WWE SmackDown FOX Premiere: Results, Highlights, and Grades for Oct 4

Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens – Ladder Match

Heading into the second hour, we’ve got our Career vs. Career Ladder Match. Whoever wins will fire the other.

During his “Best in the Worlllllllllllllllllllllll…” introduction, Kevin Owens attacks Shane McMahon. From there, KO starts whipping the General Manager up and down the arena like a scalding dog.

Both men fight to climb the ladder before KO just flings the ladder at Shane, nearly taking out the commentary team. KO goes to retrieve, but on the way back in, Shane dropkicks the ladder into the face. He then smashes the ladder into KO’s back. He then sets KO up onto the announce table. You know what that means …

Shane O Mac nails an elbow drop on KO through the announcer table!

Back from the commercial, KO sends Shane crashing through a ladder in between an apron with a frog splash. He then goes to climb the ladder some minutes later, but Shane nails him with a chair from behind once he’s up. Shane then sets KO in the corner with a ladder on him. You know what that means …

“Shane goes Coast to Coast and KO is KO’d!” Michael Cole’s words, not mine. I could never be that clever.

Shane climbs the ladder, but KO gets back up to powerbomb Shane onto another ladder. This allows KO to climb the ladder, retrieve the briefcase, and of course, fire Shane McMahon. He then proceeds to Stunner Shane out of the WWE.

Winner: Kevin Owens

Grade: B

Much better than expected, but also as good of a Ladder Match as you’ll ever get between these two (that sounds like a knock, but trust me, it’s not). Provided some eye popping carnage as well as a satisfying closing to not only a feud, but the Shane McMahon “reign of terror,” so to speak. It’s exactly what you want to see out of a feud between a guy you love and a guy you hate, and WWE delivered.

Afterwards, backstage, Kayla Braxton interviews Paul Heyman and rolls the footage from last Monday. Heyman says Rey Mysterio simply got into Brock Lesnar’s way, so Brock got him out of his way and will do the same to Kofi Kingston tonight.

AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode vs. Braun Strowman, The Miz and Heavy Machinery

Braun Strowman arrives to the ring for an 8-Man Tag Team Match. Miz and Dolph start and immediately hits a Zig Zag, but doesn’t go for the pin. He sets up a Super Kick, but gets blocked for a DDT. Miz hits a hot tag for Braun Strowman, who bulldozes through everyone.

He clobbers Dolph for a pin, but breaks it up. Cue everybody to hit their finishers. Also cue barely naked Otis, because it’s good for television.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1180292884492251137

After Braun bulldozes everyone around the ring, he challenges Tyson Fury in the crowd to “get these hands.” He tosses Dolph into Tyson, who briefly teases getting in the ring to fight Braun before the latter finishes Dolph in the ring with a PowerSlam.

After the match, Tyson hops the barricade before literally all of security needs to hold him back.

Winners: Team Braun

Grades: D

This one just felt really rushed, but considering the ending with Tyson Fury, it makes sense if the end goal wasn’t to have a good match, but to set up a confrontation between Fury and Strowman. Not sure if this is teasing a match or just creating a moment for the sake of buzz, but looking strictly at the match as a match (even if it was never designed to be a good match), it’s not a good match.

Back at commentary, Michael Cole recaps that during all of these festivities in the ring, DJ Marshmello (yes, that Marshmello), won the 24/7 Championship from Carmella, then loses it back to her almost just as fast.

This leads us into our Lumberjack Match, with Daniel Bryan on commentary.

Erick Rowan vs. Roman Reigns – Lumberjack Match

Rowan backs Roman into a corner and kicks him down. He then sends Roman to the outside to get beat up by the heel Lumberjacks. Back in the ring, Roman throws Rowan outside to get beat up by the babyface Lumberjacks, who get beat up by Rowan. Roman tries to hit a Superman Punch, but Rowan catches him and slams him into the barricade.

Heel Lumberjacks pick up the scraps. Back in the ring, Roman gets hit with a spin kick from Roman for a near fall.

Back from the break, Rowan has his signature knuckle sandwich rest spot in before The Big Dog fights out of it. Cue Roman’s comeback spot.

Harper makes a run-in, but Bryan chases after him. This leads to all the Lumberjacks fighting, which leads The Big Dog to hitting a big dive.

Rowan powerbombs Ali into Roman Reigns. Yes, you read that correctly. It was amazing.

Rowan goes for the Iron Claw, but Roman hits a Superman Punch. Harper in the ring, but Bryan hits a Knee Plus. Rowan attempts an Iron Claw, but Roman spears him for the win. Roman and Bryan shake hands after the match.

Winner: Roman Reigns

Grade: C+ (the plus is strictly because Rowan tossed a dude into another thing, which is my favorite thing in wrestling)

Lumberjack Matches are hard to book. There’s really only one way to have a Lumberjack and it’s to regurgitate the same formula for every match. This is one of those matches that regurgitates that formula. This isn’t necessarily a bad match. It just abides by the usual formula and if you’ve seen one Lumberjack Match, you’ve seen them all.

Kofi Kingston vs. Brock Lesnar – WWE Championship

Main Event Time!

Kofi Kingston runs at Brock Lesnar, Brock immediately catches him into an F5, and Kofi, after over 130+ days, Kofi’s WWE Championship run ends in about 5 seconds.

After the match, Rey Mysterio and Cain Velasquez (yes, the dude who beat Brock in UFC for the Heavyweight Championship, and the dude who’s been pulling lucha in AAA lately) make their way down the ring. Cain double leg takedowns Brock immediately and pounds Brock into running away. Staredown to end the show.

Winner: (And NEW) Brock Lesnar

Grade: [BRUH]

I can’t even grade the WWE Championship match. It wasn’t even a match.

I was too bummed out to get into the Brock vs. Cain confrontation because of the way that match ended. Like … man.

I figured Kofi was losing, but I expected a full match at least. After the great reign he’s had, he’s just tossed to the curb for … Cain Velasquez. No diss to Cain, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Overall Show Grade: B-

The show wasn’t exactly a bang, but it was far from a whimper. Even if the ending left a sour taste in my mouth, that doesn’t change the fact the rest of the show was mostly good. Some bumps here and there, but mostly good.Fine, fine, super fine start to the new FOX era of SmackDown programming that show produce positive results for WWE, FOX, and most importantly, us fans.