0 of 8
Credit: WWE.com
As the WWE prepares for the Royal Rumble on January 31, it is all hands-on as more and more Superstars declare their entries and try to qualify for the starting Rumble matches.
This week’s SmackDown continued to build pay-per-view while also handling some internal business for the blue brand.
After winning a shot at the title by defeating Sami Zayn last week, Apollo Crews challenged Big E in a fight for the Intercontinental Championship.
We also saw Bayley and Bianca Belair compete on an obstacle course to see which one was the top athlete, and Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens prepared for their showdown at The Royal Rumble.
Let’s look at everything that happened on Friday’s show.
1 of 8
SmackDown opened with a video package recapping what happened last week with Reigns and Adam Pearce before The Tribal Chief and Paul Heyman arrived in the ring.
Reigns talked about how Owens and Pearce may have deceived him, but he is the champion because he doesn’t believe in the “Letters subject to change” mentality. He said his back is starting to hurt from carrying this company for years.
Pearce said it went too far and things are getting out of hand. Reigns said the only thing that is out of control is Owens being in a title fight.
Reigns felt disrespected and made Heyman attack Pearce. This led Heyman to challenge Pearce to a fight, which was quickly accepted.
Degree: B-
Analyze
Pearce has become a great authority figure on the screen and seeing him being used in more meaningful ways in the past few weeks was a lot of fun.
This was a solid opening segment that probably lasted a few minutes longer than necessary, but it never became unbearable.
Reigns was more vocal than usual, which helped to express his anger at being cheated. Despite being a heel, almost everything he said was true, especially with regard to his health.
2 of 8
The female doubles champions made a trip to the blue label this week to face Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott with Billie Kay in their corner.
The Queen and Riott started the fight with a basic combination of crash and fall. Asuka received the tag and ran over Riott with a shoulder blow.
Morgan made a blind appointment and dropped Charlotte off while she was distracted by Kay. She scored a count of two with a crossbody from the upper string. After a break, Riott and Morgan were still ahead.
Asuka scored and hit a running knee, but Riott was there to break the immobilization. Riott had Asuka immobilized, but Kay accidentally distracted the referee. The Empress recovered and scored on The Queen to hit the Natural Selection for victory.
Degree: B
Analyze
We have only been at this angle for a few weeks, but Kay is already impacting the outcome of The Riott Squad matches in a negative way, which means that this union is bound to fail.
The combination itself was very good and gave the four women a chance to show their skills. Morgan and Riott looked especially good, despite Kay’s involvement.
The women’s doubles division needs a lot of work, but if the Riott Squad is one of the top doubles that are holding it, there is hope that it can improve in 2021.
3 of 8
Daniel Bryan came to talk about how the event The Royal Rumble always gets him excited. He ended up being interrupted by Cesaro, who told how he beat Bryan last week.
Cesaro launched an open challenge and Dolph Ziggler answered the call. We came back from a commercial to see the match taking place. They fought for control with a series of immobilizations and reversals.
Swiss Cyborg hit an uppercut in the corner and spun Ziggler by the feet. They went and came back with almost falls until The Showoff hit the Zig Zag for a count of two. Cesaro took it and hit the Neutralizer for the win.
Degree: AN
Analyze
That was what professional wrestling could be. Cesaro and Ziggler are miles ahead of the majority of the team in terms of technical skill and did not even need a long game to prove how good they are.
A few more minutes would have helped, but they made the most of their time and told a solid story from bell to bell, while Bryan provided context about the comments.
Between that and his victory over Bryan last week, Cesaro seems to be gaining momentum towards the men’s fight Royal Rumble. Even if he doesn’t win at PPV, it’s amazing to see a talented artist being used in the right way for the first time.
4 of 8
Reginald tried to win Sasha Banks with a rose at the start of the match, but she popped the taste out of her mouth. She tried to knock him over, but he got to his feet.
He grabbed Banks by the waist, but she reversed him. He rolled out of the ring and pulled his apron back just to show off. The Boss made him pay with a baseball dropkick.
Banks dropped him with a wheelbarrow bulldog, but missed a meteor in the corner. Reginald took a knee to the face, but hit her in the cross. She dragged him out of the ring with an arm drag and knocked him down with a meteor from his apron.
She finally brought it to the bank statement for the presentation’s victory.
Degree: C +
Analyze
Impressive as some of Reginald’s stunts may have been, this match still had some careless moments and strange points that would have benefited from this fight being recorded.
Still, this was better than anyone expected, so this is an advantage. The rivalry between Carmella and Banks didn’t need that, but it was a fun change of pace from what we’ve seen in the past.
WWE has always shied away from inter-gender wrestling, so it will be interesting to see if we can get more fights like that in the future.
5 of 8
As soon as the doorbell rang, Big E hit a huge belly for a suplex belly followed by a splash on the apron. Crews responded with a few kicks that shook the champion. He got a quick count of two with a standing lunar jump and continued on the big man with a pair of German suplexes.
Big E avoided a third and hit a large urinal for another near fall. Crews fought him in the corner with some header. Sami Zayn had handcuffed himself in the corridor as a protest, but he broke free and ran into the ring to hit the two men with Helluva Kicks and cause an unchallenged ending.
Degree: Ç
Analyze
The match was starting when Zayn interfered, so he stopped before reaching his maximum potential in several ways.
That may keep the story going, but it still robbed us of what could have been a big title fight, so it’s hard not to be a little angry about it.
Crews, Zayn and Big E will likely end up in a triple threat fight at the Royal Rumble to resolve this once and for all.
6 of 8
Bayley gave us a summary of the obstacles before they entered the course. She decided to take the course first and pushed Belair out of the way.
She took time to get past each obstacle and ended up cheating, running through the walls that were built instead of climbing them. It ended with a time of 1:12.
Before Belair took his turn, Bayley made some of the obstacles more difficult. Belair was still flying the course, but when she arrived at the fireman’s transport, she had to carry Otis instead of Chad Gable. She even did that and beat Bayley’s time for 17 seconds.
Bayley attacked and defeated it before throwing it on the pole of a basketball hoop that was part of the course.
Degree: C +
Analyze
This was nothing special in terms of entertainment value, but Belair’s physical prowess made everything more enjoyable than it would have been without her.
We all saw it end with an attack, so there was no surprise or diversion. It happened, even if it was the most predictable thing on the show.
7 of 8
Dominik Mysterio was seeking revenge for Baron Corbin after the King defeated his father last week. Corbin’s horsemen were again absent.
Dom went right after him and landed a few quick strokes before sending Corbin out of the ring. The king leveled it with a clothesline for a count of two.
Corbin managed to secure victory with The End of Days.
Degree: Ç
Analyze
This was not bad, but it was also not good. It just … went. Let’s move on and forget about it in a week or two after one of the Mysterios defeats Corbin in a rematch.
It was nice to see Dominik again, but it’s hard not to wonder why WWE made him skip NXT completely. He could benefit from having more time to hone his microphone skills.
8 of 8
While Heyman walked into the ring, he pretended to suffer a leg injury. He did the same thing Pearce did last week and appointed a replacement. That’s when Reigns came to the ring.
As soon as he hit the ring, the Tribal Chief hit him with a punch from Superman. Pearce tried to return, but a low blow stopped him.
KO came out of nowhere and saved Pearce from certain destruction by attacking the universal champion. They fought near the LED screens with fans before returning to the ring.
Owens blocked a Superman Punch and hit a Stunner. It took several employees to keep them apart, and even then, they still managed to meet a few times. KO hit a second Stunner before putting Reigns on the announcement table with a Powerbomb Popup.
Degree: B
Analyze
We may not have seen Pearce coming out of retirement to beat Heyman, but we saw Owens destroy Reigns, so the show had a happy ending.
It was clear that Heyman would never have a real game, but there was still hope that Pearce would hit some moves. Perhaps he will have another chance in the future.
The rivalry between Reigns and KO is being carried out solely by the skill of the two men involved. The plot is nothing special or original, but as it is being executed it is fun to watch.