We’ve got a new United States Champion! We’ve got a new WWE Championship! And move
over random Elias heel turn, Rusev would also like to randomly turn heel too! I am Luke
Owen, leave a comment down below I can reply to, and vote in the poll above my head to
let me know what you thought of the show - where you can choose from: SmackDamn, SmackTastic,
Smack Bang in the Middle, SmackDowner, and A Smack in the Face. This is the 29th of January
2019 edition of Smackdown Live… in about 4 minutes.
The winner of the 2019 Women’s Royal Rumble and the woman who will face Ronda Rousey at
WrestleMania, Becky Lynch opened the show this week - cutting a short promo on ol’
Ronnie before being interrupted by Charlotte Flair - who spoke incenserly about being happy
and proud of Lynch for winning a match she wasn’t supposed to be a part of. Hey, if
Shane can do it why not Becky. Becky responded to this promo in the best manner possible
- by punching Flair right in her face. The two then brawled around ringside - because
I guess they still have issues despite feuding since Summerslam last year - and Becky seemingly
hurt her ankle in the process. This was a really solid start to the show, and it keeps
the plate of Flair vs. Lynch spinning as we head towards WrestleMania - particularly as
reports suggest it will be a triple threat in the main event.
Shinsuke Nakamura’s first run with the United States Championship was pretty much a wet
fart - with no storylines over the belt despite holding it for hundreds days. Maybe he’ll
fare better with his second run after winning it from Rusev on Sunday. Nope, wait, R-Truth
is now the United States Champion after pinning Nakamura in what felt like an accident. Truth
rolled him up and Nakamura kicked out and the two continued to wrestle - but the ref
called for the bell and announced Truth was the new Champion. But clearly this title switch
wasn’t an error as Rusev then came out and cut a heel-ish promo on Truth winning the
belt - leading to a match between the two...
...Which Truth won rather quickly. Rusev then teamed with Nakamura - the man who led to
his wife Lana getting hurt so bad she couldn’t even compete in the Royal Rumble - to complete
his random heel turn and the two left Truth laying. Later in the show they set up a tag
team match with The Good Brothers, who I’m shocked are still employed. This was all very
weird. The finish to the Truth/Nakamura match did feel like a botch and the commentary played
it up as one - but it must have been the plan given the Rusev stuff that followed it. Very
odd indeed.
There was supposed to be a match between Rey Mystreio and Samoa Joe, but Zelina Vega cut
a promo on Rey, and Andrade attacked him from behind to leave him laying.
We got clips of Paige and The Rock at the Sundance screening of Fighting With My Family,
a movie which The Hollywood Reporter said in their review, “A couple of scenes with
The Rock don't energize a run-of-the-mill sports story.”
In a backstage segment, Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose announced themselves for the Elimination
Chamber match to win the Women’s Tag Team titles. How come they didn’t have to qualify
like the other teams did on Raw? But more importantly, Rose revealed why she hated Naomi
so much. It turns out that Naomi - when she was part of Team BAD with Sasha Banks and
Tamina - was a bit mean to her on Tough Enough in 2015 and Rose has never mentally recovered
from it. Well, at least there’s now a reason for these two to be feuding.
This show really could use more promo segments. Thankfully Miz and Shane McMahon came out
to celebrate their tag team title win - with Shane bringing down Miz’s father who said
he was proud of his son. This was all really rather lovely. Some might wonder why Miz’s
Dad wasn’t proud of his son being the WWE Champion and headlining WrestleMania - but
that was one of the worst Mania main events ever and no one should be proud of it. Shane
also announced that they would be defending their titles at Elimination Chamber and booked
a fatal four way to crown new number one contenders.
By WWE’s own admission, the tag title scene on Smackdown was really repetitive because
it was the same three teams facing each other for the belts - which doesn’t really explain
why they made up three quarters of this match - with NXT call-ups Heavy Machinery filling
out the teams. Has anyone seen EC3? As one would imagine, this match was a lot of fun
and really showed off Heavy Machinery’s comedy and power spots. I also get a giggle
out of Corey Graves saying Otis Dosavich looked like Gwildor from Masters of the Universe,
which is shockingly accurate. Heavy Machinery eliminated New Day, The Bar eliminated Heavy
Machinery, and The Usos pinned The Bar to become the new number one contenders to Miz
and Shane McMahon.
Daniel Bryan came out for more talking next, wearing a t-shirt that asked for no homophobia,
no racism and no sexism. Ooh, what a heel. He then brought out his new Planteer member
Rowan who he said joined him for the Greater Good. Bryan said that AJ Styles was right,
and he is indeed a hypocrite. He’s been carrying around this WWE Championship that
was made from the skin of a cow he decided to name Daisy. He then told a story about
poor Daisy and how she was needlessly killed, which the crowd responded to by chanting Thank
You Daisy - and then chanted Goodbye Daisy as Bryan threw the belt in the bin. He then
introduced the new WWE Championship which is made of hemp.
This brought out, in order, AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy, Mustafa Ali and Samoa Joe
- who all wanted a shot at Daniel Bryan’s Hempyweight Championship. I’m surprised
Matt Riddle and Rob Van Dam didn’t come out to be honest. After an oooh Wendy reference
a brawl broke out and Triple H announced on the big screen that all six men would complete
for the title at Elimination Chamber.
For a change this was actually a really newsworthy episode of Smackdown Live. Truth won the US
title, Rusev turned heel, we’ve got a new WWE Championship design, and a couple of matches
were announced for Elimination Chamber. The problem is that on this wrestling show there
was only really one proper wrestling match - with both Truth matches only going a couple
of minutes combined. With that said, I really liked the Becky segment, and Bryan unveiling
a new WWE Championship not made from leather really is an inspired choice. This week’s
Smackdown Live is a high Smack Bang in the Middle.
Is Dean Ambrose leaving WWE? Check out the WrestleTalk News by clicking the video on
screen. And vote in the poll for which PPV Oli and I will review on WrestleRamble Extra
by becoming a Patreon. I’ve been Luke Owen and that was wrestling.