Smackdown Review 01/10/2010

Its the Wrestling Classic aka Justin Dhillon back here for this weeks review of Smackdown. Last week we had the returns of Sheamus, John Morrison and The Usos. This week they have already announced that Morrison will be the guest of Miz TV putting those two former tag team champions back on television together again. Also, The Usos return to the ring in a tag match against Corbin and Ziggler. Also announced for this week is that Lacey Evans will finally get Sasha Banks in a singles match after waiting weeks since the Boss taunted her daughter at ringside. Also will Bryan seek retribution after the Fiend attacked him last week? Whats going to happen next in the love story between Mandy Rose and Otis? Will Carmella continue her winning streak after a week off? All the Celtic Warrior claim another victim? Lets find out.

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Live from the Ford Center Evansville in Evansville, IN.

Michael Cole and Corey Graves are our announce team for the evening.

Miz TV w/ John Morrison
The Miz for another must see edition of MizTV. The fans boo’d him at first but loudly said Miz TV with him. We see how Miz attacked SmackDown Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston last week after their match, and how John Morrison later appeared in a backstage segment for his return to the company. Miz takes the mic and gets some boos. He welcomes us and says people are saying he’s changed. He says last week he was just having a bad day, like we all have. Miz goes on and apologizes to Kofi. Fans boo. Miz says he’s been going through a lot lately. He talks about WWE Universal Champion “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt messing with his family. Miz goes on and brings out his guest, Morrison. The music hits and Morrison hits the ring. There is a “welcome back!” chant.
Miz welcomes his former tag team partner back and says he uses this a lot, but this is truly awesome. Miz brags on Morrison’s past WWE title runs and shows us a video package that he calls a “sizzle reel” for Morrison, who they’re still calling the Shaman of Sexy. Miz says from the bottom of his heart, welcome back. Morrison says WWE was filming a chronicle documentary about him for his return. He jokes about having big plans for his return at the Royal Rumble and says it was going to be epic,  he cracked a dog joke about how there can only be one big dog, but after they had a talk on WWE’s The Bump a few weeks ago, he realized it was more important to be there for your his friend. He came to SmackDown last week but after he saw what happened with Kofi. Morrison realized he’s disappointed… in the fans.
Miz goes on about how his friend had one bad day and fans chanted “you suck!” at him. Morrison says Miz has worked harder than anyone else on the roster for 15 years, and worked his way into being a WWE Champion when no one thought he would last. Morrison goes on about how fans wouldn’t last if they had to get in the ring. He starts taking shots at one fan in the front row. The music interrupts and out comes SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day – Kofi and Big E. Kofi asks who Miz is trying to fool. The New Day doesn’t buy Miz’s apology because he’s a bad actor. Kofi says he would’ve respected Miz more if he just said he had a bad day last week, like we all have. That would have been respectable but what he did was not. Miz knocks Kofi for his WWE Title reign and for how quickly he lost the title for Brock Lesnar. Miz doesn’t respect Kofi. Kofi jokingly defends his title loss and says Miz is changing from Cool Miz to Obnoxious Annoying Miz, and what that means is the people are 100% correct when they say he sucks. “You suck!” chants start back up from the crowd. The New Day’s music hits to end the segment as Cole hypes Kofi vs. Miz the rematch for tonight.
My Thoughts
It was great to hear John Morrisons music again and see him make his entrance. Its the first time we’ve seen it in almost 8 years. This was a solid way to kick off the show and it addressed many things. Morrison addressed why he came back and quickly established himself as a heel on Miz’s behalf. Morrisons return still feels underwhelming but it is what it is. Miz is still playing the delusional misunderstood face who is slowly going to fully turn on the fans when they continue to call him out on it. It seems as if Morrison and Miz will be feuding with The New Day for the time being which means they could once again become tag team champions which would be cool to see. I wasn’t expecting it to lead to a match but I should have predicted that when Miz came out in his wrestling gear.

The Miz def. Kofi Kingston
Morrison and Big E were on commentary during this match. In competitive match The Miz picked up the victory when Kofi Kingston gets distracted by Morrison taking Big E out at ringside with a cannon ball kick allowing Miz to hit the skull crushing finale for the win.
My Thoughts
This was what it was. It further progressed the angle. The New Day will be looking for redemption for this cheap loss next week and we got to see Morrison get physical for the first time since returning last week with super cool leaping cannonball kick. Morrison returns to the ring next week to face off against Big E.

Firefly Funhouse
It’s time for a new edition of the Firefly Fun House as we see WWE Universal Champion Bray Wyatt. He tells the Fun House camera to come closer and not be scared. He says he wants to tell us something and then says he loves everyone. He follows that up by expressing that it felt good to get that out. Love is special but not everyone is capable of it. Wyatt says he’s looking at Daniel Bryan in this case. He says The Fiend feels the opposite of love for Bryan. Wyatt can’t say he blames him because Bryan has been really naughty lately. Wyatt says Bryan will be in trouble at the Royal Rumble when he faces The Fiend. He says first The Fiend wanted to help Bryan, then change Bryan, now he wants to hurt Bryan because Bryan wants to take the Universal Title. Wyatt waves goodbye to end the segment.
My Thoughts
Is it weird that I unintentionally sang along with the firefly funhouse theme. LOL Anyway this was good stuff. Not much to say about it but I would love for The Fiend and Mr. Rogers Wyatt interact with each other one of these days.

– Backstage, Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose are backstage. Deville is ready to just focus on their tag team, nothing else, and that starts tonight as Deville says she will be in Mandy’s corner tonight. Deville is hyped up about the Fire & Desire tag team. Rose is distracted by something and tells Deville she will be right out but she just has something to do first. Deville leaves and Rose picks up a box, apparently from a bakery or somewhere like that. She smiles but looks nervous. How cute! LOL

Elias
Elias is out with his guitar. He begins playing his newest song as the crowd claps along with it. Elias sings about the Royal Rumble and takes shots at WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. Elias says he’s not afraid to talk like Lesnar is. He goes on singing and must have some miscommunication as he says when he beats Brock for the WWE Title, he will show Brock the door, but at the Royal Rumble, he will show Brock what WWE stands for – Walk With Elias. The Rumble isn’t for Brock’s title but Elias may plan to eliminate Lesnar, then win the Rumble, and challenge Lesnar at WrestleMania 36. Elias ends his song and that’s it for the segment.
My Thoughts
Elias is over with the crowd again and these performances are entertaining but looking forward to him doing more or entering an actual feud sooner or later. I’m glad he’s showcasing his focus on the Rumble as that’s the next big thing for him. Entertaining stuff.

– Backstage, Heavy Machinery is together. Tucker is trying to get Otis in a better mood by getting him hyped about the Royal Rumble, and not focusing on Mandy Rose. Rose walks up and talks about what has happened as of late. Tucker wants Otis to come with him but Otis stays. Rose admits she should’ve said something to Dolph Ziggler but wants to make up for what went down. Mandy says she baked a cake and she gives it to Otis mentioning that it might not be as good as his mothers but she felt bad. It’s an “I’m Sorry” cake. Otis is speechless. Mandy walks off as she has to get to her match. THERE IS GOING TO BE A TWIST…we just don’t know when.

Mandy Rose w/ Sonya Deville def. Alexa Bliss w/ Nikki Cross
In a decent back and fourth match Mandy Rose defeated Alexa Bliss when Otis comes to ringside followed by Tucker who was trying to take him backstage ended up being too much of a distraction for Alexa Bliss that Mandy Rose was able to roll her up for the sneaky victory.
My Thoughts
That is the second time tonight where a distraction from outside interference cost a superstar a match. However, both them made sense in progressing stories. Eventually I see this entire Otis and Mandy Rose thing getting under Deville’s skin, its just a matter of when or we will soon find out what Mandy’s real motives are for befriending Otis. Regardless, they got my attention with this fun angle. Its a bummer Alexa had to take an L in expense of it but I’m sure she’ll be climbing back up the ladder before this year ends. Graves jokes and commentary during this match was fun stuff too.

Lacey Evans and Bayley
Lacey Evans comes out for her match against Sasha Banks. On the way to the rings Lacey stops and kneels to let a young fan kiss her on the hand and also places her hat on Greg Hamilton’s head. The music of Sasha Banks hits next but she’s not coming out. SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley finally appears on the big screen and takes a shot at Evans before announcing that Sasha is AWOL tonight. Bayley says Banks made a commitment in a real city tonight, Los Angeles, and had to finish her rap album. Bayley says she’s only here tonight because she’s a champion and she’s contractually obligated to.
Evans takes the mic and says she’s not surprised Banks isn’t here. Evans goes on and says while Banks is hanging out in Los Angeles, she’s here and she’s ready to fight, especially in the heartland of America. A “USA!” chant starts up and Evans encourages it. Evans says Banks is nothing but a nasty and not here, while Bayley is running her mouth and not acting like a champion. Evans challenges Bayley to come out and put her title on the line. Bayley says she’s not Evans’ snot-nosed kid and doesn’t have to listen to her. Evans drops the mic and marches to the back.
The camera cuts backstage to Evans being attacked by Bayley. Bayley beats Evans down and tells her to put on her mom jeans and go home. Bayley walks off but Evans attacks her. Evans does the beatdown this time and looks to go for a Woman’s Right to Bayley, but a referee pulls her off, and tells her to calm down and save it for the ring.
My Thoughts
I was disappointed that we weren’t getting Sasha versus Lacey tonight. That means both my favs of Sasha and Carmella weren’t on the show tonight. They handled it well by having Bayley confront Lacey from backstage and Lacey finally challenging Bayley for title. I mean at least Bayley who is the champion was doing more than being Sasha’s lackey standing next to her while she feuded with Lacey. Lets do the right thing here…let Lacey beat Bayley for the title so Sasha can take it from her and all can be right in the world.

– Backstage, Daniel Bryan is with Kayla Braxton. Bryan talks about what Wyatt said earlier. He admits The Fiend changed him but says it was for the better and he’s now more dangerous. Bryan has no doubt The Fiend will hurt him at the Royal Rumble, but The Fiend can’t break him physically or mentally. Bryan says The Fiend wants everyone to think he can’t be hurt or beaten, but he doesn’t like the fact that Bryan knows he can be beat and can be hurt. Bryan says he’s going to do it for the Universal Title. He goes to leave but Ramblin’ Rabbit appears on the TV screen behind Bryan. Rabbit is in the Firefly Fun House. Rabbit says he’s Bryan’s biggest fan and doesn’t have a lot of time but The Fiend is beatable and he knows the secret that will allow Bryan to win the title. The secret is… Wyatt appears and squeezes Rabbit until he can’t speak. Silly rabbit, Wyatt says. He says, remember kids…. snitches get stitches. Bryan looks on as Wyatt laughs and then gets serious, staring at the camera. Let “me” in. Wyatt stares at the camera as Bryan looks on. Wyatt disappears. Bryan thinks about what he just saw and nods his head. This was quality stuff.

Braun Strowman def. Shinsuke Nakamura w/ Sami Zayn and Cesaro
In a hard-hitting match, Braun Strowman defeated Nakamura against all odds after hitting his powerslam finisher on the Intercontinental Champion. Both Cesaro and Zayn tried to get involved to help Shinsuke but both attempts backfired. Braun poses with the belt after the match until Zayn tugs it away.
My Thoughts
Braun Strowman has now pinned the IC Champion which traditionally means he has earned a shot at the championship. Everyone involved in this match has deserved more in the past four years. Cesaro has been under appreciated for years now. Zayn is great in this role but has a lot to offer as a wrestler too. Strowman and Nakamura both had so much momentum in 2017 and 2018 which makes you wonder why they aren’t former World Champions already. The reason I bring this all up is as much as I like all of these guys, this entire feud is forgettable at times it really sucks. I hope they can stretch this until Wrestlemania though, where Braun finally wins the his first singles title.

–  We cut to another Sheamus promo. He says rise over size, embrace who you are. Shorty G has been saying a lot of things but he didn’t say anything last week as Sheamus showed the little rat just how much SmackDown is about to change now that he’s returned. He knocked G down but G did not rise again. That represents all the ills and problems that have infested SmackDown since he’s been gone. Small isn’t something to be embraced, it’s something to be crushed and disposed of. Sheamus says last week he proved that size does matter. Shorty G says embrace who you are and Sheamus agrees. Since he’s returned, Sheamus is ready to embrace chaos.

– Back from the break and Daniel Bryan walks up on a gift in his locker room. He opens the present up and it looks like what is left of Ramblin’ Rabbit.

Roman Reigns and The Usos
Roman Reigns makes his way out. The pyro goes off as Reigns heads down the ramp and greets fans at ringside. We get a quick look back at what happened last week. Reigns takes the mic and says 2019 was a blessed year but it ended rough. He’s been outnumbered, jumped and even embarrassed by King Baron Corbin and his crew. Reigns has always had back-up but this time he didn’t need the help of friends, this time he needed the help of his family.
Reigns says his family came back last week and helped him in a major way, which is why he says this firmly – 2020 is his year. Reigns says he will win the Royal Rumble Match and then go on to main event WrestleMania for the fifth time and he’s going to do that with those who have been at his side since day one, The Usos.
The Usos music hits and out comes Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso for their ring returns. The Usos take the mics. They say it feels good to be on the blue brand and they’re about to turn Friday Night SmackDown into Friday Night Lockdown. They say it’s been rough being on the sidelines for 5 months being away from this, but it was rougher watching The Big Dog defend himself against Queen Corbin and his kingdom. The Usos say Corbin disrespected Reigns with the dog food, but doing that he disrespected the whole family. The Usos are about to get real disrespectful because kings come and go, but blood is forever. They go to welcome Corbin to The Uso Penitentiary but the music hits and out comes Corbin on his caravan with servants. Dolph Ziggler is right in front of them.
Corbin takes the mic and says Reigns is really going to throw his family under the bus because Roman is scared to face him alone. Corbin goes on and says no one is winning the Rumble but the king. Reigns isn’t scared of Corbin. He wants to beat Corbin’s ass twice in one night. Reigns suggests they wrestle before the Rumble Match and then Corbin can watch Reigns celebrate his big win. Corbin accepts and says after tonight, Reigns won’t have any family because he and Ziggler are about to hand two dogs, two little b—–s. The Usos run the ropes and leap over the top, taking out Corbin and the others at ringside. They return to the ring to join Reigns to celebrate till we go to break.
My Thoughts
This was a solid segment. I couldn’t help but notice the fans booing Reigns when he mentioned winning the Rumble and headlining Wrestlemania for the fifth time. The fans haven’t really booed him since returning from his leave of absence to fight Lukemia. However, at the same time he hasn’t really been on the top of card going after the championship since then either. Maybe that says something about where the fans want to see Roman on the card. The Usos come out to loving response from the crowd while rocking their fresh new Usos Chalkline Official jackets. If youre interested in getting them you can buy them here and use the promo code TWC15 to save yourself 15%. I also don’t mind Corbin and Reigns facing each other before the Rumble match to add more depth to the card.

King Corbin and Dolph Ziggler def. The Usos
In the Usos first match back after being out for five months, they suffer a defeat by DQ when Roman Reigns couldn’t help himself from spearing Corbin. The match was full of chaos as we saw The Revival come out to distract the Usos and give the upper hand to Corbin and Ziggler.
After the bell, Reigns is upset at ringside. He clears the announce table and goes to powerbomb Corbin through it but a returning Robert Roode attacks out of nowhere and drops Reigns. Roode destroys Reigns and Corbin hits him with a Deep Six at ringside. Ziggler joins in with a big superkick as the boos get louder. Roode talks trash to Reigns, yelling about how he’s back and this is family. Corbin assists as Roode nails a Spinebuster to Reigns on top of the announce table. It does not break. Corbin and Roode hold Reigns down on the table as Ziggler puts Reigns through the table with a big flying elbow. We go to replays. Corbin, Roode and Ziggler bury Reigns under the announce table debris as Reigns did to Roode over one month ago. We get more replays. SmackDown goes off the air as Corbin’s music plays while Corbin, Roode and Ziggler talk trash and taunt The Big Dog.
My Thoughts
It was great to see the Usos back in action and I swear they have had the most comfortable looking ring gear in the last three years. This match was full of chaos and as some might looked at it as overbooked, I actually enjoyed it. The Revival coming out to cause a distraction made sense since their relationship with Corbin in the past and their dislike for The Usos and Reigns. Roode returning was gonna happen sooner or later. I was actually thinking about him earlier today while in Flick Chat because I assumed Corbin and Ziggler had to even the odds somehow against Reigns and The Usos. I then remembered that Roode is Ziggler’s partner who was suspended for the wellness policy meaning he’d return soon. It just happened to be tonight.

Final Thoughts
This was not a horrible episode of Smackdown but it was a step down from last week. It was still really good and progressed every storyline they have going on and thats what really matters. The return of the Usos and Morrison does add a little more excitement to the show as it feels fresh now. I am looking forward to next week we see Morrison make his return to action against Big E. I’m also curious to how Reigns and The Usos will even the odds now that it seems like its three against five. I don’t know how much family they have yo but then again Roman did take out both members of The Revival with a superman punch. Hopefully next week we get some more Sasha and Carmella and they continue with the strong storyline advancement.