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Smackdown Live Recap and Review 1/30/18

In the first Smackdown Live after the Royal Rumble pay per view, we hear from Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura after he challenges WWE Champion AJ Styles.


Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn congratulate Shinsuke Nakamura

Nakamura recalls Sunday night’s events, where he delivered Kinshasas to various superstars and won the Royal Rumble before being interrupted by Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. They, of course, make Nakamura’s celebration about themselves, as they were robbed of the title because of a referee mistake.


AJ joins the men in the ring, proposing that he and Nakamura take on Owens and Zayn tonight. The friends decline the challenge, but visit Daniel Bryan and Bryan tells them that the match will happen anyway. Kevin and Sami beg for another opportunity at the WWE Championship, and Bryan pits KO and Sami Zayn against each other next week, and the winner will face AJ Styles for the title.



#1 Contendership Match for the US Championship

Kofi Kingston vs. Jinder Mahal vs. Rusev vs. Zack Ryder

Winner: Rusev

The match bounces back and forth as each member of the match attacks one another in a jumble that isn’t uncommon at the beginning of fatal four way matches. Sunil Singh distracts Rusev before Rusev can jump out of the ring onto Ryder, Mahal, and Kingston, angering Aiden English and causing Singh to back into the New Day’s plate of pancakes. This distraction causes the ref to eject all of these men, and leaves a level playing field.


Jinder Mahal dominates the match for a bit, but then Rusev re-enters the fray, knocking Jinder to the outside. Ryder and Kingston fight back, but ultimately, Rusev traps Kingston in the Accolade, gaining the victory for himself. He confronts champion Bobby Roode at ringside, and then walks out.



The Usos address the tag team division

Fresh off their victory at the Royal Rumble, the Usos name every tag team in the Smackdown division, claiming that they’ve beaten them all. They say that their “Day One” represents the struggle with life, and their struggles have only made them stronger.


Right as they’re about to exit the ring, the Bludgeon Brothers enter. There’s a brief stare down between the two teams, and then the Usos leave as Harper and Rowan prepare for their match.



Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) vs. Local competeitors

Winners: Bludgeon Brothers

This was just another match to keep the Bludgeon Brothers on TV, promoting their tag team capabilities. Since it followed so directly after the Usos saying that they could beat any team—even brothers—this could be leading toward further confrontation between Harper and Rowan and the tag champs.


It’s good to continue to cement the Bludgeon Brothers as a dominant team, but I’m not sure it’s believable for them to beat the Usos as they’ve only ever defeated Breezango and the Ascension. It’ll be interesting to see where this goes in coming weeks.




Daniel Bryan announces the Smackdown Top 10

In a cell phone video, the Smackdown Live General Manager announced a concept called the Smackdown Top 10 List, in which Smackdown superstars vote on superstars that they believe deserve more opportunities, including who’s most talented, has best locker room leadership, and who has the most athletic skill on the roster.


Shane and Daniel won’t be able to vote, and superstars can’t vote for themselves. This concept is a great idea: it’ll get fans excited about a new segment each week and will allow more talented superstars that get the short end of the stick when it comes to booking (Naomi, Tye Dillinger, etc.). It’s likely that this won’t be purely the decision of superstars, but at the least, it’s a way for babyfaces who work hard to get a chance in the spotlight.



Carmella attempts to cash in her money in the bank on Charlotte

Charlotte speaks about Sunday night, virtually calling out Ronda Rousey, when she is interrupted by Ruby Riott and the Riott Squad, who just calls her a cheap imitation of her father, saying she won’t make it to Wrestlemania. A fight breaks out and Charlotte takes control at first, but then submits to the numbers game.


As Charlotte lay in the center of the ring, Carmella’s music hits. When the referee is informing Greg Hamilton that she’s cashing in, Carmella goes to kick Charlotte but Charlotte moves, and Ms. Money in the Bank accidentally hits the referee. Charlotte gets back up, and Carmella retreats to the back.


It isn’t often that someone looking weak helps them in the WWE. Carmella capitalizes on the fact that fans think she’s not that good, and she doesn’t even pretend not to fear the other women of Smackdown Live. She wants to be champion without actually putting the work in, and when she becomes champ, fans are going to hate her even more because she probably wont deserve the title.



Tye Dillinger vs. Baron Corbin

Winner: Baron Corbin

Straight out of the gate, Dillinger attacks Corbin. He takes him out of the ring, but when they re-enter, Corbin takes control. Corbin controls the match from hereon, despite the “you can’t wrestle” chants from fans. Corbin picks up the victory.


It’s no doubt that Tye Dillinger has been victim to poor and nonexistent booking throughout his main roster career. One can only hope that we will see his untapped potential with the top 10 list down the line. Even when he loses every week on TV, fans still seem to know that he isn’t just a jobber. All he needs is a bigger opportunity to show what he’s got.



Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango) vs. Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin

Winners: Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin

The Fashion files hosts took over social media, hosting an #AskBreezango on Twitter proctored by the Ascension when they were rudely interrupted by Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin. Benjamin and Gable claim that Breezango couldn’t beat them and challenged them to a match later tonight.


Benjamin starts off with Fandango, and Benjamin eliminates Tyler Breeze from the apron to target Fandango one-on-one. He tags in his partner, and Gable controls Fandango for a moment until Dango gets to the turnbuckle to tag in Breeze. When Benjamin tags back in, Fandango enters the ring to remove Chad Gable, and both men are sent over the top rope and onto the floor. This allows Shelton to get the advantage, and Gable comes back in to help him deliver a power bomb diving clothesline, giving them the victory.


After weeks of being off TV, Breezango returns in a funny backstage segment, just to get crushed by a tag team on the rise. It’s good to see them back, but not so good to see them follow the same template they’ve been using for the past several months. It wasn’t a bad match, it just sucks to see Breeze and Dango being used like this.



Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles

Before the match even starts, we get a glimpse of dissension between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens as they talk about their match next week.


At the start of the match, Shinsuke reverses a hold on Zayn by rolling and flipping out of it. Zayn tags in Owens, who brutally attacks Nakamura with kicks, and frequent tags between Owens and Zayn allow them to keep the advantage for a bit.


When Nakamura sends Sami out of the ring, though, Owens yells at Zayn to return the corner so he can tag him in. Confused at why he’s yelling, Zayn stays put, and when Nakamura sends Owens out of the ring, they confront one another and Sami walks out on the match. After several minutes of Owens begging him to come back, he finally does, but then he leaves again after they argue some more.


Backstage, Sami cuts a promo about how this isn’t about friendship, it’s about opportunity. Zayn simply wants to prove himself and take advantage of opportunity, and Kevin has had those opportunities before. Their friendship is not over.


We’re back to AJ and Shinsuke teaming together, something we saw on and off for the past few months. It has different implications this time as they are Wrestlemania opponents, but the spotlight wasn’t on them in this main event. They have plenty of time for that feud to develop, so them teaming up right now isn’t something to worry about.

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1 Comment


magaskip
Feb 03, 2018

i‘m impressed!

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