Smark Out Moment

Welcome to another edition of Triple Threat from Smark Out Moment, where three of us get together to discuss three questions based on one big topic going down in the week of professional wrestling.

This week, Dallas Allsopp, Ben Guest and Ethan Neufeld will be previewing the upcoming Super Showdown pay-per-view.

Super Showdown is the next Saudi Arabia showcase to grace the WWE Network, and despite the usual apathy that surrounds these shows, there are some intriguing matchups with interesting dynamics on the card. The Fiend may have finally found someone who can dethrone him in the form of Goldberg, whilst Brock Lesnar will once again be able to feast on a smaller wrestler. But will it be a good show? Will fans be interested? And will these matches have any impact on WrestleMania 36?


ALLSOPP: My heart says The Fiend will win because he was a highlight of WWE programming in 2019, but then again, Goldberg winning would please fans who still yearn for a taste of 90’s nostalgia. I think Goldberg will ultimately lose, although he will take The Fiend to within a millisecond of being pinned. The Fiend used his disappearing trick on SmackDown, and I feel this will play into the finish of the match to protect Goldberg’s aura, and reiterate just how tricky The Fiend is.

GUEST: Please, please, please don't give Goldberg the belt again. I'm more than happy for him to show up at events like this, and I genuinely think he adds something, especially at these Saudi Arabia shows. But don't ruin The Fiend's run in the exact same way Kevin Owens' run was ruined.

NEUFELD: I don’t think Goldberg getting a Spear off necessarily means anything, as it just is an attempt to get Goldberg some heat going into the match. So to answer the question directly, no. Now, do I think Goldberg or The Fiend will win? I really don’t want Goldberg to win. He has no business taking the spotlight off full time stars, especially with his prior lackluster Saudi Arabia performance. I honestly think this match is happening in part to give Goldberg a chance to redeem himself. By giving him a more gimmicky character to work against, they may be able to make him look better, ultimately losing to chicanery rather than being outwrestled or outmuscled. But then again, really stupid stuff tends to happen at these Saudi Arabia shows.


GUEST: Accepted might be the wrong word, but it seems WWE has managed to achieve something by getting these matches onto the card. The trouble at the last event really overshadowed what should have been a great moment for the women involved, and I just hope everything runs a lot more smoothly this time. As for the result, I can't see Bayley losing the belt before WrestleMania 36. That being said, Naomi going into a Florida WrestleMania with a belt isn't beyond the realms of possiblity.

NEUFELD: It’s a sign that women’s wrestling is being tolerated. Accepted? No. Reading the transcripts of Saudi Arabian fans being interviewed about the prior women’s match was honestly disheartening. You get a sense of reluctant tolerance with slight contempt, like it was being forced on them. I’m not sure if that’s representative of every Saudi Arabian fan, but it was quite telling. Bayley has been a weak champion and a weak heel, so they might take the title off of her. But I think that the easier and lazier thing to do is to maintain the status quo and have her retain. They also probably don’t want to rock the boat with the women’s matches and keep them short and uneventful, so I don’t anticipate a title change.

ALLSOPP: The cynic in me doesn’t feel women’s wrestling will ever be fully accepted in Saudi Arabia, primarily because of the country’s poor human rights record. However, this is now the second consecutive Saudi Arabia event to feature a women’s match, and the fact it is for championship gold makes it feel just as important as the historic first match. Naomi carries her positive momentum into this match, but I see Bayley retaining so she can defend the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Sasha Banks at WrestleMania 36.


NEUFELD: It’s no more underwhelming than Brock Lesnar vs Finn Balor or the like. With many of Lesnar’s matches against smaller guys, the question is not whether they will win, but how much of a fight they’ll put up. Ricochet will not win, as he doesn't have a snowball’s chance in Saudi Arabia. But Lesnar has good matches against guys like him, and if Lesnar respects Ricochet, he’ll put on at least an average match by letting Ricochet get some flips and dips in. I’m sure we’ll see Ricochet fly across the whole ring from one of Lesnar’s Suplexes and sell it like death, so at least we can look forward to that.

ALLSOPP: Ricochet is a lamb to the slaughter in this match, as there is no realistic chance of him escaping Super Showdown with the WWE Championship. He hasn’t been anywhere near the WWE Championship picture, and as such he does not come across as a credible threat. It will be a simple case of destruction in under 1 minute and an easy defence for Brock Lesnar.

GUEST: Suplex. F5. 1. 2. 3. Sorry Ricochet.