Match Ratings, Podcast Notes For WWE Smackdown Live 10/30/18 From Sean Ross Sapp Of Fightful.com

Opening segment

• AJ Styles comes out, and is followed by Daniel Bryan. 
• Styles apologizes for the miscommunication from last week. Bryan says it’s okay because they’re doing for the same thing.
• Bryan says he doesn’t see a friend, respected colleague or anything but the WWE Title — the thing that kept him going when he was sidelined. 
• Styles says he lied last week — he meant to Pele kick Bryan last week. Bryan isn’t surprised. 
• They’re ready to go at it, but Shane McMahon’s music hits and he says too often people pretend like they wanna wrestle and it doesn’t transpire, so the title match is happening now.

WWE Championship
AJ Styles (c) defeated Daniel Bryan
8.25/10

• Great reactions to the intro, especially for Styles — the hometown boy.
• Bryan is playing up the heel role a little more in this match than expected. He should, though.
• After some back and forth, Styles gets a dropkick, but Bryan hits a good suicide dive and sells that his knee got tweaked.
• Bryan works over the arm, while Styles works over the leg during this.
• The spot of the match is Bryan’s counter of the moonsault reverse DDT. He catches a cravat, throws knees, and a cravat suplex.
• When Bryan sets up for the knee, Styles catches him with a big dropkick instead. 
• We go to commercial after Styles shifts his weight on a belly-to-back-superplex attempt — a breathtaking spot. We come back to see Bryan with a Yes Lock applied.
• After Styles gets to the ropes, he suplexes Bryan off the apron and drops his knee on the announcer table.
• Back in the ring, Daniel Bryan recovers with a super Frankensteiner and big kicks. A suplex into the armbar. Daniel Bryan applying an armbar the way Rousey should be on Raw.
• Styles counters the armbar with a beautiful Styles Clash! He applies the Calf Crusher and gets the submission win.
• A historic, classic Smackdown match. It ends with a handshake.
• Samoa Joe shows up and attacks both men, choking them both out.

Trick or Street Fight
Big E (w/ New Day) defeated Cesaro (w/ The Bar)
5.25/10

• New Day are out as the Brood. Xavier as Edge, Big E as Gangrel, and Kofi as Christian. They have people holding up fake candles.
• Big E gets popped by Sheamus wearing all white.
• Is this a good time to mention that the newest MAKING A FINISHER drops tomorrow morning, and covers Gangrel’s Impaler DDT?! Fightful.com !
• Big E is beating Cesaro with a candy corn cane, and everyone gets involved. 
• Big Show sends Not Edge & Christian over the top rope. Sheamus slams pancakes in Kofi’s face, and Big Show tries to drown Xavier in the apple bobbing area.
• An Alphamare Waterslide on pumpkins from Cesaro on Big E!
• Big E sends Sheamus through a table in the corner. 
• Xavier spits “blood” in Big Show’s face, and Big E does the same to Cesaro to set up the Big Ending and the win.
• Kofi tripped over the skeleton and fell off the apron!! Hilarious.
• Harmless fun.

Backstage Crappenings

• Paige tells Charlotte she had a great match on Sunday, and offers up the captain spot for Smackdown’s Women’s Survivor Series team.
• Shane McMahon is backstage with the members of this match. Miz trash talks all of them except for Randy, who intimidates him. Shane says if the Smackdown finalist loses, they’re fired.
• AJ Styles wants a match with Samoa Joe Friday, and Paige gives it to him. Joe cuts a promo backstage saying that this will be their final chapter. 

Shinsuke Nakamura defeated R-Truth (w/ Carmella)
4.75/10

• R-Truth is a replacement for Tye Dillinger, who is injured, and will require surgery.
• I like Carmella being a part of R-Truth’s act. Few in wrestling have perfected the art of making the best of any situation like Carmella.
• There was a happy accident on a running headscissors that ends up with Nakamura getting spiked.
• DANCE BREAK before the commercial. We come back to see some back and forth action.
• Nakamura gets knees in the corner, but Truth gets out of the sleeper suplex. Kinshasa and a pin. That Kinshasa looked lame.

Becky

• …………….are they really still using the “one night a year when Raw and Smackdown goes head-to-head” tagline!?
• Becky Lynch is really over as she cuts a promo on the Raw roster.
• Becky says everyone Rousey has faced was beaten before the opening bell, and she’s not. 
• “I didn’t come to cosplay or talk about a reality show. I’m going to rip your arm off,” – Becky Lynch.

Jeff Hardy & Rey Mysterio defeated The Miz & Randy Orton
5.25/10

• Jeff Hardy and The Miz cut lame promos backstage about being BEST IN THE WORLD.
• No better way to get people excited for a tournament than having the four guys on one side of the bracket wrestle four times ahead of the show
• I can’t pretend to care about this match. Jeff Hardy is in control on offense until The Miz chops his legs out on a Whisper in the Wind attempt.
• Jeff Hardy is isolated and attacked in incredibly boring fashion. Fortunately, Jeff Hardy is over and gets major cheers. He eventually gets Whisper in the Wind and tags out.
• Rey Mysterio hot tags aren’t something we see a lot of, and he gets a stop and start rolling DDT on The Miz before getting backbreakered and neckbreakered. 
• Rey counters a Skull Crushing Finale into an armdrag and tags out. A modified Poetry in Motion sets up a 619, Swanton and the pin. 
• RKOs all around after the match.

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.