WWE SmackDown recap for Nov. 8, 2019: The King bores over the brand

This edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown on FOX saw the King bore us to tears while the tag titles changed hands. And who showed up from NXT this week?

The latest edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown on FOX was an okay show, with the only real highlights being the tag team title match between the New Day and the Revival and the revelation of the Fiend’s next potential challenger for his Universal Championship. Not every week can be a home run and sometimes it feels like WWE takes the nights off when they head for their overseas shows. This wasn’t a bad show, but it wasn’t good either.

So let’s get right into it. This is your WWE Friday Night SmackDown recap for Nov. 8, 2019.

The King has words for the Big Dog

SmackDown opened this week with what we’re guessing we were supposed to get last week, a promo from King Corbin talking about his opponent later in the night, Roman Reigns. It starts with Corbin by himself talking about Survivor Series and the three brands going head to head.

Corbin blames Reigns for the attack on SmackDown by NXT last week. He said that Reigns worries more about his family than the actual company now. This felt really forced to be honest. We already knew this match was taking place last week. Did we really need reasoning beyond the fact that Corbin cost him the Intercontinental title to have this match and the attack on WWE Backstage? It felt like this dragged on forever and finally, it ended. This wasn’t good.

We go backstage to The New Day taking about needing that seventh title reign as WWE World Tag Team Champions and that they will beat The Revival. Kingston and Big E are both wearing Xavier Woods armbands and say they are doing it for him. Typical New Day stuff; it was entertaining unlike what we just saw in the ring.

A seventh title reign for the New Day

After returning from commercial we get the tag match that was supposed to take place last week, The Revival defending the SmackDown Tag Team titles against New Day members Big E and Kofi Kingston (due to Xavier Woods out with an Achilles injury that they spoke about before the break). This is probably going to be the featured tag team for a while. We can only assume this spells the end for any chance of Kingston getting another singles push anytime soon which is a real shame.

The match was everything you would expect from these two teams who have always had a history of working well together. The finish saw Kingston hitting Trouble in Paradise to score the victory and win the tag team titles for New Day for the seventh time.

This means The Revival is out of the Survivor Series match and The New Day is in. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone and it’s a nice rebound for Kingston who needed something after what happened to him last month against Brock Lesnar.

Reigns finally arrives at the building late and Shorty G is there to tell him about what Corbin said about him in the ring earlier. Well, Big Dog, if you would show up to the building on time you wouldn’t have to worry about things like this happening.

The conflict within Daniel Bryan while Imperium arrives

When SmackDown returns from commercial break we see Daniel Bryan walking down the hallway and he’s confronted by Sami Zayn who says Bryan hasn’t given him an answer about the other week. He said if he would have given him an answer already  (about joining him) that he would be NXT Champion right now. He tells Bryan to check out Nakamura and Cesaro’s match later tonight and see things for himself. Bryan says nothing the whole time.

Up next we were supposed to see Heavy Machinery in action but instead they were attacked by the NXT UK stable Imperium, led by the NXT UK Champion WALTER. They got a decent beatdown before some members of the SmackDown roster came out and chased them off. Unlike last week, the blue brand was prepared this time.

We next have a brief interview backstage with Bayley and Sasha Banks talking about how it was they who put NXT on the map. Banks has a match later against Nikki Cross.

After that, we get the tag team match that Zayn mentioned earlier, Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro teaming up to face Ali and Shorty G. Prior to the match starting Bryan walks out onto the entrance stage with no music and watches the match from there with his arms folded.

For the amount of time they were given it was a fun tag team match. The four of them worked very well together and it’s nice to see some steam put behind Nakamura and Cesaro right now. Zayn as the evil mouthpiece manager is working really well.

The finish saw Nakamura hit a Kinshasa on Ali after a distraction from Zayn and an assist from Cesaro. Afterward, Zayn invited Bryan into the ring who declined by turning around and walking back through the entrance. This has been a good build so far. Looking forward to the payoff.

Banks and Cross compete but look out for the Queen of Spades

We are then treated to Sasha Banks’s return to the ring following her tailbone injury, against Nikki Cross, complete with a new remix to her entrance theme featuring Snoop Dogg. With Banks being out for as long as she was after WrestleMania for personal reasons it’s a great relief to see this injury didn’t keep her away from the in-ring competition for very long.

Meanwhile, SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley watched from ringside on commentary. Cross at one point attacked Bayley at the commentator’s table which allowed Banks to get back into the match. It’s nice to see Banks finally get this heel run on the main roster as it’s something we feel has been sorely missing from her character since she left the black and gold brand.

The finish of the match saw Banks pick up the submission victory with the Banks Statement. It was a good back and forth match and the right woman won. Banks needed a win after being out for so long so it made perfect sense.

After the match was over, Bayley attacked Cross and was once again jumped by NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler. The crowd loved this and greeted it with a loud “NXT” chant. By the time Banks made it back to the ring to save Bayley, Baszler had already escaped back out through the crowd. It was a nice hit and run attack from the Queen of Spades.

The Fiend makes his presence felt and the Monsters of Fury form?

Backstage Zayn is once again talking to Bryan. Zayn tells him that he already knows his mind is made up, that he wants to move forward from the “yes” chants and move forward with him. Before Bryan can respond the lights go out and The Fiend shows up. Zayn bails as the Universal Champion puts the Mandible Claw on Bryan and leaves him laying. This was a nice swerve and we are all about Bryan facing The Fiend, potentially at Survivor Series.

So everyone who thought Tyson Fury was done in WWE? Think again! Fury returned in front of his hometown crowd in Manchester and gets a pretty good reaction. He says he has some unfinished business with Braun Strowman.

It doesn’t take long for Strowman to answer Fury and makes his way to the ring to see what the Gypsy King wants. The two have a stare down; Fury thanks him for the fight and wants to shake his hand. Strowman accepts.

Fury says the next time they fight, it should be as a tag team together. The crowd gives it a positive reaction and Strowan says he likes the sounds of it but there’s no one in the back stupid enough to fight them, which brings out the B-Team. Oh boy.

Curtis Axel says they are stupid enough to fight them, and Bo Dallas says that came out wrong. He says the B in B-Team stands for “fearless.” Yes, that really happened. Strowman lays them both out with the running freight train and then tosses Dallas in the ring to get decked by Fury and Strowman hits Axel with the running power slam as the two celebrate their dominant destruction of the B-Team.

The women’s Survivor Series team starts to take shape

Hey, remember that women’s tag match we were supposed to get last week before Bianca Belair made sure it didn’t happen? Well apparently WWE really thought we wanted to see it so they put it on this show instead and it actually happened.

This week, however, the winning team will join the SmackDown women’s team at Survivor Series. So unlike last week at least, this match will have some stakes. Hopefully, the United Kingdom loves tag team wrestling because we sure got a lot of it.

The finish might be surprising to some as Dana Brooke got the victory for her team (partner: Carmella) with a senton off the top rope onto Sonya Deville. We couldn’t tell you the last time we saw Brooke pick up a win on television, it had to be a really long time ago. Congratulations to her and Carmella for part of the SmackDown Survivor Series team.

The King has some allies on the blue brand

Next up is the main event between Corbin and Reigns. This really isn’t a match we’re too excited for but maybe they’ll over-deliver and exceed expectations. We’re willing to give them a chance.

Reigns had the match well in control early on until for some reason Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode come out to assist Corbin. Afterward, Corbin took over the match as Ziggler and Roode watched on from ringside.

After that, Reigns pretty much fought from underneath for the rest of the match. Every time Reigns mounted some offense, Corbin cut him off. Eventually, Reigns got back into the match late and we saw all of the Big Dog’s greatest hits.

The finish saw Ziggler and Roode once again get involved. Reigns laid them both out but Corbin hit the End of Days to pick up the victory. It’s a big win for Corbin but the whole match was just … there. We were hoping it was going to be better than it was, but it just wasn’t. We can’t get Bryan versus Adam Cole every week sadly.

That wraps up the Nov. 8 recap for WWE SmackDown on FOX. Compared to last week, this was a serious step-down. If you missed this show, besides the tag team title change you didn’t miss anything. We would tell you to check out that match and he brief segment with The Fiend and Bryan but that’s about it. What did you think of SmackDown tonight? What was your favorite match? Sound off in the comments below.