FOX in the Big Blue House - WWE SmackDown (10/4/19)

Well, after a long year of buildup, months of lame-duck shows in the past few months, plenty of promotional blitz come and gone, and with the first $205 million check from Fox cleared, the day has finally come for the big grand premiere of the new A-show of WWE, Friday Night SmackDown on Fox. Will it work out in the end? Will Fox execs have supreme buyer's remorse by December? And how long will the planned "Brand Extention 3.0" last, this time around? The answers... will come later, because tonight is the big premiere, so pump out the big guns to get those viewers!

A new era means a NEW STAGE! @ReneeYoungWWE, @BookerT5x, @WWEBigE, and @XavierWoodsPhD introduce the @WWEUniverse to the NEW @WWE Friday Night SmackDown stage! pic.twitter.com/upCXgdrf7O

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) October 4, 2019

Then there's the new set. WOW is that a fine looking set.

WWE SmackDown
Staples Center - Los Angeles, CA
Live on FOX - October 4, 2019
Rating: 1.4 (18-49), 3.9M viewers

[Hour 1]
To kick off the first broadcast of WWE on broadcast TV in 9 years, we get... a cold open with Vince and Steph. And then the intro. Felt a bit redundant, but whatever. And with the pyro and ballyhoo, away we go! The weird framerate issue from last week is here again, guess it really is a Fox thing. I've heard that they're using high-speed cameras to film everything, which comes with the caveat of a cut frame rate for broadcast. It's weird, but whatever.

Our commentary for SmackDown, going forward, is Michael Cole and Corey Graves... and nobody else! A 2-body booth! At long last. Also, the logo bug is in the upper right corner, since that's how Fox does it with their sports programs.

Becky Lynch comes out for a promo, talking about how great SmacKDown is and how she was elevated because of SmackDown... then Baron Corbin comes out. Why? Because reasons. But before Corbin can get up close with Becky, out comes a good old friend of the show, that there Dwayne Johnson fellow. You know, the big time movie star. After all, this is The Rock's show, so it only felt right to have him come out for the opening segment - and to boost ticket sales, of course.

Fantastic lines: "the millions," calling Baron Corbin "a broke-ass Burger King on crack," and the "FINALLY" bit, all before Corbin butts in to do his heel schtick. Cue the rebuttal, in spades: cheap sports heat, talk about testicles, and Becky doing the "IT DOESN'T MATTER" bit. Cue the full "trail blazing" bit, and it looks like a beatdown will take place: punches in tandem, Becky hits a leg drop, and then that damn People's Elbow, finishing with a Rock Bottom for good measure. Always gets a pop. Segment went a little long before the break, 18 minutes, but maybe that whole "cutting ads by 20%" thing has some truth to it.

We also have AR graphics for this show, and BOY do I hope it's a one-time thing.

Matches to come tonight:
Brock Lesnar vs. Kofi Kingston, WWE Championship
Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon in a "loser leaves town" ladder match
Roman Reigns vs. Erick Rowan in a lumberjack match
And up next, this:

Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks & Bayley - First, there are no wild Fox Sports graphics on the top of the screen, like when TNA was on FSN. There are, however, pop-up ads for sport events on Fox. Charlotte gets some chops in on Sasha, leading to a boot to Sasha shoving her to the floor. But before she can leap from the top rope, Bayley tosses her off, leading to break. Charlotte gets the hot tag to Becky, unloading a flurry of offense on Bayley, capping the series off with a Bret's rope legdrop, only for a 2. Charlotte gets the tag and hits a backbreaker and Natural Selection, gets the pin broken up by Sasha, and then we get the brawl with her and Becky; it's a total slugfest for a moment, before Becky hits a dropkick on Sasha, which leads to Charlotte's "moonsault" on both Sasha and Bayley. The crowd is pretty hot for this match, always a great sign. Bayley gets locked in the Figure 8 and has no choice but to tap out, and the... Raw team wins... weird implications with that.

(NOTE: In my exhausted frenzy, I had forgotten that Sasha is Raw and Charlotte is SmackDown. But with how the “WILD CARD, BITCHES!” thing has left everyone showing up everywhere, it’s an honest mistake for me to make.)

Backstage, we cut to Erin Andrews - yes, from Fox's NFL team - interviewing The New Day. Fun and energetic backstage interview, Kofi is going out to his match alone to prove how deserving of the role of champion he truly is. Crossing my fingers for him.

Um... random inter-brand match between Seth Rollins and Shinsuke Nakamura up next with no build! Okay. Also, Ronda Rousey is part of the new season of 911. Almost got her finger severed during production.

Well, before the next match happens, we get the Fox premiere of Firefly Fun House! I can only imagine the reaction of first-time viewers of this weird-ass "Don't Hug Me I'm Scared" stuff, with all the characters being introduced. Oh, hey, Rambling Rabbit got better from his case of death, and he's telling Seth to not go in Hell in a Cell. So, we have Rambling Rabbit playing the role of Seth, and Mercy the Buzzard playing the role of "HIM," and... yeah, Rambling Rabbit is dead again.

Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (w/ Sami Zayn) - So... yeah, this match came about with absolutely zero build to it. Also, Hogan and Flair showed up during the break. Nakamura gets an armbar immediately locked in, but Rollins powers out and hits a topé, then another one. Back in the ring, Rollins hits a Sling Blade, a leaping knee, and a kick to the head, and then... FIEND TIME. Rollins is out of the ring, up on the stage, where HE was waiting. Last sell for their title match on Sunday, and for added measure, The Fiend tosses Rollins off the stage to the floor below. No contest for the match, I guess.

Meanwhile... shenanigans happened backstage.

EXCLUSIVE: THIS IS NOT A DRILL.@marshmellomusic is your NEW #247Champion! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/arhS0l6WlA

— WWE (@WWE) October 5, 2019

I don't even know, man.

[Hour 2]
Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon, Ladder Match - The match starts with Owens going after Shane down the aisle, and I think I heard a different kind of bleep, everything but the commentary was blanked out. First ladder comes in, and both Shane and Kevin are fighting it out to climb up. That is, before KO throws the ladder, which thankfully missed Shane. There's also a ladder laying between the ring apron and barricade, someone's bumping through it for sure. The table gets cleared and KO gets laid out, with Shane doing what he always does, something stupid. Up he goes, to the top turnbuckle, and the elbow through the table connects. The show goes to break before any more audible "holy shit" chants get heard; you can do that on cable, but on broadcast TV with FCC regulations? Not so much. 

Back from break, KO had his whole comeback happen, Shane is on Chekov's ladder and KO is on the top rope, hitting a frog splash onto Shane through the ladder. And the crowd gets blanked out to avoid those pesky FCC fines. Up goes KO on the ladder, but Shane comes back in with a steel chair to knock KO back down. Shane plants KO in the corner and looks at the chair, deciding to toss it and put a ladder against KO instead - again, something stupid is happening. Coast to Coast gets landed onto KO, and OWWWWW. Shane gets up and starts climbing, but in comes KO to toss and slam Shane onto another ladder with a powerbomb; up he goes, he gets the briefcase, and Kevin Owens wins!

KO grabs a mic and says two words to Shane: "YOU'RE FIRED!" Complete with a Stunner, for good measure. And THANK MERCIFUL GOD this stupid feud will now be over.

Meanwhile... this.


Riveting stuff. At least it was more enjoyable than hearing Brodus Clay shill for Fox Nation, that pile of bullshit.

Um... 8-man tag with a bunch of bodies - A few minutes of offense, the sea of finishers, all to lead to Strowman doing a bit with Tyson Fury in the front row for funsies. Or maybe something more, with Ziggler being thrown into Fury by Strowman, and that makes him a bit peeved. Ziggler gets his momentum, but runs into a hard slam and gets the 3 for his team. Fury hops the barricade, only to be held back by the security geeks, and you know this was planned since WWE's actual security agent isn't there. Also, Tyson's got a foul mouth, he got blanked a bit. But if they're planting something long-term, would ESPN and Top Rank have to give approvals for their top draw to take part in this?

30 minutes left with two matches to go. I smell shenanigans afoot. Daniel Bryan is on commentary for the next match, and to sell their match on Sunday, one of THREE advertised for the PPV.

Roman Reigns vs. Erick Rowan, Lumberjack Match - It really is great to have pyro again. I'm also reminded why I don't like lumberjack matches, it always lead to the heels piling on the babyface, a brawl breaks out, they has fight, dull as shit. (s/o to Brian Zane) This week's Heavy Metal Vintner shirt choice is Powerwolf, power metal from Germany. Not a bad choice. Luke Harper comes out after a few moments, with Bryan trying to fight him off, but it all leads to Roman hitting a leaping crowd-surf dive onto EVERYBODY. And then Rowan used Ali as a lawn dart onto Roman. Which is a thing people do. Iron Claw gets locked in, but Roman fights out, before Harper runs in, with Bryan intervening long enough for Roman to hit a spear and get the win. That was certainly... a match. Main event is up next.

Brock Lesnar vs. Kofi Kingston (c), WWE Championship - The first time we've seen Brock fight on free TV in a LONG time, aaaaaaand it's over after one F-5. In less than 10 seconds. New champion. Fuuuuuuuuuck.

Now WAIT a minute, out comes Rey Mysterio and... CAIN VELASQUEZ??? Did they sign the deal??? Well, Velasquez is going hard on the ground and pound, and out goes Brock with plenty of audio muting. Brock is toying and teasing a fight, though, it just won't happen tonight. This is gonna be one interesting story, going forward. Kinda sucked that Kofi's reign had to end as a result of it.

Also gotta get used to SmackDown going off the air before 10pm. You know, broadcast TV stuff.

Final Thoughts: I... really don't know what to say. The presentation is great, the new stage is amazing, I liked that this was more of a wrestling show than an "entertainment program," with more emphasis on the sports aspect, but some of the choices made were kinda iffy. I get that you need to put the babyface women over, but you can get the same result by having your SmackDown representatives win, but still have the babyfaces get the pop in the end with a post-match angle. Having the ladder match go to break between big spots felt off in a lot of ways, putting together random matches with no build just to lead to angles is something I've never been a fan of, and then there's Kofi.

He didn't deserve to have his reign end like that. Yeah, it's cool to have Cain Velasquez come in, it's a big draw and stuff, but putting the title on Brock and lead into a new program with an incoming draw, and to have Kofi lose like THAT? That's a deflator if I've seen one.

I'm sure this show will do a strong number for Fox, but like with AEW, that's just one week. What happens going forward and what kind of retention the show gets is more of a signal of how the show will perform long-term. Fox is paying $1 billion for this show for the next five years, as part of their Thursday-to-Sunday sports lineup, and they will demand strong results every single week. They can't afford to have a program that tanks with the fans.

Also, THERE ARE ONLY THREE MATCHES BOOKED FOR THE PAY PER VIEW ON SUNDAY. STILL. NOTHING NEW WAS ANNOUNCED. GAHHHH.

Show Verdict: a strong goodwill show for the Fox debut, but not the best show for fans looking for a PPV card to be expanded upon, or for the final 10 minutes of the show. Cain Velasquez is here, but at a BIG cost.