Friday Night SmackDown Review - November 18, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Sami Zayn Interrupted Drew McIntyre and The Brawling Brutes

It's cool to see McIntyre and Sheamus back to being buddies on screen again because whether they're partners or opponents, their chemistry is awesome. Before they could introduce the fifth member of their team, Zayn interrupted, and it was great to hear from him since he was totally absent from WWE TV last week. This effectively set the stage for the main event and the angle afterward.

Ricohet def. Mustafa Ali in a SmackDown World Cup Quarterfinal Match

These two had a series of bangers last year that most people probably didn't see because they went down on Main Event. They didn't go all out the way I expected them to here, but that's because they told a story with Ali's ribs being injured from Monday's Raw courtesy of Bobby Lashley and it was a strong story at that. This started slow, but once they picked up the pace, the crowd got into it and it turned into a very fun outing. Ricochet advancing was the right call as Ali heads back to Raw, but for as much heart as Ali shows in defeat most weeks, it doesn't feel like he's any more over now than he was a month or two ago. Rather, he continues to look like a loser.

Karrion Kross def. Madcap Moss

Moss was out for revenge after Kross choked him out and beat him three weeks ago. I'm not sure most people remembered that even happened, but at least it provided a reason for this rematch. Being in the building for this show, I can tell you firsthand that the crowd was quiet throughout and I'm not surprised considering both characters feel cold right now, especially Moss. Thankfully, Kross won again. Emma coming to Moss' aid afterward makes me think an intergender match might be coming with Moss, Emma, Kross and Scarlett.

LA Knight Twice Slapped Bray Wyatt

I was pleasantly surprised that this segment took place in the ring. Wyatt can't be cutting promos and going back and forth with Uncle Howdy forever, so I'm happy we got more progression with him apologizing to Knight and Knight getting the upper hand by slapping him twice. Knight was then shown laid out outside of the arena with Wyatt being the clear culprit. I liked this a lot and I'm digging their dynamic. Now the question is, do they have their first match at Survivor Series or do they hold off a little longer?

Shotzi def. Shayna Baszler

Unfortunately, this was the weakest part of the show. I realize they're building to Shotzi challenging Ronda Rousey for the SmackDown Women's Championship at Survivor Series and are trying to make her feel like  threat to the title, but I don't find this storyline interesting at all and I know I'm not the only one. Shotzi vs. Baszler was fine but basic and boring. Shotzi had to win ahead of her title shot, and I understand you want to protect the badass Baszler, but using Raquel Rodriguez for the distraction roll-up finish was lame. I still do not see Shotzi as being anywhere near Rousey's level.

Braun Strowman and The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) def. Imperium (Intercontinental Champion Gunther, Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci)

This came together earlier in the evening when New Day said they'd find a third man to take on all of Imperium. It made me sad realizing that Big E is a long way from returning (and that's assuming he comes back at all), but Strowman was a logical choice considering he's bound to win the World Cup in a few weeks and challenge Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship. This was an absolute blast from start to finish. Imperium is getting great heat, New Day are the perfect people for them to work with, and Strowman is still massively over. I loved how they avoided any interaction between Strowman and Gunther, but that pretty much gave away the outcome of the World Cup if it wasn't already obvious.

Butch def. Sami Zayn in a SmackDown World Cup Quarterfinal Match; Kevin Owens Returned

Butch and Zayn are both terrific and their match was very well wrestled as expected. It could have gone either way, but it makes more sense for Butch to move on if he's facing Santos Escobar in the next round. The focus was mostly on the chaos unfolding at ringside with everyone brawling, which brought out Roman Reigns followed by the returning Owens. It was what had to happen given his history with Reigns and specifically Zayn, but we didn't know for sure if it would be coming off the rumors that he was injured at a house show over the weekend. My guess is that the injury is real, but it isn't too serious and he'll be able to work through it. He worked a dark match Street Fight against Austin Theory as soon as this segment was over, so he can't be too hurt.

Overall Show

That excellent ending to the show made me more excited for Survivor Series and the men's WarGames main event more than anything else we've seen in the past two weeks. That was wonderfully executed. The rest of this episode was entertaining on the whole. The crowd was almost silent during Kross vs. Moss and Shotzi vs. Baszler, but at least they attempted to tell stories in both bouts. Knight vs. Wyatt has my attention, the World Cup is producing quality matches, and the build for the men's WarGames match has hit that next gear.

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