Friday Night Smackdown – Jan 24th 2020: Results & Review
Welcome to this week’s Friday Night SmackDown review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and this show sucks. It better be good this time or I’ll be pissed. I believe in Joe Hendry. Okay, we’ve got the final build for the Royal Rumble, so let’s not waste anymore time crying about having to watch this terrible show.
Match #1: Roman Reigns & The Usos def. King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
Ahead of Roman Reigns’ highly-anticipated Falls Count Anywhere Match against King Corbin at Sunday’s Royal Rumble, The Big Dog once again joined forces with his cousins The Usos against the dangerous combination of Corbin, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode in a Six-Man Tag Team Match. Things took a dark turn in a hurry, though, when Ziggler suddenly drove Jimmy Uso into the steel steps and the ring post head first outside the ring, taking him completely out of the matchup and leaving Reigns and Jey in a two-on-three disadvantage. Reigns and Jey battled on in heroic fashion though. And after Jimmy bravely returned in the final moments of the turbulent showdown, Reigns chased King Corbin out into the crowd, leaving Jey to neutralize Ziggler outside the ring and Jimmy to finish off Roode with the Samoan Splash off the top rope for the big victory.
My Opinion: 3.4 out of 5 – This was a fun match that moved along quite well at any given time. There was enough here to keep this from getting dull, but this was also just a formula fight. Dolph and Roode were quite lively here, playing the part of the insatiable jocks intent on humiliating the hero. Roman did well here as the white-bread babyface in peril, which is also what Republican politicians are doing in America when people try to remove Donny D—Head from office. Anyway, this match was pretty good and that’s alright.
Match #2: Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville (No Contest)
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
Two weeks ago, Alexa Bliss lost to Mandy Rose after being distracted by Otis coming out to the ring with the cake Mandy had given him. One week later, Sonya Deville asked Mandy to invite Otis to the ring to assist her as well, but that backfired when Sonya lost focus over Mandy getting knocked off the apron into Otis’s arms and caused her to lose her match. This week, although both Fire & Desire and Bliss & Cross were looking for a decisive “tie-breaking” victory, it was not to be. Just seconds after the tag team match began, the continued brawl between Evans and Bayley interrupted the action, ending the match in a No Contest and leading to all six Superstars brawling it out.
My Opinion: 0 out of 5 – This never got started. F—.
Match #3: Braun Strowman & Elias def. Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
Last week, Braun Strowman helped Elias ward off a 3-on-1 assault from Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro. To antagonize matters further, before The Monster Among Men joined Elias in a matchup of redemption this week, The Swiss Superman and the reigning Intercontinental Champion interrupted what was sure to be a very entertaining musical duet between Elias and Strowman. In the height of the tag team contest that followed, Strowman and Elias made beautiful music nonetheless. The Monster Among Men delivered a powerslam on Cesaro and paved the way for Elias’ elbow off the top rope and the tag team triumph.
My Opinion: 2.6 out of 5 – There wasn’t much here to see, other than Shinsuke and Cesaro doing some stuff that I wish could lasted longer. Please, stop making us watch Elias wrestle. Overall, just do Shinsuke/Cesaro as a singles match instead.
Match #4: (Main Event) John Morrison def. Kofi Kingston
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
After overcoming Big E last week in his first WWE match in eight years, John Morrison took on Kofi Kingston in an attempt to defeat both SmackDown Tag Team Champions in two weeks’ time and continue his comeback in style heading into the Royal Rumble Match. In the end of an extremely hard-fought matchup by both competitors, interference by The Miz caused Kofi to turn his attention to The A-Lister. Although he took out the meddling Superstar with Trouble in Paradise, Morrison attacked him from behind and overcame Kingston with Starship Pain.
My Opinion: 3 out of 5 – This was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too short. This should have been an Over-The-Top-Rope Challenge to capitalize on both guys being the masters of the Royal Rumble Match. Twenty minutes of these guys defying gravity to avoid being eliminated while clobbering each other every other second is what I was hoping for here. Still, what we did get was enough to whet the appetite for more between these two at some point.
News Of The Night:
- Bayley attacked Lacey Evans, which took up half the night and ruined the women’s tag team match.
- Daniel Bryan was attacked by Bray Wyatt during the contract signing for the Universal Championship Strap Match at the Royal Rumble.
Final Verdict: 3.1/5
This was a slow, empty show that did have some promise and even a match that was worth watching, but it just offered too little for a show that was meant to sell a major Pay Per View.
