WWE SmackDown Live!: 10 Things You Might Have Missed (3 Oct)
Twerking Stiff
As the Monday Night Raw crew had done 24 hours earlier, the SmackDown Live! roster paid moving tribute to the victims of Monday's horrific Las Vegas terrorist attack to kick off the go-home show to Sunday's Hell in a Cell pay-per-view.
However, it was dearly departed musician Tom Petty's famous lyrics that Shane McMahon mirrored in a powerful show-closing segment. He simply wouldn't back down, despite the relentless assault and scorn poured upon him by an enraged Kevin Owens.
As it happens, WWE leaned on Petty 25 years ago, using his Heartbreaker's track 'Makin' Some Noise' as the backing music for a stirring video tribute to then-brand new WWE Champion Bret Hart. Another ditty on hard-worn resilience, the tune summed up 'The Hitman's unlikely ascent through the ranks as a second generation star on the grandest stage.
Paternal inclusion is where the comparisons between Hart and McMahon end, but Shane's defiant show of guts and determination were presented as two of his biggest weapons in a fight he should theoretically be overmatched in but one he'll inevitably somehow master on the night.
Outside of the heated brawl, other things did actually happen on SmackDown Live! this week, but they were easy to miss in the smoke that followed the younger McMahon's fire.
10. Something In The Water
Here's to the greatest (greatest) love I've ever known.
And here's to some genuinely nice news shared by Tom Phillips in the (extremely) limited time he had to talk about Mike Kanellis on this week's edition of the show.
As Maria announced on Instagram last week, the couple are expecting their first child, due around the same time as the already-touted Mizanin baby announced on Monday Night Raw several weeks ago.
As hardened survivors of WWE's darkest Diva days in the mid-2000s, Maryse and Maria can be proud just to say they kicked the door of a much-changed in organisation back down in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Sharing further bonds over impending motherhood whilst their Mikes prosper on the main roster is now an added bonus.
Though WWE provides much-needed escapism from a sometimes desperate world, it can also be a place to foster the pleasant things that actually go on within it. This was an occasion well taken to do such a thing.