WWE Smackdown Live – Jan 29th 2019: Results & Review
Welcome to this week’s Smackdown Live review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and Star Wars: The Last Jedi was a three hour costume drama and that’s why so many of us hated the movie. Also, we have a few surprises with the title matches, so here we go…Rian Johnson made Luke an arrogant stand-up comedian because he doesn’t know how to write dialogue for nice people. I don’t care if Han shot first…I just want him to comb his hair.
Match #1: R-Truth def. Shinsuke Nakamura to win the United States Championship
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
As a make-good for being attacked by Nia Jax prior to entering the Men’s Royal Rumble Match at his promised slot of No. 30 this past Sunday, R-Truth was granted a United States Title Match against new champion Shinsuke Nakamura on SmackDown LIVE. The King of Strong Style took immediate control, delivering several punishing knee strikes to Truth’s midsection. However, in an absolutely shocking moment, R-Truth caught Shinsuke in a rollup for a three-count to become the new United States Champion!
The three-count was so unexpected that even R-Truth couldn’t believe it. Truth and Carmella had very little time to celebrate, however, as they were quickly interrupted by a furious Rusev & Lana. The Bulgarian Brute declared that the United States Championship deserved better than R-Truth and demanded a title opportunity right now. Before Truth could respond, Carmella and Lana started to jaw jack, and The Staten Islander Princess knocked Lana to the canvas with a hard shove. An infuriated Rusev began yelling at Carmella, prompting R-Truth to intervene. Rusev shoved the new champion to the canvas, and Truth signaled to the referee that he wanted Rusev right now!
My Take: 2.5 out of 5 – The match didn’t get too far, but the surprise was well received by the crowd and R-Truth got to be the champion after many years of waiting.
Match #2: R-Truth def. Rusev – United States Championship Match
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
Rusev blitzed the new United States Champion out of the gates, but much like Nakamura moments earlier, The Super Athlete took his eye off the prize, allowing Truth to catch him off-guard with a rollup for his first successful title defense! Rusev lost his mind after the shocking defeat, as did Nakamura, who was still at ringside. Once again, before Truth could celebrate his massive victory, he was attacked from behind by Nakamura. The King of Strong Style then threw the battered champion into the ring, and a still-fuming Rusev continued the attack before he and Nakamura put the boots to Truth together, dropping him with a Machka Kick and a Kinshasa. The two Superstars eventually seemed satisfied with their dirty work, standing triumphantly as Truth laid motionless on the mat.
My Take: 2.5 out of 5 – More time was dedicated to the attack by the former US champions then to the match itself, but what was here was good and the crowd loved seeing R-Truth win twice in one night.
Match #3: (Main Event) The Usos def. The Bar, Heavy Machinery and The New Day to earn a SmackDown Tag Team Titles opportunity at WWE Elimination Chamber
The following is courtesy of WWE.com:
The New Day, The Usos, The Bar and Heavy Machinery all looked to seize a monumental opportunity, as they collided in a Four Corners Elimination Tag Team Match where the winners would go on to face SmackDown Tag Team Champions Shane McMahon & The Miz at WWE Elimination Chamber.
The New Day was the first squad to be eliminated when they got caught by Heavy Machinery’s dreaded Compactor double team maneuver. The Usos looked like they were in major trouble when The Bar targeted both Usos on the outside, keeping them down but not officially out. The Bar and Heavy Machinery battled it out in brutal fashion for a while, but Jimmy Uso recovered, made a blind tag and caught Tucker Knight with a few sudden strikes. The Bar found their way back into the contest, and Sheamus connected with a Brogue Kick on Tucker Knight for the second elimination. The Usos surged in the closing moments, downing Cesaro on the floor and catching Sheamus with an emphatic top-rope splash for the win, securing their title bout against “Team Bestie” at WWE Elimination Chamber.
My Take: 3 out of 5 – This was a pretty good match that had plenty of action. You won’t be calling the newspapers to tell them that you’ve seen the next great match or anything like that, but this was still good. This was like a cop calling the cop that worked the Ed Gein case and telling about the Zodiac Killer…“If you thought that mamma’s boy Ed Gein was sadistic, then get a load of this!” It’s kind of like the part in Back to the Future where Michael J Fox was playing his way through Johnny B. Goode and what’s his $#@! told the guy on the phone to listen to him play. Ain’t history cool? Ain’t you glad we took this time to talk about a decent match and the mythology of life? Twern’t nuthin’.
News Of The Night:
- Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch had a brawl that may be hinting at Flair getting put into the Ronda Rousey/Becky Lynch feud.
- Rusev has turned heel against R-Truth and is working with Shinsuke Nakamura to destroy R-Truth.
- Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows will wrestle Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev due to the former not liking what the latter did to R-Truth.
- Andrade attacked Rey Mysterio and stopped him from wrestling Samoa Joe.
- The Miz and Shane McMahon had a celebration for themselves winning the Smackdown Tag Team Titles.
- Mandy Rose revealed the reason for trying to destroy Naomi’s marriage, which is that Naomi humiliated her on Tough Enough several years ago and when she lost her confidence in herself, her boy-friend left her.
- The Usos will fight The Besties for the Smackdown Tag Team Titles at the Elimination Chamber Pay Per View.
- Daniel Bryan made the new WWE World Title out of hemp.
- Daniel Bryan will defend the WWE World Heavyweight Title in an Elimination Chamber match against Jeff Hardy, Mustafa Ali, Randy Orton, Samoa Joe and AJ Styles.
Final Verdict: 2.5/5
This was far too light on wrestling, but what little wrestling we got accomplished some big stuff, so that’s good. The promos did well, but felt a bit more than just contrived, as they all did the same thing. The Elimination Chamber PPV got lots of good build, so that works out well. Over-all, this could have been worse, but why could it not have been much better?
