I have a chat with other wrestling enthusiasts and following the result of the WWE Smackdown main event on Friday from Austin, Texas, I dropped a simple message to the group: ‘wow.” And everyone knew what I meant.
Gunther defeated LA Knight in the finals of the Last Time is Now Tournament and he will now take on John Cena in the GOAT’s final match in Washington D.C. at Saturday Night’s Main Event.
The match was great. It featured solid storytelling–for the time it had to work with–and both men worked their styles well.
In the end, Gunther unveiled a new submission move (some sort of far-side, under-grip crossface) to get the victory and subsequently pledged to make Cena tap out.
It was a pretty shocking and somewhat puzzling booking decision.
By all intent and purpose, Gunther did not need to win and he doesn’t need to be the guy who retires Cena. He’s already retired Goldberg and enjoyed two reigns as the World Heavyweight champion and he singlehandedly elevated the Intercontinental title back to a level of prestige.
Knight was the guy who needed the victory and the man most WWE fans wanted to see win. That’s exactly why he didn’t go over.
WWE recognizes when a Superstar has become a sentimental favorite and I’m convinced they torcher said performer to test fan’s loyalty. How hard will the WWE Universe go in favor of this performer.
Will they revolt as they did with Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes or most recently, R-Truth? Or will the support fade like it did with Karrion Kross?
We’ll see what happens with Knight as the teases are in full effect. This loss could be setting him up for a run at the Royal Rumble or perhaps another near miss. Maybe this will give him what he needs to get over in a way that won’t dissipate once he captures a major title.
In any case, here is the rest of the results from an entertaining, yet perplexing episode of WWE Smackdown.
Ilja Dragunov def. Carmelo Hayes
Tommaso Ciampa interfered meaning a clash between him and Dragunov is inevitable after weeks of bickering.
Alexa Bliss def. Kairi Sane
It seems like we’re headed for a women’s tag-team title match between the champs, the Kabuki Warriors, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss and Lash Legend and Nia Jax. That could be cool.
NXT Championship Match Winner Will Face Cody Rhodes on Saturday Night’s Main Event
Ricky Saints will defend his NXT title vs. Oba Femi at NXT Deadline on December 6. The winner faces Rhodes on Cena’s SNME show.
WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill def. Alba Fyre
There is a match brewing between Cargill and Mia Yim, but I think there is a turn coming. I expect B-Fab to turn on Michin and to join Cargill’s faction. Don’t be surprised if Lash Legend is next.
Overall, this was an enjoyable episode with some solid seeds planted. I also believe Cena-Gunther could be epic, but I still don’t quite understand how Knight doesn’t go over in this spot.
We shall see.
