SmackDown In A Nutshell: Will We Have A Wild Night In Winnipeg?

It’s time for another SmackDown in a Nutshell, and I have but one question: Will we have a wild night in Winnipeg?

Winnipeg being our latest host city, as the blue brand makes another Canadian pit stop.

With Extreme Rules just over a week away, it’s a fair question. Will we have a wild night in Winnipeg?

Or will things be more like mild?

Shows lately have been heating up. There are some new and returning faces back in the back, so it’s certainly helped.

New management has too, and things are clicking as we are now heading to the last few months of 2022.

So…wild night in Winnipeg? I am in.

That means but one thing…it is time for…

SmackDown In A Nutshell: Will We Have A Wild Night In Winnipeg?

Let’s crack this Nutshell wide open, shall we!

Best Match of the night:

Tough one for me. I think we had a number of good matches, but I am going to waffle and say…none rose up enough.

Shotzi and Bayley was fun.

The main event six man was too.

But I feel like the matches were largely shorter, and a lot of action to set up things for next Saturday.

Honestly, the highlight of the night was the MMM pose off in the back. Lots of funny…and Max Dupri quit!

Or, if you’ve been living under a rock…tell me when LA Knight is back!

Worst match of the night:

Hit Row and Los Lotharios, I think.

It was only OK. I want to see both teams do more, and this was not it.

Star of the Night

Lots of good work being done, so I will not single one person out.

Sami and KO are into some truly long term, long form story telling.

Karrion Kross with his best work yet.

Jey and Sami are getting tense.

LA Knight is soooo close to back.

Spot of the Night:

Honestly not sure we had one.

Jobber of the Night:

Kinda felt like Los Lotharios were the jobbers tonight.

Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:

We heard it was back in the back a few weeks back.

Now, it’s back on TV. The TCB tank is back!

LOL Moment of the night:

The MMM stuff was comedy gold. You could tell the way Max was at the start of it that he was souring…who knew he’d storm off and quit the same night!?

Noteworthy Moment:

Another show, another white rabbit tease, and many folks expect that it is indeed Bray Wyatt.

I mean, he’s been the leading guess for a while, and now things are really pointing in that direction.

According to the whispers out there, we should know in just over a week. Maybe.

Also, condolences to the family of Antonio Inoki.

There will be a long term payoff for it, but WWE continues the very slow build between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.

That redemption should be tremendous.

Overall lowlights:

I don’t feel like it is a lowlight, per se.

But, it was sort of a downer to have what felt to me like a lot more matches, just all short.

However…as the penultimate show prior to Extreme Rules? I give it a pass.

Yes, we had a bunch of shorter matches, but unlike the old regime, these short matches served a purpose.

Overall highlights:

Lots of good work all over the show.

The White Rabbit stuff, as it has been, is delivering in spades.

Gargano, Owens and Drew? Good stuff, especially with WWE acknowledging Johnny and Drew’s EVOLVE history.

All told, it was a busy but good night.

After the final bell:

If you ask me, this felt like a pseudo-go-home show. Next week being the weird and artificial “season premiere, I feel like they wanted to get some final hype out of the way early.

And, they did that.

We had plenty of hype for Extreme Rules, from Rhonda and Liv to Bayley and Bianca Belair.

Sheamus, minus the Brutes, clashed with Imperium…and we get more of that next Friday AND Saturday.

Plenty to like, busy show, and folks certainly seemed into it.