WWE SmackDown Review - October 8, 2015

Roman Reigns stands tall over Bray Wyatt.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

WWE Tag Team Champion Big E def. Dolph Ziggler

The New Day kicking off the show was an encouraging sign that WWE plans on pushing them even further up the ladder, which is awesome. They try a little too hard to tread the line between being serious and being funny, but it isn't at all cringe-worthy. It's just something they need to work on. As for the match, it was fine for what it was and decent in the time it was allotted that allowed The New Day to get the upper hand yet again. It also leaves me wondering what's next for Ziggler and if he'll continue to pursue the United States Championship after getting screwed over on Raw.


Divas Champion ​Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Natalya def. Team Bella

The six-woman six-tag team matches need to end. Every once in a while, sure, but when it gets to the point when we have four in the matter of one week, that's ridiculous. And the worst part is that none of them are worth a damn because the faction wars aren't accomplishing anything. I appreciate the effort to try to tell different stories with Charlotte and Nikki Bella as well as with Natalya and Paige, but they shouldn't overlap because that's when things get confusing.

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Big E takes control of Dolph Ziggler.

Ryback def. Rusev

Big man matches are rarely ever entertaining, but Ryback and Rusev have always worked well together for whatever reason. This wasn't their best outing against each other, but it was nice little match with Kevin Owens being the best part on commentary. He's always a gem behind the booth because he forces the commentators to focus on the in-ring action and on the narrative being told inside the ring. Rusev being beaten clean doesn't help his cause any, but given Ryback's the No. 1 contender to the Intercontinental Championship, he was the right person to go over.


King Barrett def. Neville

I enjoyed the series of matches these two had earlier this year when Neville initially arrived on the main roster, but their "feud" jumped the shark for me months ago. No one cares about either of them anymore given their terrible win-loss records as of late. It was a passable match, but it's hard to care about who wins when neither of them mean anything at the moment. Barrett winning clean won't benefit him I'm sure, and as for Neville, he continues to fall farther and farther down the ladder for no apparent reason.


Roman Reigns and Randy Orton def. The Wyatt Family by Disqualification

I was surprised to see Wyatt and Strowman teaming together because I assumed they'd want to protect them both, which explained the non-finish. Before that, though, the match was good as it provided viewers a small taste of what to expect inside Hell in a Cell. Reigns, Orton and Wyatt are all excellent workers and carried this to a solid main event while Strowman was well protected. I don't know if I would have had Wyatt take both an RKO and a spear to close the show, but that might be just me nitpicking.


Overall Show

Other than the worthless Raw replays, the two hours flew by for this viewer. None of the matches stood out in a major way and there wasn't much storyline progression, but the in-ring action was average on the whole and almost everything tied into Hell in a Cell. It isn't required viewing by any means, but you won't regret sitting down to watch the show if you have the time.

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