5 Things We Learned From SmackDown Last Night

This week’s edition of WWE SmackDown Live came on the heels of the invasion of RAW 24 hours earlier. Would there be retaliation?

That was the biggest question heading into the show (and probably what most fans expected to see). But there was much more to be dealt with in regards to Survivor Series. That being the issue of setting up the actual matches, including who would be on the men’s and women’s Team SmackDown squads.

Well, we found out the first member of the men’s team, the entire women’s team, and crowned a captain for the women’s team. It was a productive evening on that front.

But what about the rest of the show? Did Kevin Owens make an appearance despite being pulled from the South America tour this weekend? What did Shane McMahon have to say to Zayn and Owens? And what about that forgotten U.S. title?

We’ve got news on all of these fronts and more. Read on to find out what we learned this week on WWE‘s SmackDown Live.

1. The Fans Still Love This Man

Despite launching a sneak attack on a bunch of innocent people backstage on Monday night, which in most universes would qualify as a heel move, Shane McMahon is still beloved by the Tuesday night audience.

Shane opened the show talking about how and why the “Under Siege” moment came about on Monday night. He said the idea came to him when RAW had asked for AJ Styles to substitute at TLC. He decided to use it as a multiple night loan and to have someone on the inside. As we all saw, Styles was part of the brutal attack launched backstage on the RAW stars.

McMahon’s promo was interrupted by Sami Zayn, who came out dancing obnoxiously to his entrance theme once again. You’ve got admire this man. He’s the only person who could make this theme song work as a heel. 

Zayn and McMahon briefly talked about what happened at Hell In A Cell, but we quickly learned that they were going to move on from that to who will represent Team SmackDown at Survivor Series.

Zayn announced he and Owens were willing to put their differences with Shane to the side in order to represent the brand as co-captains of the team. McMahon said he wouldn’t just let Zayn walk into a spot on the squad, so he announced he would have to face Randy Orton later in the show to earn a spot. 

2. But Does Daniel Bryan Still Respect Him?

They teased heat between Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon over the RAW siege on Monday night.

Bryan approached Shane backstage and asked him why he wasn’t consulted on the decision. McMahon explained that it is in his job description to sometimes just do what he sees is best for business, and this was a decision he had to make.

Bryan responded by saying that it’s also in his job description to give his input, and that’s what he was doing by disagreeing with the move. 

The final segment of the show before going off air also featured Shane/Bryan, with them noting that RAW didn’t invade as they might have expected in retaliation. However, Bryan reminded Shane that they will at some point, and it will be up to him (Shane) to be ready. 

3. Baron Corbin Has Been Pushed Over The Edge

So there’s no doubt the WWE’s U.S. title has kind of been lost in the shuffle of late.

AJ Styles held the belt, started the open challenge once again, and that was seemingly dropped as soon as it was started. In fact, Tye Dillinger was the only surprise open challenge contestant.

Then Styles dropped the belt to Baron Corbin, assuming Styles was headed for bigger things by being inserted back into the WWE title picture. However, Corbin had been unceremoniously pushed down the card in recent months prior to his title victory. Though Styles elevated him a bit during their brief program, his character still needed some rehab.

That rehab was pushed over the top this week as Corbin absolutely destroyed Sin Cara on SmackDown. No really, it was fantastic.

This is exactly how Corbin needs to be booked in order to establish him as the monster in the ring that they had started to succeed with prior to his questionable push down in the card in the summer. 

 

4. Gable and Benjamin Are Legit

Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin have already been announced as the next challengers for The Usos, and they were put over The New Day clean on Tuesday night while The Usos looked on from the commentary booth.

One thing that I love about the Gable and Benjamin combo is the newly minted theme song and entrance, which has helped out their presentation immensely. Gable and Jordan, as American Alpha, had arguably the worst theme song in the company that did absolutely nothing to get the crowd going. This incarnation is much better. 

Given the lack of tag team depth on Tuesdays, it’s good to see them cement these guys as legitimate challengers by beating the former champions. The only thing I am left questioning is if they are turning Gable and Bejamin heels. The Usos on commentary sounded more like babyface, as did they earlier during a backstage segment where Gable and Benjamin sarcastically rapped to them. I guess we will have to see how it plays out, but they appear to be in the midst of a double turn. 

5. Sami Still Has To Make The Team, Right?

In the main event of Tuesday’s show, Sami Zayn lost to Randy Orton following a low blow and RKO. What a babyface, that Randy Orton.

But come on. There’s no way Sami Zayn (and Kevin Owens for that matter) aren’t going to be on Team SmackDown at Survivor Series. Owens and Nakamura will wrestle next week for a slot on the team, but many of the rest of SmackDown’s top stars will be busy elsewhere.

Mahal is wrestling Lesnar, Corbin is wrestling Miz, The Usos are wrestling Rollins and Ambrose, and so on. I suppose The New Day could be put with Orton and Nakamura (presumably) to form the five man team, but you’ve got to imagine they’d go with singles wrestlers over a tag team. Especially since a RAW vs. SmackDown tag teams elimination match seems likely on the card. 

That would leave a likely Team SmackDown of Orton, Nakamura, Owens, Zayn, and Styles, which would be a pretty talented team all around. I’d think Balor would be added to Team RAW so they could capitalize on Styles/Balor from TLC and them getting back into the ring again, too (though another singles match is a possiblity).

Either way, Survivor Series 2017 appears to be shaping up quite nicely.