World Cup Continues, Owens Joins Team Brute

This week's episode of SmackDown continued the World Cup on Fox tournament, which on this night featured Sami Zayn versus Butch in one match and Ricochet versus Mustafa Ali in another. The show started with a teaser as it would be revealed later in the night who is the fifth member of the Brawling Brutes War Games team would be.The show also featured more from Bray Wyatt and LA Knight, Shotzi got the better of Shayna Baszler, New Day found a tag team partner and Emma looks like she's going to be working alongside her real-life boyfriend Madcap Moss. Here are your winners and losers for SmackDown, November 18, 2022:

Winner: Ricochet vs Mustafa Ali

This match would have been awesome if WWE had merely put these two in the ring together, but the added storyline of Ali's injury made for an interesting narrative. Ali had to fight through a beating from last Monday when Bobby Lashley took advantage of the size and strength difference, and he held his own. The fight with The One and Only shouldn't have been as competitive as it was on Friday. In the end, Ricochet gets the victory and will move on to face Braun Strowman in the semi-finals of the World Cup tournament.

WOW! @KingRicochet #SmackDown — WWE (@WWE) November 19, 2022

These two are among WWE's best highflyers and they had a chance to show their stuff on SmackDown. The shooting star press Ricochet delivered at the end of the match to a standing Ali was specifically impressive.

Winner/Loser: Karrion Kross vs. Madcap Moss

Karrion Kross versus Madcap Moss wasn't a bad match, but Kross certainly could've benefitted from having a few early matches where he defeated enhancement talent quite easily. Because that never happened, every match where Kross is evenly matched with an opponent actually makes him look a little weaker. Kross did pick up the victory on Friday, but he needs a dominant win to really sets himself apart from the rest of the mid-card talent. He's playing second-fiddle in his matches more often than not. It is intriguing that WWE has introduced the idea of Emma and Madcap Moss as a potential on-screen couple. She came to the ring after Moss suffered his loss and was attacked, setting up the appearance of a potential mixed tag team match. For fans that didn't know, Emma and Moss are actually a couple in real-life.

Winner: Bray Wyatt and LA Knight Promo

WWE has been running the risk of overcomplicating the Bray Wyatt storyline, but they did a good job on Friday getting things back on track as Wyatt cut a promo that was interrupted by LA Knight. Wyatt wanted to apologize for losing his cool last week and Knight came down to the ring to get even. One slap across the face and Wyatt looked like he was going to lose his temper. Instead he ended up offering an olive branch. He extended a hand to make sure both men were on the same page, warning Knight that not accepting a handshake could result in serious consequences. Knight slapped him again. As Knight retreated, Wyatt sat in the ring on verge of snapping with images subliminally showing up on the big screen.

That was intense 😬 @RealLAKnight #BrayWyatt #SmackDown — WWE (@WWE) November 19, 2022

WWE needs to piece all the elements of Wyatt's gimmick together and they need to do it quickly. To date, Uncle Howdy, The Firefly Funhouse characters and his multiple personalities haven't been synchronized. This might be the beginning of that assimilation.

Loser: Shotzi Defeats Shayna Baszler

This match was both predictable and not all that good. It makes sense that Shotzi would pick up the win heading into Survivor Series and her match with Ronda Rousey, but the way Baszler keeps being fed to future Rousey opponents is not doing her any favors. While Raquel Rodriguez coming to the ring might appear on the surface to protect Baszler, the rollup win an easy three count certainly does not.This match looked like it was taking place in slow motion, making it unwatchable at times. These four women will have a tag match next week as part of the build towards Survivor Series. Perhaps WWE will give Baszler a big win, but that doesn't feel likely.

Winner: New Day and Braun Strowman vs. Imperium

A match that was set up because of a backstage verbal altercation about the traditional of pro wrestling versus the fun-loving goofiness of the New Day, Imperium and New Day had issues. Kofi and Xavier Woods found a partner in Braun Strowman and they took on Imperium in a six-man tag match. This match was a lot of fun from beginning to end. It also teased a future possible Finals match for the Intercontinental Title between Gunther and Strowman.Gunther wanted no piece of Strowman and tried to avoid him, especially when a couple of chops had little effect on the Monster of all Monsters. Backstage, Ricochet confronted Strowman and told him not to look past his match next week, and this "flippy flipper", which if you know Strowman's social media history, got some attention a couple of weeks ago.

Winner: Sami Zayn vs. Butch

Another match to determine a semi-finals bracket in the World Cup Tournament, Zayn took on Butch and Sami took the pin in a fun match that had a lot going on in and around the ring. Both of these guys can work and they put on a good main event considering neither is necessarily a top-tier guy quite yet (arguments can be made for Sami). After Butch picked up the win, things broke down between the two teams and that brought Roman Reigns to the ring. A number of faceoffs and big future match teases eventually led to Kevin Owens' music hitting and the reveal that he will be the fifth member of Team Brute.

CAN'T. WAIT.It all goes down at #SurvivorSeries #WarGames ! — WWE (@WWE) November 19, 2022

This is a great choice and it's good to see the injury reports to Owens turned out to be overexaggerated. That he'll be a part of Survivor Series is great because he's the perfect fit considering his friendship with Sami Zayn. This was a great close to the show.

SmackDown Match Results: