Smackdown Articles - Page 8

When news broke that Pat McAfee was going to be away from the WWE Universe for the entirety of the 2022 college football season to focus on his new gig with ESPN’s College GameDay, it left a massive hole at the SmackDown commentary desk. Sure, some dislike McAfee for his brashness or for his general […]

Pat McAfee has been a breath of fresh air since initially stepping his toe into the WWE Universe back in 2018. From his memorable run as a pre-show commentator for NXT TakeOvers, to his feud with Adam Cole that saw the ex-Indianapolis Colts punter take the ring for a surprisingly good match at WWE NXT […]

After being bullied up on by the heelish Shayna Baszler the for the better part of a month, Liv Morgan came into WWE’s Clash at the Castle with everything to lose and nothing but legacy points to gain. Facing off against a submission specialist who continued the work Ronda Rousey started at SummerSlam on her […]

Since their match on the first Smackdown of the month of August, Ricochet and Happy Corbin have wrestled on five occasions, four in singles competition and once in the Intercontinental Title Number One Contendership Fatal Five Way. Of those matches, Ricochet has won four of them, and Corbin has won none, with his efforts becoming […]

While Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s infinity gauntlet isn’t quite full yet, as Top Dolla of Hit Row suggests he still needs to find a mind stone, it’s undeniable that the WWE Universe is a whole lot fuller today than it was a week before SummerSlam. There have been the returns of Dakota Kai and IYO […]

With Toxic Attraction officially out of the tournament to decide the next Women’s Tag Team Champion due to an injury suffered in the ring by Gigi Dolin, WWE had to get creative to keep the show on track and the final match on schedule. But what would they do? Toxic Attraction were already called up […]

There was a time when WWE thought that Karrion Kross and his partner/valet/wife Scarlett were an expense too excessive to afford. Deemed on par with cutting out trips to the all-you-can-eat sushi bar the week rent is due, Nick Khan and company opted to release the duo from their contracts due to “budget cuts” in […]

Max Durpi is back in WWE after an alarmingly short absence, and his Maximum Male Models are thriving. They’ve gotten a sponsorship from PureLife Water that resulted in a commercial appearance during SummerSlam, had big-time photoshoots, and seemingly find themselves in a WWE Tag Team Division that is being taken seriously for the first time […]

Shawn Michaels is having a very good week in the WWE Universe. He was promoted to Vice President of Talent Development Creative, watched NXT put up a huge viewership number for their Heatwave television special, and has watched his post-in-ring profile get elevated considerably as a result. And yet, not one week into his new […]

As, well, basically every fan of professional wrestling surely knows, Friday nights at 8 pm is when WWE’s SmackDown airs on FOX… except during football season, which is when the process of preemption starts to rear their ugly heads and fans suddenly have to scramble for when and where to watch their favorite show. So […]

In the modern professional wrestling world, everyone sort of knows everyone. Sure, some performers are lifers in WWE, AEW, NJPW, or elsewhere, but there isn’t a performer on a major promotion who doesn’t know someone who is either signed to another company or wrestled for another company before their current landing spot. Because of this […]

When the WWE Universe said goodbye to Hit Row, it felt like a mistake. Initially called up to the main roster in October of 2021 as part of the WWE Draft after a very successful run in NXT capped off with a win by the group’s de facto leader, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, winning the North […]

After being absent from television for the entire summer, the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship is officially back, and business is picking up for the brand-less belts. Initially secured at WrestleMania 38 by the dynamic duo of Sasha Banks and Naomi, the belts were officially vacated back in May, when, after the duo walked out […]

When Paul “Triple H” Levesque tweeted out “… and we’re just getting started” after the surprising returns/re-debuts of Bayley, Dakota Kai, and Io Shirai-turned-Iyo Sky, it felt like a pretty darn big deal to the WWE Universe. After years of the talent pipeline from the indies to The Fed going decidedly one way, with dozens […]

After tapping out during the penultimate match on WWE’s SummerSlam in the middle of a pin, Liv Morgan’s status as the SmackDown Women’s Champion has been one of the more contested topics across the WWE Universe. To some, Morgan won the match fair and square, as Ronda Rousey was pinned legally during her armbar attempt, […]

There was a time when it seemed like Sasha Banks and Naomi would never, ever, ever, ever, ever return to the WWE. They disliked the immediate plans to push the duo as singles performers in the lead-up to Money in the Bank, took issue with the creative direction of the company’s women’s tag team division – […]

Calling WWE‘s Michael Cole divisive might just be generous. Since taking over for Jim Ross back in 2008 as the lead voice of RAW and eventually becoming the lead commentator of WWE regardless of brand, fans have come to despise more than a few of Cole’s mannerisms, his lack of charisma, and for generally serving […]

Did you happen to notice that WWE’s Friday night edition of SmackDown looked sort of… different? Not worse necessarily; it was actually quite good if we’re being honest, just… different? Well, there’s a reason for that: There was a lot more wrestling on the show (read more about that here). Yes, you didn’t just imagine […]

It’s officially been a week since Vince McMahon retired from the WWE, and frankly, not much has changed. Sure, Madusa returned to NXT to help out Roxanne Perez, Brock Lesnar maybe almost quit, and Goldberg was reportedly called to almost take his place, but since then, other than the absence of the 24/7 Championship and […]

LA Knight is one of the most talented talkers in the WWE Universe. Though he’s never pulled an Eddie Kingston and cut a compelling promo on a cookie – at least not on camera – he got himself over in no time on NXT with his LA Knight persona, even if it’s a sort of […]

On an appearance on the Sports Illustrated Media podcast, Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer gave the following response to a question about whether the retirement of Vince McMahon could inspire the WWE to bring back disgruntled Women’s Tag Team Champions Sasha Banks and Naomi, as dictated by Ian Carey. “It’s kind of up in […]

In case you haven’t heard, Paul “Triple H” Levesque has officially been handed chief creative control over the entirety of the WWE Universe, from RAW and SmackDown to NXT, Main Event, and even NXT Level Up. His time away from the company to recover from his heart condition effectively served as the calm before the […]

When SmackDown went off the air on Friday night, one question rose above all others: Where, oh where in the WWE Universe is Max Dupri? …Okay, maybe that wasn’t the biggest question occupying the WWE Universe, as Vince McMahon did announce his retirement earlier in the day, with the new-old dynamic duo of Stephanie McMahon […]

After weeks of weird, weird promos hyping the arrival of Max Dupri’s new faction and then some incredibly polarizing segments once the Maximum Male Models officially made SmackDown their home, the WWE‘s most polarizing faction has landed the shot of adrenaline it desperately needed in the form of Maxxine Dupri, a much-appreciated female addition to […]

*phew* what a day in the WWE Universe. It started normally enough, with your typical pre-SmackDown promotional material, before news broke that Vince McMahon had officially retired from the WWE at the ripe old age of 77, likely because of the heat generated from his ongoing scandals that were growing increasingly damning with each passing […]

Sheamus and Drew McIntyre have wrestled about a dozen times since joining the WWE Universe. … actually, that isn’t correct. No, the duo have wrestled dozens of times, plural, with 74 recorded contests as either friends or foes, according to the fine folks over at Cagematch. They’ve wrestled in teams, wrestled solo, and even taken […]

Happy Corbin really doesn’t like WWE’s newly-extended color commentator Pat McAfee. He doesn’t like how he “lucked” into his job, his popularity, or the fact that constantly calls him “Brokeass Corbin” despite having known each other going back over a decade thanks to their shared time as training camp competitors with the Indianapolis Colts in […]

When news broke that Vince McMahon was stepping down from the WWE after quite literally growing up and raising his children in the promotion, it generated vastly different opinions from across the wrestling world. Some fans – and Tony Khan – made light of his retirement, using the news as an excuse to promote AEW […]

As you may or may not have read earlier this afternoon, Brock Lesnar has reportedly walked out of SmackDown after a meeting informed the talent that Vince McMahon had officially retired from the WWE amid an ever-expanding series of scandals. This, obviously, isn’t good, but hey, Lesnar probably just wants to let off some steam […]

Hot on the heels of the sudden announcement of Vince McMahon‘s retirement, a big-named WWE Superstar has reportedly vacated the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts before tonight’s SmackDown. That’s right, despite still being prominently advertised on the company’s website as ‘Returning to SmackDown’ – at least at the time of publication –  Brock Lesnar will […]

When it comes to being creative in their intimidation tactics, leave it to WWE’s The New Day to bring their own brand of zaniness to the table. After weeks of going back and forth, this week’s SmackDown featured a new look for The New Day, or rather The New Raid, as Kofi Kingston and Xavier […]

In case you somehow haven’t heard, Naomi and her tag team partner, Sasha Banks, have been away from the WWE for the better part of two months following their decision to walk out due to creative differences. Are the duo still employed by The Fed? No one really knows – there have been reports that […]

One of the weirdest stories of the 2022 calendar year in the WWE Universe has been the status of former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Naomi and Sasha Banks. That’s right, ever since the duo walked out of a show following a reportedly heated back and forth with the higher-ups, the duo has been MIA […]

When news broke via the Wall Street Journal that the allegations levied at Vince McMahon had expanded out considerably, with the total financial figure growing to $12 million and the interactions that warranted such lofty buyouts not all being of a consensual nature, it felt like yet another inflection point in the final chapter of […]

Gunther is one of the most domineering forces in the WWE Universe. He can chop down a tree with his palm strikes, toss foes out of the ring with a release german suplexes, and can powerbomb a bigger performer through the ring with his incredibly explosive upper body strength. As a result, Gunther really doesn’t […]

When news broke that Drew McIntyre was booked for a match with Sheamus to decide who would get first dibs against the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at Clash at the Castle, it felt weird. Why line up another contender for a pair of belts that are already being wrestled for at SummerSlam? Why do so […]

At WWE‘s Money in the Bank, The Street Profits gave The Usos everything they had. They Angelo Dawkins hit top rope suicidas, Montez Ford connected on a frog splash, and yet, at every turn, Jimmy and Jay had a counter lined up to stop their long-time does in their tracks. Near-falls were counted, the crowd […]

When news broke that Vince McMahon had paid out hush money to former employees due to reportedly consensual adult relationships with a former employee roughly one month ago, it felt like WWE was approaching an inflection point the likes of which the company hasn’t been rocked with since the double-murder-suicide of Chris Benoit or the […]

On a day marked by wall-to-wall controversy the likes of which would seemingly tank any other head of a major, multi-national organization, Vince McMahon is reportedly keeping his head down and his sights set on the next major WWE premium live event, SummerSlam. Though the show should be able to ride the momentum set by […]