WWE SmackDown 9/13/2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show that has a new logo and a new theme song and is on the USA Network! Yes, it was the season premiere of "SmackDown" in more ways than one, as it returned to the warm embrace of cable television and celebrated in the traditional WWE fashion of teaming up its top babyfaces to destroy and delegitimize every heel on the roster! The Mega-Powers would be so proud!

Anyway, while you can find a comprehensive article on everything that happened on the show by going to our "SmackDown" results page, if you're here, that means you want to know what the WINC staff thought about this week's offering from the blue brand. Was the return of Roman Reigns enough to make the return to USA a success? Are we excited at the prospect of new matches being added to Bad Blood? And most importantly, is the music upgrade to Megan Thee Stallion astoundingly massive or just regular massive? Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 9/13/24 episode of "WWE SmackDown."

When WWE tries to debut anything — a new name, a new theme song, a new wrestler — it is a hit-or-miss situation, with the needle usually erring towards "miss." So, there was good reason to be skeptical about the imminent changes to "WWE SmackDown" during tonight's debut episode on the USA Network.

With a new logo and theme song, tonight's USA Network debut made wrestling look cool again.

One hit is impressive. WWE debuted a new logo, and it is leagues better than FOX's logo for the blue brand. This new logo traded in the gentrified, played-out minimalist aesthetic of white, lineless art for bold letters, silver text, and a striking black background. This logo invoked memories of the "SmackDown" logos of old, and while the design may have been made with the intention of a return to form for "SmackDown's" twenty-fifth anniversary, the effect of nostalgia shouldn't be lost on you. The revival of "SmackDown's" old aesthetic — the sleek, the metallic, the cold — is an attempt to invoke the rose-tinted memories you might have for the 2010s era of "SmackDown." The design is an intentional attempt to tap into nostalgia, to tell you that wrestling is cool again, just like it was when Bryan Danielson (then-Daniel Bryan) started the Yes! Movement, and the Undertaker and John Cena were still gracing our television screens. This is a strategy to target the seasoned wrestling fan, and while its effectiveness remains to me seen, it is definitely a smart move by WWE creative.

Two hits is a miracle. Having Megan Thee Stallion and BTS' RM connected to "SmackDown," even if it is by using their pre-existing song as a theme song in the show's introductory sequence, is huge for an entertainment form that is largely looked down upon by the rest of the world. They say that wrestling is low-brow entertainment, that it is not worth investing time, effort, and funds into — to the outside world, wrestling is not cool. Having music and cultural icons like Megan Thee Stallion and a member of world-renowned BTS connected to your project, however, is instant clout. Having those names connected to a product communicates an air of legitimacy to a product; it tells the outside world that yes, wrestling is something worth investing in — look at the big names associated with us! Megan Thee Stallion and BTS are also known for having exceptionally devoted and active fanbases, so anything with their name on it is bound to generate attention. Regardless of how you feel about "Neva Play" as a piece of music, there is undeniable starpower attached to the track, and it makes the product so much more legitimate in the eyes of non-wrestling fans.

If the USA Network move is what funded these changes, then I'm thrilled to see what "WWE Raw" and "WWE NXT's" moves are bound to bring. WWE absolutely knocked it out of the park with this new rebrand of a twenty-five year old show. It feels cool to like wrestling again.

Written by Angeline Phu

New network, same women's squash matches.

Michin and Piper Niven (with Chelsea Green) had the honor of being the first women's match on "SmackDown's" return to the USA Network. They even dressed in opposite shades of blue, whether it was intentional or not. Unfortunately, they followed the commercial free cage match between Cody Rhodes and Solo Sikoa. Neither woman got a televised entrance. The women's match lasted about as long as a "Speed" match, if that. There was a brief interaction with Green attacking Michin after she beat her tag partner. She put her in a trash can and executed an Unprettier.

Niven was just in the title picture earlier in the summer. Now she's being reduced to squashes like she was early on in her time on the main roster. The match and follow up lasted a fraction of what the opening match did. Of course it wasn't going to get 20 minutes, but they could've set a tone on "SmackDown" that women's wrestling is actually something they put some thought into and not a box on a checklist. Sure, they had a segment involving four women and a backstage segment with the women's tag champions. They also had multiple matches involving men, so that point is moot.

The point is they book the women's division like it's a chore for them to do. Their matches are generally booked like they're an afterthought instead of a focal point. It's a tiresome talking point in late 2024 as it was five years ago, yet here we are. They have multiple women who are more than capable of putting on longer matches and telling stories in and out of the ring. It's time to start letting them flourish on a regular basis.

Written by Samantha Schipman

Promos can come in any way, shape, or form, but the vast majority of the ones produced by WWE nowadays typically consist of two or more Superstars going back and forth with insults for anywhere from five to upwards of twenty minutes. While that is all fine and dandy, it can begin to feel a bit formulaic after a while as it gets a bit boring watching the same style take place over and over again.

The company decided to go down a bit of a different avenue with Nia Jax and Bayley tonight by having the two longtime rivals play mind games with one another back and forth, and it certainly paid off. Mind games are nothing new to wrestling, but the fact that Bayley and Jax kept catching what the other was doing made them both come off as intelligent characters rather than oblivious ones. Whether it was Bayley trying to drive a wedge between Jax and Tiffany Stratton by getting the latter lost her match last week when she showed up at ringside because of the former or Jax pointing out how much Bayley hid behind Damage CTRL.

WWE should further be given credit for trying to innovate by having Jax's next Number One Contender for the WWE Women's Championship at Bad Blood be determined in a tag team match rather than a traditional Number One Contenders match, with the person scoring the pinfall securing a title shot and the person who's being pinned having to leave "SmackDown". Jax's explanation and the phrasing were admittedly convoluted and confusing with the way that it was done, but the idea itself is an interesting one. It would be cool to see more things like this in the future, especially with how oversaturated Number One Contenders matches have become within the company.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

"SmackDown's" return to USA was clearly supposed to project a sense of importance, or at least a sense of change. Beyond the aesthetic changes to things like the logo, there was also the main event tidal wave of Cody Rhodes joining forces with Roman Reigns. Unfortunately, this sense of newness and growth didn't extend to the rest of the men's division, where what passes for storylines continue to feel stuck in a never-ending spin cycle.

Last week in this space, I laid out all the times that Kevin Owens, often with a partner, had already defeated Austin Theory and/or Grayson Waller, and posited that his "mystery partner" would be Randy Orton and that they would win again. Surprise, that's exactly what happened — we didn't even get another "maybe Theory will finally turn on Waller for real this time" moment. So now you've got two of your top stars, who both wrestled for world titles at the last PLE, back in their tag team like nothing ever happened, and I can't for the life of me figure out what they're going to do now.

Then we had the fifth match between Andrade and Carmelo Hayes, which Andrade won and was subsequently named the No. 1 contender for the US title. Which is fine in theory, but there's no way Andrade is winning that match, it's not even happening on a PLE, and it doesn't really feel like Andrade won anything as a result of beating Hayes. So what was the point of the entire Andrade/Hayes series?

This is a weird complaint to make of WWE, but could there maybe be an actual good storyline or two on "SmackDown" that doesn't involve a title belt? Because if WWE is really committed to these long singles title reigns, which it seems they are, they really need some stuff going on that's outside the title picture. They don't have the benefit of the "who will win?" question in the vast majority of singles title matches, so they absolutely need something else for viewers to get invested in, some kind of stakes that doesn't involve a belt. Otherwise you get guys like Andrade and Hayes having a fantastic series of matches only to bump their heads on the ceiling of "LA Knight has only been champion for a month," and you get Owens and Orton going right back to beating up A-Town Down Under after they lost their title matches, and nobody has any momentum.

Isn't WWE supposed to be the storytelling promotion? I don't see any storytelling happening in this part of the roster, just cycles that repeat over and over again every time it hasn't been long enough to dethrone the reigning champion. Meanwhile AEW is out here setting a man's house on fire for the sake of the non-title feud. I ask once again: Can't we please find something for these extremely talent wrestlers to do that's not just unsuccessful title challenges all the way down?

Written by Miles Schneiderman

Upon Roman Reigns' return to "WWE SmackDown" there were immediately questions over the co-existence — or lack thereof — of the "Original Tribal Chief" and the WWE Champion, Cody Rhodes. After all, Rhodes had challenged Reigns twice at WrestleMania these past years, finally unseating him as champion at the "Show of Shows" in April this year.

We got something of an answer in that regard during this week's show, with it the former rivals pushed together by the ensuing conflict with Solo Sikoa's Bloodline. It just felt like a natural step in the right direction, narratively speaking, for this to happen following the opening segment. Rhodes had once more defeated Sikoa in singles action, retaining his title in a steel cage before being set upon by the Guerillas of Destiny and Jacob Fatu. Reigns emerged, locking himself in the cage for a showdown with his mutineers, but Rhodes would have to fight them off alongside him. From there, the path was clear: Reigns and Rhodes had put one another through hell in the name of the title Sikoa has sought, and they would only be truly free when they vanquish the demons their war summoned in the first place.

Rhodes thought he could move on with his title reign, swearing he was done with the familial drama. But sure enough, he was pulled back in by his former foe's words. Unable to stop himself from rising to what he saw as baseless gloating from the fallen king, the pair looked to renew their rivalry. It was Sikoa that snapped them back into focus when he decided to emerge, himself unable to pass up the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. It's a story built on hatred on all sides, and it blinded them into signing up against their inhibitions as a result. They are compelled to continue the story, whether they need to or not. The match itself reads as a classic Mega Powers team-up, pitting the two antagonistic babyfaces against a common foe. It's a team-up on the scale of Daredevil and Punisher against The Kingpin, a pure hero and an anti-hero deciding they'll pick up their beef after dealing with their immediate villain. But it also opens up opportunities for intrigue: what are Jacob Fatu's intentions? How will he react to standing against the named "Tribal Chief," will he forsake his integrity for the usurper or will he bow his head? On the flip-side: how will Randy Orton and Kevin Owens react to Rhodes' deal with the devil? Could Rhodes have alienated his true allies?

This is a rich narrative step in The Bloodline epic, and we haven't even covered the fact that is the first time Fatu and Reigns will meet in the ring formally. Time can only tell where the story goes, but it's a safe bet to say the match itself will be cooking with peanut oil, and with WarGames on the horizon one can expect a few twists in the tale.

Written by Max Everett

I'll come right out and say it. I really hate the fact that Roman Reigns is teaming up with Cody Rhodes to take on Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu at Bad Blood. Maybe it's because I had Survivor Series: WarGames partially fantasy booked in my head, or maybe it's the fact I was so far in Rhodes' corner during WrestleMania 40, I could have climbed the Washington Monument and screamed "Kingdom" at the top of my lungs to all of America when he finally finished the story. Either way, I just don't like this at all. For so. Many. Reasons. First, I'll get my little fantasy booking thought process out of the way. I am one of assumably many who believe it's going to be team Reigns and the "good Bloodline" against Sikoa and the "bad Bloodline" in a WarGames match. I assumed Rhodes would be on Reigns' team, and they somehow end up working together to get the victory. Now, we're jumping the shark on that storyline completely, which leads me to the second reason I don't like this.

Rhodes initially said to "SmackDown" General Manager Nick Aldis backstage that he was done with the Bloodline, and that it was Reigns' problem now. While I'm sure would be back going after Rhodes and the title after his program with Reigns finished up, at least Rhodes could have been a smarter babyface and just backed up for a second and given himself a break. But no, he had to be his high-and-mighty character and go address his arch nemesis when Reigns declared it was "his WWE." He also suffered one not, but two Bloodline beatings tonight (the second one not being as bad, of course, but still), and the second one, he walked right in to when he knowingly went to confront Reigns. Babyfaces will forever be babyfaces with their babyface logic in WWE, I guess.

I suppose my third reason is the fact I want to see Rhodes as far away from the Bloodline as possible for a bit, before Reigns ultimately challenges him for the title, and then we get closer into WrestleMania season and The Rock comes back or wherever we're going there. Rhodes had a lackluster feud with AJ Styles, his match with Kevin Owens was good, but there wasn't a great storyline behind it, and the Bloodline material with Sikoa at the helm is just stale. There's absolutely no reason for Rhodes to trust Reigns. The "Tribal Chief" could take Rhodes out immediately after the match, weakening him up for a title shot or something.

Long story short, after the blood feud that was WrestleMania 40, I'm not buying Rhodes and Reigns as a straight-up tag team. WarGames is another story. But, for now, it's beyond the realm of my suspension of disbelief. I'm hoping I'm wrong and I'll enjoy it, but for now, I remain more than skeptical.

Writte by Daisy Ruth