WWE SmackDown 11/21/17: Ruby Tuesday
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 The NXT Call-Ups…
After Rawdid pretty much the same thing the night before had Paige leading the charge with Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville attacking the rest of the Raw women’s division, SmackDown decided to do the exact same thing with Ruby Riot, Sarah Logan, and Liv Morgan. There was an opportunity to do something interesting and fresh with The Iconic Duo being called up to annoy everyone and give the authority figures headaches, but instead they opted for the boring option with a decent Ruby Riot and two people who are clearly not ready for the big time. The whole thing was a bummer and I expect it will result in people just getting lost further in the shuffle.
Oh, and for fuck’s sake, they had to put Liv Morgan on the brand I cover? I deal with enough garbage from New Jersey in my daily life, I really don’t need to write about it now too. Every year I fight in our year-end awards for her to be Worst Female Superstar, and this year will be no different. This will only fuel that battle, because she is just the worst.
About The Bludgeon Brothers…
I have been excited for The Bludgeon Brothers for weeks, as they’ve been featured in weird videos of them hanging out in the woods in black cloaks, saying a bunch of nonsense, yelling their name, and then murdering the camera with hammers.
When transitioned into an in-ring act, it’s very hit and miss. On the negative side, their red Under Armor get-ups are dreadful and hard to look at. It doesn’t match what they were going for in the videos at all and makes them look like a bunch of goobers wearing lazy costumes. This seems like something they could easily pivot on. On the positive side, they have a kickass theme song and a new in-ring style that is full of speed, double-team moves, and impactful-looking offense. Luke Harper and Erick Rowan are super talented in the ring, and this match was fun to watch. They just need to fix those damn outfit and let them talk more.
About Jinder Mahal Still Being a Thing…
If you thought we would just brush the Jinder Mahal experiment under the rug and accept that it was a failure, you would be wrong. After a fun deviation of AJ Styles vs. Brock Lesnar, things returned back to the terrible course it was on with Jinder Mahal invoking his rematch clause for Clash of Champions in a few weeks and having AJ Styles fighting the Singh Brothers next week. This shit made me tune out of the WWE Championship title picture before, and I’m once again finding myself unable to pay attention. All I can hope for is that this doesn’t continue into the Royal Rumble and I get to see a championship match that’s comparable to the one last year.
About Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn…
The real main event storyline of SmackDown is Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn feuding with Shane McMahon. After being relegated to the Kickoff on Sunday, they took matters into their own hands and attacked Shane during the men’s elimination match. It didn’t really effect the end of the match, but for the sake of this story let’s just pretend it did. The opening segment of SmackDown was Shane calling the two out and mentioning how the entire lockerroom is mad at their actions. As he’s about to fire them, Daniel Bryan interrupts and instead books them in a Lumberjack Tag Team Match against The New Day in the main event.
Throughout the night they try to convince people to be their allies in the match, but are only able to convince Aiden English and Rusev because they love Rusev Day (as we all do). The match ends in chaos with all the lumberjacks fighting through the ring, giving Sami Zayn an opening to pin Kofi Kingston with a roll-up. Kevin Owens escapes while Sami gets beaten down alone, and backstage Owens discovers they aren’t being fired by Bryan but their problems are far from over with him having to face Randy Orton next week.
I’m not quite sure where this is all leading to, but I may have an idea which I’ll talk about in the next section.
About Daniel Bryan…
Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon’s relationship has been weird ever since #UnderSiege, with Bryan not being consulted about it. This started the seeds of disjointedness between the duo, and Stephanie tried to fuel it on Sunday by mentioning that Bryan could have full power without Shane around messing things up. On SmackDown Bryan stopped Shane from firing Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, and then was left alone for the rest of the night as Shane left for the hotel early.
Under Bryan’s watch, we had the chaos of the main event and the chaos of the three debuting NXT ladies causing backstage attacks and interrupting the women’s title match. When asked about those attacks, Bryan seemed to be very much behind it but refused to discuss it, hinting at the possibility he could be turning heel and wanted to overthrow Shane. A heel Daniel Bryan could be just the thing SmackDown needs to freshen things up, as while the whole Land of Opportunity thing is great, having something threatening it to create conflict would lead to some more opportunities for the heels on the roster.
What did you think of this week’s SmackDown? Let us know in the comments!
