Friday Night Smackdown – Nov 20th 2020: Results & Review
Welcome to this week’s Friday Night SmackDown review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have Daniel Bryan returning to fight Jey Uso and…is there any build for Survivor Series…at all?! Holy Mothers Of Invention! What does a Smurf gotta do to get some attention for a major Pay Per View event, especially when The Undertaker is retiring at the event? In the name of Kanuk, we ride the Walrus Of Justice to SmackDown!
Match #1: The New Day & The Street Profits def. Sami Zayn, King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
Raw Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods returned to the blue brand to talk about their upcoming Survivor Series showdown against SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Street Profits and do their best impression of The Undertaker. It wasn’t long, however, before Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn interrupted in order to bad mouth The Deadman as well as his own Survivor Series opponent United States Champion Bobby Lashley. But just as the Power of Positivity was beginning to mock Zayn, King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode all decided to join the party and voice their own issues with Kingston & Woods. Although the war of words descended upon mayhem and left Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods on the wrong side of a 4-on-2 sneak assault, Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins emerged to even the odds and, together, The New Day and The Street Profits cleared the ring. As a result of the bedlam, the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Champion put their differences aside and teamed up against Corbin, Zayn, Ziggler and Roode in an Eight-Man Tag Team Match. And in the final moments of the fast paced contest, Zayn found himself unwillingly tagged into the match. As he disputed this, The Street Profits took charge and cleared the way for Ford to leap into the heavens from the top rope and crash down on the Intercontinental Champion for the three-count.
My Opinion: 2.9 out of 5 – This was pretty standard stuff, but we can’t all be a Rice Krispy Treat, now can we? I ate fish earlier and I’m not happy. I go to Red Lobster for the cheesy biscuits, damn it! Who gets lobster at Red Lobster?! I’ll tell you who…a dip-s—t! The WWE house style was on full display here, taking away the psychology, but leaving the moves. A lot of this was a sprint from one thing to another, but at least it was entertaining in its way. Put the tortilla back in your ass and listen to me, because this match was like La Strada: a rock to the back of the head and Anthony Quinn farting his way to the finish. You ain’t missing any thing here by not watching, but what good is life if you can’t waste your time with crap?
Match #2: Natalya def. Tamina – Last Chance Survivor Series Qualifying Match
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
After weeks of insisting that she be named to the Survivor Series Women’s Team, Natalya found herself in a Last Chance Survivor Series Qualifying Match against Tamina for the opportunity to qualify to represent SmackDown. And as Survivor Series teammates Bayley and Bianca Belair sat in on commentary, The Queen of Harts ultimately made Tamina tap out to the Sharpshooter. In the wake of her victory, the members of the Women’s Survivor Series Team – Bayley, Belair, Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott – joined Natalya in the square circle in celebration.
My Opinion: 1.3 out of 5 – Um…this sucked. Natalya tried to get Tamina through this, but a veteran can only do so much when they only have a few minutes. Still, the right person won, so that’s good.
Match #3: Murphy def. Seth Rollins
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
After Murphy betrayed Seth Rollins by helping Rey Mysterio to victory, the self-proclaimed Savior of SmackDown was out to put an end to his former disciple for good. Aaliyah, Rey and Dominick were all on hand to cheer Murphy on at ringside. Nevertheless, Rollins was unhinged from start to finish as he set out to punish his former disciple and any member of the Mysterio that got in his way. But, in the final moments, Murphy would reign supreme when he hit a pair of stunning knees and the devastating Murphy’s Law for the win. In the aftermath, the victorious Murphy was then joined by Aalyah and the Mysterio family as they celebrated the biggest win of his career.
My Opinion: 3.4 out of 5 – This was like the abbreviated version of the match that these two could really deliver if they had the time. Seth and Murphy kicked the Snickers out of each other and Betty White popped out of their asses without her top on. Back in St. Olaf, I used to milk a cow with my teeth. What can be said about this that hasn’t been said about a monkey with waxed feet? Seth and Murphy had a visceral offensive system in place that was…what the hell am I even getting at here? It was good! Damn! I didn’t eat any crayons! What is this, the f—-n monkery?! Hey, it was good! Go watch it and leave me the hell alone!
Match #4: (Main Event) Daniel Bryan def. Jey Uso
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
After being attacked by Jey Uso three weeks ago at the urging of Universal Champion Roman Reigns, WWE’s “Yes!” Man returned to battle Uso in a match of pure retribution. It was fierce brawl from the word go, with an unhinged Uso screaming that it wasn’t personal as he viciously attempted to finish the job he started the last time. In contrast, Bryan resisted with the heart of a true warrior, in as personal a fashion as it gets. In the height of the action, just when it looked like Uso was on his way to victory, Bryan managed to get his knees up in time to thwart the Uso Splash off the top rope attempt before rolling Jey up for the pin.
My Opinion: 3.7 out of 5 – Honorable people…listen me good now…MATCH NOT S—–T!!!!!!!! It’s fun when the main event isn’t a snooze-fest. Bryan and Jey got right to the point by whoopin’ on each other like Scots on Danes! This was very much a grudge match in the traditional sense, where you had the wrestling, but every thing that they did was punctuated with vengeance, like me when I have to eat broccoli…SLPLAGH! I’m happy to see that this was mean and nasty, but not at the expense of the logic of the match. You’d think that they’d want Jey to win to set-up Jey as a potential winner for Survivor Series, but Bryan winning doesn’t hurt Jey either, because Bryan won’t bury Jey later on. I’m happy to see the match be a success, but it felt like it tamped down the Survivor Series build, because one of the principle stars of the event lost before he could finish building his case for why you should take him seriously. Well, this was still good, so suck it.
News Of The Night:
- Otis is on the Survivor Series team…because Adam Pearce said so.
Final Verdict: 3.2/5
The main event was what kept this show from falling off the horse as it rode into town with a cocked gun that was missing the bullets. You get a lot of promos and a little wrestling most of the way, but the main event did deliver what needed to be there. That being said, the build towards Survivor Series was almost non-existence, so this show had almost nothing to with the league at large.
