Match Ratings, Podcast Notes For WWE Smackdown Live 10-9-18 From Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com

WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship
Becky Lynch (c) vs. Charlotte Flair goes to a double countout.
6/10

• Becky Lynch is really over, but the crowd is super quiet tonight, especially compared to this weekend and Monday.
• Becky trolls Charlotte with a Flair strut after a leg drop, then an elbow drop hits. 
• Charlotte gets a nice neckbreaker, but they battle back and forth until Charlotte scores a power dragon screw leg whip.
• Becky applies a fantastic bridging hammerlock, then eats one of the worst catapults in the history of WWE. Miserable.
• This crowd barely exists in volume. 
• Becky gets the Bexploder. Charlotte doing a kip-up sell was hilarious
• Becky is knocked off the top rope, but manages a rolling armbar. Charlotte punches her way out of it, and powerbombs Becky for a 2.
• I dunno who told Becky that the cross chop that barely touches someone looks good, but it doesn’t.
• Becky Lynch goes to get her title belt and is trying to take a countout. Charlotte prevents it. There’s a terrible ref bump and an overall miserable ref performance as he catches Becky trying to use the title.
• As the ref threatens a DQ, Charlotte rolls her up and spears Becky.
• Lynch rolls out of the ring, and Charlotte eats floor on a NASTY moonsault attempt, and was out of the ring until 9 on a Bexploder on the floor. Lynch tries to keep Charlotte outside the ring, but walks into a suplex of her own.
• Charlotte gets Natural Selection, but Becky rolls out again. Double countout.
• Outside of the terrible catapult spot, that whole match was constructed a lot different than I’ve seen lately and I really enjoyed it.
• Charlotte spears Becky Lynch through the LED boards on the ramp. 
• Paige announces a Last Woman Standing match between Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch for WWE Evolution. 

World Cup Qualifying Match
Jeff Hardy defeated Samoa Joe via ref stoppage
5.5/10

• Samoa Joe sells his knee early on. This is the first we’ve seen of Jeff Hardy since Hell in a Cell.
• Joe would normally crush Jeff in storyline, but the leg is preventing him.
• Joe gets a bad ass looking senton, but whiffs on Hardy and kicks the stairs. Hardy aggressively goes after the leg. 
• The referee stops the match. This was a nice wrinkle.

Miz TV

• Miz brings out AJ Styles and says it should have been him taking on Styles, but instead it’s Daniel Bryan.
• Bryan and Styles shake hands.
• Daniel Bryan says that he knows he can beat AJ Styles. His dream wasn’t Team Hell No, fighting Miz, anything else, it was the WWE Championship.
• Styles and Bryan talk about how great it is to punch Miz in the face.
• Miz says that Bryan has a FLUKE SMALL PACKAGE, and Styles has devalued the title to the point to where it doesn’t main event shows anymore.
• Miz is on fire HERE. He says he has next.

AJ Styles defeated Shelton Benjamin
5.75/10

• Shelton Benjamin vs. AJ Styles is always something I’ve wanted. Two of my favorite workers of the last 15 years.
• There’s a great transition when Shelton reverses Styles Clash into a vertical suplex hold, then does the step up knee that Miz and Bryan sell great on commentary.
• Benjamin throws Styles around at ringside before the break, and we return to see AJ land a sliding elbow.
• Styles rolls through and grabs a Calf Crusher, but Benjamin makes it out. Phenomenal Forearm gets the win. 

One Night In Milwaukee

• Aiden English says he got six figure offers for his tape, but he’s showing ONE NIGHT IN MILWAUKEE.
• Lana is shown saying that Aiden means a lot to them, and English leans forward into her and the tape cuts off.
• English calls Rusev out and says he’ll destroy the tape if Rusev kicks Lana to the curb and reforms Rusev Day.
• Lana has hacked Aiden English’s phone (password: IHEARTRUSEV) and has the video. Lana leaves English hanging. 
• “Rusev’s gonna kill you” chants. Aiden says the deal is still on the table and Aiden nights are better than Rusev Days. He scampers out. 

World Cup Qualifier
Randy Orton defeated Big Show
5.75/10

• Give that man a standing ovation. We are lucky to have been able to watch Big Show as long as we have.
• Rey Mysterio vs. Nakamura is announced for the World Cup Qualifier next week.
• We get a commercial pretty early. When we come back, Big Show has some great clotheslines and a good belly-to-back suplex. 
• Orton dropkicks Big Show in his surgically repaired hip and Orton inadvertently stole Bo Dallas’ finish instead of a draping DDT. Orton checks on Big Show after.
• There are great “you still got it” chants for Big Show, who hits a chokeslam, but Orton kicks out. 
• Orton is SNEK, and slithers out of the ring to avoid a KO punch. Thumb to the eye, RKO, win for Orton.

Rating guide

10- Perfect, 9- MOTY Territory, 8- Excellent, 7- Great, 6- Good, 5- Average to above average, 4- Slightly below average, 3 or below: Poor
Each match starts at a 5 and slides up and down based on entertainment, execution, time, environment, reaction and stakes. The ratings are in no way an indication of a “star rating,” which is a completely different system. A standard, non-offensive “TV match” lands at a 5. The gap between 5.75-6 is generally the largest, with anything reaching 6 being recommended viewing.