Csonka’s WWE Smackdown on Fox Debut Preview

WELCOME back to column time with Larry! Today, I am going to discuss and preview the WWE Smackdown on Fox debut event. The show is the start of a 5-year, BILLION dollar deal between WWE & Fox a deal, which not only should open WWE up to a higher viewership (thanks to being on network TV, and the synergy with Fox) but also makes the WWE even more financially secure and dominant. WWE has put a lot into this show, seemingly at the cost of building Hell in a Cell, and it will feature WWE champion Kofi Kingston defending against Brock Lesnar, special guests, and much more. So today I will breakdown and preview the event. Feel free to make your picks in the comment section. Thanks for reading! It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.”

Charlotte & Becky Lynch vs. Bayley & Sasha Banks: This is a rematch from a few weeks back on Raw, which was a really good and tremendously fun match as they have worked together so much and know each other so well. It’s also he final build for Becky vs. Sasha at HIAC in the cell. But as of this writing, Bayley doesn’t have a match for the PPV, which leads me to believe that this will be used to set up a rematch between she and Charlotte. If they get time, like on Raw, the match should be very good again and a positive addition to the show. I expect Sasha and Becky to take each other out of the action, possibly brawling to the back to set up Charlotte beating Bayley to earn a championship match at HIAC. WINNER: Charlotte & Becky Lynch

Roman Reigns vs. Erick Rowan: While the initial “try to murder Roman” angle wasn’t good, I have liked where this has gone. Rowan has stepped up, delivered solid promos and some good in-ring performances, and we got the return of Harper to the fold, which I love. Rowan turning on Bryan and running wild with Harper has been fun and now we have the unlikely alliance between Bryan & Reigns, and this match is not only a rematch from Night of Champions, but also serves as part of the build to Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan vs. Luke Harper and Erick Rowan at HIAC. These two are coming off of a good match at Night of Champions, and have shown good chemistry in their brawls, so this has potential, but it also won’t have the advantages of the Night of Champions match, which was no DQ. It will likely be good while it lasts, but I do not see us getting a finish here as this feels like another building block to Sunday’s PPV match as Harper & Bryan likely get involved. WINNER: No clean finish

Career vs. Career Ladder Match: Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens: Ever since “winning” the tournament at a Sweet Saudi money event, Shane McMahon has been running wild as a heel, not only turning on and repeatedly beating the Miz, but also beating Roman Reigns. Following the ill-advised heel turn of Owens, done due to needing a challenger for Kofi. Owens turned back babyface by taking issue with Shane, his position in the company, and fact that he was robbing talented performers of their TV time. And now we enter the whole Shane firing Kevin deal and the following lawsuit angle, which brings us to this match. Thy had a match at Summerslam, which was fine, and Kevin won that one to keep his job, This time it’s career vs. career (for as much as you actually believe that), and it got a prime spot on the big Fox debut instead of the PPV, which shows you how much they wanted to stack this show. This isn’t hard, Kevin should win, overcoming the evil Shane, and it should be used as a way to get rid of the last fulltime authority figure on WWE TV, because they aren’t needed and won’t be missed. And then can we please get Kevin back on track? Also, after he wins and fires Shane, can Miz at the very least arrive and attack Shane to get some much-needed closure and revenge? Just end this madness please. WINNER: Kevin Owens

WWE Champion Kofi Kingston vs. Brock Lesnar: I have talked a lot about Kofi’s title run with Jeremy on the podcast. It was a great story, a great chase and resulted in a great WrestleMania moment. Unfortunately, despite being booked strongly as the champion, Kofi’s run has left a lot to be desired, and he’s come off as someone who was way better in the chase role than as the actual champion. Kofi’s run has been largely flat, with the angles building to the matches surpassing the actual title defenses in terms of overall quality. I have questioned if it was time to pull the plug on the run and with the return of Brock Lesnar and the match being set for this big debut on Fox, the time looks to be here to end it. Again, Kofi hasn’t been bad as a champion, but he’s just been flat and largely not interesting, which in some ways is almost worse than bad. And that brings us to the latest return of Brock Lesnar, who to many is a last resort scenario. Whether we like it or not, WWE and Fox values Brock as a big star, and part of that is WWE’s fault as they haven’t effectively built up stars that are seen in the same way Brock is. It’s the big Fox debut, the Kofi run isn’t working, so I expect a title change. They of course could shock the world and have Kofi win, which I just don’t feel but would be a pleasant surprise. They could also do a disputed finish and rematch at HIAC, but I feel that would be a horrible call for the big debut on Fox. So I think whether many like it or not, Brock walks out with the gold. But the big questions of course are will be how much will he appear, how many matches will he work and will he even remain on Smackdown since he’s such a Heyman guy. Brock doesn’t care about any of that as long as the number of zeros on his checks stay large. WINNER: Brock Lesnar

JOIN 411 FOR LIVE COVERAGE OF THE SHOW TONIGHT AT 8 PM ET

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 55. On the show, the good brother, Jeremy Lambert, joins 411’s Larry Csonka as the guys will review week one of the Wednesday Night War, looking at what worked and what didn’t, and then preview the WWE Smackdown debut on Fox and look at the WWE Hell in a Cell card, which has been completely forgotten by the company. The show is approximately 147-minutes long.

* Intro
* AEW Dynamite Review 10.02.19: 3:15
* NXT on USA Review 10.02.19: 50:55
* AEW vs. NXT Comparison: 1:23:57
* WWE Smackdown on For Debut Preview: 1:49:10
* WWE Hell in a Cell Preview: 2:08:25

You can subscribe and listen to the 411 on Wrestling Podcast via the above player on Transistor, or on the following platforms:

* iTunes
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.