 Chad Gable Confronted Undisputed WWE Champion Cody RhodesGable was an unexpected choice to interrupt Rhodes considering he's a Raw guy, but this was done to promote the "transfer window" being open in regards to trades between Raw, SmackDown and NXT ahead of Raw's move to Netflix next month. That's better than a full-blown draft. Anyway, this was a strong verbal exchange between these two. This was the most serious we've seen Gable in months and it set the stage nicely for their main event match later on. Tiffany Stratton def. Elektra Lopez and Naomi in a Women's United States Championship Tournament Quarterfinal Triple Threat MatchLopez played the same role here that B-Fab and Blair Davenport did in previous quarterfinal matches in that she had zero chance of winning and was only in there to take the pin. This had a few awkward moments, but on the whole, it was another pretty good Triple Threat. Stratton being the home state favorite helped as the crowd was super behind her throughout. Naomi was my pick to make it to the finals, so Stratton advancing instead was a slight surprise. WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Bianca Belair def. Piper NivenMy first thought when Jade Cargill got attacked two weeks ago was that Niven was behind it because Chelsea Green benefited from Belair getting distracted by Cargill's attack and winning her Triple Threat, but this confirmed Niven and Green weren't the culprits. It would've been easy to book this as a throwaway match, but it ended up being great stuff and the crowd enjoyed the action as well. For anyone who cares, there's been no update on the status of the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship in light of Cargill's "injuries." LA Knight and Andrade Interrupted United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura Before Being Attacked by The BloodlineAlthough I'm not overly excited about Nakamura holding midcard gold again (his previous reigns as United States Champion weren't remotely memorable), I can't deny that his presentation is top-notch. We didn't hear from him here as Knight and Hayes came out (separately) before he could speak. The Bloodline (sans Tonga Loa, who suffered an injury in WarGames) coming out to lay out the babyfaces and unintentionally prevent anything from happening to Nakamura was well done. #DIY def. The Motor City Machine Guns to Win the WWE Tag Team ChampionshipThe Street Profits were supposed to challenge for the tag titles on this show but got attacked backstage earlier in the evening, so #DIY stepped up to challenge the Guns instead. Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa have been teasing tension for a while now, but I love that it was all a ruse and that they turned heel. Yes, that made this more of an angle than a match, but I'm not complaining. That was a much-needed development for everyone involved. This is the most interesting SmackDown's tag team division has been in a long time. Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes def. Chad Gable (Non-Title)It was refreshing to see Gable in a main event for a change. This is what we need to see more of from him and less of the comedy stuff. We got more than enough of that during his Alpha Academy days. I appreciated that this was a straightforward singles match and Gable had a chance to shine and look credible in defeat. Michael Cole attempting to interview Kevin Owens in his (rental) car outside of the arena and Owens driving away was a clever red herring to make his show-closing brawl with Rhodes less predictable. Overall ShowRaw had one of its best shows of the year on Monday night and SmackDown followed up with an excellent episode of its own. Things were engaging throughout, a few feuds were progressed effectively, the title change and the announcement of the "trade window" were newsworthy, and there was solid hype for Saturday Night's Main Event. Both brands are firing on all cylinders right now heading into the holiday season.
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