Do You Smell What the D-Man is Blogging? By Dan Schreiber
I'm Dan "D-Man" Schreiber from the Empty The Bench Podcast Network. I've been a big wrestling fan for years and enjoy meeting wrestlers at signings. I have met a lot of wrestlers throughout the years, such as The Undertaker, Kane, John Cena, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, and Sting. I will explain my thoughts on WWE Smackdown, AEW Rampage, and AEW Collision each week. This week, I'll be talking about WWE Smackdown.
WWE Smackdown
John Cena Opens Up Smackdown:
Cena did a great job starting off Smackdown. It was great that he had AJ Styles come down to the ring to join forces with him to take down the bloodline. Then, The Bloodline of Jey Uso and Solo Sikoa came down to the ring and refused to go into the ring with Cena and Styles. They never got into the ring to fight Cena and Styles. They were taunting them and walked away. The segment starting off Smackdown went great. The thing that sucked was Uso & Sikoa didn't fight them because The Bloodline only do stuff on their terms. This feud will lead to a match of Uso and Sikoa vs. Cena and Styles at the next PPV, called Fastlane, on October 7.
LWO'S Rey Mysterio & Santos Escobar vs. The Street Profit's Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins:
The match was pretty good—a lot of high-flying action. Part of Bobby Lashley's new tag team he formed is The Street Profits tag team of Ford and Dawkins. Since Ford and Dawkins became heel. They have performed better in the ring, winning multiple matches for numerous weeks under Lashley's mentoring. I never thought The Street Profits would be good heels rather than faces. They are doing great as heels now, surprisingly. The outcome of the match was Mysterio pinning Dawkins. Mysterio and Escobar won. Ford and Dawkins were shocked they lost, and I bet they weren't too happy. I was surprised that Ford and Dawkins lost and thought they would win.
Bobby Lashley's Backstage Altercation With The Street Profits:
Lashley was very pissed off at Ford and Dawkins losing the match and said, "If you can't pull the trigger, I'll find someone that could." After Lashley said that, it might be the end of him associating himself with The Street Profits because if they can't keep on winning. Then Lashley's tag team won't be successful and dominant. It remains to be seen who Lashley will replace The Street Profits with. It will be exciting to see.
Asuka vs. Iyo Sky For The WWE Smackdown Women's Championship:
Before the match started, Charlotte Flair sat at ringside beside the commentary table. I was surprised that she came to the ring. She came to ringside to ensure the rest of the Damage CTRL didn't interfere. Sky would retain the title because it was a three-on-one situation. After all, she's part of the tag team Damage CTRL, including Bayley and Dakota Kai. Bayley and Kai were also at ringside during the match. Bayley was causing interference, saving the game by putting Sky's foot on the rope to break the ref's three count without the ref noticing. Once Bayley did that, Flair confronted Bayley to ensure she didn't interfere again. Then Bayley and Flair fought, and Asuka was getting distracted by that outside interference. Sky avoided the distraction and won the match to retain the title. Overall, it was a great, technical, high-flying, and physical match. What's next for the WWE Smackdown Women's Champion Iyo Sky, Damage CTRL, Charlotte Flair, and Asuka remains to be seen.
The Brawling Brutes Ridge Holland & Butch Vs. Grayson Waller & Austin Theory:
It was a very physically good match. I knew that Waller and Theory were going win the game no matter how physical wrestlers The Brawling Brutes were. Waller and Theory are excellent top-heel wrestlers on Smackdown. Ever since they formed a tag team, will they go after the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Titles? It remains to be seen.
Contract Signing At Fastlane between John Cena & AJ Styles vs. Jey Uso & Solo Sikoa:
Cena is in the ring waiting for Styles to show up to the ring. Then, backstage, Uso and Sikoa viciously beat up Styles. Cena rushed backstage to help Styles when they were beating him up. It was too late because Styles was severely beaten, so he left in an ambulance. What was crazy towards the end of the attack was Sikoa standing 15 feet high and did a diving splash through tables onto Styles from the end of the two-on-one backstage attack. Then, after the attack, Paul Heyman, Uso, and Sikoa of The Bloodline went down the ring, saying since Cena doesn't have a partner at Fastlane. There is no match, and Cena doesn't have a partner. Cena was so pissed off of what Uso and Sikoa did to Styles. Cena ran down to the ring and tried beating both of them up. Cena couldn't overcome the odds, and then Uso and Sikoa beat up bad Cena. At least Cena wasn't beaten as severely as Styles was. I think Cena will still be able to fight in that tag team match at Fastlane. Styles will be injured and not able to compete. Cena is left with finding a replacement.
The best strategy is for Cena to find a partner and keep it on the down low from Uso and Sikoa. It would be fantastic for Cena's partner to make a surprise appearance to compete by his side at Fastlane. The two partners I think of teaming up with Cena to take on Uso and Sikoa would be The Rock or Randy Orton. Reading up online, Orton was due to return between Orton and The Rock at the end of this year. There is a better chance of The Rock being Cena's partner than Orton because they have more tag team history. It would be awesome to see Cena and The Rock returning to tag team again. We'll see what happens until Fastlane.
I hope you enjoyed my blog on WWE Smackdown this week.
Empty The Bench Podcast Network: Dan “D-Man” Schreiber