WWE SmackDown 08/21/18: Night Night
About Last Night is a quick reflection on the matches and segments, or random observations, from a wrestling show that sticks out to us the morning after we watch them. If you would like to get your comments featured, chime in below in our comments section or tweet us. You can also help support us on Patreon.
About Daniel Bryan and The Miz…
Daniel Bryan and The Miz had an excellent match on Sunday at SummerSlam, with Daniel Bryan outclassing Miz in the ring with his wrestling skills. But it was The Miz who came out on top by outsmarting him with the use of brass knuckles undetected by the referee, and helps support the belief that The Miz is actually right. But that doesn’t mean he’s not a chicken shit heel.
Bryan called that out this week on SmackDown by interrupting Miz’s “retirement” from wrestling him by calling him a coward. But then he stooped to Miz’s level by having his wife punch him in the face and do his dirty work, setting the stage for a mixed tag match at Hell in a Cell of Miz and Maryse vs. Bryan and Brie Bella. It’s going to be nice to see Maryse and Brie wrestle again, but both are likely way out of practice and it doesn’t seem like a good look for Daniel Bryan. Hopefully after this (since the feud will obviously continue) we can get these two in a singles match with a stipulation of some sort.
About Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton…
The past month has been weird for the Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton feud, with Orton returning to attack Hardy after his match with Shinsuke Nakamura, then them cutting promos and brawling to lead to a SummerSlam match… between Hardy and Nakamura? Orton showed up afterwards and sorta just walked halfway down the ramp before leaving. This led to them having their match finally two days later on SmackDown… which ended up as a no contest when Jeff stomped him in the dick and they brawled through the production equipment. This ended with Jeff hitting a Swanton off a crate that put Orton through a table.
I surprisingly was okay with this, because this was done on television instead of a pay-per-view. Clearly they weren’t going to give this month-long feud a blow-off this week when there’s a Hell in a Cell to sell in a few weeks. While these two won’t be put into a Cell, I could see them fighting in a No Holds Barred or Falls Count Anywhere match.
About Becky Lynch’s Heel Turn…
In a move that led to the biggest pop of the night at SummerSlam, Becky Lynch finally snapped on Charlotte Flair after she stole Becky’s title win and beat the ever-loving shit out of her. Then they had to follow it up on Tuesday with a promo explaining her actions, and while she did a very good job of cutting a promo with the material she was given, no one – myself included – wanted to boo her.
She tried to make the excuse that the crowd still watched and sold out SummerSlam despite the injustice of losing her singles title match, and no one starting a hashtag. She pointed out this generation is all about talking and failing to act, and she’s definitely not wrong. But she is a passionate and talented wrestler that makes people gravitate toward her while Charlotte Flair is being pushed down our throats like Roman Reigns. The roles should be reversed with Charlotte as the entitled heel and Becky as the anti-hero, and I feel the crowd will keep treating it as such despite WWE’s best efforts. Hopefully this doesn’t last long and we get a double-turn during their match at Hell in a Cell. We haven’t seen one of those in a while.
About Samoa Joe…
Samoa Joe may be my favorite person on the main roster right now. If you haven’t seen the WWE Chronicle on him they put out last week, you should do yourself a favor and watch it. His feud with AJ Styles being focused around Style’s relationship with his family and Joe twisting it into his own dark vision is amazing. He went too far at SummerSlam and caused Styles to get himself disqualified, but it didn’t stop him from keeping it up two days later on SmackDown. During an interview on the stage with Renee Young, Joe snuck up behind him and pulled him off the stage before putting him to sleep. He then yelled into the camera at Wendy about AJ not being able to come home to tuck the kids in because he’s already gone night night was the icing on top of a perfect segment.
This is the top reason to tune into SmackDown right now, even more than The Miz and Daniel Bryan, because it’s fresh, it feels believable, and you know the match they’re building to will deliver. But this needs to end with Samoa Joe winning the WWE Championship.
About The Main Event…
The main event was a No Disqualifications Match for the tag titles as The Bludgeon Brothers defended against The New Day. The significant thing about this was that news came out of SummerSlam that Rowan had torn his bicep in their title defense during the show and would require surgery. So when this match was announced for SmackDown it all pretty obvious that it was to get the belts off The Bludgeon Brothers since half the team would be on the shelf for a while.
Despite this, the match was still super exciting and worth going out of your way to watch. Rowan actually put in a lot of work in the match, including a crazy spot where he plowed through the timekeeper’s area with his injured arm. The vibe of the match felt similar to the No DQ matches The New Day had with the Usos a while back, and it was a lot of fun while making The New Day look great. There was some drama and nearfalls that brought some doubt to the inevitable finish, but The New Day ended up taking the belts as expected. With The Bar and The Good Brothers also making an appearance on this episode, it seems like SmackDown’s tag division could get exciting again real soon.
What did you think of this week’s SmackDown? Let us know in the comments!
