3 Interesting observations from SmackDown on FOX (October 4, 2019)
From The Rock's electrifying return to Kofi Kingston's embarrassing title loss against Brock Lesnar (followed by Lesnar's former UFC nemesis, Cain Velasquez's shocking debut), WWE SmackDown's premiere episode on FOX featured a lot of contrasting moments.
Judging this show like any other SmackDown episode from the past is quite problematic here. Because, on one hand, the show undoubtedly excelled in terms of quality entertainment from start to finish.
But the episode became very controversial (more on that later) towards its end and the fact that several moments felt rushed didn't help either. However, I would say that Friday Night SmackDown is off to an explosive start simply because the show finally feels larger-than-life once again.
Here are a few interesting observations from the premiere episode of SmackDown on FOX:
#3 What Kofi Kingston's title loss and Cain Velasquez' potential WWE rivalry against Brock Lesnar tells us about the show in general
Brock Lesnar was the favorite going into the WWE Title match against Kofi Kingston last night.
However, what people did not expect was for Kofi Kingston to lose the match in mere seconds!
In any other scenario, before KofiMania set in, this outcome would have been perfectly reasonable (without the title being involved, obviously). However, as you can see all over Twitter by now - KofiMania's conclusion as a long-term storyline was terrible.
On the other hand, a part of this negative outpour from the WWE Universe may have been diluted when Brock Lesnar's former UFC nemesis, Cain Velasquez made a shocking debut and challenged the Beast Incarnate to step up.
One of the biggest wins of Velasquez's UFC career came against Brock Lesnar, and this premise is why 'Lesnar vs. Velasquez' can be a big hit in the numbers game for WWE.
These two contrasting scenarios (Kofi's Loss & Velasquez's debut) might tell us that Friday Night SmackDown will be all about topping the charts and aiming for the 'bigger is better' approach towards Professional Wrestling.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it can increase WWE's popularity closer to its prime like back in the Attitude Era, but by doing so, will the biggest sports entertainment giant alienate its core fanbase at the same time?