SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)…
WWE FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN PRIMER
OCTOBER 1, 2021
BALTIMORE, MD. AT THE ROYAL FARMS ARENA
AIRS ON FOX NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EDT
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH.COM CONTRIBUTOR
Announcers: Michael Cole and Pat McAfee
Match Results, Key Segments and Exclusives from Last Week
- Shinsuke Nakamura (w/Rick Boogs) defeated Apollo Crews (w/Commander Azeez) to retain the Intercontinental Championship.
- Seth Rollins called out Edge.
- Liv Morgan defeated Zelina Vega.
- Happy Corbin debuted his talk show “Happy Talk” with the first guest being himself. As he talked about his recent fortunes and his attack on Kevin Owens two weeks ago, Owens himself appeared and went after Corbin. Riddick Moss, whom we hadn’t seen on TV in some time, appeared to assist Corbin.
- Women’s Tag Team Championship co-holder Nikki ASH (w/Rhea Ripley) defeated Natalya (w/Tamina).
- Rey and Dominik Mysterio had a disagreement about Dominik’s recent misfortunes. Sami Zayn walked in and said Dominik ought to listen less to his father and more to his instincts.
- Naomi demanded a match and went so far as to challenge Sonya Deville. Deville, now being a WWE official, rejected the challenge and had her escorted out by security.
- Universal Champion Roman Reigns defeated Montez Ford of the Street Profits in a non-title match. Afterwards, Smackdown Tag Team Champions the Usos (Jimmy & Jey) came out to attack Montez after he called them “bloodline bitches” earlier. “The Demon” Finn Balor came out to assist Montez.
Extreme Rules Results Pertinent to Smackdown
- Liv Morgan defeated Carmella on the Kickoff Show.
- The Usos defeated the Street Profits to retain the Smackdown Tag Team Championship.
- Bianca Belair defeated Becky Lynch via DQ when Sasha Banks returned to WWE TV and attacked Bianca. Becky retained the Smackdown Women’s Championship.
- Roman Reigns defeated “The Demon” Finn Balor to retain the Universal Championship. The ropes broke JUST AS Balor was setting up for the Coup de Grace.
Arena
WWE returns to the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, MD. Formerly known as the Baltimore Arena and the Baltimore Civic Center, the venue has a rich history of wrestling events including Jim Crockett Promotions of the NWA which eventually became WCW, Nitro, various WWE television tapings, and most recently AEW for their 2019 Full Gear event. Ric Flair defeated Terry Funk at the 1989 Great American Bash to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. WWE’s last appearance here was for a Raw in September of 2019.
Advertised Matches & Segments
Draft Night One
Tonight, will be night one of the annual WWE Draft as has been heavily advertised. The Torch picked up on a report by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer that the NXT talent will be involved. It’s unknown to what extent or how many of the wrestlers could get drafted. The draft will conclude this Monday on Raw.
Some notable names to move shows last year were Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Rey Mysterio, and Bianca Belair to Smackdown. Jeff Hardy, Sheamus, Riddle, and Alexa Bliss moved to Raw. Recently released Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt moved to Raw while Aleister Black went to Smackdown. Andrade went undrafted.
Frank’s Analysis: For the women I’m imagining that Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair stay put on Smackdown and Raw respectively. Bianca Belair and/or Sasha Banks, both of Smackdown, could potentially back their bags for Raw. On the men’s side I could see Drew McIntyre shifting to Smackdown, and I wouldn’t sleep on Bobby Lashley moving. If Lashley stays on Raw, that tells me Big E could lose the WWE Championship back to him at some point. I’d keep my eye on U.S. Champion Damian Priest and Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura changing addresses. It’s been a while since the mid-card titles changed shows, and Nakamura has been on Smackdown forever. I sense Priest is a favorite of Vince’s, which is why I think he can move to Smackdown. Keith Lee is another name to watch. The rest of the names are a crap shoot. From NXT it’s hard to say whom would get the call but Hit Row comes to mind. Whether that’s the entire faction or just Isaiah “Swerve” Scott remains to be seen as far as I’m concerned. I could see Vince liking the Grizzled Young Veterans and oddly enough, Dexter Lumis. One name I would LOVE to see and that’s Io Shirai. It’s time. Dakota Kai wouldn’t be a bad draft either. We’ll see!
Edge Returns to Smackdown
As I mentioned earlier, Seth Rollins called out Edge to appear on Smackdown. He demanded that Edge show up and say that he wasn’t Edge-Lite, and that he was the man responsible for ending his career. If Edge didn’t show up, he would hunt him down and beat it out of him in front of his family.
Later in the show, it was announced that Edge answered the “invitation,” and would appear on Smackdown tonight. Here’s some Twitter talk:
This isn’t even a debate at this point. And Friday, the man himself will tell the world on his way out of the business. https://t.co/bj9eRitNlS
— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) September 26, 2021
I’ll see you at #SmackDown next week
— Adam (Edge) Copeland (@EdgeRatedR) September 25, 2021
Frank’s Analysis: I have to say I like this feud. It’s personal, which WWE doesn’t necessarily do well these days. It’s bringing out a better side of Rollins. I haven’t personally been into his heel characters, but he seems to be hitting his stride. I hope their next match isn’t pegged for Crown Jewel, but this will be the first time they’ll have access to Edge since the pandemic broke out shortly after his return. I’m sure they want to see an Edge match.
Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Thank you for reading!
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