21 Things you need to know if you missed WWE SmackDown: Bayley's new finisher, Pat McAfee on commentary
Several Superstars were unable to make it to the November 1 episode of SmackDown due to travel issues coming back from Saudi Arabia, meaning WWE’s creative team had to pull out all the stops by completely rewriting this week’s show.
Heading into the episode, WWE’s final preview advertised Daniel Bryan, The Miz, Carmella, Dana Brooke and Nikki Cross, plus “additional surprises”, which led many people to speculate that NXT could invade the blue brand ahead of their involvement in the Survivor Series pay-per-view on November 24.
In this article, let’s find out how many surprises WWE produced by taking a look at 21 things you need to know after SmackDown.
#21 Makeshift announce team
Due to the travel problems that WWE Superstars and employees had in Saudi Arabia, regular SmackDown commentators Michael Cole and Corey Graves were unable to call the action for Friday’s episode. Tom Phillips, Renee Young and Aiden English began at the announce desk instead, while Kayla Braxton – SmackDown’s backstage interviewer – replaced Greg Hamilton as ring announcer.
#20 WWE replayed the entire Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez match
Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman kicked off the show. In a typically passionate promo, Heyman explained that his client is “p****d off” despite his two-minute Crown Jewel win over Cain Velasquez. Heyman then pointed in the direction of the big screen, which showed the Lesnar vs. Velasquez match in its entirety.
#19 Another classic Paul Heyman quote
While addressing Brock Lesnar’s future on SmackDown, Paul Heyman revealed that Vince McMahon told him “The Beast” was not allowed to show up on RAW due to the brand split. Lesnar’s advocate said anybody who is unaware of McMahon can “Google him, b*****s”.
#18 Brock Lesnar quit SmackDown
With two World Champions on SmackDown after Crown Jewel, Paul Heyman went on to announce that Brock Lesnar has quit the blue brand and he plans to appear on Monday’s episode of RAW to target Cain Velasquez’s ally, Rey Mysterio.