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Randy Orton will return at WWE Survivor Series WarGames.
WWE SmackDown emanated from Chicago for the go-home show for WWE Survivor Series 2023. SmackDown advertised the Street Profits vs. the Judgment Day for the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championships. SmackDown also advertised the Grayson Waller Effect with Kevin Owens.
Last week’s broadcast of SmackDown garnered 2.23 million viewers.
Fans started chanting “EST” in the middle of Bianca Belair’s promo, and Belair seemed legitimately thrown off by it.
Bayley seemed to get lost during her promo, and it didn’t help that there were light “CM Punk” chants.
During a vignette, WWE confirmed the fifth member is Randy Orton by showing Orton as b-roll for Cody Rhodes’ promo on Monday.
The Street Profits’ new theme music is every bit as generic as the group has become since teaming up with Bobby Lashley, and it’s none of their faults.
As expected this Heel vs. Heel match didn’t get much heat. Not even from a red-hot Chicago crowd.
The Street Profits lost to the heels without incident, and now it’s back to the drawing board. Whatever is going on with B-Fab and Bobby Lashley needs to happen quickly so this stable can get back on track.
Grayson Waller wore a furry blue mink jacket that looked almost exactly like Seth Rollins’ jacket from Monday.
Austin Theory walked out dressed like Kevin Owens, and Corey Graves sold it like Owens had gone on Ozempic.
LA Knight was more over in Chicago than CM Punk.
Kevin Owens called Austin Theory the A-Town Clown, which is such a simple, but effective, bar.
LA Knight remains WWE’s hottest star, but Kevin Owens was massively over in this match.
Kevin Owens switched up his look a bit with a new KO t-shirt in blue letters and matching blue shoes.
The meta finish came when Kevin Owens hit a Stunner, immediately followed by LA Knight hitting the BFT.
Backstage, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair were having tensions. Becky Lynch said she was going to stay cool, which led right into a Carlito segment. Smooth transition.
Carlito announced tomorrow against Santos Escobar would be Carlito’s first PLE match in 13 years.
There was a lot of heat for Santos Escobar as his stock continues to rise on SmackDown.
Santos Escobar got the better part of a brawl in the ring, Santos continued backstage. Carlito was later deemed unable to compete, and Dragon Lee took Carlito’s spot.
Ridge Holland walked right past Butch during their entrance as their breakup remains inevitable.
Early in the match, Ridge Holland walked out on Butch. Butch was promptly fed to the wolves as Pretty Deadly finished him off via Kit Wilson rollup, though Butch did put up a good fight.
In an encouraging sign, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair did their “tea time” handshake before the match.
I was shocked to learn that Charlotte Flair has never been in a WarGames match.
Charlotte speared Asuka into Becky Lynch, breaking up a pinfall and leading to more tension. Lynch was then accidentally bumped into Flair as Damage CTRL won.
This should have been for the man advantage, but apparently WWE is going to leave this to a fan vote.