A huge main event is made for Royal Rumble!
We’ve got new tag team champions!
No, wait, no we don’t.
I am Luke Owen and this is the 2nd of January 2018 edition of Smackdown Live… in about
4 minutes.
Headline: AJ Styles confronts Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon
AJ Styles opened this week’s show, announcing his plans for 2018 - which include remaining
WWE Champion and main eventing WrestleMania.
He was also interested to speak with Daniel Bryan about the main event of tonight, where
he would face Sami Zayn with Kevin Owens in his corner.
Bryan came out to address this, as did Shane McMahon.
Shane was also curious about Bryan’s supposed alliance with Owens and Zayn, and announced
that he would also be at ringside for the main event.
Not to be outdone, Bryan revealed he would also be at ringside.
This was a very uninspiring start to the night, and I really wish Smackdown Live could have
a different opening rather than Bryan and Shane bickering every single week.
Headline: American Beta beat The Usos
The Usos defended their tag team titles against American Beta in a very fast-paced match.
It had to be fast-paced as they only got a few minutes of actual screen time, with the
match getting an ad break after just 34 seconds.
American Beta threw one of the Usos into the barricade, and hit their finisher to win the
tag team titles.
However another ref came down to reveal that Gable and the other Usos weren’t the legal
men, and the match was restarted.
Headline: The Usos beat American Beta
And shortly after that, The Usos retained their titles.
This was an… interesting finish but also one that doesn’t make any sense.
If a ref can come out and point out that another was wrong, why doesn’t this always happen
when the heels cheat?
Why wasn’t the AJ Styles and Kevin Owens match restarted last week when it was clear
the ref missed AJ getting the pin?
Well, with both Shane and Bryan at ringside tonight and this new ref ruling in place,
I’m sure there won’t be any sort of shenanigans in the main event.
Headline: The Bludgeon Brothers Kill The Fashion Police And The Ascension
The re-match from last week of The Bludgeon Brothers and The Fashion Police didn’t get
started, as Harper and Rowan attacked Breezango before the bell.
The Ascension tried to make the save, but they were also destroyed.
Headline: Xavier Woods beat Aiden English
Xavier Woods defeated Aiden English in a short match to advance in the United States Champion
tournament.
The highlight of which was Rusev singing a song for English before the match, and Corey
Graves losing it when The New Day threw pancakes at Byron Saxton.
Headline: The Riott Squad beat The Welcoming Committee
Before we got The Riott Squad taking on the newly reformed Welcoming Committee, we got
an awfully scripted promo with FOUR SMACKDOWN WOMEN STANDING IN A ROW.
I guess that Natalya promo from Clash of Champions has been forgotten about.
The Riott Squad won quickly in a nothing match.
Ruby Riott then cut a promo, announcing all three members of the team for the Royal Rumble
when Charlotte came out along with Naomi and a returning Becky Lynch.
Leading to: The Riott Squad being run off by three other women.
While it’s great to see Becky back, the Smackdown Live Women’s division is really
lacking direction.
You have ten women, they all don’t have to be in the same storyline.
Headline: Sami Zayn defeated AJ Styles
The main event saw AJ Styles take on Sami Zayn with Kevin Owens, Shane McMahon and Daniel
Bryan at ringside.
This was a perfectly fine TV match, which again saw the heel distract the ref missing
AJ getting the visual pin on Sami.
Now this isn’t a control c, control v scenario, as it played into the storyline.
During all the melee, Shane pushed Owens down and asked the ref to eject him from ringside.
The ref agreed, but Bryan took the microphone to say if Owens was being sent to the back,
so should Shane.
Sami then hit the Helluva Kick on a distracted Styles for the win.
After the match, Styles cut a promo and joked that he should just be booked in a handicap
match against Owens and Zayn since they keep interfering in his matches - and to his surprise
Bryan made the match.
At the Royal Rumble, Styles will defend the WWE Championship against Kevin Owens and Sami
Zayn in a handicap match.
So that was this week’s Smackdown Live in about 4 minutes, here’s the usual ratings
recap from top to bottom.
SmackDamn, SmackTastic, Smack Bang in the Middle, Ellsworthy, and Inconsistent Ref Rules.
Honestly there wasn’t anything that terrible on Raw this week.
Vote in the poll above my head to let me know what you thought and I’ll read it out in
tomorrow’s news.
But for me, this week’s show was Smack Bang in the Middle.
Which Ex-WWE Star has teased a Royal Rumble return?
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