HEYDORN’S SMACKDOWN RECEIPT 10/29: Random Shotzi elevation a fresh twist to Smackdown women’s division

This week’s episode of WWE Smackdown has wrapped. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and relive some of the madness.

-Charlotte opened the show with a stellar promo. Yes, she has to keep her attitude in check, but inside WWE’s overproduced and corporate environment, it’s nice to see a star step out and rock the boat, as ridiculous her argument last week concerning the title swap may have been. Sometimes stars gotta star.

-Anyone have a Shotzi elevation on their bingo card this week? Shotzi turning heel was out of left field, but a fresh tweak of the women’s division on Smackdown. Shotzi has to step up and deliver. With Sasha Banks across the ring from her, she’ll have every chance to succeed. Shotzi, drop the tank. Overall? Good stuff and a logical curveball to throw concerning an undefined character.

-Is there anything more “WWE” mid-card than Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss? These guys exist to fill time and it’s exhausting to see them pretend to be relevant week in and week out.

-Paul Heyman sprinkled some more Heyman pixie dust on the Roman Reigns/Brock Lesnar program. Heyman’s ability to finesse getting fired up in advocate mode about a fine for Lesnar and tiptoeing backward around it seconds later was masterful. He continues to significantly help the progression of that story without burning up Lesnar appearances.

-Drew McIntyre is in a dangerous holding pattern. He’s new to Smackdown and has yet to play opposite its biggest stars. McIntyre’s character is rooted in being the top guy. The essence of his push was always rooted in that and the championship. Too much time in the mid card waiting for Survivor Series to pass could damage his perception on the show.

-WWE, don’t go to the evil foreigner route. Just don’t do it. Thank you.

-My advice for Hit Row is to run far away from the King gimmick. Far away. Just keep running. That said, you can look at their involvement next to New Day in two ways. One, yeah, just run away and run away fast. Two, Vince McMahon sees significant value in New Day and associating with them is a signal that the train is on the right track. Time will tell, but not the start I wanted to see.

-Speaking of the King gimmick, someone wake me up from this nightmare. For the last year plus, the exact gimmick Woods is trying to get over as a babyface was laughed out of every arena and multiple iterations of the ThunderDome while on Baron Corbin. This isn’t funny or entertaining and dragging down the already limited credibility that New Day has.

-Look, the Trick or Street Fight was an abomination, boring, and hurt the aura that a street fight stipulation can bring to a feud that needs it. Pumpkins, silly goblins, and Michael Cole laughing will do that. It didn’t involve world title challengers, so, WWE – 1 and AEW – 0 when it comes to Halloween themed match nonsense.

-I like Naomi in a slow burn push. It fits right now and though tonight was more of the same, it feels like they’re going somewhere and it’s worth seeing through.

-Do the Usos and New Day ever have bad matches? No. Tonight was a good match, but lacked meaning. It was there, it was good, but that was it.

CATCH-UP: LECLAIR’S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT 10/29: Detailed coverage of Halloween edition on FS1 – Trick or Street Fight, Kofi’s “Knighting”, more