WWE SmackDown 09/11/18: WWE Story Time
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 Predictable Endings…
He doesn’t even do the RKO now, and that’s perfect
The night started off with another Jeff Hardy vs. Shinsuke Nakamura match, at it was at this point that I realized Nakamura doesn’t even have match on Sunday or any active feuds. They sure are doing a great job with the United States Championship. Back on topic, Jeff Hardy cut a super weird promo before the match where he referenced his Impact days to the crowd’s confusion and then told everyone he was going to hell and “enjoy the show”. Only Hardy could pull this thing off and it not be terrible. And while the match wasn’t terrible either, it was the finish that caused me to let out a sigh.
Just when Hardy had Nakamura set up for the win, Randy Orton shows up on the apron and causes a disqualification. This leads to a nice brawl involving weapons to give a preview for the match on Sunday, but this was still a waste of a match and a reminder of Nakamura’s irrelevance on the show. They could have at least used Shelton Benjamin or something.
About A Battle of Promos…
When can I pre-order this book?
We had two promos on SmackDown to build up the WWE Championship match, instead of some bullshit involving people getting threatened to have their title stripped for being at their job or having relatives as cops. AJ Styles hung out on the ring steps earlier in the day to admit his anger issues being a weakness but his strength comes in his integrity of not stooping down Samoa Joe’s level. Meanwhile Samoa Joe wrote a children’s book called “Night Night, AJ” where he told the whole story of their feud with a watercolor filter placed on the footage, and it may be my favorite promo of the year. These two are doing an incredible job telling their story and making something that could be really dumb on paper a legitimately compelling story, with Joe using Styles’ family insecurities against him. I don’t want this to end, but also I need Samoa Joe to get that title
About Becky With the Good Hair…
*gasp*
Charlotte Flair took on Sonya Deville because we needed an excuse for her to be wrestling this week. Well, the reason on the show they gave was she wanted “competition” so they pretended Sonya was an actual threat and not someone who has pretty much lost every match she’s had on SmackDown. Charlotte picked up the win pretty handily and without injury, and as she was taking a selfie with a young fan she was attacked from behind by another fan. The fan then took off their Sting mask and revealed they were Sting… and by that I mean Becky Lynch took off a black wig and hoodie. She laid Charlotte out with the DisArmHer, and people cheered because Becky is still the best.
This was another good attempt to try to make Becky the heel, using a child to get in a sucker punch, but this changes nothing. Becky pointed out it’s been two years since she last won the Women’s Title, and she is way overdue. This intensity she’s bringing is fresh for her character, but nothing she can do will stop me from hoping she takes down the “queen” and gets that title back.
About The New Day…
After The New Day were unfortunately absent last week, they returned in a big way on this week’s episode. During the #1 contender’s match for their titles at Hell in a Cell they were sitting at their pancake-covered announce desk. Big E had a big mixing put and a bunch of ingredients as he tried to make some pancakes during the match, despite the fact he had no way to cook them. And Kofi Kingston sent us backstage to video of himself as Kramer Kingston talking about the match while The Bar are preparing for the match in the background. It was all super silly, and all the jokes landed well for me.
Oh, and there was a match between The Bar and Rusev Day. With The Bar getting the title shot in Australia, it made sense for Rusev Day to get the win here. Aiden English sacrificed himself to set up Rusev’s Machka Kick for the win, and now we have two fan-favorite teams in a pretty fresh match that will fit nicely on the crowd to keep the crowd into the show on Sunday.
About Brie Bella vs. Maryse…
The woman-on-man violence is getting out of hand
I was actually looking forward to this match, but I guess that’s on me. They hyped up the fact that this is Maryse’s first singles match in seven years, and during an interview dunking on Daniel Bryan that it took her five months after giving birth to get back in the ring and it took Bryan three years to get back. Then the “match” happened, which was Maryse avoiding Brie the entire time, then Brie and The Miz get on the mic. Shortly after, the Miz stopped a pinfall causing a disqualification and Bryan going off on him in a post-match brawl.
I keep falling for the trap that Maryse will actually be good at wrestling again. This happened at WrestleMania against John Cena and Nikki Bella too, which was a super disappointing match. Now I have any hope for Sunday deflated, which I guess doesn’t matter since Bryan and Miz have another singles match schedules for Australia.
What did you think of this week’s SmackDown? Let us know in the comments!
