With the January 31 Royal Rumble event approaching, WWE still has a lot of heavy work ahead of it for the second largest of its annual pay-per-view events. That work continued during Friday night’s edition of SmackDown, which was largely anchored by the continuing issues between Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman, Adam Pearce and Kevin Owens.
Reigns was once again seeking revenge on Pearce for defying his wishes, putting together an elaborate series of events that would result in the universal champion putting Pearce in the ring to close the show. Reigns was not counting on Owens showing up to spoil his fun, however, he was taken by surprise and put out when Owens sent one of his final messages before his Last Man Standing fight at Rumble.
CBS Sports was with you all night, bringing you recap and highlights of all the action. Read everything you need to know about ThunderDome.
Kevin Owens leaves SmackDown as the last man standing
Roman Reigns opened the show in the ring, saying that although Kevin Owens promised to send a message, no one would see Owens during the show, because Reigns said so. Reigns said no one sneaked past them when Adam Pearce and Kevin Owens switched places for the next Royal Rumble match. Reigns listed all the injuries he deals with, noting that they do not prevent him from making all the appearances and obligations in the company’s transportation. He then suggested that perhaps his injuries would prevent him from defending the title against Owens at the Royal Rumble event. Pearce joined Reigns and Paul Heyman in the ring, still being defeated by the pair before pointing out that he was not willing to receive any verbal abuse from Heyman, prompting Heyman to demand a fight against Pearce later in the evening. Owens was not, in fact, present, making a promo out of a car and blaming Reigns for pulling the strings to keep him away.
Adam Pearce vs. Paul Heyman ended without competition. After Pearce was in the ring, Heyman walked over to the ring and started limping before saying to Pearce, “Card subject to change.” Reigns then walked to the ring to replace Heyman in the match. Reigns punched Superman as soon as he entered the ring, sending Pearce out of the ring. Pearce tried to fight back, but it was played at ThunderDome, played repeatedly on video cards. Owens then ran and attacked Reigns and the action hit the ring where Owens hit Reigns with a stunner. Owens continued the attack, hitting another stunner, even as WWE officials tried to pull him away. Finally, Owens drove Reigns across the ad table with a pop-up powerbomb when the show went off the air.
Scrap Daddy fans are being teased with Pearce having an almost weekly fight right now, but they will have to settle for Pearce by punching Reigns once. It was a necessary development in the last few weeks to have Owens beat Reigns, otherwise the story is just Owens constantly hitting walls and never achieving anything significant. Everyone involved in the angle is excellent at the microphone, so this was another good week for everyone involved and built more momentum towards another somewhat predictable confrontation between Reigns and Owens. Note: B +
What else happened at WWE SmackDown?
Sami Zayn handcuffed himself to the barricade next to the ring for the show. Zayn also announced that he was entering the Royal Rumble fight.
Charlotte Flair & Asuka won. The Riott Squad via pinfall when Flair hit Ruby Riott with Natural Selection. Billie Kay was out of the squad again and again cost them the departure in their attempt to find acceptance in the group. Riott and Liv Morgan were extremely upset with Kay. Kay tried to win their favor back, saying that she had managed to get them into the Royal Rumble, but Riott still came out telling Kay that things were better off without her.
Cesaro def. Dolph Ziggler via pinfall after hitting a Neutralizer. Cesaro cut a promo from Daniel Bryan about his desire to win the Royal Rumble. Bryan challenged Cesaro to fight on the spot, but Cesaro said he was launching an open challenge since defeating Bryan last week. Ziggler was the man who accepted the challenge, leading to a short match that was won by Cesaro.
Sasha Banks won. Reginald via shipping bank statement. Carmella’s sommelier showed incredible athleticism without getting involved in any offense, keeping in line with WWE’s stance on intergenerational fights, before Banks finally managed to immobilize him and submit.
Apollo Crews def. Sami Zayn by disqualification after interference from Sami Zayn. During the fight, Zayn removed his handcuffs while Crews took care of the action. Zayn ran and gave Crews a Helluva Kick for disqualification. He then turned and gave the same kick to Big E, taking revenge on the two men he considered responsible for not being intercontinental champions anymore.
Street Profits petitioned Sonya Deville for a rematch for the tag titles they lost to Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler. Deville, in charge of preparing Adam Pearce for the match, said they would have to wait until Montez Ford recovered from his leg injury, but when he was healed, they would be back in the title fight.
Bianca Belair def. Bayley in the Athlete’s Final Obstacle Challenge. Bayley ran the course first, which included a tire turn, obstacles, wall climbing and carrying Chad Gable. Before Belair left, Bayley had the obstacles increased and, instead of Gable, Belair had to carry Otis. She still managed to win easily, but Bayley attacked after Belair won, leaving after getting the better of Belair, despite losing the challenge.
King Corbin defeated. Dominik Mysterio via pinfall after reaching the End of days. Dominik assured Rey Mysterio that he had a plan to face Corbin. Corbin dominated the match and won quickly, without encountering much resistance from Mysterio.