Written by Brian T. McNamara
Kane returns to open the episode of Smackdown January 17 in Greensboro, NC. It’s always good to see the devil’s favorite demon and it makes sense to have Kane come out and put over the entire Royal Rumble. Hopefully we’ll get to see Kane at the Rumble. After a maniacal laugh from the moonlighting mayor, a Firefly Funhouse segment cuts him off. It’s a particularly good Funhouse as Bray gets to play off all of Kane’s demon elements. Bray affecting a Tennesse drawl and asking how the commute from “Aich-Ee-Doube Hockey Sticks” was pretty good.
The lights in the arena go out and The Fiend emerges from the ring basked in red light. Kane, who has done this literal thing more than once, is seemingly unaware. He then turns to face the Fiend and declares “What took you so long” before Daniel Bryan dropkicks the Fiend and pummels him. He shoves the Fiend back into the hole in the ring and takes a fistful of Fiendish dreadlocks. Bryan and Kane do the yes chant. An overall light but fun segment. Some good play with wrestling continuity and
Backstage, Daniel talks about the Fiend’s penchant for disappearing and he purposes to have a solution – a strap match at Royal Rumble. Bryan does a great job of getting into character, his anger feels real and raw. On commentary, Corey Graves implies he doesn’t know if Daniel is supposed to a heel or face anymore. A weird note before transitioning into another match.
Big E vs. John Morrison
The match starts off strong with Morrison throwing some vicious looking forearms and a plentiful amount of kicks. Big E gets in a great shoulder block that spikes Morrison. It does feel like the battle of two guys with very different styles. Morrison gets the upper hand and then pulls off a neck breaker from the apron to the floor on Big E that can only hurt. Morrison holds the lead throughout the second half of the match. When Big E is able to get an advantage, Miz interferes. Morrison does an amazing side somersault off the top turnbuckle to Kofi on the outside and delivers his twisty finisher. Overall a good showcase for Morrison, but it reads oddly given how often Graves and Cole were mentioning a Big E singles run on commentary.
Winner: John Morrison
The Usos vs. The Revival
A very classic tag team match from two of the best tag teams in the company. The Revival did feel the slightest bit off their game at first though but the match picked up after the Wilder was tagged in. Wilder attempted a sort of reverse bulldog from the corner that looked pretty great but got tossed midway through. Over perhaps too fast, but it serves the purpose to showcase the strength of the “regrouped” Usos. Easily could have let these two teams go out through a commercial break.
Winner: The Usos
Backstage the Revival talk about their frustrations and then make some comments about the company not caring about the tag team division and about them. I guess WWE is content to have these… heels?… be critical of their company in some sort “imply people are dissatisfied only to get beat up arc.” It’s strange.
The camera pans off the Revival to Bayley and Lacey fighting backstage while Sasha is on the ground. I feel like we’re constantly getting backstage segments with these three where the person being advertised to fight is “injured” and then replaced with other. It ceases to be special. Is Sasha really injured? Is this some sort of “keep the Lacey/Sasha match off TV” thing? They listed the card at the beginning of the night and could have stricken the match if Sasha is injured. Also, Bayley randomly affects a Southern accent in this bit as a joke against Lacey but then carries it into another bit? Strange.
Bayley vs. Lacey Evans
Match starts off strong, good fundamental wrestling match. The crowd did not seem so much on Lacey’s side as commentary want us to think and I may have detected some piped in Lacey chants that didn’t quite match the crowd shots. The problem is that it doesn’t feel so different than their last few outings. Lacey has improved as a wrestler but she has a strike-and-throw heavy set of moves. I’d like to see her whip out some more grappling moves or a suplex, she certainly seems capable. Lacy looks to have taken a very strong elbow strike from Bayley to her face, her cheek and chin were hot pink for much of the second half. Lacey is able to pull out a Women’s right that looked absolutely devastating and picked up the pin.
Winner: Lacey Evans
Shorty G (ugh, come on! Make him Gable again!) is backstage talking about Sheamus who then comes in and interrupts the interview doing a bunch of short jokes and then a head pat. Short G tackles him and Sheamus flips a table. An odd segment.
Braun Strowman is backstage finally talking about the Rumble! He declares himself for the match and then moves right on to talking Shinsuke Nakamura and his shot at the Intercontinental Title.
Elias is out now and interrupted by the faction built just for me, Nakamura, Cesaro and Sami Zayn. Sami’s promo has more to do with Braun so it’s weird Elias is here taking the brunt of it. Nakamura is posting in his jumpsuit like Prince through the entire thing. Elias taunt them with an improv song that actually gets over with the crowd. Cesaro is then sent down to beat up Elias; Nak follows and then Sami puts some punches to him before Braun makes his way out and puts the three through their paces.
Next a memorial segment for Rocky Johnson that was very well done.
Alexa Bliss vs. Sonya Deville
This was basically a non-starter of a match. No one seemed particularly interested in the match and with Otis out at ringside, you know the storyline with Mandy was going to overshadow. And sure enough, it did. No one looked particularly good and this was easily forgotten mere moments after the match was over. Mandy was knocked into Otis’s arms from the apron and this distracted Deville for Alexa to pick up a win. Everyone involved is capable of much more.
Winner: Alexa Bliss
Robert Roode vs. Roman Reigns: Tables Match to Determine Stipulation at Royal Rumble for Reigns vs. Corbin
The alliterative battle! Robert Roode attacked Reigns before the bell, but before anything really got going this devolved into a three-on-one as King Corbin and Dolph Ziggler came. It feels like a repeat of the previous weeks where the three ganged up on Roman, but now the Usos join in. This match probably would have been better served as a three-on-three tag match. The match never really regains any semblance of narrative flow, but the Usos do a good job putting the hurt on Corbin and Ziggler. Roman spears Roode through a table to pick up the win.
Winner: Roman Reigns
After the match, Roman says that his match with Corbin will take place in a huge baseball stadium and he would like to kick Corbin’s ass all over it, so their match at the Rumble will be Falls Count Anywhere. It’s a nice moment for Roman and it feels like the crowd is finally back on his side. Though this feud has got to end and Roman needs a new direction after the Rumble.
I’ve been somewhat down on the wrestling in the past few weeks with WWE shows, but the Smackdown January 17 episode felt like there was a bigger emphasis, save the last two matches. But a lot of the storylines feel all over the place. We’re a little over a week away from the Royal Rumble and it seems like the Pay Per View was talked about a lot, matches setup but the actual Rumble matches were never mentioned past Kane’s stellar record; a sort of headlining afterthought. But I found myself enjoying this episode despite itself. Strong in-ring will always balance out weird storyline. Maybe the Rumble will give us some soft story resets and new paths for the coming weeks.
