Mandy Rose slapped The Miz on WWE SmackDown, but a bigger statement is forthcoming.
The women of WWE SmackDown continue to absolutely own Friday nights week after week. Whether it’s the tag team rivalries or Sonya Deville vs. Mandy Rose, the SmackDown Women’s Division never leaves you feeling disappointed.
Here are the five biggest takeaways from this week’s episode of SmackDown on FOX.
Mandy Rose is going to make her statement
Sonya Deville has been cutting the best promos in WWE over the past couple of months ever since turning heel on Mandy Rose. Formerly tag team partners in Absolution and Fire and Desire, Deville and Rose never got to hold the gold together, but they are doing something even more impactful on Friday nights as rivals. If it weren’t for the untouchable storyline between living legends Sasha Banks and Bayley, Rose and Deville would be the unquestioned best thing going on the Blue Brand.
Rose slapped The Miz after Deville cut yet another scathing promo on her, basically stating that Rose only gets opportunities over her because the people backstage like her looks more. Deville promised to tear her apart and make her as ugly as she is on the outside as on the inside, implying that Rose has no actual talent besides her looks.
It’s a refrain that Rose has undoubtedly heard often from trolls online, so WWE is feeding into this for the babyface to have her big statement turning that on its head. For those familiar with Rose’s work, they understand she is powerful, has become excellent in the ring, and went from a weak promo to one of SmackDown’s better talkers.
Deville is coming out as the “winner” of this feud, but Rose will have plenty of momentum, too.
Bray Wyatt isn’t finished with you, Braun
Turning Braun Strowman’s catchphrase on its head, Bray Wyatt isn’t done with making Strowman’s life a living nightmare. I’m not sure if the throwback to his “Hawaiian Shirt” heel persona in the early Wyatt Family days – when Strowman was his young “muscle” in the stable – is another ploy to recruit him or if it’s a divergent path meant to mentally torture Wyatt in a completely different way.
Whatever the case, Wyatt is clearly out for revenge after his humiliating loss to Strowman in a Universal Title match at Money in the Bank. And what made the loss so humiliating was this: Strowman beat Wyatt at his own mindgames.
Bayley sells out Sasha again
Bayley really has to keep forcing herself as the person in charge of the friendship between herself and Sasha Banks, because she stops at nothing to undermine the autonomy of her tag team partner. Once again, Bayley threw Sasha into a match that she wasn’t prepared for, forcing Sasha to suddenly compete against a fired-up Nikki Cross after already being beaten down and blindsided by the former Sanity leader. (Yes, she was the leader to me, damn it!)
But despite not being prepared and clearly miffed at Bayley abusing her authority as WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion in their uneven, fracturing friendship, Sasha Banks won. And she did so in incredible fashion, putting on yet another quality television match.
With all sorts of challengers for the Women’s Tag Titles emerging on all three WWE brands, Sasha and Bayley’s longtime friendship is being tested even more profoundly.
Matt Riddle on TV? Really?
Matt Riddle has been accused of sexual assault, and WWE have said they are “looking into” what happened but were unwilling to pull the pre-taped debut match on this week’s episode of SmackDown. Jamie Senegal and others have provided potential evidence supporting the victim and addressing comments made in Riddle’s defense.
It was horrible for WWE to have Riddle appear on television screens in light of a potential sexual assault. They need to remove him from television at the bare minimum. Having him on SmackDown and showing his win over AJ Styles and giving him a 1:30 post-match promo as an online exclusive? Disgusting. Do better, WWE. It doesn’t take much.
Shorty G going somewhere?
Shorty G and Mojo Rawley had a match on WWE SmackDown this week, which seems entirely forgettable given that Vince McMahon seems to view Shorty G, despite being one of the most talented in-ring wrestlers in the company, as nothing more than a joke and Rawley is basically never on TV.
But the match itself was pretty good, if for nothing else than we got a chance to watch Gable’s outstanding combination of strength and agility in the ring. Afterward, he cut a promo about his experience taking on and beating heavyweights.
Maybe WWE is starting up their stop-and-start Shorty G push again on Friday nights. He’s a solid promo, and it’s always wonderful to watch him wrestle. So any chance to see this man in the ring on SmackDown is something I’ll gladly take.