Old North Banter: Pre-Survior Series Smackdown Amazes

Daniel Bryan Returns, A.J. Styles Burns

Smackdown officially began with a pre-taped segment of Smackdown Commissioner Shane McMahon rallying the roster for the final show before Survivor Series. It was a run-of-the-mill promotion with some cliched goading from Becky Lynch, Baron Corbin, and the New Day. What followed on the show delivered more of a punch, so this underwhelming clip just provided some foreshadowing to later events during the night more than anything.

The official taping of the live show began with Smackdown General Manager Daniel Bryan returning to the program after getting choke slammed by Kane on the Oct. 30 episode of Monday Night Raw. He addressed the raving Charlotte crowd with a message for the Raw brand: “That’s the thing about me and about Smackdown Live is that we don’t stay down. You knock us down, and we come right back up and hit you twice as hard.”

Bryan continued by introducing the new WWE Champion A.J. Styles to the crowd before asking if Styles would like an advocate for his match against WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series. Styles accepted, and Bryan proceeded to give a promo that mimicked that of Lesnar’s advocate and long-time WWE figurehead Paul Heyman.

“Yes, Brock Lesnar is big, and Brock Lesnar is strong, but Brock Lesnar cannot go on and on,” Bryan said. “He cannot go all night long. He cannot go all night long with the ‘Phenomenal One.'”

After the strong, spirited rant by Bryan, Styles interrupted to chide Lesnar’s tendency to remain silent during his promos with Heyman: “Hold on, I can talk. I’m not a puppet like Brock Lesnar.” Styles continued the promotion of his Survivor Series match before capping it off by saying he’ll show Raw that Smackdown is “the house that A.J. Styles built.”

United States Championship: Baron Corbin vs. Sin Cara

Before the first bit of action, former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal warned Styles that after Survivor Series, the beating from Lesnar would be nothing compared to Mahal when he seeks to reclaim the title he’d lost the week prior. Styles walked away with Mahal glaring at the titleholder and pouting.

The actual first televised match pitted the United States Champion Baron Corbin against challenger Sin Cara with the winner facing Intercontinental Champion The Miz at Survivor Series. The rivalry between the two wrestlers had been escalating over the past weeks. Sin Cara managed to put up a strong showing against Corbin with plenty of acrobatic moves to subdue the Kansas City native. However, Corbin ended the match by catching Sin Cara in the air and putting him on the mat with his “End of Days” finisher.

After the match, another backstage video came on, but this time with an encounter between McMahon and Bryan. The pair failed to come to any physical altercation, but the scenario set up a possible future dispute between the show’s commissioner and general manager next week, maybe even at Survivor Series. With Shane’s sister and Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon threatening Raw General Manager Kurt Angle with a firing, this time next week may see both WWE’s weekly shows without their GMs.