WWE SmackDown Reactions and Analysis

Name: WWE SmackDown Reactions and Analysis
Uploaded: 2026-08-22T04:10:25+00:00
Duration: 20 min 5 s
Channel: FroWrestling Podcast

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03:46Tonight, we are getting to all sorts of topics about SmackDown.

03:49But before we do that, if you have questions, comments, anything you want me to touch on in the future

03:55episode, the best way to let me know that is to call into the Fro Wrestling Sound Offline, 267-642

04:00-1160, and I will get to those questions, comments, or concerns in a future episode.

04:04Tonight, look, I'm going to be honest with you.

04:07After reviewing AEW Dynamite from Wednesday night, SmackDown is so much easier because it's a shorter show.

04:12And I love Dynamite.

04:14That was a fantastic show.

04:15SmackDown, interesting stuff.

04:16Some frustrating stuff.

04:18We'll get into all of it.

04:20Starts the show with Cody coming out, calling out Randy Orton.

04:23Orton's going to come out.

04:24It looks like we're going to have another throwdown.

04:26But Nick Aldis gets involved here.

04:28I was actually hoping for Randy Orton to hit an RKO on Aldis, but I don't think they're going to

04:33go there yet.

04:34They're going to save Aldis' matches for special occasions, in my opinion, which is really a shame.

04:38I think he should be a full-time active competitor.

04:40He's younger than half the guys on the roster to begin with.

04:43So it'd be interesting to see him do that.

04:45But here he comes out because he's making it clear.

04:48September 6th is Sunday night's main event.

04:50Cody and Randy Orton are not allowed to make contact until that show.

04:56If they do, they will never get a shot at the WWE Championship again.

05:02That's the stipulation he put out there.

05:05Now, I've said in previous episodes, I hate that stipulation ever.

05:11However, as long as it doesn't get used, I don't mind.

05:14So if they do this for an excuse not to let these guys get physical and build towards that moment

05:19when they get to Sunday night's main event and everybody loses their mind because they're finally able to beat each

05:23other up again, then I get it.

05:25If they do something here and somebody ends up attacking the other one and they never get a title shot,

05:30that's going to irritate me.

05:30It's really kind of ludicrous.

05:32Cody already lost his shot at Ever Challenging for the AEW Championship.

05:35Now we're going to do the same thing with the WWE Championship?

05:37No, that's absolutely ridiculous.

05:39From there, we get the World Tag Team Championship opportunity, WWE Tag Team Championship, the MFTs with Haku defending against

05:49the former champions, Damian Priest and R-Truth.

05:51Solid match back and forth.

05:53Of course, the MFTs hit their double move finisher at the end of the match to pick up the win.

05:59And I think everybody watching this, you know they just won the championship.

06:02You know they've got new challengers coming shortly.

06:04I expected the retention.

06:07What I actually kind of got the hint of, I thought maybe Damian Priest was going to turn on R

06:12-Truth.

06:12Instead, after the win, or I should say after the loss, Damian Priest actually helps R-Truth up and gives

06:18him a hug.

06:19And I feel like this was done for a reason.

06:21This is to end the tag team.

06:23You know, let Priest go on to something else, something more meaningful.

06:26But in the meantime, I think this is the end of Priest and Truth as a tag team.

06:29Even though the report came out yesterday that they want to revamp the tag team division.

06:33I don't think it makes sense to keep these two together if you're going to be doing that.

06:38Damian Priest is somebody who could be in the main event picture and needs to be.

06:42R-Truth went back to that comedic character and kind of ditched that whole seriousness of coming back after his

06:47departure last year.

06:49I don't know what you do with Truth from here.

06:51I really don't.

06:52Maybe they were on to something when they let him go last year.

06:54I'm glad to see him back.

06:55Don't get me wrong.

06:56But like, there's certain talents.

06:57And again, in October, they were talking about some people being cut.

07:00And I'm not suggesting that R-Truth is one of them.

07:02But think about the people who aren't being used pretty much at all right now.

07:06Truth, Miz, Kit Wilson, you know, people like that.

07:10Are we going to see them go in October?

07:11I don't know.

07:12We'll have to wait and see.

07:13I hope not.

07:13But we'll have to wait and see.

07:15From there, we were supposed to get the debut of Blake Monroe in a match.

07:20Let me make it very clear.

07:22It's supposed to be a match.

07:23Instead, Julia is coming out.

07:25Blake Monroe attacks her before their match, has the beatdown, and makes it clear that, you know,

07:31first off, the match never gets started.

07:33She wants her debut to be for a championship.

07:36She doesn't want to have, like, these meaningless matches.

07:39She wants to have a championship match for her first match.

07:41So, this is an interesting way of having her get physical and have kind of like having a program with

07:47Julia

07:48without actually having a program with Julia, waiting for her to have a championship opportunity.

07:52Now, I am thrilled that we got to see Julia because we haven't in quite a while.

07:57And word came out this week that they just re-upped their copyright on her name.

08:02So, I suspect that she's sticking around and not one of the cuts coming in October.

08:07I would have liked to see her get more offense in.

08:10I would like to see this be a more balanced match between the two, but we haven't seen that yet.

08:14Have to wait and see.

08:15What is exciting for me is now that we saw Julia having this segment, maybe we get to a Jordan

08:20Grace segment.

08:21Maybe we get her back in the fold.

08:23I'm really hoping she's not one of the talent cuts because she's supremely talented and needs a much better opportunity

08:28in WWE on the main roster.

08:30I will have to wait and see how that plays out.

08:32From there, we get the Trick Williams segment.

08:34He's in the ring with Lil Yachty.

08:35They won another U.S. Championship match.

08:37Baron Corbin makes it clear that that is not happening.

08:39They've had their rematch.

08:41And it sets up what I consider to be a very bizarre opportunity.

08:45Yachty actually cracks him a couple times with his custom kendo stick.

08:49And then the match is set up.

08:51It's going to be Lil Yachty taking on Baron Corbin at Sunday night's main event.

08:55If Yachty lasts five minutes, then Trick Williams will get another shot at the United States Championship.

09:01If they do that, I think it's a great match to put on the Money in the Bank card, unless

09:10you want to do it sooner than that and make it a main event on SmackDown.

09:12I guess that's a possibility.

09:14I do know that Yachty was negotiating a longer contract.

09:17But then again, he was supposed to do a performance, a musical performance at Sunday night's main event.

09:20And that's been pulled, maybe because of the match.

09:22So we'll have to wait and see how it plays out.

09:24He's got to be training.

09:25You know, he's been doing so much with WWE.

09:27He must be training.

09:27So it'll be interesting to see if he, you know, how he performs.

09:30We've seen some pretty cool results when you talk about people like, you know, Bad Bunny, Logan Paul coming out

09:35and really being able to do this.

09:37You know, hopefully Yachty can as well.

09:38I can't actually can't wait to see the match.

09:40It should be entertaining one way or another.

09:42From there, we get Tiffany Stratton versus Lash Legend.

09:46I was kind of surprised that Lash picks up the win the way she does.

09:50Because Stratton, a year ago now, was one of the most unbeatable talents on the female roster.

09:56And now I feel like she's infinitely beatable.

09:59And I don't really like that.

10:00But I understand that you want to elevate people.

10:03I have no problem with elevating Lash.

10:04I just don't like the way they're doing it.

10:06Now, after Lash picks up the win, she's got Stratton in position.

10:11Jax to splash her.

10:12Chelsea comes out with a kendo stick and starts whacking people.

10:15I feel like the indestructible forces being involved in this situation with Chelsea and

10:22with Stratton is just a placeholder until Chelsea is healthy enough to come back and

10:28have a feud with Tiffany Stratton for the Women's Championship, which is an interesting

10:32angle to run.

10:33And I have no problem with it.

10:35Maybe that's why they had Stratton lose the United States Championship.

10:38But I would have rather she lost the U.S. Championship to Lash Legend because I really think she's

10:43untapped.

10:43She's kind of getting pigeonholed with Nia Jax here.

10:46And I'd like to see her get a real opportunity to be a prime, you know, single star in the

10:50women's division.

10:51Not sad for J.C.

10:53Jane.

10:53I think she deserves our championship opportunity as well and a run with a title.

10:57But I really thought she would have been better for an opponent for Rhea Ripley for the Women's

11:01Championship when Ripley comes back.

11:03Maybe this is a stepping stone run for her to get there.

11:05I don't know.

11:05We'll have to wait and see.

11:07Then came what, in my opinion, is one of the most exciting things of the night.

11:11Nakamura has a vignette that shows.

11:13And the arrival of Hiromu Takahashi.

11:16We all speculated that's what it was going to be.

11:19His WWE name is Kiyoki.

11:21He is coming in to be his tag team partner to go after the MFTs and the WWE Tag Team

11:25Championship.

11:26And the line that really hit me, he said, champions, legends, monsters, I don't care.

11:33Nakamura referenced a couple times chaos and all this.

11:37Lots of vocal references back to the New Japan Pro Wrestling style of Hiromu Takahashi.

11:42Who, like, here's the thing, though.

11:45He's a supremely talented wrestler.

11:47He's on the backside of his career, but still supremely talented.

11:50I'm thrilled that he's there.

11:52They're going to have some banger matches.

11:54I usually don't say this, but I'm really hoping they script out his first match with the MFTs,

11:59like, to the nth degree so that it is so flawless that he really, really, really gets over the WWE

12:05audience.

12:06That being said, my concern here is, is Dan Housen was kind of like an anomaly.

12:12He comes from AEW with not a lot of television exposure, off TV for quite a while, and he just

12:17gets over.

12:17But his debut was pretty lackluster.

12:20With Hiromu Takahashi, I don't know how many, look, you and I probably know who he is,

12:26and you and I've seen him in New Japan Pro Wrestling, but a lot of WWE's audience probably has not,

12:30because they are the more mainstream group.

12:33New Japan World pulls in far lower viewership than anything WWE-related,

12:37so I don't expect that they watch a lot of New Japan World.

12:40So they may not even know who, you know, Takahashi was.

12:44So to put him in there, he's getting a prime opportunity.

12:47We haven't seen Nakamura actually in a match since, like, May.

12:51So it'll be great to get him back out there with a tag-team partner.

12:54It gives him something to do where he's not a single star, because he is getting later in his years.

12:57But a tag-team run is something that could be very interesting.

13:01I actually hope they give him the championship at some point.

13:03Not right away. I want to build this for a little while and then have the match.

13:07Perhaps a money-in-the-bank type situation.

13:09But this is exciting. I'm thrilled that he's finally here.

13:12It's been rumored for months and months and months.

13:14He finished up with New Japan way back in, like, February, I want to say.

13:17So we'll be just waiting for his arrival.

13:19Maybe he's been getting ready this whole time, and this is going to be an amazing debut.

13:22I can't wait. I'm a huge fan of his anyways, going all the way back to, like, you know,

13:27an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship time frame.

13:30So really hoping that this works out well.

13:32Kiyoki should be a great addition to WWE's roster.

13:35Kind of surprised he's going to the main roster, not to NXT, especially after, you know, Evo went there.

13:41But maybe we'll be seeing Evo move up to the main roster at some point and join these two and

13:45create, like, a Yakuza faction of sorts.

13:48I would not complain, by the way, if they did that.

13:51Kind of could see, like, those three throw in a Finn Balor, maybe one other guy, and creating their own

13:56faction.

13:57Kind of like a throwback to a New Japan Pro Wrestling faction.

13:59That'd be kind of cool.

14:00From there, we get to the main event of the evening.

14:03CM Punk defending the WWE Championship against Kevin Owens in Canada.

14:09The betting favorite going in was Kevin Owens to win the match.

14:12However, there was some speculation that that could just be a schmoz ending where he picks up the win for

14:17the betting odds,

14:17but doesn't win the championship.

14:19It was also reported that this was going to be a one-off.

14:22We are not looking at a three-match series or two-match series or anything like that.

14:25This is once and done, designed to set Kevin Owens up with future programming.

14:32CM Punk's going to move on to something else as well.

14:35And what I found so interesting, predictable, frustrating, and exciting.

14:42That's a lot of different directions.

14:44The end of the match.

14:46Sami Zayn comes out, is helping Kevin Owens, offers to give him the WWE Championship belt,

14:52and KO decides, no, I'm not going to do it that way.

14:56Playing the uber babyface role, and instead, Sami Zayn, you know, most of the times when these two have had

15:02issues in the past,

15:03it's been KO turning on Sami.

15:04Not this time.

15:06This time, Sami Zayn goes full heel and attacks KO with the WWE Championship belt, laying him out.

15:12CM Punk recovers, hits the GTS, and covers Kevin Owens for the championship win.

15:18Afterwards, Sami Zayn hits the ring, lays out CM Punk, and poses with the championship, claiming that he is going

15:24to retake that championship from Punk.

15:27Now, I have no problem with a Zayn-Punk feud.

15:30But with that ending, you obviously have to do an Owens-Zayn feud, but you haven't wrapped up Punk and

15:37Zayn, but Punk and Owens are supposed to be a one-off.

15:41I see this being a three-way.

15:44Preferably, also, at, you know, either Sunday Night's Main Event, or at Money in the Bank.

15:50Or do they do something really screwy?

15:53Do they put this at Worlds Collide and have Punk headline Worlds Collide with this kind of match?

15:58I don't know.

15:59A little weird for me.

16:00Not sure how to feel about it.

16:01But all in all, I thought SmackDown was pretty solid tonight.

16:05A couple things I wish were a little different.

16:07I'd like to see Blake Monroe actually get some in-ring time, some real in-ring time.

16:11I'm still a little bummed that we didn't see the unification match for the WWE and AAA Tag Team Championship.

16:18I would have liked to have seen that this week instead of the rematch with Priest and Truth.

16:22I don't love the never challenge for the championship again stipulation because I feel like it's a nonsensical stipulation that

16:29you're never going to hold anybody to.

16:30Especially with Orton's whole reason for wrestling right now, trying to chase that, you know, unseen 17 record.

16:36So I don't know.

16:37There's some things I didn't like.

16:38There's some things I was thoroughly entertained by.

16:40The Lil Yachty segment I thought was very solid.

16:43I love that Lash Legend got a championship, or not a championship win, but like a major win over a

16:48major championship level contender.

16:50I'm glad we saw some physicality out of Chelsea.

16:53I love the Kyoki debut.

16:55I think that's fantastic.

16:56So there's a lot of good things to be said about this show.

16:58I'm glad that Julia got some action, even though it wasn't much and it wasn't an official match.

17:02At least she's been seen on TV again.

17:04So I don't know.

17:05A lot of good things to think about.

17:06A lot of things a little more scratching your head about.

17:08But all in all, solid show on a scale of one to five stars, I would say maybe, you know,

17:13three and three quarter stars.

17:14That's where I'm at with this.

17:16So that's all the time we have for this episode.

17:18Check back with us next episode.

17:19We run down the latest wrestling news and rumors.

17:21Special thanks as always to Sooner for creating music and sound effects we use in the show.

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18:51I'm Fred Froelich, better known as Dr. Fro.

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WWE SmackDown Reactions and Analysis

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