SHello and welcome to the first Smackdown Live review of 2019! Technically the first Smackdown review was last week but that episode was taped so…first live show of the year was last night. Anyways, we are rapidly approaching the Royal Rumble and the road to Wrestlemania. 2019 is already shaping up to be a great year for wrestling!
We opened up with Daniel Bryan standing atop the arena stairs before slowly descending and spitting venom at the crowd and at AJ Styles. I didn’t know Angry Super Environmentalist Daniel Bryan was gonna make this captivating of a heel and that’s coming from someone who isn’t a huge fan of him. R-Truth attacked him from out of the WWE Universe as he got down to the floor and that led to a match between the two. A
Daniel Bryan vs R-Truth
This match was over before it really began. Truthfully (ha, see what I did there?), Bryan’s opening tirade probably lasted longer than the match. A running knee secured the victory for the champion.
Grade: C-
After the match, AJ Styles pounced on the champion while he was on the stage. Styles seems to have tapped into some more aggression than we’ve seen for the past year. Vince’s taunting seems to have worked. B
Rey Mysterio and Mustafa Ali vs Andrade “Cien” Almas and Samoa Joe
I am highly upset that they went to commercial over Ali’s entrance. They don’t want us to have nice things I guess. Action-wise, we got some great moves. Mysterio hit the 619 on Joe. He also busted out a Canadian Detroyer on Almas! Ali landed a 450 splash on Joe. Mysterio was going for a 619 to Joe, but it got reversed into a gutbuster and Almas won the match with a hammerlock DDT. Great match. It was pretty cool to see Almas win. But for some reason, there was a really long commercial with no screen-in-screen for us to see the match.
Grade: B+
Backstage, Carmella talked about being considered the third wheel in the Becky Lynch-Charlotte Flair rivalry, the Bar was welcomed into the Uso Penitentiary, Shane McMahon made it clear that he and the Miz have to work for their tag team championship shot, and Becky Lynch said Asuka’s title run is on borrowed time. These segments were kind of short so I put them all together. They were alright, nothing too wild. B
Rusev came out in the ring to talk about what happened last week when Lana got hurt. Shinsuke Nakamura was hanging out in the production truck and showed us replays of the incident, saying that it’s Rusev’s fault that Lana got hurt. Rusev goes backstage to attack him, but Nakamura is ready for him. They get into a scuffle. I don’t think Lana would be this injured from someone only half-way landing on her, but I’m glad Rusev and Nakamura’s feud is continuing. B-
The Usos vs The Bar
So The Usos had a chance to get a title shot, which kind of ticked off a few fans on Twitter when it was announced since we had been talking about how the same teams keep getting opportunities. This was a pretty standard match, though it seems all the participants may have been a little off their game since their match started after we had to watch the tribute to Mean Gene Okerlund. Toward the end of the match, Many Rose’s awkward porno music hit and she sauntered out in a towel, asking for Jimmy to help her find her “tiny gold shorts and tiny gold top”. Jimmy is distracted and Cesaro hits the Neutralizer for the win. The Miz came out and congratulates them before challenging them to a match at the Royal Rumble. After Brogue Kicking Miz, the Bar accepts.
Grade: B-
More backstage stuff: Naomi attacks Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, Daniel Bryan says he’ll be WWE Champion forever, NXT hype videos, Miz gives a pep talk to Shane McMahon, and Charlotte says that Becky Lynch and Carmella are going to be humbled by the Queen. I liked Bryan’s little interview and Charlotte’s promo, but the other things were very…meh. C+
Carmella vs Charlotte Flair vs Becky Lynch
On one hand, I really liked this match because I’m a fan of all three women involved. On the other, I’m a little put off because it was a repeat match and it’s the same women involved in the title hunt. It’s like we forgot about the whole change thing that Vince talked about. But the match itself was solid. Charlotte ended up on the floor with a moonsault and then she was joined by Carmella as Lynch hit her with the Bexploder. Charlotte locked the Figure 8 on Carmella only to have it broken up by Lynch. Carmella broke up a Disarmer before getting trapped in it herself and tapping. It’s official: Becky Lynch vs Asuka at the Royal Rumble!
Grade: A-
This week’s Smackdown delivered a few solid matches, but it seemed to be more talk and promo based. That makes sense considering the Royal Rumble is two weeks from Sunday; we do need to set up and develop the card. I’m a little annoyed about the advertising of the NXT call-ups. I’d prefer if they just showed up instead of being announced or at least change the videos up a little.
Overall show grade: B
-Wynter
