Smark Out Moment

Welcome to another edition of Triple Threat from Smark Out Moment, where three of us get together to discuss three questions based on one big topic going down in the week of professional wrestling.

This week, Robert DeFelice, Andy Sahadeo and Jordan Chaffiote will be giving their opinions on what they expect from SmackDown Live after WWE Hell in a Cell 2017!

The SmackDown Live roster is recovering from their trip o Hell! What's next for Team Blue? Let's discuss...


DeFELICE: The Tag Team Championship Hell in a Cell Match was a masterful storytelling work of art. It was far better than I could’ve ever imagined and I appreciate all four men for everything they’ve done over the last few months. Looking forward to the New Minnesota Stretching Crew, I expect another masterful series of matches but I don’t see Jimmy and Jey losing anytime soon. At least not until the Bludgeon Brothers are ready for their opportunity. Keep the titles on the Samoans. Like they said, they’ve got the division on lock.

SAHADEO: First off, let me just agree with Robert in saying that The Usos vs. The New Day was an incredible work of art. Both teams raised the standard in terms of storytelling, character development as well as match quality on not just SmackDown Live, but WWE TV as a whole. I felt The New Day was getting stale for quite some time, but The Usos really brought out the best in The New Day in this feud. Unforgettable promos, unforgettable matches – it sucks that this feud is over but it truly legitimized The Usos as a tag team.

That being said, I don’t think Gable and Benjamin will win the gold. It’s odd because I love both Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin, but together they just seem like a very odd pairing with no character chemistry whatsoever. Obviously, I’m not taking anything away from their wrestling ability, but hopefully, in due time they’ll start to mesh. But as of now, they have no real reason or hype to win the titles yet.

CHAFFIOTTE: Ahaha no. Sorry Chad, but this is going nowhere in a hurry. I understand what they're trying to do with Shelton Benjamin, a former protegee of Kurt Angle and a technician much like Gable. Plus, he had nothing else on. It's all fine, I just think there was a missed opportunity here to recreate what made American Alpha so loveable in the first place. It was all about Gable's journey to get Jason Jordan on his side, everyone could relate to wanting to be friends with someone who didn't want to be friends with us. Gable's insane charisma got that over and it could do it again paired with another reluctant partner. Yeah, give Gable the gimmick of always being shot down by tag team partners, it's gold. Personally, this just feels awkward to me.

Breezango's time in the sun is coming, I believe they're in line for the titles next. The subtle show of respect from the New Day may have been a toss away joke, but it could be a real thing. They've been consistently solid in the ring and have some of the most entertaining character work. Just give these guys a chance already.


SAHADEO: At this point, I’m over it. It’s very apparent that WWE is not over with the Jinder experiment and won’t be anytime soon, so I guess we should all just accept the fact that he’s not dropping the title anytime soon and move on. He defeated Shinsuke Nakamura – a man who has faced off against the likes of Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Samoa Joe and Bobby Roode – twice in two very uneventful matches.

I mean, good for him getting to live out the dream of being WWE Champion, but wrestling-wise, he shouldn’t be beating Nakamura of all people. But now, who knows who his next challenger will be? All current major stars are currently embroiled in feuds with one another (Orton/Rusev, KO/Zayn/Shane/potentially Styles), so this poses a major problem for Jinder Mahal. Perhaps he’ll end up holding the title hostage like Brock Lesnar in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Too bad the WWE Championship isn’t even the focal point of the show right now.

CHAFFIOTTE: L Skip.

Aha just kidding, I really like Jinder Mahal and feel he's been given an unfair shake. You can't exactly say no in the WWE. Regardless, this is the situation we're in and I'm not interested in supporting this sort of tone-deaf, intentionally controversial crap. Jinder's old news, unfortunately, it's only a matter of time. Ignoring the tour in December because I like to think WWE doesn't make creative choices like that, I'm fairly confident in saying he'll be done by Survivor Series.

Looking long-term, and digging in my heels on an answer from last week, I want Kevin Owens to regain World Champ status. That way, he can drop it to Sami Zayn at WrestleMania. These two have money written all over them and it's time. Owens is the obvious next choice, he's hot off the Shane feud and the reunion with Zayn, he's one of this generation's' greats and has had surprisingly bad luck off of the last title runs. Right now, his character's solid. Delusional and effective, Owens can only be stopped by one man. Sami Zayn. It writes itself.

DeFELICE: So, I’m still holding out hope that Starrcade is going to be a network special and Mahal will lose it there, but long-term I don’t see him losing it until WrestleMania. I don’t even know who to suggest for his next challenger but I’ll throw out the name AJ Styles. I would expect to see free agent John Cena defeat the Modern Day Maharaja at WrestleMania. That being said, I strongly hope he loses it beforehand.


CHAFFIOTTE: Friendship is alive and I love everything. After having my heart broken so many times this year, I'm definitely ready for something positive. It was a great moment for the two of them and was so well executed it reminded us how much chemistry they have together. I was one of the people who was all too happy to see them constantly intertwined, I never cared if it was the 15th time we saw the same match.

Kevin and Sami are unique in their storytelling. They actually work very subtle stories. In NXT, the common thread was that both goaded their way into a title shot by knowing how much the other one wanted the fight. It was how Kevin got the NXT championship in the first place and it was exactly why he turned on Sami in his first night. He manipulated Sami into giving him what he wanted, and then Sami did it right back. Sami's constantly grappling with living in Kevin's shadow but it always feels like Kevin might think it's the other way around. Everything he does, everything he is, is to prove that Sami isn't better than him.

That shouldn't go anywhere, if anything, this story needs more conflict. I'd prefer Sami to be dealing with some internal struggle of how much he loves Kevin and how he knows he needs to protect him from himself. Ultimately, this needs to go to Mania because it absolutely deserves a stage that big. It's the only conclusion to the last three years that feels worthy and it also gives Sami a Royal Rumble win, which he completely deserves. This is sure to end with a bang, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

DeFELICE: Easily the best thing going on SmackDown. I’m so happy this happened and honestly, after listening to Sami’s promo on SmackDown I am so sure that this is going to be a fantastic pairing. I really hope they don’t end it soon or ever to be honest. In their near future, I see them captaining team SmackDown against a Shield-captained team Raw at Survivor Series. And who could really ask for anything better?

SAHADEO: Wow, what a complete 180 for Sami Zayn! For the majority of Zayn’s main roster career, I have been clamoring for creative to do something with the absolute gold mine that is Sami Zayn. Unfortunately, he just consistently lost matches and did not amount to anything – contrary to his past accomplishments in NXT and outside of WWE.

But now, Zayn was not only involved in the main event of a PPV, but he was also the main twist of it all! They’re finally doing something with Sami Zayn! I remember thinking about how Tye Dillinger and Sami Zayn were SmackDown Live’s most underutilized stars – and at Hell in a Cell they were both prominently featured. I’m so happy that KO and Zayn are a team, considering how logical Zayn’s explanation promo was. Perhaps a future WWE Tag Team Title run down the line? Imagine them taking the titles off The Usos and defending them against Shane/AJ at Survivor Series!

Regardless of such, I’m excited to see this new side of Sami Zayn, as I’ve never seen him work as a heel before. Now with this heel turn and the new bloodthirsty side of KO, Zayn will be a force to be reckoned with. Just the way it should have been all this time.