Smackdown Live Review 01/23/2018

Hello Misfits. It’s time for this weeks Smackdown Live review. Its the go-home show before the Royal Rumble this upcoming Sunday. Last nights 25th Anniversary of Raw was a roller coaster ride filled with nostalgia and their regular programming. It had us invested and people looked forward to it in a similar way they look forward to big events such as the Royal Rumble or Wrestlemania. Due to that fact, I felt a wrestling hangover after yesterdays show but I wanted to see how the blue brand would end things off before heading into one of the years most anticipated events. Last week was all about the United States Championship tournament and very little build for the upcoming PPV. I feel like this week will be different. Lets see how it went.

Smackdown comes to us live from Capital One Arena in Washington, DC.

–  Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton and Corey Graves are on commentary.

Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
Owens says what the people are looking at is the future of the WWE. Not a bunch of old people like on Raw 25. Zayn bounces around the ring and introduces Kevin Owens. Owens goes down the list of all the messed up things Shane McMahon has done to them and how they managed to persevere. The only thing that has been proven so far is that they can beat AJ Styles on Sunday to become the co-WWE Champions. Zayn adds that after they take Styles’ title they are going to hurt Styles. Owens and Zayn try to start a “Yep!” chant. Styles’ music hits and he walks out on the stage. Styles starts a nope chant as he explains why Owens and Zayn can’t beat him.
Styles says Owens and Zayn may have the advantage but they are facing someone who is phenomenal. Owens says Styles may be phenomenal but he is also predictable. They knew he would come out here. Zayn shows footage of Styles losing it and suggesting the handicap match. Styles tried to backtrack his way out of it. Daniel Bryan held Styles to his word. Even though Bryan isn’t here with Styles stand by what he said last week. Footage is shown of Styles saying he would fight Owens and Zayn in single matches in the same night. Owens challenges Styles to face him, then Zayn right after. Daniel Bryan comes out and says he has the utmost faith in Styles being able to win on Sunday. Styles tells Bryan that he doesn’t need his help and he has no idea if Bryan is working with Owens and Zayn. Styles agrees to face Owens and Zayn tonight
Opinion
This was a completely different opening then we’ve been getting for weeks excluding last week. I’m glad Owens and Zayn opened the show rather than one of the Authoirty figures. I’m glad that after doing barley anything with this angle last week that they went back to trying to promote their championship match at Royal Rumble.

– Backstage, Shane confronts Bryan about putting Styles in back-to-back matches tonight. Bryan says he didn’t come out there to book that match. Styles did that himself. Bryan says he knows Styles can defend himself tonight. Bryan asks Shane if he is questioning Styles’ ability to defend himself. Shane says it’s not Styles ability that he is questioning. Shane walks away.

Chad Gable w/ Shelton Benjamin def. Jey Uso w/ Jimmy Uso
In a competitive match Chad Gable defeated Jey Uso after Jey misses a super kick and Gable his chaos theory for the win.
Opinion
This was a solid match and it was nice to see Gable pick up the victory going into the Royal Rumble. This sort of makes me feel like The Usos will walk out still champions because I have this weird theory in my head. I believe that whoever goes over strong the show before the PPV usually isn’t the one to go over strong at the PPV.

– Backstage, Renee Young is with Shinsuke Nakamura. Young asks Nakamura what his strategy will be at the Royal Rumble. Nakamura says it’s simple when he sees someone he will knee them in the face. The next person? Knee to the face. Baron Corbin interrupts and says Nakamura is all hype and Baron Corbin cuts his regular cookie cutter heel promo. Nakamura challenges Corbin to a match. Corbin laughs and walks away.

Naomi def. Liv Morgan
In a solid match Naomi defeated Liv Morgan with a sunset flip rollup. 
Opinion
This was a good outing for Morgan. It wasn’t great but it was her best since being on the main roster. This was good booking to help promote the women’s Royal Rumble. However, I really feel one of the Raw women are winning. If someone from Smackdown does, that really would be shocking.

– After the match, a brawl breaks out between all the women. Natalya picks up Lynch and tosses here over the top rope. Carmella and Natalya toss Morgan over the top. Natalya destroys Carmella with a rolling lariat. Naomi and Lynch chase away Natalya. Lynch tries to throw Naomi over the top rope but Naomi lands on the apron. Lynch and Naomi stare at each other. Charlotte comes out and says good luck to all the women in the Royal Rumble. Good luck to the winner since they will have to face her at WreslteMania.

Shinsuke Nakamura def. Baron Corbin
In an entertaining match Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Baron Corbin by DQ after Randy Orton appears out of nowhere hitting Nakamura with a RKO as he was going for the Kinshasa. Orton hit Corbin with a RKO as well.
Opinion
The match ended up being better than I expected. These two worked well together surprisingly. I really loved Orton coming out and dropping great looking RKO’s on both guys. It let both guys stay strong but not suffering a clean loss and also hyped the importance of the Royal Rumble match. Orton hitting the RKO on Nakamura, who has been his ally in recent months just shows that it is every man for himself in the Royal Rumble.

Bobby Roode & The New Day def. Jinder Mahal & Rusev Day
In a fun match Bobby Roode and The New Day def. Rusev Day when Kingston dives over the top rope onto Rusev and Mahal. Roode spine busters English. Woods blast English with his rope walk elbow drop for the win.
Opinion
The New Day announced they’d be in the Royal Rumble which means three more spots are filled. I would hope only two of them would be entering so we’d have more spaces for surprise entrants but we’ll see. I loved their participation and dancing during Roode’s entrance. It was really quality stuff. Considering Roode went over last week and New Day will remain to be over, I was really hoping for the heels to pick up the win here. Jinder Mahal is your former WWE Champion and Rusev Day is over with the fans, I’d hate to see either guy lose momentum.

AJ Styles def. Kevin Owens
Prior to the match starting, Shane McMahon came out and sent Zayn to the back. Shane-O said that if either Zayn or Owens interfere in each others matches they would be fired. In a surprisingly quick match AJ Styles defeated Kevin Owens by making him tap out by the calf crusher.
Opinion
I expected this to be longer or a bit more. It felt really fast for Owens to go down but I understand the time constraints with a two hour show. Is it weird that I would have felt more okay with Zayn in this role over Owens? I just didn’t like to see Owens tap that quick. I guess you could look at it like he was being smart trying to get out of there fast and letting his best friend finish off Styles but I dont think creative puts that much thought in it.

– As soon as the bell rings Zayn hits the ring and attacks Styles. Their match has not started yet. Zayn sends Styles into the ring steps.

Sami Zayn def. AJ Styles
In a more competitive match than the first one Sami Zayn defeated AJ Styles when Styles takes a moment to push Owens off the stretcher. As Styles tries to get back in the ring Zayn hits the Helluva Kick followed by a sick blue thunder bomb for the win.
Opinion
This was a much better match and I was not surprised with the outcome. Once again, Owens and Zayn go in strong because they won’t be walking out victorious. I dont know how Styles overcomes the odds but he will. This was a fun match and it was nice to see Zayn pick up a big victory. It’s always nice to see that happen but still think the Owens match could have went a couple of minutes later.

Final Thoughts
This episode defiantly was a step up from last week. They really did a good job at building towards the Royal Rumble and focusing on the matches they have booked for the show this week. It had its highlights such as the The New Day dancing to Roode’s entrance and Randal’s badass RKO’s on two of his Rumble opponents but there was also a lot of nothing happening. There was solid wrestling and brawls but nothing that made you upset if you weren’t watching it live. It was a step up from last week though and it might just be because of all the small nostalgic things we got treated too on Raw the night before that this just seemed so basic. I’m looking forward to the Royal Rumble this Sunday though.
Rating – 6/10