WWE SmackDown: 2 things that went right on the Sept 17 episode

If you enjoy surprise appearances by new champions, incumbent champions losing non-title matches, questionable finishes and, helicopter dads watching their son lose to Sami Zayn, then this past Friday’s SmackDown was the show for you.

With WWE, even a good show usually features a mix of fun stuff and nonsensical booking decisions. It’s sort of like cheering for a team that has Ryan Fitzpatrick as the quarterback, you just have to take the good with the bad.

In this piece, we’ll focus on the good, because there were indeed some positives to take away from this program. So, let’s not waste time and get to it.

These are two of the things that went right on the Sept. 17 episode of SmackDown.

Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman

Another week, another round of interactions between Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman that keep fans glued to the television screen. Once again, the tensions surrounding “The Tribal Chief” and his special counsel revolved around Heyman’s perceived duplicity regarding Brock Lesnar.

Heyman once again displayed fear and false assuredness when Reigns questioned his knowledge of Lesnar’s whereabouts, which further reinforced the dynamic between the two while continuing to make fans wonder whose side Heyman is on (yes, Lesnar “tried” to F5 him, but there’s still a non-zero chance that Heyman turns on Reigns when the match actually happens).

Also, bonus points for Heyman’s continued exasperation at Kayla Braxton’s attempts to interview him at inopportune times.

Naomi showing some good babyface fire.

For the last few weeks, WWE has built up this story of Naomi asking Sonya Deville for a match only for Deville to postpone it for the following week.

Of course, WWE has yet to answer why Naomi doesn’t simply ask Adam Pearce for a match (especially given that Pearce moved her to SmackDown in the first place), but this story is preferable to having the former SmackDown Women’s Champion sit in catering with nothing to do.

While most fans believe that this will end with Naomi turning heel for the first time since 2015, it’s more plausible to suggest that WWE is setting up a match with Deville (assuming Deville is ready to return to in-ring action), and Naomi’s recent confrontation with Deville reinforces that hypothesis.

In that segment, she showed great babyface fire as a wrestler who was reasonably fed up with getting the workaround by a middle management figurehead (particularly one who acts far more heelish than Adam Pearce does).

Sure, all it got Naomi was a “fine” for “insubordination” (showing that WWE doesn’t know what “insubordination” means, though that could work if the announcers point out that the fine for that was ridiculous), but it does progress the story and leaves those interested invested in what’s to come.