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TJR: Preview and Predictions for WWE Smackdown on Fox Tonight (Oct. 4)

By John Canton • Published 4th October 2019
TJR Wrestling

It was in May 2018 when we first found out that WWE Smackdown was moving to Fox. At the time, it was just a report and then soon after that, WWE made the official announcement of Friday Night Smackdown moving to Fox in October. Fox paid WWE over $200 million per year for live Smackdown on Friday nights. That meant a change to the WWE schedule after Smackdown was a live show on Tuesdays for the last three years. Before that, Smackdown was a taped show that aired on Thursdays and also Fridays. After a year and a half of waiting for this first show, tonight’s the night for WWE’s Smackdown debut on Fox.

It will be a regular two hour edition of Smackdown from 8-10pmET with a special 30-minute “blue carpet” special at 7:30pmET. It takes place in Los Angeles at the Staples Center (home of the LA Lakers, Clippers and Kings) and it’s a sold out show.

This edition of Smackdown is also the 20-Year Anniversary Celebration of Smackdown featuring several big name stars from the past.

One of the biggest stars from WWE’s past is John Cena, who is a 16-time World Champion. Cena’s filming “Fast 9” in England right now, so he won’t be on Smackdown. Cena did tweet this out in support of his WWE family.

What I’m interested in is how WWE is going to incorporate so many legends into a show that’s two hours long and has a full match card. It will probably be backstage cameos where the legends are only on the screen for a short period of time.

What I’m here to do now is let you know what’s coming up, plus offer up predictions on the matches.

* Kofi Kingston defends the WWE Championship against Brock Lesnar.

I think when this match was made, a lot of people groaned at the idea of Lesnar becoming the WWE Champion again. It’s easy to see why WWE might do it since Lesnar is arguably the biggest name on the current WWE roster and I believe he’s the highest paid wrestler they have. The fact that Brock is just a part-timer pisses people off, though. Plus, his Universal Title reigns were not that interesting even though he can have good to great matches when he wants to. In my opinion, he’s the best heel on Raw or Smackdown, but the lack of appearances hurts. I wonder now that WWE has all this money from Fox if we might see Lesnar appear almost on a weekly basis until WrestleMania and if it will lead to more Lesnar matches on TV. If so, that might lead some of the complainers to back off a bit, but it’s up to WWE and Lesnar to show us that he’s going to be around more.

This is Lesnar’s first match on WWE TV since March 2004 on Smackdown when he beat Hardcore Holly. Lesnar did not wrestle once on Raw since his WWE return in April 2012. All of Lesnar’s matches have been part of WWE PPVs (WWE Network specials) or live events.

When this match was made, my first thought was Lesnar was going to win the title. Then I watched Raw (and wrote about it, of course) and saw the angle with Lesnar beating up Rey Mysterio as well as his son Dominick. When that happened it made me think that Mysterio will show up and cost Lesnar the WWE Title. I think Lesnar will dominate the match against Kingston, he’ll hit him with multiple F5’s and refuse to pin because he wants to cause punishment, which is what will cost him the match when Mysterio attacks him. If Mysterio attacks Lesnar then that means it’s a DQ finish and Kingston remains the champion.

Am I sure of this prediction? Absolutely not. The fact that Paul Heyman did his “not a prediction, it’s a spoiler” line on Raw makes me think Lesnar winning is a strong possibility. I really don’t know and I’m fine with not knowing. I’m just saying I think Kingston will remain the WWE Champion.

Prediction: Brock Lesnar wins by disqualification (Kofi Kingston remains WWE Champion)

I think Mysterio attacking Lesnar will also lead to Lesnar vs. Mysterio at Hell in a Cell on Sunday night as well. Why do the angle if it’s not going to lead to a match? Lesnar wins at HIAC, Dominick comes out to save his dad and the story continues from there.

It’s also worth noting that in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter this week, Dave Meltzer wrote about how WWE was hoping to sign former UFC fighter Cain Velasquez, who has trained to wrestle and has been impressive. They apparently did the angle on Raw with the hope that Velasquez does sign with WWE and as a famous Mexican athlete, he can be the one to save Mysterio against the Lesnar especially because Velasquez beat Lesnar for the UFC Heavyweight Title in October 2010.

I’m not sure when Kofi Kingston is going to lose the WWE Title. He has been champion for six months. I just feel like it’s not going to be tonight.

* Kevin Owens will face Shane McMahon in a Ladder Match where the loser will be “forced to leave WWE.”

If Kevin Owens doesn’t win this match I will be shocked. Owens has a long-term deal in WWE and will probably be one of the most pushed faces on Raw or Smackdown – wherever he ends up in the draft. I feel like there’s a lot of potential in Owens as a face with a lot of fresh opponents. I’m excited to see what he can do. I’m also excited for this Shane O’Mac heel run to end because it’s been boring and frankly, they need to focus on actual wrestlers instead of Vince’s 49-year-old son that gets booked way too strongly.

The loss will mean that Shane is “fired” from WWE from a decision-making role and from being a wrestler for now. In other words, Shane will go away until WrestleMania season most likely.

Prediction: Kevin Owens wins

* Roman Reigns vs. Erick Rowan

The last time they had a singles match at Clash of Champions, Rowan beat Reigns thank to the return of Rowan’s buddy Luke Harper. This time, I expect Reigns to get the win because he’ll have Daniel Bryan watching his back. I know WWE wants to keep Rowan strong and not book him to lose much considering he’s getting a singles heel push. It just makes sense for Reigns to get the win in this match since he lost last time.

This Sunday at Hell in a Cell it’s Reigns and Bryan vs. Rowan and Harper. Will Bryan stick to being a good guy supporting Reigns or is it all a swerve and he’s still an evil mastermind with Rowan and Harper? That’s the intrigue about that match. I think Bryan’s a face now, but if it’s all a trick and Bryan remains a heel then I’m all for that too.

Prediction: Roman Reigns wins

* Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair vs. Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley and Sasha Banks

The “Four Horsewomen” of WWE are back in tag team action just like they were on the September 9th episode of Raw in Madison Square Garden. That match got 18 minutes and it was very good on Raw, which is three hours. Tonight on Smackdown, I think they’ll get closer to 10-13 minutes.

That match saw Charlotte Flair, who is now a babyface even though she’s way better as a heel, get the pin on Bayley. This time, I see the heels getting the win because there are already a couple of babyface wins on this show, so I want to see the heel side do well. I’m going to go with Bayley pinning Flair because I think WWE wants to keep Lynch and Banks out of the decision since they are in a Hell in a Cell match on Sunday.

Prediction: Sasha Banks and Bayley win

* Several legends will be on hand for the 20th Anniversary of Smackdown including The Rock, Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Lita, Mick Foley, Booker T, Hulk Hogan, Trish Stratus, Goldberg, Jerry Lawler, Mark Henry, Ric Flair, Sting and more.

It will be cool to see a lot of WWE Hall of Famers together again even though they already did the Raw Reunion recently and we saw Hogan/Flair on Monday’s Raw. This one will feel a bit more special because it’s The Rock’s first appearance on WWE TV in a few years.

The question is what heel is going to take a lot of Hall of Fame finishing moves? I think Sami Zayn is the most likely choice although he did get beat up by The Undertaker a few weeks ago. Elias is a possibility, but he may be out due to his ankle injury. The B Team duo of Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas could be a solid selection too.

I really hope there’s some Rock and Austin interaction. They always had great chemistry. They could tease something like a fight, but then end up where Austin hits somebody with a Stone Cold Stunner and Rock follows up with a People’s Elbow or something to pop the crowd. Anyway, it will be tough for others to get a bigger crowd reaction than what Rock and Austin are going to get. I’m sure those two guys will have as much fun as the fans too.

The appearance of The Rock should lead to more casual fans watching too, so that’s a big thing for WWE to try to keep those fans watching when Rock isn’t there next week and beyond.

By the way, The Rock’s Instagram video above got over 6 million views on his account alone. That doesn’t count Twitter, Facebook and everywhere else it was mentioned.

* The new Smackdown announce team will be Michael Cole and Corey Graves with Renee Young listed as a Special Contributor.

I like the idea of a two-person announce team. It’s better than three people although I’m not sure what Renee as a “Special Contributor” means. We know Renee is hosting the WWE Backstage show on Fox Sports 1 in November, so obviously the Fox team wants her on Smackdown too.

Congrats to Corey for entering the “let’s buy a dog together” phase of his relationship with Carmella, the 24/7 Champion in WWE.

* The song “Are You Ready (for a Good Time)” by AC/DC will be the new theme song of Smackdown.

It’s an old song that is perfect for a wrestling show where you want people to be excited to watch it. Plus, there have been reports that AC/DC is Vince McMahon’s favorite band, so it’s not a major surprise that they are going with an AC/DC song as the new theme for Smackdown. I like it a lot.

* There will be a Friday Night SmackDown Kickoff Show “blue carpet” special will air at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on FOX from the Staples Center, featuring celebrity, Superstar and Legend arrivals, as well as backstage access.

This “Kickoff Show” for Smackdown is a one-time only thing. It probably won’t be that newsworthy, but it’s a way to get the legends on the show and interview them about how excited they are to be there. There will probably be some celebrities too since it’s Los Angeles and we know WWE loves to suck up to celebrities.

Final Thoughts

I’m excited about the show. I think most fans are excited about it too. The Smackdown brand has felt a bit stagnant for a few months because we’ve been waiting for October 4 to get here and now we get to see what WWE has planned for us. The lineup is pretty good with a rare WWE Title match, the women’s tag should be very good, the Ladder Match should have a result that the fans like, Reigns vs. Rowan has been built up well and I think the addition of legends will bring in more casual fans too.

The next WWE pay-per-view is Hell in a Cell on Sunday night in Sacramento. Are they going to add more matches tonight? I sure hope so because there are only three matches advertised right now. I’m shocked that Raw didn’t do anything to add to the HIAC lineup. I know Smackdown on Fox is more important than Hell in a Cell, but it’s just odd at how little promotion has gone into Hell in a Cell considering it is this Sunday, October 6th.

How many viewers on Fox tonight? I have no idea, to be honest, but I’m guessing around 4 million viewers. Maybe more. It would be the biggest WWE audience of the year and I expect it because of how much build has gone into it.

Here in Canada, I can watch it on Fox or Sportsnet 360, which is WWE’s home in Canada.

I’ll be back tonight for a live review of Smackdown right here on TJRWrestling. You can see the banner below. I expect to write my Smackdown reviews live most weeks moving forward. It’s a quiet night, so I might as well do it. Thanks for the support as always.

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You can contact me using any of the methods below. Go Los Angeles Rams.

Thanks for reading.

John Canton

Email: mrjohncanton@gmail.com

Twitter: @johnreport

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