Smackdown Review 01/03/2020

Its the Wrestling Classic aka Justin Dhillon back here for this weeks review of Smackdown. It’s the first Smackdown of 2020 and we’re on the road to the Royal Rumble. As of now we already know that Daniel Bryan will challenge the Fiend for the Universal Championship at the Rumble. Roman is still coming after King Corbin like a hunter on his prey. Lacey Evans still has her issues with Sasha Banks. Carmella has been on a hot streak. The romance between Otis and Mandy is still blooming but now Ziggler is trying to slide in. Braun still has his eyes set on the Intercontinental Championship. Nobody has officially announced their entry to the Royal Rumble yet and Sheamus could return in his current hometown. Smackdown has the potential to be lit tonight but will it be? Lets find out.

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Live from the FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN.

Daniel Bryan & The Miz
Daniel Bryan is in the backstage area when The Miz shows up. Miz talks about how WWE Universal Champion “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt violated his home and went into where his daughter sleeps. Miz goes on and says there’s nothing he needs more than to avenge what The Fiend did to his family. Miz says he will take care of it but Bryan earned the right to face The Fiend at the Royal Rumble, but Miz will figure out what to do next. In the mean time he has just one thing to say to Bryan – beat The Fiend at the Rumble, for everyone. Miz walks off and we go to the usual SmackDown intro video.
My Thoughts
This was a great way to address that The Miz needs to move away from the Fiend and Bryan feud since he’s no longer involved or if they are going to keep him involved this was a good way to address that too. – The intro video plays and the pyro goes off.

– Michael Cole and Corey Graves are on commentary.

Sasha Banks & Bayley
Sasha Banks heads out first to kick off the show and is followed by Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley. Bayley mocks the crowd and taunts them after talking about 2020, resolutions and goals. Bayley goes on talking about how both Sasha and herself made decisions to change this past year and actually did it. They go on about being the leaders of the locker room. The music interrupts and out comes a fired up Lacey Evans along with Dana Brooke after her daughter is mentioned. Evans congratulates Banks and Bayley on using her 7 year old daughter to get to her. Evans goes on about how she is going to show her daughter how to stand her ground regardless on circumstances and is determined to destroy Banks and Bayley. They go to enter the ring but Alexa Bliss’ music hits and out she comes with Nikki Cross. Bliss sees the drama out here and wonders if they even belong in this match. There is a triple threat tag match that is supposed to take place. Cross says they do belong in the match because they want to get back the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles. Bliss is ready to step up and start 2020 with a win.
My Thoughts
Initially, I thought we were getting a Sasha Banks singles match but of course Bayley followed. I still think the belt is on the wrong woman. It wasn’t until they got to the ring did they advertise it was going to be a triple threat women’s tag match which led me to believe these two were going be interrupted but the other two teams to lead to the inevitable match. I like how Alexa and Cross questioned if they should even be in the match and gave a reason for why they should since the feud really does seem between Sasha and Lacey.

Triple Threat Tag Match Lacey Evans & Dana Brooke def. Sasha Banks & Bayley and Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross
In a really fun competitive match, Lacey Evans and Dana Brooke pick up the victory when Evans drops Salsa with a Women’s Right followed by a senton bomb from Dana Brooke for the win.
Thoughts
I know they’ve been having this match at all the live events leading up to this show, so you can tell these women were all hitting the same vibe during this match. What a huge victory for Dana Brooke to pick up! I’m glad they are actually using her more and making her more relevant to the women’s division. The chemistry between Sasha Bank and Alexa Bliss is always something that stands out to me. I don’t know if its their real life tension that we all hear about adds to their chemistry but definitely interested in seeing them feuding again down the road on Smackdown.

–  At ringside, Cole shows us what happened last week with Dolph Ziggler destroying the fruit cake that Otis gave to Mandy Rose, which was made by his mother. Backstage, Otis is curling beer kegs now. Rose approaches him and wishes him a Happy New Year. Otis looks sad and bothered. She asks if his mom made anything good for the holiday and he says to ask Ziggler. Mandy nervously asks if he saw that. He said he didn’t but his mother did. Mandy apologizes. Tucker walks up and tells Otis to focus on their match. They walk off as Rose looks on. We all know how Otis feels about Mandy but I’m still trying to figure out when or why Mandy decided she wanted to be Otis’s friend.

– Backstage, the Miz runs into the New Day, who are dousing some 2020 pancakes with syrup. Kofi is singing about sizzurp which is something completely different than syrup on pancakes. Big E says he watched the balls drop, which confuses Kofi Kingston on what Big E was watching on New Years Eve. Kingston recaps the Miz’s successful decade while also mentioning they are tied for most title wins in the last decade. He tries to fist bump Miz, who reminds them that the Fiend threatened his family. The Miz knocks over the pancakes and tries to fight Big E. Kingston accepts the Miz’s challenge for a match. The Fiend effect on the mental stability of his victims seem to have gotten The Miz and I sense a heel turn coming.

Elias
Elias who is now a babyface sings a song about the new year and his hope for 2020. He hopes Sami Zayn gets punched, Shane McMahon goes to Raw if he returns and says the Revival is hard to watch. Elias says everyone will walk with Elias at WWE Royal Rumble
Thoughts
This is entertaining but it really seems like they have no idea what to do with Elias. At least we know he’ll be in the Rumble but lets get him something to do other than sing making fun of everyone.

– Backstage, the Revival say the Miracle on 34th Street Fight was a dumb gimmick. Scott Dawson says they deserve respect but they’re interrupted by Shorty G. He says he’s embraced who he is. The Revival mock Shorty for his size but he says he can do anything because he’s comfortable in his own skin. Shorty challenges Dash Wilder to a match and he accepts. This was from earlier tonight as Shorty G makes his entrance as soon as the segment ends.

Shorty G def. Dash Wilder w/ Scott Dawson
In a quick match where Scott Dawson was on commentary, Shorty G defeated Dash Wilder by making him tap out to the ankle lock. After the match, Dawson hits the ring to double team Shorty G. They hit Gable with a shatter machine but before they can do more damage SHEAMUS makes his return as his music hits. He makes his way to the ring as The Revival clears it. Sheamus ends up hitting Gable with a Brogue Kick before heading backstage. Thoughts
I was shocked in the outcome of this match because I thought they were trying to build up The Revival rather than Shorty G here. I also thought maybe Mustafa Ali might have got involved as he’s been teaming with G in recent history. Instead, we had the Celtic Warrior return out of nowhere as I predicted in my intro paragraph. I was confused when they made it look like he was returning to aid Gable because all of his promos up to this point led you to believe he was returning as a heel. Therefore, when he nailed Gable it made sense but Im curious to where he goes on doing moving forward. I’m glad that THE FELLA is back.

Kofi Kingston w/ Big E def. The Miz
In a decent match, Kofi Kingston defeated The Miz when Kofi rolls up Miz for a surprising three count. After the match, the music hits and Miz can’t believe it. Miz snaps and attacks Kofi from behind, beating him into the corner. Big E finally turns around and sees this. Big E hits the ring but Miz retreats to the stage. Fans chant “you suck!” at him. Miz keeps yelling “after everything I have done!” and “after everything I have given to you” as the fans chant “you suck!” at him.
Thoughts
The match wasn’t anything special but it wasn’t supposed to be. The story was in what happened after the match and to allow us further into The Miz’s downward spiral. The Fiend has mentality affected the Miz and Kofi was the perfect opponent for The Miz to showcase that on because it quickly turned the fans against him.

Cathy Kelly w/ Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan
Backstage, Cathy Kelly is with Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan. Cathy asks about Bryan’s title shot. Bryan goes on about how people are mentally breaking because of The Fiend, but he’s the only one who hasn’t and he will prove that by winning at the Royal Rumble. Reigns says that means Bryan is walking into WrestleMania 36 with the Universal Title, which is perfect because he’s entering the Rumble and winning it. Reigns declares that the WrestleMania main event will be Reigns vs. Bryan. Reigns goes on about how Bryan took the title from him. Bryan says if Reigns is trying to fire him up, that will do it and he’ll be even more ready at WrestleMania. They are on the same page for tonight’s main event, but ready to battle for the title at WrestleMania.
My Thoughts
This was a good way to set Roman’s focus back on the Universal Championship while teasing a match potentially between Bryan and Reigns thus making it seem like it is possible that Bryan could still win at the Rumble to face Roman at Mania by not ruling it out. Also, makes you wonder if they can work together tonight knowing their might be some competitive tension between them tonight.

– Heavy Machinery make their entrance for that match they had to get ready for like a half hour ago and we go to break.

– Back from break, Cathy is backstage and she knocks on Miz’s locker room door for comments but John Morrison answers the door, making his return to WWE. Morrison says that Miz doesn’t have anything left to say tonight. OKAY I GET IT! They already announced that Morrison is coming back on WWE Backstage and they had him be a  guest on The Bump but you can’t tell me this was the most effective way to bring him back on weekly television? It was a nice surprise but what the?

Otis w/ Tucker Knight def. Drew Gulak
Drew Gulak makes his way out with a mic and says not only is he an expert at wrestling, but he’s an expert of the heart. He says Mandy Rose will never give Otis a chance as she’s into guys like Gulak or Dolph Ziggler. Gulak says Otis looks like he’s leaking butter. Gulak hits the apron and reveals his latest Power Point presentation on the big screen – with hundreds of reasons why Rose will never go for Otis. Otis comes from behind and slams Gulak in the ring to start the match. Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville are shown watching backstage and at one point Ziggler is shown talking to Mandy trying to explain himself.
In a quick match, Otis defeated Gulak after hitting him with a Vader Bomb.
My Thoughts
There was a lot going on here. First things first, Gulak and his powerpoint presentations are great. I also really enjoyed him mocking Otis about Mandy never going to be into him throughout the match. The backstage stuff advanced the story but I would have loved to been able to hear what Ziggler was saying to Mandy and also why Mandy has decided to become so close to Otis as a friend or whatever. The right guy went over and of course this will continue and I’m intrigued.

Braun Strowman def. Cesaro w/ Sami Zayn and Shinsuke Nakamura
In a fun match which saw the freakishly powerful Cesaro try to get the better of the “Monster Among Men” Strowman with his strength and the distraction of his allies yet Braun still defeated Cesaro after a power slam.
After the match, Nakamura immediately hits the ring and drops Strowman with a Kinshasa. Strowman recovers as we go to replays. Zayn, Cesaro and Nakamura taunt Strowman from the ramp as he looks on from the ring.
My Thoughts
This was a solid match to continue the feud between Strowman and Nakamura while utilizing Cesaro who is aligned with Zayn and Nakamura. Braun picked up the win but they allowed Cesaro to get a solid amount of offence on him. Nakamura laying out Strowman after the match forshadows how distraction from Nakamura’s allies could allow Shinsuke to hit a devastating kinshasa on Braun out of nowhere when he least expects it. 

Roman Reigns & Daniel Bryan vs. King Corbin & Dolph Ziggler
In a competitive main event between four talented guys the match ends in a no contest. The Fiend plays mind games as we hear his laugh when Bryan is in the ring before we head to commercial break. As the match continued Roman hit a spear on Corbin, Ziggler hit a superkick on Reigns and Bryan catches Ziggler with the running knee which would have put the match away but the lights go out and THE FIEND appears. The Fiend is at ringside by the announcers table and Bryan tries a suicide dive on him but its countered. The Fiend puts the mandible claw on Bryan and drives him into the barricade. He then puts the mandible claw on Bryan again when’s he’s already knocked out on the floor. The Fiend poses and disappears.
My Thoughts
The non-finish is fine with me under the circumstances. The Fiend finally appears live again to attack Bryan taking him out of the match and sending a message. Maybe it was Bryan taunting The Fiend saying he was the only one who hasn’t been affected by his presence that urged The Fiend to appear to remind Bryan just what he is capable of.

Usos Return
Roman goes to check on Bryan but is attacked by Ziggler and Corbin. They beat him up and bring him back into the ring. They get the dog food and handcuffs out from under the ring. They handcuff Reigns and just as they’re about to pour dog food over him THE USOS music hits. They make their way down the ring taking out Ziggler with super kicks and then doing the same to Corbin. The uncuff Reigns and help him up for the show to go off the air.
My Thoughts
I’m so glad the Usos are back. I will say, I thought they got drafted to Raw but I’m not complaining here. It was an awesome surprise and they were truly missed. Honestly, their absence made the heart grow fonder because I’m excited to see them back in action regardless what brand their on. Also, with Corbin tormenting Reigns every week, its nice to see the numbers get even with Reigns own fam coming in for the save.

Final Thoughts
This was a FANTASTIC first episode of Smackdown for 2020 that set the tone for what they want Smackdown to be going into the new year and decade. It was full of surprises and developing characters and stories. The returns of Sheamus, John Morrison and The Usos were refreshing from what we’ve seen on the show the last couple of months. It adds some intrigue and excitement. If there was one thing I’d complain about it was that Mella wasn’t on this weeks episode but that’s alright. This was a great show top to bottom and as much as I have felt Raw has been more stacked talent wise after the draft, the recent returns and developing characters makes me feel different now. Smackdown is also stacked and there is a ton potential for the show to have one of its better years in a while.