WWE SmackDown 10/17/17: Hug Me, Hold Me Tight
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, or Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn as BFFs…
SmackDown took place in Seattle this week, the home state of General Manager Daniel Bryan. So of course he opened the show to a huge reaction before addressing Sami Zayn. Sami Zayn came out with his aggressive heel skanking, and it continues to be great. Sami Zayn then cut one of his best promos in WWE, further explaining why he turned as it was because the fans didn’t get behind him hard enough to give him the type of unstoppable push that Daniel Bryan received around WrestleMania XXX. He ethers Bryan by mocking he’s unable to wrestle anymore because he was too busy taking risks for the fans instead of wrestling smart. It was a thing of beauty.
Kevin Owens followed soon after to dogpile on Daniel Bryan, pointing out that when he says he’s doing what’s best for the fans, he actually means what’s “best for business”. Daniel Bryan has become The Authority, the thing he spent his in-ring WWE career fighting against. The thing is, he’s not wrong. That’s part of what justifies Sami Zayn pairing up with him, because he’s realizing that he may be saying it in an asshole-ish way but he’s still speaking truth.
They pushed Bryan hard, so he put them in the main event with two of SmackDown’s top superstars that have nothing else going on, Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura. The match was really good, as to be expected, but the finish was perfect. Sami Zayn low blowed Orton when the referee was distracted and hit the Helluva Kick for the pinfall victory. This is the most interesting Zayn has been since his feud with Owens in NXT, and I’m so glad he’s being put in the spotlight on SmackDown as he deserves to be. It’ll be interesting how they start building to Survivor Series with Shane McMahon returning next week.
About Sin Cara…
Remember Tye Dilinger being in the United States Championship title picture a couple weeks ago, including being added to the match with AJ Styles and Baron Corbin at Hell in a Cell? Ever since losing that match he’s been completely gone. I was expecting him to be the next one for a singles shot, but instead we had whatever this was with Sin Cara. Baron Corbin mentions he’s closing the Open Challenge because he’s an asshole, and then he was a match with Sin Cara where HE LOSES (by countout). Damage is already being done to the rub Styles gave Corbin last week, as he’s right back to being a complete joke. Plus now we’re likely going to see Sin Cara getting a title shot, which is a pretty meaningless win. If this was meant to “build up” Sin Cara as a contender, it fell completely flat. Why not have people complete in qualifying matches to earn a shot and not make your champion look useless?
About The Ascension…
The Fashion Files are the best thing that has happened to The Ascension since coming to the main roster. They were pretty much screwed from the get go when they were getting buried on commentary and jobbed out to “legends”, and never seemed to recover. They had a chance to revive themselves with Stardust as The Cosmic Wasteland, but then Cody had to go become the king of the indies. They disappeared for a while, especially with SmackDown losing Main Event and all was lost.
But then they started showing up on The Fashion Files and getting a chance to show off some personality and their sense of humor, and it’s become a hit. They’ve pivoted from evil space egyptians to socially awkward guys who just want to have friends and fit in. It’s been an amazing transformation and this week I think is the first time they were way more entertaining than Tyler Breeze and Fandango. I howled out loud when they slid over to check on Breeze by doing their entrance pose. Please let them have Survivor Series match teaming up with Breezango.
About The Usos vs. Gable & Benjamin…
The Usos were being interviewed by Renee Young backstage when they were interrupted by Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin. This was weird, because Gable & Benjamin did their promo in a mocking style of The Usos and then at the end faked them out on a handshake.
Perhaps was last week a face turn for The Usos and now we’re seeing Gable & Benjamin turning heel? It’s an interesting scenario, since Gable has never turned to the dark side and it was initially teased that Benjamin was going to turn on his partner. If this leads to a series of excellent matches between the two, I’m all for it. But I am sad I’ll had to boo Gable when he does Gable things.
About Jinder Mahal Actually Doing This Thing…
Yup, this sure is a thing.
What did you think of this week’s SmackDown? Let us know in the comments!
