 Charlotte Flair Walked Out on Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY and Alexa BlissSure, SKY and Ripley are Raw Superstars, but the Brand Split has practically been dead for years now, so is it really worth complaining about? This was a logical follow-up to the way Raw ended on Monday night, and I liked how they weren't all automatically on the same page, specifically Ripley and Flair given their storied history as rivals. Flair refusing to team with Ripley was a nice twist and an intriguing hook for the rest of the build for the women's WarGames match. Jey Uso def. The Miz in a The Last Time Is Now Tournament First-Round MatchI know Miz and Cena have feuded a ton of times dating back to 2009 and have had more matches than were probably necessary, but there was no way Miz was beating Uso here. Neither of these guys will ever be confused with being master in-ring technicians, but they had an enjoyable enough match that the crowd was into. Interestingly, I don't think we've seen any sort of an edge from Uso since his loss at Saturday Night's Main Event, despite the story being told with him prior to that point. United States Champion Ilja Dragunov def. AxiomDragunov continues to play mind games with Tommaso Ciampa by giving a United States Championship opportunity to everyone but him. Axiom is awesome, so I was excited for this match and they didn't disappoint. The crowd was quiet early on, but they came alive down the stretch. These open challenges continue to be the best thing on SmackDown by a country mile. Shinsuke Nakamura, Rey Fenix and The Motor City Machine Guns Saved Sami Zayn from The MFTsI feel like Zayn has been feuding with Solo Sikoa on and off for years now. I understand Sikoa having unfinished business with Zayn after Zayn beat him for the United States title back in August, but this just isn't a rivalry that compels me in the slightest. That said, this segment was solid and set up the traditional Survivor Series tag team elimination match for the SmackDown before Survivor Series. LA Knight def. Zack Ryder in a The Last Time Is Now Tournament First-Round MatchZack Ryder a.k.a. Matt Cardona was among the handful of names I've said I could see serving as the surprises in this tournament because of WWE's working relationship with TNA. He went by Cardona on NXT a few weeks ago, but he was back to being Ryder here, which was probably the right call considering that's what most WWE fans would know him as. They had a quality contest and I'm glad Ryder was made to look credible in defeat. WWE Women's Champion Jade Cargill def. B-Fab (Non-Title)Was it necessary for this to be advertised a week in advance? Not really, but I get wanting Cargill to run through some lower-level stars before she inevitably faces Flair or Bliss. Plus, this was exactly what it needed to be with Cargill going over in dominant fashion. As expected, it appears she'll run through Michin next. She should give Cargill more of a fight, but that won't go down drastically different than this did. Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes def. Bronson Reed by DisqualificationMore spur-of-the-moment title matches, please! No, I'm not advocating that every Raw and SmackDown main event randomly be for a world championship, but it did make this match more meaningful than almost anything else we've seen on SmackDown in recent memory, even if I didn't actually think Reed would win. I appreciated that they wrestled with a sense of urgency for as long as this lasted. Jimmy Uso was revealed to be the fourth member of the babyface team for men's WarGames, so after he and Jey made the save here, they were taken out by the heels and their new partner, Drew McIntyre (shocker, I know). What a stupid, short-lived "suspension." Overall ShowLet me start off by saying that if today's report about SmackDown returning to three hours at the beginning of 2026 is true, then the blue brand will be even worse off than it already is. The show has been a rough watch for months, but it was significantly more boring when it was three hours earlier this year. This company will never learn. As for this episode, it was pretty good on the whole. I liked the two tournament matches, the opening segment and the main event gave us some the WarGames developments, and the other stuff served a purpose. A rare thumbs-up for SmackDown this week.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
January 2026
|
RSS Feed