411’s WWE Talking Smack Report 10.17.20: Daniel Bryan Returns, Dominick Wants a Match with His Father, and More!

-Thanks to all who passed along congratulations to my wife and I on the birth of our second child on Thursday. As I mentioned in my last two articles we were blessed with another boy and as long as things continue he will be coming home tomorrow. His big brother, Rowan, is excited about meeting him and about having his mother home. I have been driving back and forth twice a day between the hospital and house to take care of things so he hasn’t had the chance to miss me as much. Now to wrestling as SmackDown had their season premiere last night and it seemed like a good show based on the amount I was able to watch. Daniel Bryan is back and I believe is scheduled for this show which should be amazing. Let’s get to it!

-Kayla Braxton is our host and welcomes us to this edition of Talking Smack. IC Champion, Sami Zayn is back as her co-host this week. Xavier Woods storms the set and hugs Kayla as they will miss each other. Sami tells Woods to get out of here as he isn’t welcome and needs to go to RAW. That was a fun start!

-Kayla quickly covers the happenings tonight as Roman sent Strowman packing to RAW and New Day had their farewell match. Sami again mentions that Woods needs to stay on RAW now.

-Our first guests are Rey Mysterio and Dominick. Sami is annoyed as Kayla interrupts his discussion with Dominick. Rey is happy to be back on SmackDown as this was his home for some many years. He blew up on SmackDown with the likes of Eddie, Batista, and Kurt Angle. Kayla asks if either was frustrated that Rollins and Murphy were also drafted to SmackDown. Rey says that big brothers can be over protective as he really looks after his sister. Dominick is happy to be on SmackDown, but nothing changes with what Rollins and Murphy did to their family.

-Sami asks if they had some relief when they saw Seth going to RAW early and if they were disappointed that they ended up back on the same brand. Dominick was happy to move to SmackDown, but was upset when it looked like Seth was getting away from them as there is unfinished business. Kayla goes back to SummerSlam as a Network special showed Vince hug Dominick and congratulate him after his debut match. Sami mentions that Vince has never hugged him and then puts over Dominick’s debut. He has to give credit where credit is due. Rey was proud as he knows how bad his first match was and Sami mentions Rey gets a pass since he was 15 at the time. Sami puts over Rey and calls him one the greats, but wants to know about the eye injury. Rey says he is at 99% and his career is not finished. He just wants to get over this stuff with Murphy and Sami responds “bro, it’s messed up.” Kayla mentions a bucket list that Dominick has as he wants to win the Tag Titles with his dad and he also wants to have a match with his dad. That would be fantastic! Sami is relieved that nothing was mentioned about his IC Title and Rey says Dominick would like to face Sami at some point. Sami is cool with that and would also like to face Rey as their paths haven’t crossed much.

-Our next guest is Nattie and we will see how long it takes before she mentions 2 Pawz. Kayla puts over Nattie being a locker leader, She brings up it has nearly been a year since she had her historic match with Evans in Saudi Arabia. Sami mentions he wasn’t even allowed there. Nattie calls Evans one of her favorite opponents and Sami brings up that Evans knocked her tooth out. Nattie gave her a pass as she respects that toughness from her.

-Kayla brings up RAW and how Lana won the #1 Contender’s Battle Royal. Nattie says they are like sisters as they fight and then fix everything. She told Lana that this wasn’t working anymore as she is the Best of All Time (#BOAT) and has won more matches that any other women in WWE history. Kayla is all about the stats as Nattie has had 51 PPV matches and Sami puts her over as well. Nattie was over the team as every week they were a team they lost and every week Lana ended up getting put through a table. She believes Lana is capable of greatness, but it is probably for the best that they are on their own. Nattie mentions that TJ (her husband) has been training Lana. She believes in her heart that she can beat Asuka. Nattie is happy to be back on SmackDown and says it feels right. She loves Kayla and then calls Sami tolerable before back tracking and saying she loves him. Wow, no 2 Pawz mention!

-Our final guest is Daniel Bryan who helped put this show on the map. This is what I have been waiting for since this show was rebooted. Daniel quickly mentions that Sami is in what used to be his seat and Sami shoots back, this used to be Daniel’s IC Title as well. AWESOME! Daniel is curious to see how Sami does as co-host and promises he will be fair in assessing him. Sami says that Bryan’s return last night was largely uneventful. Meanwhile he is the IC Champion and didn’t get any hype when he made his return. Daniel says it wasn’t the best thing he has ever done, but it certainly wasn’t his lowest and laughs. Daniel says he is at a different point in his career. He wanted to bridge the enthusiasm for his return onto the rest of the SmackDown roster. He is a big fan of The Street Profits and is excited to see those guys every Friday. He has a vision for a better SmackDown and would love to see the IC Title defended more often. He wants to see Sami against Cesaro, Big E, Otis, Gable and Sami says those guys have to earn their keep.

-Kayla brings up the last we saw of Daniel was him losing to AJ in a fantastic match in the IC Tournament Finals. Daniel doesn’t want to pick a fight, but wants to get back in the IC Title picture. He wants to win the Title and defend it every week. He is serious when he says he wants a match with Gran Metalik and wants a match with with Sami without Cesaro and Nakamura involved. Sami brings up he did beat Bryan at WrestleMania. Sami isn’t buying that Daniel just wants to help others. Daniel wants the IC Title so he can test himself every week. Daniel mentions he found out in the AJ match that he doesn’t have the spring in his step in longer matches anymore. He was annoyed that he couldn’t jump as high by the end of that match and yet AJ could even though he is older than him.

-Sami wants to be honest as he thinks Daniel is taking steps backwards and is more like the Daniel that was SmackDown GM. Before Daniel can respond the music starts to play to close the show. Sami wonders why they can’t get 4 more minutes and Daniel says this never happened when he was on the show as they went off the rails all the time. I miss those days!

-Fun show with Sami continuing to kill it as the co-host and doing so in a way that is different than what Bryan so great on this show. Rey and Dominick were solid and Sami’s respect for Rey was on full display here was which cool to see. Nattie was Nattie and I am still stunned she didn’t mention her cat. Daniel Bray was the reason to watch this show and while he did seem reigned in more than when he was co-host he was still wonderful here. The man is just some comfortable on a show like this and doesn’t miss a beat. His interactions with Sami were great and made this an enjoyable show. Thanks for reading!