WWE Friday Night Smackdown results (11/3): Powell’s review of Bianca Belair vs. Bayley, Kevin Owens vs. Austin Theory, Rey Mysterio and Logan Paul weigh-in for the U.S. Title match at Crown Jewel – Pro Wrestling Dot Net

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

WWE Friday Night Smackdown (Episode 1,264)
Taped October 27, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at Fiserv Forum
Aired November 3, 2023 on Fox

[Hour One] Smackdown opened with a recap of last week’s segments involving LA Knight and The Bloodline… The broadcast team was Michael Cole, Corey Graves, and Kevin Patrick. Samantha Irvin was the ring announcer…

LA Knight made his entrance. Knight said that Roman Reigns holding the WWE Universal Championship for nearly 1,200 days is impressive. Knight said he was conducting a hostile takeover and will take over everything that Reigns stands for and thinks he’s owned for the last three years.

Roman Reigns’ entrance theme interrupted Knight. Cole noted that Knight interrupted Reigns last week, and Reigns was returning the favor. Reigns walked to the ring with Paul Heyman while Cole said it was the 1,160th day for Roman’s championship reign.

Reigns said he would typically tell “this irrelevant town” to acknowledge him, but they know who he is (and saw him last week before this episode was taped after the live show). Reigns said he expected someone to step up while he was on leave, but he didn’t think it would be Knight.

Reigns said Knight got all the people on his side and he said that’s not easy in this day and age. Reigns told the fans to chant Knight’s name and said this would be the last night that happens. Reigns said what he does is referred to as cinema. Heymans said Reigns is the star.

Reigns said he turned the business into a multi-billion dollar industry. Reigns said the only thing Knight has done is get the fans to chant his name and “cosplay a redneck version of my cousin.” Reigns said he would smash Knight and leave him in the desert and he won’t be the last one.

Knight said Reigns doesn’t understand that he’s not coming at him from the same angle as everyone else. Knight said he wasn’t there to finish something, he was there to start his own era. He said he wouldn’t cosplay, he would live it. Knight said Reigns damn near made himself a megastar by carrying the title, whereas Knight is a megastar every day.

Knight said he doesn’t do warning shots. He told Reigns to make sure he’s good and done or he would come back and find him. Knight said the only bloodline would be dripping down from between Reigns’ eyes while Knight is named the new champion. Nick Aldis and a group of referees stepped between Reigns and Knight. Reigns left the ring and barked at Heyman to hurry up…

Kevin Owens made his entrance for the opening match heading into a commercial break… [C]

Powell’s POV: The Reigns and Knight segment was solid with some good lines from both men. The crowd was invested, but you can tell that they’d already seen both wrestlers. It’s unavoidable due to the crew traveling to Saudi Arabia, but there just wasn’t the same level of energy that there would have been had this been a live segment. By the way, Jake Barnett told me that he’s just too damn good to cover a taped show, so he is going to watch the play that his daughter is involved in on the production side. Okay, so half of that is true and Jake will be back reviewing Smackdown next week.

Grayson Waller was on commentary. They cut backstage where Kayla Braxton spoke with Austin Theory, who recalled Owens saying that he has a punchable face. Theory said Owens has a face that only a mother could love. He said Owens wouldn’t have to wear a mask for Halloween once he was finished with him. Theory made his entrance…

1. Kevin Owens vs. Austin Theory. Waller said Owens sucker punched him and Theory last week when he took them both out with a single punch. The match spilled over to ringside where Owens performed a senton on the floor. [C]