WWE SmackDown Review – October 27, 2023
Kicking off this week’s Smackdown with Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns & Paul Heyman make their way down to the ring however as Reigns looks to hold up his Undisputed WWE Universal Title LA Knight’s music hits and he breezes past him and gets in the ring to join Nick Aldis.
Knight sits in the chair at the head of the table and says it’s time to sign this deal to take Reigns’ title from him. Aldis welcomes fans to Smackdown as Reigns takes his seat and Knight says that in the contract they’re about to sign it says that Reigns is about to hand his title over to him then signs the contract and hands it over to Reigns.
Reigns says Knight must be stupid to just sign away and asks him if he’s ever had a contract signing or a championship match before. He says Knight has no clue what he’s doing but lucky for him he’ll go easy on him and signs the contract. Aldis takes the contract and says that his responsibilities have been concluded then heads to the back. Reigns looks to stand up to leave but Knight cuts him off and tells Reigns to acknowledge him since he’s sitting at the head of the table. He says that he hopes Reigns goes easy on him but his underestimation means that he’s already beat and Reigns will be asking himself what happened when he’s dethroned at Crown Jewel. Knight says while Reigns failed over and over again he’s been telling everyone who’s game this is. He says he can’t stop the gravy train with everyone saying his name.
Reigns flips the table on Knight and fires off stomps on him in the corner. He sends Knight colliding with the ring post shoulder first and grabs a 2nd table from under the ring and slides it inside. He sets it up and fires off a right hand on Knight but Knight gains the upper hand and fires off stops on Reigns in the corner. He looks to plant Reigns through the table but Jimmy Uso appears out of nowhere and fires off stomps on Knight. Reigns slides out of the ring while he has the chance and tells Jimmy to continue beating down Knight. Knight sends him crashing through the table with a back suplex and stands tall before staring down Reigns on the ramp.
Tag Team Match
Latino World Order (Santos Escobar & Carlito) vs. Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford)
Match starts off with Santos Escobar & Angelo Dawkins lock up then Dawkins lands a shoulder tackle but Escobar fires back with a dropkick and tags in Carlito.
Carlito delivers a double ax handle from the top rope but Dawkins connects with a kick to his face before running into Carlito.
Dawkins overpowers him and wears him down in the corner but Carlito manages to hit a dropkick.
Montez Ford gets in the ring but Carlito sends him to the outside and does a flip over the top to take out Street Profits as we go to a break.
After the break Ford delivers a standing splash to Escobar and goes for a pin but Carlito breaks the fall. Ford fires off right hands on Escobar but Escobar connects with an enzuigiri.
Ford then flattens him with a clothesline and tags in Dawkins & he hits a splash in the corner but Escobar rocks him with a running knee out of the corner and tags in Carlito & Ford tags in and Carlito delivers a double underhook suplex to him.
He follows it up with a sit out powerbomb and a swinging neckbreaker then goes for a pin but Dawkins breaks the fall then Escobar clotheslines Dawkins out of the ring then tags in as we see Logan Paul blindside United States Champion Rey Mysterio from backstage.
Escobar tells Carlito to go check on Mysterio before delivering a hurricanrana to Ford then he follows it up with the running double knees in the corner.
Dawkins tags in and delivers an enzuigiri on Ford from the apron before Street Profits catch him with Sky High/Neckbreaker combo for the win.
Winners: Street Profits
We head backstage to Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman promoting a WWE Title made for the NFL’s Green Bay Packers. Heyman tells Reigns he’s going to give Knight the table as it’s the only title he’ll ever get close to. Jimmy Uso walks in and Reigns asks him what happened. He says he ran the play and Reigns tells him he ran the wrong play. Jimmy says he called an audible and Reigns tells him to deal with it before sending Heyman to make a match between Knight & Jimmy official.
After the break we see Logan Paul walking around backstage. Cathy Kelley approaches him and asks Paul why he attacked Mysterio & Paul says his fist is bigger than Mysterio’s head then walks off. He runs into Kevin Owens wearing one of Mysterio’s shirts and stares him down then walks away. A Town Down Under then appear and begin arguing with Owens. A Town Down Under keep running their mouths and Owens clocks them.
We then head over and see Cedric Alexander introducing himself to Dragon Lee before the pair agree to a match later tonight.
We get a video from earlier today where Shotzi & Chelsea Green had an argument backstage in the presence of Nick Aldis and he made a match between them.
Women’s Tag Team Champion Chelsea Green vs. Shotzi
Chelsea Green delivers a dropkick out of the gate before Shotzi rolls her up but Green kicks out and sends her into the top turnbuckle face first.
Green takes a second to strategize with Piper Niven on the outside but Shotzi doesn’t give them much time as she goes flying off the apron to level her.
They get back in the ring and Green delivers a side Russian leg sweep from the middle rope. She follows it up with a running dropkick but Shotzi connects with a kick to her head and drags her up to the top rope.
Green sends her crashing into the mat and delivers a dropkick then she goes for a pin but Shotzi reverses the fall for the win.
Winner: Shotzi
John Cena says there is a special excitement and energy in the Fiserv Forum but for him personally, it’s more of a serious energy he hasn’t felt since he was almost fired 20 years ago. He says he tried to give his heart and soul for the past 20 years in return for noise from fans then thanks them for their support and respect. He says Crown Jewel is serious for him because for the 1st time in 20 years he feels in jeopardy of losing the support and respect of fans. He says the math can’t be ignored and if he doesn’t deliver soon he loses what he has with the fans and his wrestling career. He says he wants to keep the ride going so there is only one thing left to do at Crown Jewel win. He says WWE uses words like must see all the time and not only is Crown Jewel a must see for him but it’s must win. He says it takes guts to promise a win.
Paul Heyman then makes his way down to the ring and says he’s out here with respect. He says based on his past actions he deserves to be booed as he’s being right now but not tonight. He shakes Cena’s hand and thanks him for everything he’s done over the past 20 years. He recalls picking John Cena as his 1st OVW pick and says he raised his kids to be more like Cena than himself. He says that although Roman Reigns proved to be better at SummerSlam Cena has proved to be better at communication and says he has a special bond with the fans. He says Cena could’ve had a future just talking and he could’ve been him, that is, until he angered The Bloodline. He says Cena has come back from cracked ribs and a match with Jimmy Uso but once Solo Sikoa hits him with the Samoan Spike he takes away his greatest ability of communication. He says Cena comes out and opens his heart and the one match left in his career that he must win is the one he can’t do that in. He says that’s not a prediction but a spoiler as Sikoa runs down to the ring and clocks Cena from behind.
Sikoa fires off right hands on Cena and plants him with Spinning Solo then hits him with a Samoan Spike.
We then got a video package that showcased Cedric’ Alexander’s WWE career highlights.
Cedric Alexander vs. Dragon Lee
Match starts off with a lock up then Dragon Lee hits a hurricanrana before they level one another with dropkicks and quickly kip up. Lee connects with a jumping knee strike on the apron but Alexander sends him crashing into the apron spine first as we go to a break.
After the break Alexander plants Lee with a Michinoku Driver and looks to send him crashing into the top turnbuckle face first but Lee prevents him from doing so and does the same to him.
Both men find themselves teetering on the top rope and Lee delivers a double stomp to Alexander’s chest then connects with a knee to his spine and plants him with Destino for the win.
Winner: Dragon Lee
After the match they shake hands as a show of respect and Alexander holds up Lee’s hand.
We get a video package that recapped last week’s Women’s Title Match including the return of Bianca BelAir.
Bianca BelAir says she’s excited to be back and she was just getting started last week. She says one thing has been playing over and over in her head during her absence being attacked by Damage CTRL backstage. She says getting attacked from behind 2 weeks after losing her Women’s Title to Iyo Sky at SummerSlam did something to her physically and mentally. She says she was out for the 1st time with nothing except her thoughts but her mind couldn’t focus on anything except how to make Damage CTRL pay for what they did whilst she was recovering. She says she was consumed with vengeance and it acted as her motivating factor during her recovery. She says she came up with a plan she took to Nick Aldis and announces that not only will she be facing Sky for the Women’s Title at Crown Jewel but she will be taking on Bayley next week.
Video was shown of LA Knight putting Jimmy Uso through a table earlier tonight.
LA Knight vs. Jimmy Uso
Jimmy Uso delivers a shoulder tackle but LA Knight gets back up and lands an elbow strike then follows it up with a suplex.
Jimmy responds with a headbutt and a chop but Knight levels him with a clothesline and a kick to his knee.
He lands a 2nd one on his head before they end up on the apron and Jimmy delivers a suplex to Knight as we go to a break.
After the break Jimmy clocks Knight and fires off right hands on his head then lands a hip attack in the corner but Knight levels him with a clothesline.
Jimmy sends Knight crashing into the ring post shoulder first then looks for a bodyslam but Knight hits a reverse DDT and fires off right hands.
He follows it up with a side Russian leg sweep and a DDT then fires off several stomps in the corner and sends his head repeatedly bouncing off the announce table on the outside.
Once they get back inside the ring Jimmy lands a Samoan Drop and ascends to the top rope but Knight joins him up there but Jimmy pushes him off and connects with Uso Splash.
He goes for a pin but Knight kicks out then they wind back up on the top rope and Knight executes a superplex then follows it up with BFT for the win.
Winner: LA Knight
After the match Roman Reigns looks to blindside Knight but Knight lays him out with BFT.
Next Week’s Smackdown
Kevin Owens vs. Austin Theory
Non Title Match
Women’s Tag Team Champions Chelsea Green & Piper Niven vs. Charlotte Flair & Shotzi
Tag Team Donnybrook Match
Brawling Brutes (Ridge Holland & Butch) vs. Pretty Deadly (Kit Wilson & Elton Prince)
Bianca BelAir vs. Bayley
Crown Jewel Card (Nov 4th)
World Heavyweight Title Match
Seth Rollins (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
Women’s World Title Fatal 5 Way Match
Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Zoey Stark vs. Nia Jax
Undisputed WWE Universal Title Match
Roman Reigns (c) vs. LA Knight
United States Title Match
Rey Mysterio (c) vs. Logan Paul
Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champion Mr Money In The Bank Damian Priest vs. Cody Rhodes
John Cena vs. Solo Sikoa
Women’s Title Match
Iyo Sky (c) vs. Bianca BelAir
