Becky Lynch doubles down as a heel, attacking Charlotte on Smackdown Live. Has Samoa Joe finally driven AJ Styles mad?
Several high profile sneak attacks occur throughout this week’s Smackdown Live, including the main event. Paige books more of the Hell In A Cell card which accommodates intensifying feuds.
WWE once again broadcasts from Toronto, Ontario, Canada this 28th of August, 2018.
Five Time Flop
The New Day are poised to celebrate their fifth tag team championship reign. That is until they are interrupted by five time World Heavyweight Championship Booker T. The WWE Hall-of-Famer dawns his “King Booker” persona and bestows royal praise upon his fellow wrestlers.
From there the four celebrate the newest members to the newly formed Five Time Club with Spinaroonies.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVxmXvqSqhE]
Booker T kind of steals the thunder from the new Smackdown Live Tag Team Champions in this segment. There is definitely a link with both The New Day and Booker being five time champions but this should be a time for The New Day to shine. Instead, they are deprived of an opportunity to bust out some of their trademark ridiculousness. There is no more appropriate occasion than a celebration for a classic New Day skit to get fans talking.
Triple Threat Tag
The New Day will however provide commentary for the proceeding triple threat tag team match to help determine their next challengers.
Primo and Epico, The Bar and The Good Brothers will battle for an opportunity at The New Day at Hell In A Cell.
All three teams are at a stalemate until Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows go on a noteworthy run. Gallows kicks everything that moves and assists Anderson with double team maneuvers. After The Good Brothers finish most of the heavy lifting Ceasaro capitalizes on a opening created by a double backstabber to Gallows.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3QWDBDrT8]
The Bar win and advance to face another team to be determined by another triple threat tag match. Paige announces this match will involve a reformed Rusev Day and The Usos.
Highway To Hell
Jeff Hardy has a challenge for Randy Orton.
Following weeks of torment at the hands of The Viper, Hardy previously destroyed Orton following a match the previous week. The Charasmatic Enigma admits the entire situation with Orton has left him unstable. Hardy alludes to slipping into a “broken state” and calls out Orton.
A calm and collected Orton answers the call, proclaiming he is not finished dismantling Hardy’s current persona. The only way to end this once and for all is to completely reduce Hardy to a pile of bones according to Orton. However this will occur at WWE’s next pay per view inside a the Hell In A Cell structure.
Hardy is the one who forces his foe’s hand as he demands their confrontation takes place within the steel walls that has shortened many a career.
These two competitors are perfect for this type of match up. Hardy is known for taking insane risks while Orton prides himself on dishing out brutality. Given the green light, these two have the capability of creating an Undertaker vs Mankind level epic in The Cell.
The Glow In Toronto
Naomi lights up the night and faces Billie Kay. Naomi previously beat her opponent’s friend Peyton Royce on the previous Smackdown Live with little effort. Tonight, following yet another session of annoying smack talk by the IIconics, Naomi spends most of the match kicking Kay in the head.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2HGYVT5MAc]
With no other option left Kay distracts the referee while Peyton Royce grabs Namoi’s hair from outside of the ring. Kay immediately seizes the opportunity to roll up Naomi for a shocking and cheap victory. There was no other way Kay was going to defeat a wrestler the caliber of Naomi. This budding feud will give each party something to do until the Women’s title picture opens up.
Intriguing Challenge
Daniel Bryan is joined by Brie Bella address the recent behavior of The Miz and Maryse.
Bryan reiterates that The Miz is a coward and reminisces on how Brie punched him in the face last week. Ahead of their mixed tag team match at Hell in a Cell the couple look forward to beating up the wannabe celebrities who call themselves wrestlers. It is at this time Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zalina Vega appear and verbally denigrate Bryan.
This is an intriguing match up featuring two stars who possess similar styles. Both come from an independent background and until Vega negotiated her way into this segment fans may have not known they wanted this potentially amazing match. Recognizing the massive opportunity, Paige commissions the match.
Both take turns flying around the ring and delivering stiff strikes. The Miz and Maryse can be seen watching from backstage but walk off camera as if to visit ringside. Almas puts up another amazing performance against a wrestling legend similar to his match with AJ Styles. The Miz does end up appearing at ringside distracting Bryan.
After ducking a running clothesline from Almas, Bryan dives to the outside and catches The Miz with closed fists. Bryan then clamps the Yes Lock on Almas but Maryse appears through the coward and attacks Brie on the outside. As he release the submission and goes to help Brie, Bryan is blilnd sided by The Miz. The match ends in a disqualification as The It Couple, Almas and Vega beat up Brie and Bryan.
Family Fued
AJ Styles addresses the Smackdown Live audience ahead of what will hopefully be a decisive WWE Championship match at Hell In A Cell. He defends his title against Samoa Joe who continues to verbally abuse his family. Styles quickly calls out Joe who is standing by backstage.
Instead of answering the call of Styles, he makes a call of his own. If we are to believe Joe he calls AJ’s wife Wendy Styles and threatens to show up at their home or an upcoming family function. This enrages Styles who run backstage to find Samoa Joe.
These tactics remind older fans of classic heel psychology and works to continue to legitimize the heat between these two competitors. This angle seemed stale at first but witnessing how far Joe is wiling to go to get to Styles is more than interesting. Joe is also the malicious heel necessary to pull this off. Styles is also extremely susceptible to his emotions and this feud is clearly getting to him.
Women’s Title Rematch
Carmella invokes her Champion’s rematch clause after losing the title to Charlotte at SummerSlam. Charlotte seems to look past this match as she continues to deal with the fallout of her previous friendship with Becky Lynch. Maybe it is because of this that Charlotte actually struggles against Carmella in the early going of the match.
Carmella smothers Charlotte with offense nails a beautiful Frankensteiner but it is not enough to finish the match. Carmella repeatedly goes for the pin but is unable to put Charlotte away. When it seems as though Carmella is a few moments away from a victory Charlotte hits her spear, Natural Selection and finally clamps on the Figure Eight. Although Carmella holds on for a commendable amount of time she eventually submits.
Immediately following the match Becky Lynch runs to the ring and unmerciful attacks Charlotte. Crouching over her former friend, Lynch vows to take back her title at Hell In A Cell as the crowd goes wild for the new heel. Lynch has never looked or sounded so genuinely intimidating.
It is unclear if the WWE planned on Lynch being an antihero or if the cheers from the crowd will cause them to make any booking changes. The WWE crowd is firmly behind Lynch even though Charlotte is clearly booked as a face in this situation. The crowd is more eager to get behind the motives of an underdog rather than someone who wins all the time. WWE may have missed the mark on this one. If any adjustments are to be made it would be best if it does not impact Lynch’s character who is currently red hot.
