WWE Friday Night Party Thread, Ep. 1: THE SMACK IS BACK!

We made it!

Yes, not only have we made it to the weekend, but it’s the moment we’ve been waiting for now for almost 2 years; the return of wrestling to Network TV!  It’s finally here!  (Much to the relief of Joe Buck, who is getting REALLY tired of plugging its debut.)

Tonight’s debut episode sees two major blowoffs as Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon have a Loser Leaves Television ladder match, while Kofi Kingston defends the big gold against Brock Lesnar!  Kofi’s 180 day reign has been perfectly good and welcomed by most of the wrestling world, but as Tom Cruise once said, everything ends badly; otherwise it wouldn’t end.  (Which is a great way of describing this KO/Shane feud, too, now that I think about it.)

While John Cena sends his regrets that he cannot attend, it’s SmackDown in LA — was there ever any doubt The Dwayne would show up?  The only question is who he’s going to humiliate on the mic this time around, if anyone.  It’s weird, because you don’t want to make the current talent look bad, but Rock’s brand of insult comedy is what made him a megastar in the first place.  Eh, maybe he can take it out on Shane or something.

One person who may be intentionally kept off the show for the foreseeable future is Randy Orton.  While on a Twitch stream last night, he punctuated a great moment with a word that Orton should never say (hint: it’s the same one Booker T said in 1996, pronounced the same way as an emphatic rather than a slur, but STILL.)  No word of if there will be repercussions yet.

Elsewhere, Houston takes game 1 over Tampa Bay.  Atlanta (0) and St. Louis (1) are going on.  About to start is game 1 between Minnesota and the Yankees.  And the nightcap is the LA Dodgers (1) hosting Washington (0).  Meanwhile, Central Florida and Cincinnati have a very important Group of 5 college football showdown.  And if independent wrestling is more your thing, King of Trios Night 1 is streaming on IWTV.  We are in wonderful times, folks.

As Princess would say, keep it clean.  Now enjoy the weekend!