and it would mean the world
to me if we could earn your support. But I do want to thank
you guys for listening last week helped me get through that. Everybody that reached
out and said, hey, you know it, your SmackDown review and your
thoughts and comments about Bray Wyatt and you know, even Terry Funk to an
extent, was somewhat away for you guys to say it as well, some
of the things that you were feeling and you didn't really know how to say
it, or you just didn't really know what to say. Maybe we relate
in that sense where we were able to kind of get through that together at
the very least, that's what I hope, and if not, I hope
you were able to get through it whatever way makes you feel most comfortable,
because it wasn't an easy week. You know, it's getting to the point
now that you kind of mean it's still a shock, but the wound is
nowhere near as fresh. So I just wanted to thank you guys really quickly.
Last week was the one fifty my you know, one fiftieth episode here
on the SmackDown review, and it really didn't get a chance to get any
notoriety, which is fine. It's not like it's, you know, some
major milestone or anything like that. But I did want to have it a
little bit of a different feel, you know, one of the show's vibe
to be a little bit different for the one hundred and fiftieth episode, and
that's just not the way that the cookie crumbles sometimes. So nonetheless, thank
you guys so much for tuning in last week. Thank you so much for
tuning in this week. This is coming out a little bit later than you
know what the SmackDown review has typically been coming out. It's just schedule related.
Number one. I'm sure you've noticed my co host John Carrosco is not
here. He was not here last week, he's not here this week.
To be honest, I don't know exactly when John is going to be back.
He has some personal matters that he needs to focus his attention on.
Totally understand that that's just again how life works. Sometimes you don't always get
to do exactly what you want to do when you want to do it.
Sometimes you have to kind of push some of your hobbies and some of the
things that you enjoy to the side so you can focus on what's really important,
and that is obviously what's going on behind the scenes. You know,
in your personal life, there's been times here that I've gone through some stuff
where thankfully I only have to do this show one time a week, because
if it was more of a responsibility or more of you know, a time
obligation, it would be tough. You know, if I had to record
as much as Matt does or just you know, edit and produce as much
as Matt does for the WW podcast, then I don't know if I would
have been able to do it, because that is a lot on your plate.
And you know, because I love you guys, the listeners, the
loyal listeners so much and I love the WW podcast, I was never going
to completely just walk away. You know. There were times though where it
was like, man, you know, you can't just shut off your mind.
You can't just shut like shut off what's going on in your personal life,
and sometimes that bleeds into how you deliver a podcast. So if that's
ever been a case where I didn't seem like myself or something like that,
it was usually just you know, dealing with live and that's just part of
it. So I do thank you guys for you know, sticking with me
through all this time, because I do believe that the best is yet to
come. And I did kind of want to touch on the whole SmackDown review
when it coming out on Saturday's opposed to Friday nights. What I mean,
it always drops on Saturdays most of the time. But for a while there,
John and I were doing live reviews where we would be descending Matt the
SmackDown review no later than like nine ten pm Central time, TIN ten Eastern
or wherever. But you get what I'm saying is that it was a very
rapid fire, a very quick review that we would send Matt and I enjoy
doing that. It was a fun experience. But if John isn't here,
I'm gonna be completely honest. Live reviews are a little bit difficult by yourself.
They just just kind of the nature of it. You don't get to
bounce the conversations for what you're seeing off of somebody else. You kind of
just have to roll with it and talk for you know, X amount of
minutes, And that's just not really a format that I'm comfortable with right now.
And to be completely honest, guys, I feel like I do my
best. I give my best SmackDown review whenever I watch the show, take
my notes, watch highlights or anything that I maybe didn't get a chance to
see as thorough or maybe I just want to watch again to have my memory
refreshed, and then I record either later that night or the next morning.
That's whenever I can deliver my best show. It's just it is what it
is. That's just something that I've noticed, you know, whenever you are,
you know, bringing your a game, you know, whenever you have
your fastball, Like is a way I've always liked to say it. Whenever
I don't have a good podcast, I say, man, I didn't have
my fastball today. Hopefully next time I do a little bit better. I
feel like whenever the show is a post SmackDown, you know, actually reviewing
the show in its entirety, it's just more so what I can do by
myself and feel like I can deliver you guys the best show possible. So
that's kind of what we're gonna do for now. It's not a guarantee that
we're always going to do it like this. Sometimes for the sake of time,
it is easier to record live and just to knock the show out as
it's going on. So it's kind of going to be a little bit of
a mixed bag what you can expect for the SmackDown review when it's going to
come, who's going to be on it, exactly the type of format that
it's going to be, But no letter or no later than Saturday afternoon.
I understand this is a you know, this is a well oiled machine here,
especially when if you've got a pl e tonight payback, like you want
to get the SmackDown review out as early as you possibly can. So I'm
taking that into effect, and you know, I just want to make this
as good of a show as it could possibly be. So that's really all
I wanted to say before the show. Give you guys a shout out for
the support for last week's episode us passing one fifty here on the SmackDown Review.
Let you guys know about our good buddy John, send him some kind
words, maybe give him a shout out if you can. You don't know
that the loyal listeners obviously DJ Kuzmo, grim Reefer, many many others Grace
as well. There's been several people who have shown support to both John and
myself that, you know, we want to make sure you guys know that
y'all are why we enjoy doing this every single week and why it's not necessarily
like a great feeling whenever we can. Like John has told me, literally,
man, I'm pissed off that I have to miss this. Like,
he really does not enjoy not being on the SmackDown Review. So if you
are a loyal listener and you're somebody who's you know, seen John's growth throughout
all of twenty twenty two and now here in a twenty twenty three, then
you know, give him some words of encouragement, because I mean, I
definitely miss him here on the show, and I'm sure that some of you
listeners do as well. And also just wanted to give you guys an update
on the whole scheduling, whether it's a live SmackDown review or a post SmackDown
review. I just wanted to kind of touch base with you guys and fill
you in on the format on what you can expect possibly going forward with a
SmackDown review, but with I guess without anything else to say, no shameless
plugs, no little news tidbits, anything like that, we can go ahead
and get into SmackDown Review one fifty one, which aired on September one,
twenty twenty three, from Hershey, Pennsylvania. Shout out to none other than
DJ Kuzmo for the location breakdown, and I know it's to me might wonder
like, hey, it says it on the screen at the beginning of SmackDown
where the show is like, how does DJ Kuzmo provide the location breakdown?
Well, DJ tells me most of the time, before SmackDown even goes on
the air, he actually goes and looks it up himself. He doesn't just
have a peer on the TV and then tell me. So I do give
DJ a shout out because that's something he's done. He's gone out of his
way to text me, Hey, this is where SmackDown is tonight, because
there's sometimes where I miss it when I don't know, like, damn it,
did you guys see where SmackDown? What's tonight? What's the arena?
I pay attention to that kind of stuff. Number One, I like to
travel. A lot of these places I've been to, if not the actual
arena, the city I've been to, and sometimes like if you go to
Okay, see Fort Worth, Houston, one of these places that are local.
I have been to that arena and it's always cool. You know,
the American Airline Center in Dallas Survivor series two thousand and three, that's just
this, Like, it's literally where the Dallas Mavericks play their basketball games.
That's where Survivor Series two thousand and three was when the Undertaker was buried alive
by Kane in that stadium. Every time I go to Dallas air time,
I drive by it, I think about that pay per view. So that's
kind of why I like to be familiar with where the show's taking place,
not only the city, but sometimes the arena as well. So shout out
to DJ for always coming in clutch with those location breakdowns. And it was
no secret how this SmackDown was going to start, at least for me anyways.
Whenever you found out that John Sina was going to be in attendance not
only for tonight or the SmackDown the aired, but he's going to be on
the next seven smackdowns, going to be on some pay per views as well.
I'm all for this, Like, if there's anything that you can take
positive away from this writer's strike, and you know what's going on in the
Hollywood world, movies, TV shows, all of that production, all of
those projects are on pause. They're pretty much at a standstill right now.
Hell, I listened to a bunch of you know, rewatch podcast whether it's
you know, for TV shows, movies, whatever. I've already kind of
highlighted some of those podcasts that I listen to, even those are on a
little bit of a hiatus because they can't they can't stream it. You know,
they're they're taking a stand, they're out there on the picket lines.
They're doing what they can to get the riders what they deserve. But a
lot of that for us, the consumer, the person who is in the
audience or you know, listening or watching whatever, it kind of sucks for
us. You know, we're like, damn, you know, I hope
they get what they deserve. But man, like, we're over here without
without our content, without all these projects that we were supposed to get that
are now having to get pushed and delayed. If there's any positive, if
there's any silver lining you can take away from this, it's the fact that
it freed up John cena schedule. Now, He's like, well, I
am a workhorse, you know, I'm somebody that likes to push it to
the limit, no matter what, whether it's wrestling, whether it's acting,
whether it's MYNA make a wish stuff. John Cena as somebody that is never
one foot in, half foot or one foot out. Even whenever he comes
back, you know, whenever he comes back to his quote unquote home at
the WWE, you can just tell that it's genuine, you know, like
you can tell that he's not just there to hit somebody with a nephew and
then give give that you can't see me signed to the camera and walk away
like No, he's he's there to genuinely share his compassion with the fans.
He's there to thank you. You know, he's always trying to get the
fans involved and lets you know that you do play a pretty big role.
And you know why he continues to come back and the type of career he's
had up to this point. John Seen is somebody that he's never too big
for his britches. You know, He's somebody that is never too good or
thinks he's way higher on another level than someone below him, where he doesn't
have to, you know, shake his hand and introduce himselves. Hey,
my name is John, what's your name like? And he'll remember your name
most of the time. That's the thing. Let's just say that whether you
love John Seen or whether you hate him, you know, it's it's pretty
polarizing. Usually there's not a lot of lukewarm seen a fans out there where
I mean, I like John seeing him, but not that big of all
whatever. Like fans are usually pretty hard, you know, one way or
the other how they feel about John Cina. But you have to appreciate him.
You have to appreciate his longevity, Like that's impressive in of itself.
Not a lot of people can look the way that John Cina looks. Whenever
he, you know, puts on his ring gear, he looks pretty much
the same as what he did. I know, he's not as Jack.
I mean, holy crap, guys, do you expect twenty years to go
buy and John Cina to still look like John Cina and the ruthless aggression era
That just ain't happening. Like John Cina was jacked in his early twenties back
then. Now he's a forty year old man, losing a little bit of
hair, starting to age a little bit. You can see wrinkles on his
body. You can just see the crow's foot on his eyes and his face.
Like John Cina is getting old. So the fact that he can still
come back could a promo with the best of him and be a much better
version of himself than some of these other, you know, legends that come
back and they give us a different version of themselves. It's it hurts to
watch. It's not that way with John Cina. With John Cina, you
get his a A game ten times out of ten. And I think that's
exactly what we got tonight. John Cina opens the show announces that he will
be hosting Payback, and like I said, he was genuinely thanking the w
W universe for quote unquote everything that they've done over the years and what they
continue to do. But the sweetness and the tear to your eye feeling that
we were having right there with John Cina is quickly stopped. Jimmy USO comes
out, interrupts him. He does have new music. I will say that
I'm not sure if you guys caught the whether a grammar error or something like
that. Whenever Jimmy Usha was coming out right there on the TV screen,
there was three ms in his name. There's only two ms in Jimmy and
it said Jimmy classic mistake. You know, he easily happens, But I
just thought it was kind of funny. That I actually made its way to
television. But Jimmy immediately calls out John Cina, questions why he's even there
in the first place. He even goes as far as to say that him
and Roman Reigns are exactly alike. The only difference is that John Cena does
what he does with a smile on his face, and Roman Reigns is just
a flat out a hole. But John Cena says that there's actually something that
he's wanted to say to Jay or to Jimmy. I apologize for three years,
and he's get quiet for a little bit, and then he looks him
right in the eyes and says the wrong Usso quit pretty much, you know,
tries to do a little mic drop moment there. Jimmy Usso does not
like that. He tries to sneak a super kick in, but John Cena
catches it and then gives him an fu or an A for all of his
trouble. This was a little bit strange to me just whenever it first happened.
You know, my initial reaction, I didn't know whose music it was
because you saw John Cena's face and we just hear music. I'm like,
I mean, I know he's kind of knew is that Grayson Waller's music.
I wasn't sure who it was that was coming out. I looks he's Jimmy
Uso. Okay, they're giving him a whole new music, which means they
are going all in making him his own guy. He's a sing those wrestler
now, so that you take it for what it's worth. But I was
a little bit confused. I was like, damn, all right, so
is this what we're doing? Or we're gonna have Jimmy Usso go on a
little bit of a heel feud with John Cena and John Cina be in the
baby face like, is this work we're going to get? I don't think
so. I think this was just a way to remind us that the show
was really supposed to be centered around Jimmy Usso. The show that was supposed
to happen last week. It was supposed to be centered around you know what
happened with Jimmy Usso. Why did Jimmy do what he does? He was
advertised that he was going to be on TV. Paul Heyman said it even
last week that Jimmy Usso was going to be here tonight. So I thought
maybe this is, like, this is what we're gonna do, right,
Like we're gonna get Jimmy Usso trying to feud with one of the top baby
faces to ever live, John Cena, and I gotta be honest, like,
you can do a lot worse than that. Like, if you're giving
me John Cena and Jimmy Usso is his first singles feud, that was going
to, you know, be music to my ears. I would have absolutely
loved that. But it does not appear that that's what we're going to get,
at least right now. You know, I do feel like they had
an interaction for a reason. So we'll probably end up seeing a little bit
more of these two in the same ring over the next seven weeks. But
as we are as we sit here right now, Jimmy USO goes on to
have other issues with other people throughout the duration of the night, so we'll
definitely get there. We do have up next to backstage interview with Caleb Braxton.
She's talking to Grayson Waller and Austin Theory, and she asked what they
think about John Cena hosting Payback, and after a little bit of a pause,
they both burst out laughing and try to downplay. You know, Theory
says Sina beat Sina WrestleMania blah blah blah, and they were just having a
little bit of a little bit of a joke at John Cena's expense. We'll
see if they continue to have that ability to joke at John Sena, because
I have a feeling that, you know, once he gets on the microphone,
he'll be able to pick both of those guys apart pretty easily. Up
next, we get a tag team match Ray Masterio and Santos Escobar versus Grayson
Waller and Austin Theory. Waller does get the win by painting Santos Escobar after
hitting a rolling stunner. Escobars Dee ends up being the weakness that leads to
the lwo's loss here, and you have to wonder how long they're going to
continue trotting him out with a hurt knee. I mean, obviously this match
had no stipulations or anything like that. Wasn't a meaningful match. It was
just pretty much trying to further Austin theory and ring mystereos few that they're going
to have going in to payback. But I just I'm not number one.
I'm not a fan of Austin or not Austin theory. Grayson Waller's finishing move.
It's way over the top, you know, Like, come on,
bro, if you have to get out of the ring, jump into the
ring through the rope just to hit a stunner, like you're doing too much.
Like that's just kind of how I feel about it, Like, come
on, dude, Like, if you're gonna try to rip off the stunner,
which hey, that's what it is. I mean, call it what
you want. Kevin Owens is technically doing the same thing, but we all
love Kevin Owens, so nobody's going to call him out for it. If
you're going to rip off the stunner, don't. I won't try to add
that little twist that just makes it quote unquote my own little thing. No,
we know what you're doing. We know that you're still trying to rip
off the stunner, and I just feel like you're doing too much. Eventually
it's going to lead to you know. I mean it's kind of like the
big ending, you know, like people hate it. People are never going
to be a fan. I'm sure there are some people out there that who
enjoy this finishing move? But I ask you why? Like, wow,
Like, what's so enjoyable about him getting out of the ring having to dive
through the bottom two ropes which completely takes me out of the moment, Like,
aren't you freaking kidding me? Man? Like, what are we even
doing here? Well, it's neither here nor there. We'll address that as
it continues to be his move over the coming months. Hopefully, though,
WW does something about that where he realizes, you know, maybe this isn't
quite what I thought it was whenever I was creating this whole character, and
maybe I should switch it up a little bit. That's what I would do
if I were Grayson Waller. But you know, it's not my call.
It's not my decision. If he wants to keep, you know, having
the rolling Stunner be his move, then he's just gonna have to get it
picked apart on a weekly basis. Every single time that it does, I
guess get used. But hey, I mean he won a match with it.
He's won several matches with it, so it's not like it's an ineffective
move. It's just not believable. So that's my only gripe with it there.
Let's see backstage, we get Adam Pierce and Meetchen having a little bit
of a conversation talking backstage, Jimmy Burston interrupting people, just being completely rude,
and then Adam Pierce immediately calls him out for it and pretty much just
says, no, like, you're not gonna do this. It's not gonna
be rude. Boss people around, tell people what they're gonna be doing,
all that good stuff, like shout out to Adam Pierce, shout out to
scrap Daddy Pierce for dropping a pair, you know, pretty much saying like,
look, dude, you're not gonna burst in my office and tell me
what I'm gonna be doing. I will say, though Adam Pierce doesn't have
the same energy with everybody. People do a lot worse than what Jimmy USO
did, And you know, he pretty much just sits there and you know,
tightens his job and actually like he's biting his tongue or something like that.
Like I've seen Adam Pierce have a different type of body language whenever somebody's
being quote unquote very rude to him. And why he decided to, you
know, drop the hammer on Jimmy. I have no idea, but Jimmy
was the one that did not get away with it, and I gotta say,
though I did enjoy seeing it, I just hope he does that continuously,
Like we don't need to see him try to punk every single wrestler that
has a problem with the way he's running the show as a WB official,
but whenever they are out of lines, similar to how Jimmy use is.
Yeah, I mean it makes sense to have him kind of stand his ground.
He's like, what six foot three at least, he's a big dude,
stand your grounds, like, Hey, I'm hired here for a reason,
this is my job and you're not gonna walk all over me and do
exactly what the hell you want to do. So yeah, shout to Adam
Pierce for a I guess, growing a pair and showing us who actually does
run SmackDown. Moving on, we get Bobby Lashley coming out next, dressed
to the nines like usual, and he actually is getting a lot of love
and showing that same love to the live audience. Someone actually shout out,
I love you Bobby, like you just heard one person, one fan shout
that, and he obviously says, I love you too. I can't remember
that I've seen Bobby Lashly get this much love like legitimately, he's always kind
of and appreciate it. He's always been a wrestler that has fans, but
he's also been somewhat underappreciated, and he kind of for as big as he
is, as big of a star he could be, and as believable he
is, as like a champion, he's not really thrown around in that World
Heavyweight Championship, that ww Championship title picture. He's always kind of kept around,
you know, that mid card. He's never really gotten a chance to
get thrown through that glass ceiling. But it does show what fans shown him
love like that, that he does have the support and obviously he has members
by his side now because he introduces the street prophets who come out looking fresh
to death as well. They thank Bobby who you know. Bobby's like,
you don't gotta thank me, you know, at least not literally. He
tells them that they can thank him by continuing their success, by having continued
success and to continue taking steps forward in this development as them being forces to
be reckoned with here on SmackDown, which is exactly what Bobby lastually pretty much
warns the entire ww. He says that we are putting the whole roster,
the whole WWE on notice. They're coming for Power Control and Championship Gold,
and that kind of segways right in. Next Sammy's a and Kevin Owen's come
out for their tag team matches they have against Cruise Del Toro and Waking Wild,
and we get a little bit of a face off. They let them
go by. Obviously the street profits make a little path until the know the
reigning champs Ko and Sammy to walk on by walk down to the ring.
But the visual of them having a little bit of a faceoff, I feel
like was it tease. It was a way to kind of let us know,
like, hey, this is coming down the pike a little bit,
a little bit down the road here, get ready. Now we're going to
talk about the predictions and if Kao and Sammy are even going to be the
champions when that time comes a little bit later in the show. But it
at least let us know, like, hey, this is something you could
have to look forward to. These champs that you guys love, that seemingly
are on top of the world. Versus this up and coming team that have
a new little character change and they're exciting. So there's multiple ways that you
can go about this. Nothing is set in stone yet, obviously, but
I do feel like that little face to face shot that we got at the
top of the ramp it's not for nothing, you know, like they are
going to for sure touchback on that at some point. That's at least what
I feel like they should do. It would be very foolish if they didn't.
But like I said, we get Sammy and Ko versus two members of
the LWO and the undispeeded champs will win the match relatively quickly. It wasn't
a squash match, but this was just a little bit of a filler,
you know, a little bit of let's get Sammy and Ko on our television
screens and maybe set up the street profits versus name down the line. I
will say have not watched Raw and probably a month, and it was nice
to see Kevin Owens and Sammy's an on my TV because I don't see him
very often anymore. And as crappy as it is, I am somebody who
does enjoy They're feeling like there's two separate Worlds in WWE Raw should feel like
a completely different show, a completely different roster than what is over on SmackDown.
Seeing the miss was a little strange. We get it, they're having
a Roberts a SmackDown feud with him in l A Night. But the fact
that I haven't seen Kevin Owens in the same of his name pretty much since
the draft made me feel good, like, and I love seeing them.
It's not like, oh, I'm glad that I haven't seen them. I'm
just glad that the brand split feels like a brand split. And I'm gonna
talk about that until I'm blue in the face, and hopefully they eventually take
the rules that they created serious and they follow him. But anyways, let's
continue on here. In the show, Jimmy usso he's trying to leave the
arena when he's met by AJ Styles, and I knew something like this is
gonna happen as soon as he cut off and yelled at Meetschen, you know,
right there by Adam Pierce. I was like, well, she seems
like she has enough people in her corner that is not gonna let that slide.
And sure enough, AJ Styles tells him that nobody wants him there anyways.
Talking to Jimmy USO as he's trying to leave, he says, go
ahead and leave, dude, nobody wants you here anyways. Eventually he shoves
Jimmy to the ground before Solo steaks up and hits him from behind, and
then Solo tells Jimmy, as Jimmy's laying there, you're out of the Bloodline.
We say you're out. Jimmy really doesn't agree with that. He says,
not him, not Roman, not Paul, nobody can tell him anything,
and then he seemingly leaves the arena. You think this is it.
You think, all right, this is all we're going to get from Jimmy
us So he's gonna have a good night, he's gonna leave. Obviously that
is not the case. A little bit later, maybe after the commercial break,
aj Styles calls out Solo. Sakoa reminds us that the Bloodline do not
run SmackDown, and if we're gonna be honest, SmackDown is still the house
that a Jay Styles built. Those are his words exactly how he said.
He wanted to remind us that SmackDown is his house. He's not a visiting
team here. You know that's his locker room and I'm by you know,
I'm all four AJ Styles, you know, being elevated back to what he's
supposed to be. This dude's a almost cussed. This due is a freaking
legend. Dude that he is a living legend still on the roster. I'm
gonna be honest. I got his action figure last night, literally last night.
I got AJ Style's Ultimate Edition, his white gear that he wore for
WrestleMania thirty eight, which I was there in person for in Dallas. So
that's the only reason why I easily jumped on this figure as soon as I
saw it on the shelf. Was I'm kind of biased to those events that
I was there for. You know, I have the Kevin Owens versus Stone
Cold Steve Auston action figure as well, where he has the you know,
that bald cap. I don't have the bald cap head on the figure.
I kept his normal figure, but the fact that he's wearing that shirt,
and I know that that figure was bill off of one of the greatest wrestling
shows that I've ever seen, just because I was there in person, obviously,
I know it's one of you compare WrestleManias go down the list. WrestleMania
thirty eight is not going to be remembered as one of the greatest WrestleManias of
all time. But it was my first time ever seeing Stone Cold Steve Auston.
Never thought i'd see him wrestle never thought that I would see him wrestle
in person. Obviously I saw him wrestle back whenever he was there, but
in person. I was a child then, So now that I'm actually an
adult capable of going to pretty much any event that I want to, seeing
Stone Cold Steve Auston wrestleman that was something that is not only just bucket list
as a wrestling fan, but in life in general, like, oh my
gosh, are you kidding me? So I had to get the Kevin Owen's
figure once I saw that that one was available, and that's just, you
know, that's just what I like to do whenever it comes to seeing figures
who are wearing the gear that I was at that event. For now,
getting back on track, that's why I got the AJ Styles last night was
because I mean, he's on my list in terms of wrestlers who I quote
unquote rock with. So yeah, I like seeing him kind of put his
foot down here on SmackDown and say, look, dude, you ain't running
nothing like we are the OC. We can hang with the bloodline, right.
You guys are worried about Roman rains. I'll handle Roman reigns. You
guys focus on the souls of COO of Jimmy comes back. Who knows.
I like the confidence from the O C. And I hope that we see
more of them on TV here on SmackDown, because obviously they're on the roster,
but seeing this version of them though, we're not gonna take no you
know what, Yeah, give me that version of the OC. But up
next, miss come out. Him and La Night have a little bit of
an elite back and fourth promo battle. I do feel like they've both done
better. They both kind of stumbled over their words just a little bit,
nothing too crazy, and whenever you're going back and forth and people are listening
to every single word that you say, it's gonna be tough to not stumble
on a word here or there. They both have their moments where they kind
of they look like they're a little bit they're getting you know, they're giddy
for it, like they know that they have damn near met their match when
you talk about on the microphone verbally attacking each other. This is a hell
of a match up here. This isn't you know Batista versus Triple H in
terms of in the ring, Like, look at these two bohemas going at
it. This is something different. It's another form of professional wrestling, and
it's going to be the match that I'm most excited for whenever I watch Payback.
Just being completely honest, like I'm all four of the seth rolland and
Shin's getting knocking more a match that one's probably going to be a better match,
But I'm not as excited for that one as I am for this one.
I love what La Knight's doing. I need to get me an La
Night shirt for sure before we go to row it. Okay, see on
October sixteenth, but I like, I want, I need to get me
some La Night merch because he is someone who you know, that's how we
let ww know that we're behind someone buy the hell out of their merch because
that's what they see, like dollar signs is let's get their attention a hell
of a lot more than a tweet you could tweet at him ten times out
of ten. Hey, push this guy, Push this guy, give this
guy a title shot. Go buy five of that guy's shirts. They'll notice
that a hell of a lot quicker, I promise. So yeah, as
far as this, this little interaction that they had Miss and La Knight,
it was good. La Knight talks about how you know him and the Miss
are not the same at all. He brought up the reality TV how he
came in off that and pretty much just scratched around eight crumbs and all that
stuff until he was actually relevant on the main roster, where La Night had
to literally scratch and claw, live in crappy apartments, take the bus,
walk to work because he missed the bus, all that good stuff. They're
pretty much just you know, alluding to the fact that they have very different
paths. And then Miss I'm not gonna lie. He hits La Night a
little bit where it hurts. He brings up their reality TVs. Everybody talks
about me being a reality TV star. Guess what, I was a good
reality TV star? What about you? He brings up La Night being on
a reality TV show, which I was not aware of, and you know,
on the spot, he brings it up and says, but guess what,
you weren't even good at that you got kicked off, your voted off
first and that. Like, as an La Night fan, I was like,
oh damn, he got him there, man, he really did,
just because like obviously people talk about I promise you La Knight will not bring
up Miss being on a reality TV show ever again, Like he will not
wonder if you get burnt like that whenever he you know, it hits you
with a little bit of a mic drop. You gotta give them Miss credit.
He isn't backing down. He knows the whole crowd is behind La Night.
Everyone wants to see La Night win this, and he's still just taking
it to him. So shout out to the Miss. I'm not I don't
you know, just throw around Miss compliments left and riot. But I have
to give him credit there. He definitely held his own there against La Night
and ended up giving him a skull crushing finale. And then he gets attacked
from behind by La Night at once they make their way up the ramp,
they have to be split up. Like I said, just getting you excited,
getting you prepared for the match that we're going to get tonight. Between
La Night and them is definitely looking forward to that one. Up next,
we get Shotsy versus Bailey, and as you would expect, just like anybody
going up against someone from the Damage Control, they're going to be at a
numbers disadvantage. Shotsy obviously was a little bit like one verses three. She
didn't care, she wasn't scared. She's laughing the whole time. But eventually
the odds get even out a little bit. Whenever Charlotte Flair comes out gives
EO. Sky a big boot, which I mean, let's be honest,
the camera crew did not help her out there. It was not a great
big boot that we saw. We saw the back view of it, and
yeah, it's it's why I refuse. It's stuff like that. It's those
shots. And I know it's not really a fault to Charlotte, but I
do feel like stuff like that happens to her a lot. Like I've seen
a lot of Charlotte botches. You know. That's why whenever people get defensive
when they're talking about, you know, the greatest woman's wrestler of all time,
they really do like to paint a picture and make you think that Charlotte
is a flawless wrestler, great on the mic, nothing wrong with her,
she carries every match she's in, when that is really not the case when
it talks about Beldall, like when you're talking about someone who can actually put
on a hell of a wrestling show. Charlotte is elite, but she's not
perfect, and there are moments where that's magnified and sometimes I said, the
camera crew really doesn't help her out. It was her first actual spot and
like what, I don't know how long She's been gone for probably a few
weeks at least, so it's been a long time since Charlotte Flair has actually
done something on television. So I'm not completely just trying to crap on her,
but you know, it is what it is. You know that's it
wasn't the prettiest big boot that she gave Yeo Sky And another thing, I
mean, well number one Shotsy does end up defeating Bailey here after Charlotte gives
her help. But dude, Charlotte is always around the title. Like has
there ever been a program where she isn't involved in a championship, Like I
know she fought Tris Stratus right a Survivor series or SummerSlam something like that a
couple of years back. But since then or even before then, Like,
what does she do that does not centered around a championship? And I feel
like she's a good enough wrestler, She's good enough that like those grudge feuds
where there's actually like a personal vendetta against someone that she doesn't need a championship
or to be around it. Like, let's let the championship touch some other
hands, let's let some other people be involved in this. I know there's
two women's championships in Charlotte at the top of the roster. You could only
keep a legend underneath for so long, you know, But I just feel
like, what the hell, dude, Like, let's get something going on
here where it's not about the championship, Like we could have her feud with
anybody else. So I don't know, It's just something that I noticed.
Is of course it's Charlotte's coming back, and it's immediately going to be involved
in the championship picture. I'm not like complaining about it, but it's just
something that I noticed and I want to point out, Like, man,
I feel like Charlotte is capable of so much more. They're making her career
live or Die with Championships. And I understand she's a flair, she already
has like what fourteen of them, so clearly like they're doing with Charlotte what
they're always going to do with what they've always done with her. But I
just feel like there's more there, There's more beneath the surface that we could
get with Charlotte, and WWE just isn't giving it to us for whatever reason.
However, let's go ahead and move on here to the main event.
Ajs Stiles versus Solo Sakoa. The match does not go on for very long
before Paul Hayman makes his way out to the ring, and obviously Jimmy Uso
makes his way to the ring as well, and he actually gets involved a
little bit. It seems like AJ Styles was about to steal the win with
a phenomenal form and then Jimmy Uso kind of knocks him off the rope,
goes back and hides Solo Sakoa does win with a Samoan spike, defeats AJ
Styles and then after the match, whenever Jimmy Uso goes inside the ring to
try to celebrate with Solo Solo wasn't happening. He's trying to hit him with
a Samoan spike and then quickly Paul Hayman stops him. He's like, no,
no, no, no, no, no, don't do that,
don't do that. It's almost like he was giving advice for Jimmy Usso to
be protected. Solo didn't want him to. Paul Hammon didn't want Solo to
do it, so he doesn't they leave the ring. Jimmy Uso just I
guess there's a way to hey, just for good measure. He hits aj
Styles with a superkick, and Uso splash off the top rope and then throws
his one up to the skies. If we're in January here and the bloodline
is still strong as ever, you know. So that's one thing that I
was like, man, like, are they really going to let this guy
back in? Is he not the one who super kicked Roman Reigns? Like,
is he not the one that, out of both of the Ussos that
tried to, you know, do this first. Now we are under we
heard his reasons why all that stuff, But still the fact that Jimmy Usso
was just trying to waltz right back in, right back in the Bloodline.
I'm just like, huh, like what why? You know? Like it's
just I guess they're gonna have to explain a little bit more. We're gonna
have to hear from Roman Reigns. But I don't know. I do want
to see him versus John Cena at some point. Just the visual of that
just looked appealing. Him telling him the wrong usso quick. I have a
feeling that Jimmy isn't going to let that slide for very much longer. But
that is the SmackDown review. Guys. I hope you guys enjoyed it.
Hope you guys enjoyed this go home show for Payback, and obviously make sure
that you tune into Payback tonight because it's going to be a hell of a
pay per view. I really believe that there's some damn good matches that hasn't
been hyped up. It's so close to SummerSlam, Like it's hard to get
excited for this short of a bill, But think about it, guys,
Rea Ripley, rock Hill, Rodriguez, get knocking more of seth Rollans,
you got La Night versus Miss Raymo Stereo fighting Austin theory defending his United States
Championship, and also you have the Tag Team Championships being defended as well.
There's a lot of matches that you can be excited about. There's a lot
of matches that I feel like are going to over deliver in terms of what's
expected of them, So definitely tune in and check out those. I'll run
through my quick predictions here and tell you wh why think's going to win the
Undisputed Tag Team Championship. Kevin Owens and Sammy Zane versus Judgment Day aka Damian
Priest Imfmbaler. I'm definitely rolling with Koe and Sammy here. I know that
they have They've been advertised to defend their Tag Team Championships at a live event
that's going to be as An India. I'm not sure exactly, but I
know that they are going to push into Sheer into a title match here,
so that could be where they lose them. But I don't expect them to
lose them here. That match has already been advertised, and obviously Judgment Day
they have their own stuff going on. Priest has the money in the bank,
so there's really no reason for the Tag Team Championships to be included there,
but it wouldn't shock me if they do put the tag team titles on
Judgment Day, just to make that group a little bit more of a threat.
The Miss versus La Night, I'm going with La Knight for sure.
This is just his moment. You can't have him lose to the Miss.
You can justify having him lose, you know, the royal rumble of money
in the bank, all that good stuff, But you cannot have him lose
to the Miss in this feud. So I'm definitely thinking that La Night goes
over there. The United States Championship, Ray Mysterio versus Austin Theory. This
one's obviously going to be Ray Mysterio would be the dumbest decision you could possibly
make. Putting any type of championship back on Austin Theory at this point in
time. You gotta let him build himself back up, and yeah, he's
not beating Raymisterio for that title. Still Cage Match Tris Stratus versus Becky Lynch.
This one's got to go to Becky. I just feel like they're trying
to keep what's her name, Zoe Stark. They're trying to keep her out
with this with this steel cage. Who knows. I mean, we see
this not be effective many many times where a stee cage does not keep whoever
you're trying to keep out out of the cage. I mean they somehow Steell
managed to get involved. But I just feel like Becky Lynch has to win
this. She just has to. She has to go over here on the
legend and that's what I feel like He's going to happen. Rea Ripley versus
Kell Rodriguez. Rea Ripley definitely going to defender championship successfully. Although I'm a
big fan of Roquel When John and I were there in San Antonio for the
Royal Rumble, she was the one that I was desperately hoping would get to
win. There didn't happen, obviously, but I was still rooting for her.
So seeing her get this championship opportunity, it is nice, But I
know that the time is not right now and Roquelle just isn't going to be
the one two d throne or Ria Ripley at this point in time. And
up next we got the World Heavyweight Championship seth Rawlins versus Shinsky knacka more.
This one's a little bit tough to pick because obviously I do want to see
shinsk knacka moorl Win, But Seth Rowlins is carrying the company right now and
this is just his time. You know, they're not going to take this
championship off him. I truly do not believe that. So I think every
championship is going to be successfully retained on payback. And we'll see if I
end up being accurate there in those predictions. But nonetheless, guys, hope
you all have a damn good weekend. Enjoy the pay per view tonight,
spend time with your family, do whatever you'd like to do that you know
can lead you having a damn good time. Whatever that is, just go
do that. Thank you so much for listening. Go listen to the football
function if you haven't already, and if you have, I damn sure appreciate
you. Guys. Continue to support because it does make a difference. It
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will see someone like say that your friend just gotta gig creating T shirts Like
they got they got one of those little steam press machines where they can put
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as like a side hobby, a way to make some extra cash. Like
the thing that you don't do is walk up to them and say, hey,
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time, guys, have a damn good weekend, enjoy the pay per view,
walk passionately in the direction of your dreams, and I'll talk to you
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