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This was the final installment of any WWE show before the mega Survivor Series event, and the episode featured some top-notch segments and matches to provide the perfect final build to Survivor Series.
The night ended with SmackDown opening its doors to anyone and everyone, something NXT did very effectively on Wednesday to give the fans something great to watch and more to think about before the pay-per-view.
With NXT possibly revealing it’s women’s team for the event, and Daniel Bryan coming face to face with the man who he'll face at Survivor Series, the fans got a lot heading into Sunday.
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In this article, we'll look a the 4 things the company got right on the SmackDown before Survivor Series.
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#4 Bayley’s attack on Shayna Baszler
Bayley has always been seen as the sweetest on-screen character who has always tried to make amends with her enemies before taking the fight to them.
Her recent character change has evolved a lot about her, and she has become an aggressive character in the mold of Becky Lynch, which has been a complete turn around from her original persona.
While the initial NXT invasions portrayed Bayley as the weak link in the battle between the three top women’s champions in the company, it seems like the company has managed to solve that quite quickly.
Recently, we’d seen Bayley take the fight to Baszler and the women of NXT after her invasion of the brand, and this week, she once again laid out Baszler with a sneak attack.
This was the right segment to book, as fans were more interested in seeing Lynch and Baszler face to face, with Bayley proving to be an afterthought. After her attack on Baszler this week, the booking for Survivor Series seems much more even, and Baszler will try to outsmart the top women from RAW and SmackDown who might work together in the initial phases of Sunday’s match to wipe her out.
#3 A no-result for Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz
Whenever a babyface Daniel Bryan gets in a rivalry, he doesn’t wait for his rivals to come to him but rather takes the fight to them.
This week, Bryan called out the man who he’s scheduled to face on Sunday for a match right away. While the lights did go out, it wasn’t ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt who came out, but The Miz came out instead.
He picked up the confrontation from last week and slapped The Planet's Champion in the face. This led to a match between Bryan and The A-Lister, with Bryan taking control of the match for the most part.
As Bryan prepared to start the YES chants, the lights went out and The Fiend appeared in Miz's place, and he choked out his challenger with the mandible claw.
This was the right call to make, as it protected The Miz from another loss, as he’s been booked on the losing side way too often in recent times. It also allowed Wyatt to make the final impact before his first Universal Championship defense.
The Miz was rumored to be Wyatt’s first challenger before Bryan took his place, and a win for Bryan would have only made The Miz look much weaker without it benefiting The Planet's Champion.
#2 Rhea Ripley’s incredible win
Whoever wrote the ending for this match deserves a raise! The show started with Friday Night SmackDown opening their doors to Monday Night RAW after an inspirational speech by Roman Reigns.
The opening segment in the ring saw the leader of Team SmackDown, Sasha Banks, take to the ring and call out Team RAW. Charlotte Flair answered the call, but NXT’s Rhea Ripley was not too far behind and joined the two team captains to set up a triple threat match.
After a good match, Flair caught The Boss in the Figure-Eight Lock. As Banks looked ready to tap, Ripley entered the ring and pinned Charlotte for the three-count while the Figure-Eight was locked in on Banks who seemingly tapped moments before the three-count.
This allowed the captain of Team NXT to pick up a huge win right before WarGames and Survivor Series, possibly setting up an advantage for her team heading into Sunday’s event.
The ending allowed Flair to come up strong even though she was pinned by the NXT Superstar, while Banks did not have much to lose as she is leading a much fresher team that could prove to be the dark horse at the event.
#1 The final brawl
The final match of the night was a six-man tag team battle in which Roman Reigns, Mustafa Ali, and Shorty G took on the heels King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, and Bobby Roode.
While the match was interesting, it was what happened after that made things even better. After Ali ran into a Deep Six from Corbin to award the win to the heels, Seth Rollins led Team RAW out to the center.
A brawl broke out between Team RAW and Reigns until an army of SmackDown Superstars rushed out to even the odds.
Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Road Dogg then rode into the arena with Team NXT, resulting in utter chaos on the FOX network. The transmission went off the air as Keith Lee and Braun Strowman began to fight in the middle.
Fans have been dreaming to watch The Monster Among Men and The Limitless One face to face, and this was a good teaser the company provided. They might get to watch the two men exchange a few blows on Sunday night in the traditional Survivor Series match.
While the invasions angles have been said to be overdone, this was the final one we might see between these three brands for a long time, and the fans enjoyed the staredown between Rollins and Reigns, as well as the one between Lee and Strowman.
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