WWE SmackDown Recap & Reactions (October 8, 2021): Pride Before The Fall



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This week’s episode of Friday night SmackDown emanated from San José. Get a full preview of the show with the live blog here.


Remember about a month ago when Seth Rollins and Edge went to war at Madison Square Garden and the end result was that Rollins put Edge with the Curb Stomp? My reading about it at the time was that it was a very well executed match with an incredible story that culminated with Edge realizing how far he had strayed from his original goals and how much he had lost. in doing so, he must accept his fate.

And he did. He accepted it, knowing that this could very well be the end.

But it was not.

I was wondering where they could go from there, and it turns out they had the right idea with this story from the start. Rollins should have given up, because he should, of course, because he won. In war, victory is all that matters. History is written by the winners and all that.

But that’s not what happened. Rollins, of course, wanted more. He wanted not only the painfully obvious physical admission of defeat, but the verbal equivalent. Defeat in itself was not enough, he needed to revel in the disappearance of his opponent. Enjoy it. Examine the wound and turn the knife a little more.

When Edge didn’t bite, at least not at first, Rollins did what he always was going to do, which he always did before – he went too far. He implicated the Copeland family, breaking into Edge’s house and making sarcastic remarks about his wife and children. At the time, I didn’t like the pace of this story, mainly due to the inability to execute it the right way in a pro wrestling show, but it improved in hindsight.

Rollins was back this week to keep rubbing him and demanding that Edge come back. He offered any stipulation that Edge wanted, kept putting him down at the expense of his family, all of it. Then the man himself showed up, rushed into the ring, unleashed a vicious assault with all the markings of the Evil Edge we knew before, whoever goes to that dark place, and then he has specified which stipulation he wanted.

Hell in a cell.

Rollins’ response to this made it clear what it was about. He was shocked, yes, but he also looked scared. The sufficient confidence that had made him act this way and say these things was replaced by fear; of what he unleashed, of what weighed on him, of his inability to escape it.

Pride comes before the fall.

The best part? It is deserved. And this is the key to it all. Going into the depths of your own darkness to get revenge on a man for a title is to lose yourself. A title, as much as it can mean competitively, is always just a physical representation of achievement.

But the family? The family is the most important. Going into the depths of your own darkness to defend your family is right. In terms of storytelling, Rollins lashing out at Edge’s family is essentially giving the latter carte blanche to do whatever he wants, in terms of audience acceptance. That’s why they asked Iosef to kill John Wick’s dog, the same dog his wife left him to help him mourn – and move on – his death. Iosef saying shit, breaking into Wick’s house and even stealing Wick’s car he refused to sell wouldn’t have been enough to justify a revenge tour of Iosef’s entire family. But kill the dog? Running after the family like this?

Now you don’t get the Undertaker, but the man you send to kill the Undertaker. And there will be no escape. Edge will come for Rollins and he won’t do anything because he can’t do anything.

And we can applaud everything.

Brilliant.


Recognize me

We got a glimpse of what a Roman Reigns babyface could look like with this curvy character and you know what?

Maybe it could work.

The little they did at the start of his segment showed it. He stepped out, drenched in the roar of the crowd reacting to his mere presence before shouting the name of the city, San José, and demanding “receive me”. They responded with a thunderous pop as The Usos flanked him by raising their fingers, The Ones, and the audience did the same in response.

It was electric. He’s a professional wrestler who’s pretty darn good at his job, creating something that fans want to get into so badly, even when said wrestler is a heel because he’s awesome.

Damn, even if they don’t babyface again with that, it’s still a cool thing for the fans and the live audience. Even if other crowds respond with boos, it still works. I love it. It’s a perfect piece of professional wrestling.

Meanwhile, in the story, Reigns gave Paul Heyman a chance to explain himself and he crawled a lot before doing exactly what Roman asked him to do, telling Brock Lesnar what he had in store for him. at Crown Jewel. Then he literally bowed at the feet of the Universal Champion while the rest of us wondered how sincere he was.

That’s one of the great things about Heyman, both the man and the character – he’s widely known as a die-hard liar. It could very well be the setup of a gap, the only thing that could take Reigns down and end his reign, ahem, as the champion.

They’ve done a damn good job of creating an intrigue in this game that is all about a manager’s loyalty.


Bingo!

Contract signing is a segment that WWE often uses for title matches, as it is a simple and effective tool to build said title match. There is a deck of bingo cards to play each time, as there are a number of bits that you can look for in these segments.

Here we have “this is a contract signing but no one is actually signing a contract” in addition to “the furniture is used as a weapon and / or destroyed” to accompany “everyone does a promo on everyone before that a fight does not break out ”. . “

The thing to keep in mind is that they can do as much bingo as they can as long as it’s entertaining and Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, and Sasha Banks made sure to make it entertaining.

Especially how it ended:

Belair continues to be amazing, both in this program and overall.

Plus, props to them, they actually took the trouble to have a behind-the-scenes segment where we saw Lynch complaining to Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville but ultimately choose to sign the contract to make the game official.


King of the Ring, Crown of the Queen

On the men’s side, the Mysterio family drama continued, allowing Sami Zayn to secure a victory over Rey Mysterio. It was a good way to use a meaningful game to continue to drive a wedge between Rey and Dominik. Meanwhile, Finn Balor came back from his failure as The Demon at Extreme Rules with a solid victory over Cesaro. As far as someone’s recovery goes, it was about as good as you could ask for.

It also sets up a clash that makes sense in the semi-finals.

On the women’s side, it’s a little more confusing.

Toni Storm was bolstered by an introduction to her new character, someone who makes herself an “80s kid,” as they call it. I’m not sure how that makes sense, considering she wasn’t even born until 1995, but anyway, it seemed like an obvious setup to give her a win and showcase this new character more. It was a surprise, then, when she was beaten in a relatively short order.

It was also a surprise when Carmella beat Liv Morgan a bit later, as WWE continues to tease a Morgan babyface push before beating her in matches like this. The win set up a Vega game against Carmella for next week, a heel-to-heel encounter that leaves us no one to cheer on.

It sounds strange!

It also ensures that a heel on that side of the support will be on the final, which could mean a heel-to-heel final when Shayna Baszler comes out on that side of the support (which I expected as soon as I saw the support. full), or Doudrop actually gets a legitimate push to the final here. Neither option strikes me as particularly appealing, but your mileage may vary.


Everything else

  • We got our first look at how Hit Row will be featured on the main roster with a sleek vignette that showed them in the studio. Pat McAfee called them “an electrifying band that also kicks the ring,” which is pretty much the perfect way to describe them. One of my biggest issues with WWE in recent memory is the fact that no one on the roster is cool. Hit Row is exactly that, provided WWE presents them correctly i.e. they let their thing go and it will work out on its own. They are off to a good start in this regard.
  • Am I the only one who hears “Madcat” every time they say the name “Madcap” Moss on this show? I can’t be the only one, can I? Anyway, that thing where he tells crappy daddy jokes that everyone hates except Baron Corbin is the kind of silliness I can get in my pro wrestling. After all, who’s a bigger heel than your dad after he enthusiastically told you about his last knee slap?
  • I briefly wondered why Naomi wasn’t in the Queen’s Crown Tournament and felt bad about it until she showed up on TV and reminded me that she is in this story incredibly odd with Sonya Deville, now apparently doing what she said she wouldn’t do and returning to the ring to fight Naomi herself. We still don’t know why she hates her so much, beyond the corporate nonsense she claimed a few weeks ago, but it’s a really exciting match to look forward to. I’m pretty sure it won’t actually happen, but I still care enough that I want to log in to see the next step in the story.
  • Anyone who will compete with MACE who will ANNIHIRA with his PROVISION TO DOMINATE?!?

After a predictable bad episode due to the draft last week, the Blue Mark is back on track.

Rating: B +

Your turn.

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