Courtesy of WWE
SMACKDOWN 10/27/23
-Jeffrey T. Fountain, Contributor
The countdown is on to Crown Jewel, so this was sure to be a story building lead up to the PLE and go home show next week. News broke that Crown Jewel will be hosting John Cena’s first solo match since Wrestlemania 39. Let’s jump into the action!
Smackdown opens with the contract signing of LA Knight and Roman Reigns for Crown Jewel. During Roman's entrance, LA Knight's music hits and interrupts the Tribal Chief's entrance. Once, in the ring LA takes his seat at the head of the table and Paul Heyman is visibly upset while Roman is laughing at the scenario playing out.
LA Knight signs the contract and slides it to Roman who grabs the mic and talks smack before signing the contract. After the contract is signed LA Knight tells Roman to acknowledge him since he was sitting at the head of the table.
LA goes on a long shoot on why he is going to beat Roman and why he is going to take his championship from him. When Knight gets to the end of his promo, Roman flips the table and lays some big shots on LA before putting the Nike's to the chest. Roman picks him up and throws him into the turnbuckle shoulder first and then gets out to grab another table. As Roman goes to grab LA, LA comes to life and returns the favor to Roman. Jimmy Uso comes to break it up and stop the beating that Roman was getting from LA Knight. Jimmy goes to put LA through the table but LA reverses and puts Jimmy through the table.
Match 1
LWO (Carlito/Santos Escobar) vs. Street Profits w/ Bobby Lashley
Street Profits came out to new walk-out music and both members looks to be in the best shape they've been in since joining the main roster. Angelo and Santos start us off with a great exchange before Angelo gets the upper hand and Santos tagging in Carlito. Carlito gains the upper hand going into the break.
Back from the break Street Profits are in control and hitting Santos with everything. Santos with a tag to Carlito and he is cleaning house of the Profits. WWE cuts to the backstage area and Rey Mysterio is watching the match when Logan Paul hits him from behind. This distracts the LWO and Santos sends Carlito to save Rey Mysterio. Back in the ring Santos is trying to seal the victory for the LWO but the Street Profits capitalize with Carlito being out of the picture and hit the Revelation on Santos for the victory.
Winner: Street Profits w/ Bobby Lashley
Backstage Segment
Roman Reigns is fixing his hair after being one upped by LA Knight and Paul Heyman is holding a custom Green Bay Packers WWE Championship Belt that he says he's giving to LA Knight and to the Packers cause its the closes they are getting to a championship. Jimmy enters the locker room and flops on the couch after running the "play" an audible into a "hot route". Jimmy tells Roman he's on the injured reserve and quickly retracts when Roman says, "You're what?"
Roman tells Paul to make the match, Jimmy Uso vs. LA Knight so Jimmy can put a end to the red hot LA Knight before Crown Jewel. Back from the break we see a quick backstage interview with Logan Paul and he says never let them see your next move and his fist is as big as Rey's head which he thinks there are weight classes in boxing. As he walks off he runs into Kevin Owens who is wearing a Mysterio shirt and Logan tells him it's a "wack" shirt.
As Kevin walks off, A Town Down Under walk up and mentions punchable faces and Kevin says he could punch them both in the face at the same time. WWE producers show up to break up the confrontation and Kevin walks off with them. Austin and Grayson then line up shoulder to shoulder and mention that Kevin thinks he could punch us both in the face at the same time? Kevin returns out of camera and punches them both in the face with one punch. He walks off with A Town Down Under on their backs picking up their egos.
WWE cuts to Kayla Braxton interviewing Dragon Lee. Kayla ask him, "What inspires you inside the ring?" Dragon Lee responds in Spanish but gets cut off by Cendric Alexander who says its like looking in the mirror. Dragon Lee tell Cedric, "It'll be a honor to take you to your limits and beyond" and the match is set.
Match 2
Shotzi vs. Chelsea Green
Chelsea comes out fast with a shotgun dropkick and gets the early advantage on Shotzi but Shotzi surprises Chelsea with some of her unorthodox offense. Chelsea is hitting hard offense on Shotzi and looks to have it in the bag but Chelsea's showboating gives Shotzi time to recover and gets a quick roll up on Chelsea for the upset victory.
Winner: Shotzi
The "GOAT" John Cena is getting his time on the mic and Milwaukee is going crazy. John is talking Crown Jewel and the seriousness of the match and potentially losing the respect of the crowd. The Milwaukee crowd is alive and showering John with "You still got it chants". He mentions there is only one thing left to do, "Win".
"Ladies and Gentleman, my name is Paul Heyman." Paul interrupts John Cena's promo and talks about the 21 years he has been with WWE and how it was him who drafted John Cena to Smackdown from OVW 21 years ago. Then he talks about how Roman Reigns showed John that he doesn’t have it anymore and is no longer the GOAT in the ring. Paul mentions that John could've been like him and the GOAT on the mic. Paul is talking about the order coming from the top and Solo has been ordered to take him out and that the Samoan Spike will take Johns ability to communicate with the fans. Paul says, "Thats not a Prediction but a Spoiler" as Solo sneaks in and attacks John from behind and delivers the Samoan Spike to Cena. The Bloodline leaves John in the middle of the ring clutching his throat.
Backstage Segment
LA Knight shoots on The Bloodline and who they are pissing off and he says he's going to "Ride Jimmy by the pigtails around the ring until he goes to his Tribal Chief and tells him, whose game this is"...L.A. Knight's! Yeah!
Match 3
Dragon Lee vs. Cendric Alexander
This was destined to be a great match-up. This was a Heavy Luchadore and cruiserweight style bout, that saw counters to the counters with hard hits thrown in for fun. Dragon Lee came out on top but I hope we'll see more of Cedric Alexander on TV.
Winner: Dragon Lee
Bianca makes her way out to the ring and talks about her time off and that it was getting vengeance on Damage Ctrl that kept her motivated while off TV. She announces that she'll be getting her one on one with Bailey on the go home show for Crown Jewel next week and that it'll be Bianca vs. Iyo Sky at Crown Jewel for the WWE Womens Championship. Bianca was very much sounding like a tweener during this promo.
MainEvent
Jimmy Uso vs. LA Knight
This match was a hard hitting match that was intended for Jimmy to end the momentum of LA Knight and ensure that LA didn’t make it to Crown Jewel. We saw a great back and and forth that ended with LA Knight hitting a big BFT after a superplex for the 1, 2 and 3. After the match we saw Roman attempt the run in for the spear but LA dodged the Champ and he hit the turnbuckle only to find himself on the receiving end of a Blunt Force Trauma by LA Knight. Yeah!
Winner: LA Knight...YEAH!!
Takeaways
1. Roman Reigns showed up to work
2. Cedric Alexander deserves TV time
3. Nick Aldis is outstanding as the Smackdown GM
4. LA Knight's momentum is at an all time high