WrestleRant
  • Home
  • Columnist Corner
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Audio
  • Videos
  • Store
  • About
  • Contact
Picture

WWE SmackDown Live Review - January 9, 2018

1/9/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn Interrupted Renee Young's Interview with WWE Champion AJ STyles

In a nutshell, Styles said he didn't know why Daniel Bryan did what he did last week and that he'd overcome the odds at the Royal Rumble, anyway. In other words, it was a basic babyface promo. Owens and Zayn were entertaining with their retort, but it's clear that these three won't be able to really showcase their skills on the mic or even in the ring with each other as long as they're overshadowed by the authority figures. That was exactly the case here as Shane McMahon soon surfaced and made a Handicap match for the main event. Are we sure we aren't watching a Raw rerun from this time last year?

Becky Lynch def. Ruby Riott

I see a lot of similarities between Lynch and Riott and hope we get a full-fledged feud between them at some point down the road. This was a good match that was thankfully rid of any interference from the women on the outside. On one hand, I'm glad we didn't get yet another non-finish, but on the other hand, that might have been the best choice considering Riott shouldn't have lost clean here. I realize Lynch needed to look strong upon returning from her absence from TV, but it came at the expense of Riott.
Picture

The Bludgeon Brothers def. The Ascension

This might have been more of a competitive contest four or so years ago when, you know, The Ascension were more of a threat in NXT, but keeping this as short as possible was what needed to happen. I liked that The Ascension attempted to jump them from the get-go before being promptly squashed. The Bludgeon Brothers continue building momentum and I wouldn't be surprised to see them chasing the SmackDown Tag Team Championship before long.

Mojo Rawley def. Zack Ryder in a United States Championship Tournament First Round Match

With the way the commentators were playing up Ryder and how he desperately needed a killer instinct to beat Rawley, I thought for a second he might win. Obviously, I was way off, and I'm happy about that. This was along the same lines as their Clash of Champions match with Rawley on offense for a majority of the match and ultimately winning, which was the right call. On a side note, Rawley really should switch up his attire now that he's a heel.

Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin Demanded Justice

In case you were wondering, Gable and Benjamin are officially heels. They haven't been given much time to talk at all since they initially joined forced at the end of last summer, so it was cool that they were given the opportunity to do so here. Gable was much more comfortable on the stick than Benjamin was, but their promo helped them elicit nice heel heat. Bryan then announced it will be a 2-out-of-3 Falls match between them and The Usos at the Royal Rumble, which could be a ton of fun.

Breezango def. Rusev and Aiden English

I honestly don't think Breezango have won a match since their feud with The Usos in May 2017, so the fact Rusev and English lost to them is not a positive sign. That said, I'm hopeful that this is leading somewhere. Lest we forget, Rusev looked upset after English lost to Xavier Woods last week and in the Triple Threat tag team match the week before that. He actually came across like babyface here by encouraging the crowd to get behind him, and that is the role that suits him best at this point.

WWE Champion AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura and Randy Orton def. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a No Count-out, No Disqualification 3-on-2 Handicap Match

Remember the Payback 2016 main event where the McMahons restarted the match after it had previously ended by count-out and by disqualification? That was this reminded of. It didn't even make sense to have the babyfaces stack the odds against the heels, because nothing seems to make sense on SmackDown anymore. It was a well-wrestled match for the most part, but I was not fond of all the shenanigans whatsoever. It might as well have been Bryan and Shane in the ring because that was who this match was about (I say that half-jokingly).

Overall Show

I couldn't pick anything from this show that stood out to me or that I will remember a week from now. While it appears SmackDown Live is in a holding pattern ahead of the Royal Rumble, this has been the case for quite a while now. The over-reliance on the authority figures hasn't helped matters, and everything else on the card is just kind of there at the moment despite a few things happening. I hope the blue brand can break this funk coming out of the event and return to the heights it was once at, because it tends to be more formulaic these days than Raw.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Categories

    All
    #AskGSM
    Battle Of The Belts
    Cruiserweight Classic
    Halftime Heat
    Hidden Gems
    Interviews
    Lists/Rankings
    Mae Young Classic
    Mixed Match Challenge
    News
    NJPW
    NWA Shockwave
    NXT PLEs
    Opinion
    Previews
    Retro Reviews
    Reviews
    RJ's Two Cents
    Satire
    Slammy Awards
    SNME
    SummerSlam Recall
    The Deadly Draw
    The World Is A Vampire
    Tribute To The Troops
    Women's Eliminator
    Worlds Collide
    WrestleMania Recall
    WWE Draft
    WWE Network Specials
    WWE PLEs
    WWE Starrcade


    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010

    RSS Feed

©2025 WrestleRant. All Rights Reserved.
  • Home
  • Columnist Corner
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Audio
  • Videos
  • Store
  • About
  • Contact