Smackdown Live Review 01/16/2018

Hello Misfits. It’s time for this weeks Smackdown Live review. Royal Rumble is only weeks away and that means we’re just getting closer to Wrestlemania. Tonight the semi-final matches for the United States Championship Tournament take place. As I mentioned at the end of last week’s review, they didnt really leave us much to look forward to for this week besides the semi-final matches for the tournament. I wonder if we’ll see more tension build between Shane-O and “Dragon Boy” Bryan. Will there be shenanigans with KO and Zayn? How will AJ Styles address his Royal Rumble opponents this week? Whats next for the women’s division? What will Gable and Benjamin do this week to try to make an impact? Lets find out.

Smackdown comes to us live from Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo, TX.

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

The New Day
Kofi Kingston says that tonight the fate of the United States is on the line when Xavier Woods faces Jinder Mahal in the second round of the title tournament. Woods says he wants to talk about the principle of pancakes… or something. Woods says that a vote for him is a vote for three. Woods tells the WWE Universe that Mahal dispises everyone here. Is that the type of man you want as the United States champion. Woods asks everyone on the planet earth to lend him their strength so he can defeat Mahal tonight.
Opinion
This was completely different from the past few months on Smackdown Live. The show is kicking off straight into action rather than Shane McMahon or Daniel Bryan coming out to open the show or deal with their own drama. I enjoyed what the New Day was trying to accomplish here further proving why they’re still a unit and over. They know when to adapt and are creative enough to stay relevant.

United States Championship Tournament
Jinder Mahal w/ Singh Brothers def. Xavier Woods w/ Big E & Kofi Kingston
In a solid match Jinder Mahal defeated Xavier Woods after Woods missed his elbow drop and Mahal finished him with a Kallas.
Opinion
This was a solid match and the right guy went over. They did a good job at making Woods look good as well. The Singh Brothers were a non-factor because as they were ran off by Kingston and E, yet Mahal still managed to pick up the victory. I always appreciate when Mahal picks up a victory on his own merit.

–  In a pre-taped video, Baron Corbin says the Royal Rumble was built for the Lone Wolf. He says to get on board or get out of his way. It’s his time to main event WrestleMania.

– Backstage, AJ Styles says Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn should be confident going into their match at the Rumble. It’s three-on-one. Owens counts as two people. Styles refers to Zayn and Owens as “Kami”.

– A video package is aired that features every woman on the Smackdown Live roster explaining why they are going to win the rumble.

United States Championship Tournament
Bobby Roode def. Mojo Rawley
In another solid match Bobby Roode defeated Mojo Rawley after Mojo missed his running punch only to get finished with a spine buster and glorious DDT.
Opinion
This was another really solid semi-final match. Once again there was no shock here on who was victorious and it was the right guy who went over again. Mojo also managed to look good and only suffer a loss because of a mis-step.

– After the match, the Singh Brothers attack Roode. Mahal is on the ramp and he tells Roode next week he is going to put an end to his glorious charade. Roode says they don’t have to wait till next week. Mahal says no because he wants Roode to have to be worried about facing him and that the match will happen on his time. Daniel Bryan comes out and says they will have the United States title match tonight. When Jinder is given different things to say every he sounds great. I wish they let him do that while he was WWE Champion.

– In another pre-taped promo, Randy Orton vows that he is going to win the Royal Rumble for a third time and headline Wrestlemania.

The Riott Squad def. Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch & Naomi
In a decent six woman tag match, The Riott Squad defeated Flair, Lynch and Naomi when Riott kicks Naomi in the face while the referee is distracted allowing Morgan to hit a modified Code Breaker for the win.
Opinion
I was shocked that Liv Morgan was the one to pick up the victory but I’m glad she did because she has made the least amount of impact out of the three girls. Tonight was her night. It’s some real 50/50 booking between the heel and baby face women of Smackdown Live.

– Backstage, The Usos make fun of Gable and Benjamin for not being a real team. The Usos say Gable and Benjamin don’t know who they are. Gable and Benjamin attack the Usos from behind. Gable says they know exactly who the Usos are. Benjamin says they are the former tag team champions.

– Shinsuke Nakamura claims that he is going to win the Royal Rumble.

United States Championship
Bobby Roode def. Jinder Mahal
Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan were at ringside for this match.
In a competitive main event to crown a new United States Champion, Bobby Roode defeated Jinder Mahal when reversing a Kallas attempt into a Glorious DDT. 
Opinion
This was another action-packed main event. Smackdown always nails their main events whether they’re fun or competitive such as this match. As much as I wanted Mahal to keep his momentum he had in 2017 going this year by winning the United States Championship, I’m okay with this being Bobby Roode’s coming out party. It’s the most relevant thing Roode has done since being on the blue brand. I’m curious to see what happens from here. Will Jinder continue to pursue the US Title? Will Dolph Ziggler return?

Final Thoughts
This entire episode of Smackdown Live was dedicated to crowning a new US Champion and it was definitely different then most weeks. It wasn’t bad at all but it surely wasnt great. There was a lot of wrestling and solid wrestling at that but the lack of angle advancement was very noticeable. A new United States Champion was crowned, the tag team rivalry had a backstage segment and other than that, I can’t really think of anything else notable happening. However, its not bad a thing. I’m sure we’ll get a lot next week. This reminds me of the early years of Raw before the Attitude Era. Everyone wasn’t on every show and every storyline wasn’t featured every week. There were times you’d have to wait a couple of weeks before Bret Hart or Undertaker would be on an episode of Raw again. However, I’m not a hundred percent sure it works the same in this era but it had the potential to work better because of the WWE Network and social media. Anyway, this episode will always be remembered for crowning a new United States Champion and a GLORIOUS one at that.
Rating – 5.5/10