WWE SmackDown 10-18-19

SD begins with a plug for Progressive and the Roman vs. SHIN title match starts things off. Cole lets us know that Roman is in fact known as THE BIG DOG. Thank God - I'd forgotten! ROMAN IS THE BIG DOG AND NO FEWER THAN A DOZEN WWE HALL OF FAMERS HAVE HELD THE WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE! SHIN eats uppercuts and a Samoan drop for 2. Post-break chinlock by SHIN! Superman punch leads to an armbar counter and then a triangle armbar. BIG DOG STRONG! Or as it's been known for 15 years, a Rampage bomb. Sami's distraction allows for a sliding German and a kinshasa leads to a Superman punch for 2.5. King Corbin bonks Roman with his scepter due to WORDS OVER SOCIAL MEDIA.

Deep Six to Roman leads to Bryan making a save. Kinshasa to Bryan sets up a 2014 dream match in 2019. New Day sings wade in the water for some reason and then Otis makes pancakes with Protein Powder and drinks them in liquid form. King Corbin is interviewed, but makes her wait before he puts on his crown and then he just stops. SHORTY GABLE IS OUT. We get a recap of him being Shorty, being buried, and just being Shorty. He gets a sorta-jobber intro while Axel gets a total jobber intro. Gable wins and cuts this long bullshit promo about accepting who he is. The underlying thing here is that if you have someone bullying you, GREAT, THAT'LL MAKE YOU BETTER IN THE LONG-RUN! HE'S SHORTY G AND HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THAT HAHAHA. Thanks Cole!

Hogan says that Shorty G and Ali impressed him - and he'll announce his captain later. Heavy Machinery and New Day are out for an 8 man tag. Otis humps the air while Roode and Dolph come out with the Revival. OTIS'S GRAPPLING ABILITY IS SECOND TO NONE according to Cole. Woods hits a flip dive, but eats a spinebuster/zig zag on the floor. Okay, I dig that. post-break chinlock! Demo decap gets 2 for the Revival. IT FEELS LIKE DOLPH ZIGGLER IS IN HIS PRIME RIGHT NOW. Really Cole? Otis comes in and runs wild before jiggling for a bit. Revival cheats to get 2.9. Otis prevents a suplex and tags in E leading to a Midnight Hour for the win.

SHIN and Corbin team up to face Bryan and Roman tonight. Ali video leads to Miz TV with Bayley sponsored by The Max from Saved by the Bell. Bayley's new theme is pretty great. A long Bayley title loss, title win, and heel turn video air. Miz wants to know why someone would suddenly turn from face to heel on a dime. Wouldn't he be the expert on that? I DON'T NEED TO SLASH THE BAYLEY BUDDIES TO BE RELEVANT! THE BAYLEY BUDDIES DEFINED ME! WHAT ABOUT ME, MIZ!? EVERY WEEK, I GAVE HEAD...BANDS! Then she rambles on for a while about the fans, and parents, or maybe kids? Then she says everyone's lazy and some more crap. Bayley sounds like she needs a blog and an emocore playlist on Spotify. LIFE SUCKS AND THEN YOU DIE.

And then Nikki Cross's theme hits and her hype tron is amazing. She's gonna give Bayley a hug, while Dana Brooke is passionate! THE SASSY SOUTHERN BELLE IS HERE and maybe she's a face? So remember Lacey being a face last week? Yeah she's working heel here by leaving the 6 pack right away. Nikki gets thrown around before Dana dives on Fire and Desire on the barricade. Carmella crossbodies folks off the barricade. Carmella hits a bronco buster on Sonya before a schoolgirl by Nikki gets 2. Batista bomb by Dana on Lacey before a senton off the top...misses by a mile and gets 2. Everyone hits things by missing by a mile and Nikki wins with The Purge/twist and shout.

Braun vs. Fury hype video airs with Braun smashing things and/or people. Firefly Funhouse recap alongside Seth BURNING IT DOWN. Braun comes out and we get a recap of the Fury deal from Raw. So we have a brand split - but we're still getting Raw footage on SD. It's astounding how they at least said WITH PERMISSION BY RAW/SD doing this during the original brand split. Gulak goes from defining the cruiserweight division to being Local Talent against Braun. Yikes. Gulak asks for a chance to introduce himself as a former cruiserweight champion and tells him that he can't do his monster bit and do well against Fury. AND HE'S MADE A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION to help him. Braun kicks his ass and shows no appreciation. Cole says that Braun ONCE WON THE GREATEST ROYAL RUMBLE! Gulak is demolished and we get a 2K ad.

Bryan's intro tron showcases him as yes, a five time world champion, BUT ALSO A TOTAL BELLAS CO-STAR. Nakamura and Corbin get no intro but of course Roman does. Okay so to recap, Bryan got the first intro, then the heels came out and politely stood around for five minutes instead of kicking his ass, and then Roman come out. OF COURSE! Lots of not much until Roman wants a hot tag and Bryan gets a near-tap on Nak with the Lebell lock before Corbin gets involved. Corbin speared through the barricade. Yes kicks to Nak. SHIN WITH A KNEE and he eats the knee plus to end it.