Sami Uso and Uncle Howdy steal the show

This week’s SmackDown began with Roman Reigns warning The Bloodline that they were being childish. It was one of the most memorable promotions we will ever witness. SmackDown also featured Emma’s return to WWE and Uncle Howdy’s official introduction to the Bray Wyatt storyline. The in-ring action wasn’t up to par with some of the matches SmackDown has offered recently, but the stories being told and promos cut on the show were talking points that fans will remember for quite some time.

Here are the winners and losers from SmackDown, October 28, 2022:

Winner: Bloodline Airing Dirty Laundry

After losing the opening match of the night, Roman Reigns came out and forced Sami Zayn and Jey Uso to work out their issues in front of everyone. Zayn apologized for whatever he had done to upset Jey and Jey wouldn’t allow it. Jey said that Sami was not blood and that he did not belong to the group. He called it a “Fake Ass Uce”. When Sami said that Reigns wanted them to make amends, Jey was wrong when he said that he didn’t care what the Tribal Chief wanted. That led to a dramatic look down between Roman and Jey with the fan chanting “you fucked up.” Zayn tried to help Jey by defending him. During the back and forth between Zayn and Roman, nearly every member of the group cracked and broke character on multiple occasions when the term Ucy kept coming up. Ultimately, Reigns threatened to turn Sami into a full-fledged Uso and rename him Sami Uso.

While the character breaks took some of the drama away, this was a very entertaining segment. It’s so clear that everyone is having a lot of fun with this story that fans can’t help but join in on the ride. His personalities shining through here was a wonderful thing to witness live.

Winner: New Day

A basic tag match between The New Day and Maximum Male Models was set up as a way to surpass New Day as a legitimate contender in the tag team division. New Day will always be legendary, but a dominant win over a lesser opponent reminded everyone not to ignore them when it comes to the tag team title scene. With The Usos about to break their record for the longest reign as tag team champions, it makes sense for WWE to show them some love.

Winner: Emma Returns

Nearly five years to the day she was last in WWE, Emma made her return. She responded to the open challenge presented by Ronda Rousey. Emma was dominated until Rousey missed with a knee and hit the steps of the ring. Emma gained some momentum, but the Rondaconda gave Rousey momentum back. Rousey made the mistake of taunting the crowd and her opponent, giving Emma another chance. A couple of close pins made it look like Emma had a chance, but Rousey eventually raked her opponent’s eyes and hit The Piper’s Pit, locking an arm bar to win.

This game wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad. The win is that Emma is back, giving the women’s roster another legitimate contender.

Another victory occurred after the match when it appeared that Shayna Baszler lined up with Rousey. Baszler choked out Natalya when Natalya tried to call out Rousey for barely hitting Emma.

Loser: Legacy of the Ghost

The newest faction on SmackDown was destroyed on Friday night. Hit Row recruited Shinsuke Nakamura and the partnership worked, as Zelina Vega’s team took little offense and fell behind early on.

It’s interesting that WWE built this group to be so effective in its first few weeks and then made it seem so ineffective during this episode.

Winner: Karrion Kross wins

Karrion Kross got a big win over Madcap Moss. Scarlet needed a little help, but Kross did a good job of addressing the fight that Moss put forward by saying that he fought much harder than Drew McIntyre. He hyped his upcoming match at Crown Jewel while refusing to drop the chokehold on his fallen opponent.

It’s not ideal that Kross still needs help to get his wins, but he’s a badass, so it makes sense for him to cheat to win. The trick is not to go too far and make it look like Kross can’t win alone.

Unknown: Uncle Howdy

It’s not often that a segment can’t be categorized as a winner or loser, but the Bray Wyatt and Uncle Howdy segment that shut down SmackDown qualifies. It’s so hard to know what to make of where WWE is headed here, that it makes it hard to judge this yet. Wyatt came out and addressed the fans like he was himself again and said that he wanted to talk to people without being behind a mask. When he was interrupted, Uncle Howdy appeared on TV and remarked, “You’re a liar. You say you don’t wear a mask, but we both know that’s not true, right? I can see you. You will.” You can never hide from me… Your Uncle Howdy”

The character looks like Wyatt in a mask and while Uncle Howdy is super creepy, are we going to have Wyatt play every single character we see in his story? If so, how does this help someone in the long run? There is no coincidence that comes out of this and that would be WWE backing into a corner, something they can’t afford to do again with Wyatt’s character. At the same time, if it’s not Wyatt in a mask, but someone else, how does this person ultimately fight?

SmackDown Match Results: