WWE SmackDown 8/09/2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show that (like our hearts) once again belongs to Roman Reigns! In contrast to Monday's "WWE Raw," which nearly everyone on the WINC staff thought was a great episode, we largely agreed that "SmackDown" was a bit of a mess this week while we waited for the inevitable Reigns appearance. Did the return of "The OTC" to the blue brand make us feel better about the episode, or worse? Are we excited to see Kevin Owens challenge Cody Rhodes at Bash in Berlin? Does DIY having to win their way back into a tag team No. 1 contender's match make any sense? The answers to all these questions can be found in this column, which is comprised entirely of our personal opinions, and they definitely cannot be found on our "SmackDown" results page, which is more of a "here's an objective description of everything that happened" type deal.

With that in mind, let's jump right in! Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 8/9/2024 episode of "WWE SmackDown."

Sure, maybe Cody Rhodes didn't ask Kevin Owens out to prom specifically, but the awkward energy was still there.

Friday's edition of "WWE SmackDown" had a lot to live up to after a stupendous "WWE Raw," and granted, this segment started off strong. Rhodes delivered his frustration and his intensity when he snarled at Solo Sikoa, and while Sikoa's performance was not his best work, it wasn't terrible. Things came to a head when The Bloodline attempted to surround Rhodes, but his long-time ally Kevin Owens made the save.

Being Rhodes' long-time ally is what kickstarted all of these awkward shenanigans for Owens.

After successfully fending off the Bloodline, Rhodes extended the opening segment in one of the most clunky, difficult transitions in recent WWE memory. Like, Rhodes' music was playing, and yet Rhodes continued to speak. Playing Rhodes' music and priming the viewer's brain for a transition into the next segment, only to jolt the viewer back to listen to some more promo work, was a poor choice, and the clunkiness set a precedent for the whole unwieldy circus that was to come of the Rhodes/Owens storyline that is apparently being peddled for Bash in Berlin.

Rhodes has always been eloquent; this week, he was just wordy. Perhaps because of the poor transition-not-transition earlier, Rhodes' post-segment segment clunked as he implored Owens to be his opponent at Bash in Berlin. Something about Owens deserving a title shot, even though Owens — as he correctly pointed out to Rhodes — is nowhere near a championship feud, character-wise. Despite his refusal, Rhodes kept pushing Owens to accept his offer, and it was not in a romantic "I'm not giving up on us" way. It was in a "I already bought us matching corsages and boutonnieres for prom, please say yes" way. Rhodes' insistence and the suddenness of the feud only added to the awkwardness of it all.

Owens continued to stand his ground and refuse Rhodes' title opportunity. That is, until Nick Aldis entered the picture, and baited Owens by suggesting a WrestleMania 40 rematch at Bash in Berlin. Upon further conversation with the rest of my esteemed colleagues, we decided that Aldis was trying to manipulate Owens' tensions with Reigns in order to get Owens to accept a title opportunity. We talked about it for about 20 minutes, which is far too long during a two-hour show. We watch a lot of wrestling, and are semi-proficient in it, at least. The fact that we had to debate what happened for that long shows the clumsiness of these segments. Aldis' riddles did not do anything to justify or hype up this match, and the segments themselves were a waste of time that fumbled what should've been an explosive, high-profile feud.

When you have wrestling writers confused about what is literally, objectively happening during a show, you know it's bad.

Written by Angeline Phu

Tiffany Stratton and Chelsea Green is the feud I never knew I needed until now.

On a "SmackDown" that was otherwise relatively boring and convoluted, the exchange between the two and Piper Niven stood out above everything else on the card as a fun little moment that further opened the door for a potential future storyline. Even in just a simple two-minute backstage segment, Stratton and Green have excellent chemistry with one another and play off each other so well.

From a character standpoint, Stratton and Green are quite similar to one another in almost every regard including their attitudes and style, which interestingly enough seems to be working to their advantage to set up a rivalry rather than a partnership (as would typically be the case and has been demonstrated by WWE countless times). Knowing their own characters helps them to understand one another better and know what the other would be thinking, and there are many possibilities for where things between the pair could go, whether that be Green ruining a potential Money In The Bank cash-in by Stratton, incorporating Niven and Nia Jax into the mix, or spinning it into an eventual alliance. No matter where things end up though, one thing that's for sure is that it'll be interesting and fun to watch.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Yes, the Chelsea Green/Tiffany Stratton stuff was fun, but that doesn't change the fact that the women's division got short-shrifted on this episode of "SmackDown." The show had settled into a nice routine recently of having a couple women's matches per show; this episode only had one, and it was two minutes of Jade Cargill and Alba Fyre. And obviously there was a post-match angle afterward that took up more time, with Blair Davenport coming out and getting chased off by Naomi, but even that didn't take very long.

Honestly, the worst part about this entire feud is that there's really nothing going on story-wise. Naomi and Davenport have a storyline, but the tag champs are just kind of flailing right now. They won the belts at Clash at the Castle, which nobody expected, and they've barely been on main roster TV since. They're heels, I guess, which just plays weird because their biggest exposure to a widespread audience was at Clash, where they cried after winning the titles in their home country in front of an elated crowd, but sure. Either way, it doesn't exactly feel like a blood feud between them and Cargill, not to mention Bianca Belair, who's been booked like an afterthought since that tag title loss. Maybe there's an alternate universe where Cargill getting a singles win over Fyre actually means something, but that's presumably an alternate universe where WWE has given us literally any reason to care.

Most egregious of all, though, is the fact that this episode didn't have Bayley, and it didn't have Nia Jax, who will apparently celebrate her WWE Women's Championship victory next week. Bayley vs. Jax is the only match from SummerSlam that didn't get any follow-up on either "Raw" or "SmackDown," which just kind of sucks. On an episode that really needed some kind of boost while we all waited for Roman Reigns to show up, some of the women who are actually being presented as top stars in the division would have been nice.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

Friday night, Santos Escobar took on Andrade in a No. 1 Contender's match for LA Knight's newly earned United States Championship. By the time it was all over, Escobar found himself with a new title opportunity on his hands, the feud between Andrade and Carmelo Hayes deepened, and two of WWE's top luchadors looked like a million bucks. This was just good wrestling, full stop, and Escobar and Andrade's match was what the show needed, from an in-ring standpoint, to salvage the show's first act.

This had the quality of a championship match. Escobar and Andrade moved together seamlessly in their first match together in WWE, and their luchador styles melded seamlessly together to create a spectacle that surely would've roused Tulsa from their stupor. They are not as tiny and quick as, say, Dragon Lee or Rey Mysterio, but they strike the perfect balance between size and agility that fulfills the requirements of both style and substance — they look enough like your typical wrestler (stocky, with masculine features) that you give them an opportunity to hook you, but they move like guys half their size in a way that completely captivates the eye once the bell rings.

There was not one ending to this match that I would've been disappointed with, because the path to the finish was worth the watch alone. Andrade and Escobar flowed together seamlessly — if you blinked, you would've missed Escobar's Poisonrana onto Andrade from the middle rope — and they did not shy away from the near falls. With every incredible Moonsault, springboard maneuver, and suplex, there were palpable stakes that kept rising, rising, until one of the two men kicked out at two. This match was about as equal as equal gets, in terms of Superstars and their sheer skills.

Things did get a bit hairy towards the end, when Andrade's long-time nemesis Hayes entered the picture. After being temporarily distracted by Elektra Lopez, Andrade sought to finish Escobar with some knees to the face. Hayes pulled Escobar out of the corner, and as Andrade recovered from his knee-first collision with the bottom turnbuckle, Escobar rolled up Andrade for the win, hands on his tights and all. While the ending was a bit unsatisfying — the roll-up is, sardonically, the most powerful move in all of wrestling, and the referee was a bit slow to position — Escobar and Andrade's in-ring chemistry more than made up for those blunders.

All parties now have clear storylines that will keep their talents on TV for the weeks to come. Escobar has a date with the United States Championship, and Andrade has even more reason to target Hayes to deliver another banger of a match. Andrade and Escobar elevated the midcard, and in return, this match elevated them.

Written by Angeline Phu

Last week, you may remember that I hated DIY losing the tag titles in less than a full moon cycle. New week, same hate.

In case you missed last week's "SmackDown," Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu defeated DIY via Bloodline shenanigans to become the new tag team champions. The next night during SummerSlam, Fatu was apparently injured when he did a splash from the top rope onto Cody Rhodes, who was on the announce table. He was later seen wearing a walking boot. On this week's SmackDown, Fatu did not accompany the new Bloodline to the ring. In fact, Tanga Loa joined Tonga in carrying the title belts (which still have DIY's plates on them).

One could argue that once a champion loses, they shouldn't automatically get a rematch for said championship, but most wrestling companies default back to the last champions getting a rematch. In fact, when DIY won the titles from A-Town Down Under, Grayson Waller and Austin Theory had a title match the following week. Perhaps in an effort to make it look like the division has some depth, "SmackDown" this week had two matches to determine who gets another match in which the winner will then become No. 1 contenders. Of course, The Bloodline will almost certainly win and the division will likely continue to focus on three tag teams at most, continuing WWE's lack of emphasis on tag team wrestling.

Written by Samantha Schipman

After the build and everything that went down with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Cody Rhodes for the main event ahead of WrestleMania 40, I never thought I'd be happy to see Roman Reigns on an episode of "SmackDown" again. Boy, was I wrong, because I was extremely excited to see him return and take out Solo Sikoa, basically helping Cody Rhodes retain the Undisputed WWE Championship, at SummerSlam. I was extra excited knowing that meant we'd likely see him on tonight's episode. And see him we did, and he wrecked everyone and left. Well, he wrecked Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa, tried to completely wreck Sikoa, and then stared him down to end the episode instead of leaving, but you get the picture. Wreck everyone and leave. That's MY tribal chief.

Maybe it's because we haven't seen him in awhile, but Reigns is looked a little more jacked than when he left, at least from what I can tell. He took out Tonga and Loa with the ring steps, then nailed Sikoa with a Superman Punch, and even had his hands on the ulafala. He didn't get it back around his own neck, however, before Tonga and Loa blindsided him. But, their attack on Reigns didn't last long before he once again got the upper hand, which I thought was good. You don't want Reigns to look any kind of weak with his very recent return, especially with him having lost the belt before taking some time off. I know there have been conflicting reports about the status of Jacob Fatu after his apparent leg injury at SummerSlam, and if he's actually hurt, that sucks, but no matter what, the lack of Fatu's presence was extremely effective. I found myself worrying he'd pop up and take out Reigns. Out of anyone in the Bloodline, Fatu versus Reigns is honestly the only match I really want to see, though I know of course Sikoa versus Reigns for the right to be official tribal chief has to happen at some point. At what point, however? I haven't the slightest idea.

I also wanted to mention the fact the crowd was chanting for Rhodes throughout the segment, of course mostly when Reigns was the one getting beat down. Whether the crowd in Tulsa wanted it or not, I'm glad Rhodes didn't come down to help Reigns, because Reigns technically didn't help Rhodes at SummerSlam, he just wanted to get his hands on Sikoa. You'll never be able to convince me that those two like each other (in storyline, of course) after WrestleMania. If the champion would've ran down to help Reigns, it would have severely weakened this segment and probably would have turned into something I hated. While this didn't exactly move the Bloodline versus Reigns storyline along, it was nice to see "The Tribal Chief" back on the blue brand. It's weird to see him without a title, but I'm glad to see him back. Ones up.

Written by Daisy Ruth