-The show opens with Kane cutting a promo about how important the Royal Rumble match is, his record 43 eliminations, etc. Before Kane could continue any further, he was interrupted by Bray Wyatt. Wyatt went on to talk about how it would be foolish for the winner of the rumble to challenge for the Universal Championship. He also mentioned how he wouldn’t forget Kane beating him in an inferno match a few years ago. The lights would go out and The Feind would emerge to try and ambush Kane but instead, The Feind was ambushed by Daniel Bryan and forced to retreat. Besides the small win, DB also managed to rip a set of dreadlocks from Wyat’s head while he was retreating. A bit later backstage, Daniel Bryan would make a proposition that his match against Bray Wyatt at the Royal Rumble be a strap match.
John Morrison def. Big E
John Morrison vs Big E was the first match of the night and it was a good opener. It was essentially the powerhouse Big E having to deal with the speed and agility of John Morrison. Throughout the match, the two were rather even with neither man particularly breaking away from the other. The Miz was in Morrison’s corner but didn’t get involved until near the end of the match, he basically did a minor distraction that left Big E open. This let Morrison take down Big E and set up for the Starship Pain.
Once he hit Starship Pain for the win, there weren’t any after match shenanigans but it was noted that both John Morrison and The Miz have singles victories over the SmackDown tag team champions. They may get a title shot at the Rumble, if that’s the case then we may be in for one hell of a match.
The Usos def. The Revival
The Usos and the Revival were the next match and they put on a decent showing. The match was back and forth, but it didn’t feel competitive. While I don’t like in match antics, this match could’ve used it because it was obvious that Jimmy and Jey were going to win. Add on tge fact that the Revival have basically Jokes ever since they got back from injury. The match was fine but skippable overall. It really felt like a sub-par bout considering how good these two teams really are.
After the match, The Revival was about to do a backstage interview about how they need to change but before they could get anything out we got a brawl between Lacey Evans, Sasha Banks, and Bayley. During the scuffle, Banks sold some sort of injury to I believe her arm. A few minutes later, we get Bayley and Sasha nursing their bruises when some agent comes in and notifies them that the Banks and Evans match has been promoted and that Bayley would be taking Sasha’s place due to the Champ’s comments about how she’d “Break every bone in Evan’s body”.
-Sonya and Mandy had a backstage segment where Sonya wanted Mandy to convince Otis to be at ringside tonight. I really don’t care for this storyline but hey, at least it isn’t the fuckery over on RAW with the Lana, Lashley, Liv, Rusev shit.
Lacey Evans def. SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley
After the craziness that led up to this match, I can happily say that I was very satisfied with this match. Bayley and Lacey put on a good match and the crowd was behind Evans. The action was also really good too as at times Evans let her anger get the better of her and Bayley using her experience to counter Evan’s moonsault and keep her on the outside. Despite Bayley having the experience edge, she was never able to truly get an upper hand on Lacey Evans. At best, she was able to get a breather as she was never able to string together too much offense.
In the end, Lacey Evans would ultimately get the victory after hitting a Women’s Right out of nowhere. It turned Bayley’s lights out and it looks like Evans will be the number one contender for Bayley’s championship.
-Backstage we got a segment between Shorty G and Sheamus that saw Gable takedown Sheamus during a short-lived scuffle. Braun Strowman would also have a segment where he declared for the Royal Rumble and mentioned that he wants his Intercontinental title shot and he doesn’t care where or when it is. Elias had a little song but before he could get anywhere with it, he was interrupted by Sami Zayn. Sami said that Braun wouldn’t be getting his title shot and he kind of implied that Shinsuke Nakamura would be in the Royal Rumble match. Afterward, Nakamura and Cesaro would jump Elias before Strowman would come out and manhandled both of them.
-Sonya Deville would face Alexa Bliss next in a short match that saw Deville lose to Bliss via a roll-up and being distracted by Mandy Rose falling into the arms of Otis. This match felt unnecessary and this Otis x Mandy bullshit ain’t my cup of tea.
Roman Reigns def. Robert Roode
In the main event, Roman Reigns would defeat Robert Roode in a table match with the winner deciding the stipulation for the match between Baron Corbin and Roman Reigns at the Royal Rumble. The match itself wasn’t particularly bad but it was very predictable. For the most part, the match was very vanilla when it was just Reigns and Roode in the ring, neither man did anything particularly impressive and was never in any real jeopardy of losing the match. Things didn’t really spice up until King Corbin and Dolph Ziggler inteferred. The beat down Reigns in quick fashion to set him up outside on the announce table and I gonestly thought that it would be the end for Reigns, but just as Bobby Roode was getting to the top rope to perform a dive, the Usos would run out to make the save. The duo would also take out Ziggler and Corbin allowing Reigns to get back to his feet.
Reigns would get Roode back in the ring while Jimmy and Jey would hit the Double Uce on Dolph Ziggler from off the barricade while he was out on the table. Meanwhile in the ring Reigns would hit Roode with a Spear to send his opponent crashing through a table for the win. After the match Reigns would cut a short promo stating that the stipulation for his match would be a Falls Count Anywhere match.
Recap
This week’s episode of SmackDown wasnt the greatest thig in the world but damn if it wasn’t really good. From an in-ring perspective, the matches were really good and the only bad match was the Carmella/Mandy Rose bout. The segments were also really good too, we also got some new developments heading into the Rumble. The big ones were Sheamus facing Shorty G, Lacey Evans facing Bayley for the SmackDown Womens title, and the Universal Championship match being made into a Strap Match.
If you get yhe chance then I’d say that this episode is worth watching should you have about two hours of free time.
Match Ratings
- Big E vs John Morrison: 3.7/5
- Usos vs The Revival: 4/5
- Lacey Evans vs Bayley: 3.7/5
- Roman Reigns vs Robert Roode: 3/5
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