SmackDown airs tonight (Nov. 14) with a live show emanating from MVP Arena in Albany, New York. This is the fifth episode of SmackDown during the seven week build to Survivor Series, which takes place on November 29.
WWE loves screwing LA Knight
The opening round of The Last Time Is Now tournament continues with two more matches on tonight’s episode of SmackDown. The most intriguing match on the schedule is LA Knight versus a mystery man.
Knight has been chasing the world title on Raw for the last several months as the workhorse of WWE, but he has struggled to win matches. Things were especially bad for the megastar this week on Raw when his promo hyping up this tournament match took place during a commercial break, and WWE cut him off before he could even finish it.
Knight is now tasked with facing the first surprise entry in the tournament. It’s probably not someone we see on WWE programming each week, otherwise Nick Aldis wouldn’t have kept the name a secret. Perhaps it’s a well-known wrestler from outside WWE, a returning star who we haven’t seen in a long while, or a WWE legend. No matter which bucket this mystery man falls into, LA Knight’s chances of winning drastic go down.
WWE is screwing Knight in a way, because if the mystery man isn’t a WWE regular, then he must know that he’s in the building tonight to fight LA in the tournament, and presumably had time to prepare accordingly. Meanwhile, LA is walking into this one blind and has no idea who will stand across the ring from him. How is that fair? LA’s best bet might just be to say Joe Hendry’s name and hope he can drop him with a BFT just as quickly as Randy Orton did with an RKO at WrestleMania 41.
Tune into SmackDown tonight to see if LA Knight is screwed by the reveal of the first major surprise in John Cena’s The Last Time Is Now tournament.
Jey Uso vs. The Miz is the other match on tonight’s card that is part of The Last Time Is Now tournament. Uso is the obvious favorite in a fair fight, given his current status as a world title contender and Miz’ current status as a lower card heel. But will The Brons or a YouTube douchebag from Raw make an appearance to ensure the fight isn’t fair? What about Carmelo Hayes?
Jade Cargill is now “That Bitch” after turning heel and winning the WWE women’s championship. She’s in action tonight in a non-title match against B-Fab. How many seconds will it take for Jade to squash her?
Other stuff to keep an eye on
– Drew McIntyre was suspended by GM Nick Aldis after attacking a referee last week. WWE Champion Cody Rhodes is now moving on from Drew and joining the men’s War Games team, alongside Jey Uso and CM Punk. Is Cody ready for a fight tonight just in case The Vision shows up?
– It looks like Damian Priest returned to the ring too quickly after getting a fireball thrown in his eye by Aleister Black, as the eye injury already led to his elimination in The Last Time Is Now tournament. Will Aleister and Zelina rub it in his loser face tonight?
– How will Giulia react after dropping the women’s United States championship to Chelsea Green last week in less than two minutes? Will Kiana James do her job and make sure Giulia gets a rematch ASAP, or is their partnership already in danger of falling apart?
– Shinsuke Nakamura and Motor City Machine Guns had enough of the MFTs shit and decided to attack them during their entrance last week. Is this leading to a 6-man tag team match tonight? Are the Wyatt Sicks lurking in the shadows ready to strike?
– Sami Zayn might not be medically cleared, but he’s back in the MFTs’ crosshairs after saving Rey Fenix from Talla Tonga last week. Will Sami pay the price for his actions tonight?
– Solo Sikoa is going over to Raw next week to face a mystery man in The Last Time Is Now tournament. Will Sikoa get any clues tonight regarding his opponent’s identity?
– Speaking of clues, has Nick Aldis made any progress on figuring out who attacked Jacob Fatu a few weeks ago? Doesn’t he have access to the security cam footage by now?
– Is United States Champion Ilja Dragunov putting the gold on the line in another open challenge tonight? Will he find a new way to tease and deny that jackass Tommaso Ciampa?
– Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair are no longer the WWE women’s tag team champions, thanks to interference from the new team of Lash Legend and Nia Jax. Will the babyfaces find the heels backstage and start a brawl with them? Are the other participants in the women’s War Games match in the building in order to guarantee pure chaos tonight?
– Does Tiffany Stratton have anything to say after losing the WWE women’s championship?
– Where the f*** is Randy Orton?
What will you be looking for on SmackDown?
