Friday Night SmackDown Review - October 7, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Logan Paul and The Bloodline Faced Off

This was the first face-off Paul and Roman Reigns have had since that press conference a few weeks ago. I was looking forward to Reigns and Paul interacting, but this ended up being an underwhelming segment. Paul Heyman didn't deliver his usual strong promo, and Paul's response to everything he had to say was weak. It didn't sound like the crowd was hot for this, either. In fact, there were probably more boos for Paul than cheers. He has to turn heel sooner rather than later, right? Sami Zayn being the best part of this opening segment shouldn't shock anyone.

Solo Sikoa def. Ricochet

I was surprised no one from Bloodline stuck around to be in Sikoa's corner for this contest, especially considering how close Sikoa and Zayn have been as of late. Nonetheless, this was a quality contest with the two working well together and it being a cool clash of styles. Sikoa has been very well booked so far and this was another nice victory for him. WWE has done plenty of interference finishes lately, so I appreciated that we got a clean finish here.

Legado del Fantasma and Zelina Vega Attacked Hit Row

Hit Row were approaching the ring for a match (their opponents were never revealed) when they were ambushed by all of Legado and the returning Vega, who we haven't seen on WWE TV in many months. Legado, and specifically Santos Escobar, have been more than main roster-ready for a long time now and I'm extremely happy they're finally getting their just due. This was a perfectly executed segment that established the alliance between Legado and Vega from the get-go, and I love Vega replacing Elektra Lopez. Lopez was pretty awful in the ring and Vega has always shined in a managerial role, so I see it as an upgrade.

Raquel Rodriguez and Shotzi def. Sonya Deville and Xia Li

Rodriguez and Shotzi have formed an alliance in recent weeks and will seemingly be a team going forward. Shotzi is definitely an improvement over Aliyah as Rodriguez's partner, but I'd rather see both of them utilized on their own. That's the main issue with the women's tag team division, in addition to the fact that the tag titles mean nothing. This was short, but it was not very good while it lasted.

Karrion Kross Attacked Drew McIntyre

McIntyre slowly emerging from behind Kross in the ring to attack him (the same way Kross has done to McIntyre in the past) was smart. Their energetic brawl effectively hyped up their Strap match for Extreme Rules and Kross standing tall was the right call, especially since it cast doubt on him beating McIntyre. It can very well go either way, but I feel it would be more damaging for Kross to lose his first pay-per-view match.

Braun Strowman and The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) def. The Bloodline (Sami Zayn and Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions The Usos)

Strowman was New Day's mystery partner. Was him opposing Bloodline a one-off or was this the beginning of a bigger rivalry? Meanwhile, Woods pinning Jimmy Uso presumably sets up New Day for another shot at the tag titles. I have little desire to see The Usos and New Day run it back again after Usos already beat them twice earlier this year, but it does make sense for New Day to try to end The Usos' reign before they can break New Day's record. This was a fun six-man tag team affair that the crowd was into.

Intercontinental Champion Gunther def. Sheamus

This is one of the bigger matches WWE can do at the moment because of how stellar their chemistry is together and they once again delivered. It wasn't on the same level as their Clash at the Castle encounter due to the different atmosphere and the commercials, but it was a wonderful main event, nonetheless. This sequel had a bit more shenanigans as well, but at least the interference gave Sheamus an out for losing (in addition to the fake tap-out from Gunther), sets the stage for an eventual rematch and builds toward the six-man tag team match at Extreme Rules.

Overall Show

The "season premiere" taglines WWE gives to these shows every autumn is silly considering the company doesn't have an offseason, but I give them credit for going all out and making it feel like a post-WrestleMania episode. Interestingly, the appearances from Bloodline and Paul weren't as significant as I hoped they would be, but the debut of Legado, the return of Vega and the above-average main event made it an eventful and entertaining evening. The hype for the SmackDown side of things at Extreme Rules was also well done.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews