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Credit: WWE.com

It’s the last show before WWE Royal Rumble, and you know what that means. Friday Night SmackDown promised to build the excitement to a fever pitch just two days before one of the biggest nights of the year. This January 29 edition of the blue brand was certain to be unpredictable.

Only one match was promised ahead of the night as Bianca Belair looked to avenge her loss to Bayley. After everything The Role Model has put her through, this was The EST’s opportunity for welcomed revenge.

Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens did not want to wait until Sunday to start the trash talk. SmackDown promised a war of words where KO and The Head of the Table could speak their final piece before an epic Last Man Standing match.

This was far from all that SmackDown would give fans just days before the Rumble. However, the blue brand was keeping it all under wraps. Could Raw stars invade SmackDown to make a statement? Would new stars earn a slot in the men’s or women’s Rumble matches? Everyone wanted to build momentum.

The January 29 edition of SmackDown felt like a monumental occasion and a chance for WWE to truly bring the absolute best to the table before the night that will begin to define the Road to WrestleMania.

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Daniel Bryan opened the show to talk about what it meant to him to win the men’s Royal Rumble. He wanted to change his life one more time by main eventing WrestleMania one last time. He was not certain of how many more WrestleMania moments he had left.

He put over Chad Gable and Otis with the Alpha Academy getting him in shape for a long difficult climb to the top. AJ Styles interrupted as part of the quarterly Brand-to-Brand Invitational, setting up e challenge by The Planet’s Champion for later in the night.

Styles pushed Bryan to the mat, and Omos got in the way of The Planet’s Champion seeking retribution. Bryan called out Styles for standing behind the big man too often.

           

Grade

B-

            

Analysis

Bryan is one of the best in the world, but his promos each week are growing tiring. He continues to play hype man for the Royal Rumble, spending too much time explaining how the match works. It will be best for him to get past WWE Royal Rumble.

The quarterly Brand-to-Brand Invitational is a silly technicality that WWE likes to pull out at random times. However, bringing The Phenomenal One to SmackDown just before Royal Rumble was a smart way to hype the event.

Styles vs. Bryan is a guaranteed fantastic clash of top talent. Both men have been considered the best wrestler in the world, and each time they step into the ring, they steal the show.

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Credit: WWE.com

After a video package was rolled for last week’s obstacle course, Bayley explained to Kayla Braxton in a pre-match interview why she was simply better than The EST and would win the women’s Royal Rumble.

The Role Model took over the action early, beating down on The EST. Bayley made a mistake by taunting Belair with her braid, motivating The EST to get physical. She landed a series of punches followed by an impressive standing moonsault for a nearfall.

Bayley tried to take advantage of the injured left elbow of Belair from last week, stopping her from hitting a Glam Slam. However, The EST fought with all that she had, knocking Bayley loopy with a right hand followed by the KOD for the win.

Afterward, on the top of the ramp, Braxton asked Belair about how much this win meant to her, and The EST put over Bayley as The Role Model glared at her from inside the ring.

          

Result

Belair def. Bayley by pinfall.

           

Grade

B+

            

Analysis

Bayley has been the perfect challenger to introduce Belair to the SmackDown audience. Each segment shows more and more why The EST is not just the future of WWE but good enough to challenge the absolute best already. This match was no different.

While Belair can just rely on her athletic prowess to shine, she has a complete game in the ring, switching her style to tell a complete story. She just needs time. She and Bayley got it in a really good opening contest. This was completely different from their first fight.

The main mistake WWE made her was the post-match interview. Belair can cut a promo, but she was exhausted after a long fight. She should not have had to put words together when her actions spoke for themselves.

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Dominik Mysterio attacked King Corbin from behind while The King was headed to the ring. This only seemed to anger Corbin, who emphatically took over once the match began. He physically beat down Dominik with right hands as Rey Mysterio watched on commentary.

Rey’s son tried everything he could to stay in the action, reversing The King’s dangerous attempts injure him. Both men went into the steel post, and Dominik managed to reverse an End of Days attempt into a tilt-a-whirl DDT. However, that could not get the win, and the second End of Days attempt connected to win.

Afterward, Corbin tried to attack Rey as well, but The Master of the 619 sent him into the steel post outside.

          

Result

Corbin def. Dominik by pinfall.

           

Grade

C+

            

Analysis

Corbin vs. the Mysterios has hardly been an interesting rivalry. After Rey and Dominik disappeared from television, the story halted, and their return has made Dominik look like a rookie again rather than the young prodigy he seemed to be against Seth Rollins.

Dominik has decent chemistry with The King, but each loss has cut off what little momentum Dominik already had. He is back to playing second fiddle to his father. The clear focus is to build up one more match between Corbin and Rey.

Ideally, this rivalry ends within the next month. However, with The Knights of the Lone Wolf off TV lately as well as Murphy, WWE will likely complicate things again soon with those stars returning.

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After Kalisto chatted up Sasha Banks, The Boss ran into Reginald, who gave her the “perfect wine to pair with losing” the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Banks left the wine bottle with the sommelier to return to Carmella.

WWE showed a video package for the whole history of Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns. Michael Cole led a final interview between The Head of the Table and KO. Owens explained that he would never stop getting back up on Sunday until he won.

Paul Heyman initially refused to let Reigns waste his words on KO, but The Head of the Tables heard Owens speak for too long. He blamed Owens’ father for raising him the wrong way to believe he could beat a better man. He called him and his whole family fools.

With each painful word, Owens lost his cool more and more, calling him a fake mob boss. Reigns turned off the camera for his side of the interview as KO yelled at the screen with fire. Owens looked ready to find Reigns and start the fight early.

           

Grade

A+

            

Analysis

WWE hyped up KO and Reigns’ interview as the biggest moment of the night, and it absolutely was. Reigns found a way under Owens’ skin and exploited it. However, at the same time, KO clearly frustrated his rival by never losing his confidence.

The Head of the Table promotes himself as a family man while KO prides himself as the ultimate family man. This interview clearly defined the dynamic between these two that has made this story so special. Without being able to defeat Reigns, KO has just made the WWE universal champion better.

This match could be the best on the whole card. Even if it is not, these two men will tell a special story together as they have all along the way to get to WWE Royal Rumble.

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The Miz and John Morrison got into a fight with Big E backstage about who would make a bigger impact in the men’s Royal Rumble match. Sami Zayn tried to recruit Shinsuke Nakamura, but The Artist completely dismissed him.

AJ Styles told Omos to stay in the back for this match, wanting to prove he can beat The Planet’s Champion. Cesaro joined commentary to explain why he has more momentum than either man in the ring.

After an impressive series to start off the match, Bryan got the upper hand only to be interrupted by Sami Zayn. The distraction allowed The Phenomenal One to knock The Planet’s Champion off the top rope to the floor.

The Master Strategist refused to be left off the show and be silenced, so he spoke to commentary with his camera crew. In the ring, Bryan struggled to get off the ring, trapped in the Calf Crusher until he made it to the bottom rope.

Bryan shifted his weight to plant Styles with a butterfly suplex that transitioned into the Yes Lock until The Phenomenal One made it to the ropes. Big E arrived and clotheslined The Master Strategist, starting a brawl between everyone.

Zayn attacked Bryan to cause a disqualification then the heels beat down the faces until Shinsuke Nakamura evened the odds. Cesaro and Nakamura almost came to blows, but Zayn got involved and dumped outside.

          

Result

Bryan def. Styles by disqualification.

           

Grade

B+

            

Analysis

While the cheap ending was expected and stopped this match from becoming truly special, Bryan vs. Styles was fantastic once again. The two had a great technical showcase in the midst of chaos at ringside, reminding everyone that they still both have plenty more great matches in store together.

The two got too much time to wrestle the rest of the hour, so something was always going to happen. With the Rumble Sunday, this was the time to build up a variety of challengers. Bryan and Styles may be more likely to win than most in the match, but WWE needs to build a variety of options.

The six-man tag team match was only a promise of more action and a story that feels more apprioriate as the Royal Rumble go-home show main event.

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Daniel Bryan was the first victim of the heels after Sami Zayn caught The Planet’s Champion with a chop block. After an emphatic missile dropkick, Bryan finally got to rest his knee, giving an impressive hot tag to Big E that could not be stopped even after a European uppercut from Cesaro.

The Miz and John Morrison arrived to take out Shinsuke Nakamura at ringside then team up on Big E, forcing the referee to call for another disqualification. Otis arrived, seeing an opportunity to finally get revenge on The A-Lister and The Shaman of Sexy. He cleared both out of the ring.

The match was restarted as a five-on-four handicap match by Sonya Deville. Again, the heels isolated Bryan, who competed over 30 minutes in the various restarted matches. It looked like the heels had the match won after taking out the other faces, but Sheamus arrived to even the odds.

Everyone hit impressive offense in a chaotic scene that left Zayn fighting a fresh Celtic Warrior. Sheamus planted him with a Brogue Kick to win. Braun Strowman arrived and took out everyone, hitting a running powerslam on Cesaro to end the night.

          

Result

Big E, Bryan and Nakamura def. Cesaro, Styles and Zayn by disqualification; Sheamus, Big E, Bryan, Nakamura and Otis def. Cesaro, Styles, Zayn, Miz and Morrison by pinfall.

           

Grade

C

            

Analysis

The positive in the original six-man match was seeing more great action. Cesaro and Nakamura gave an early preview of the great match they can have together soon. Bryan and Zayn got back to basics with a fun sequence. Big E got to look like a monster with his hot tag.

It was just an awkward transition to an unnecessary bigger match because Miz and Morrison had to get involved. All the wrestling here was memorable, and everyone got a small chance to stand out. It just was far too much chaos to enjoy it.

Strowman ended the night as the big late addition to the men’s Royal Rumble match, but everyone knew he would be in the contest without official word. While The Monster Among Men should be seen as a favorite, this moment may have built him up too strong to actually pull it out.

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Credit: WWE.com

As WWE prepares for the Royal Rumble on January 31, it’s all hands on deck as more and more Superstars declare their entries and attempt to qualify for the titular Rumble matches.

This week’s SmackDown continued to build up the pay-per-view while also dealing with some in-house business for the blue brand.

After earning a title shot by defeating Sami Zayn last week, Apollo Crews challenged Big E in a match for the Intercontinental Championship.

We also saw Bayley and Bianca Belair compete on an obstacle course to see which one was the superior athlete, and Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens prepared for their showdown at The Royal Rumble.

Let’s look at everything that happened on Friday’s show. 

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SmackDown opened with a video package recapping what happened last week with Reigns and Adam Pearce before The Tribal Chief and Paul Heyman made their way to the ring. 

Reigns spoke about how Owens and Pearce might have put one over on him but he is the champion because he doesn’t believe in the mentality of “Card subject to change.” He said his back is starting to hurt from carrying this company for years.

Pearce came out and said this has gone too far and things are getting out of control. Reigns said the only thing that is out of control is Owens being in a title match. 

Reigns felt disrespected and had Heyman rip into Pearce. This led to Heyman challenging Pearce to a match, which was quickly accepted. 

                        

Grade: B-

                        

Analysis

Pearce has grown into a great on-screen authority figure and seeing him used in more meaningful ways in recent weeks has been a lot of fun.

This was a solid opening segment that probably lasted a few minutes longer than it needed to but never became insufferable. 

Reigns was more vocal than usual, which helped express his rage at being tricked. Despite being a heel, almost everything he said was true, especially when it came to his health.

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The women’s tag team champions took a trip to the blue brand this week to take on Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott with Billie Kay in their corner.

The Queen and Riott started the match with a basic lockup and takedown combination. Asuka got the tag and ran Riott over with a shoulder tackle. 

Morgan made a blind tag and hit a dropkick to Charlotte while she was distracted with Kay. She scored a two-count with a crossbody from the top rope. After a break, Riott and Morgan still had the upper hand. 

Asuka tagged in and hit a running knee but Riott was there to break up the pin. Riott had Asuka pinned but Kay accidentally distracted the ref. The Empress recovered and tagged in The Queen to hit Natural Selection for the win. 

                       

Grade: B

                       

Analysis

We are only a couple of weeks into this angle but Kay is already impacting the outcome of The Riott Squad’s matches in a negative way, which means this union is doomed to fail.

The match itself was pretty good and gave all four women a chance to showcase their skills. Morgan and Riott looked especially good despite Kay’s involvement.

The women’s tag team division needs a lot of work but if The Riott Squad is one of the main duos holding it down, there is hope that it can improve in 2021. 

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Daniel Bryan came out to talk about how The Royal Rumble event always makes him feel excited. He was eventually interrupted by Cesaro, who rubbed in how he beat Bryan last week.

Cesaro issued an open challenge and Dolph Ziggler answered the call. We returned from a commercial to see the match getting going. They fought for control with a series of holds and reversals. 

The Swiss Cyborg nailed an uppercut in the corner and swung Ziggler around by his feet. They went back and forth with near falls until The Showoff hit the Zig Zag for a two-count. Cesaro caught him and hit the Neutralizer for the win. 

                       

Grade: A

                       

Analysis

This was what pro wrestling could be. Cesaro and Ziggler are miles ahead of most of the roster in terms of technical ability and they didn’t even need a long match to prove how good they are.

A few more minutes would have helped but they packed a lot into the time they had and told a solid story from bell to bell while Bryan provided context on commentary.

Between this and his win over Bryan last week, Cesaro appears to be getting a push heading into the men’s Royal Rumble match. Even if he doesn’t win at the PPV, it’s awesome to see a talented performer being used the right way for once. 

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Reginald tried to win over Sasha Banks with a rose at the start of the match but she smacked the taste out of his mouth. She tried to take him down but he flipped up to his feet.

He grabbed Banks by the waist but she reversed it. He rolled right out of the ring and he backflipped off of the apron just to show off. The Boss made him pay with a baseball slide dropkick. 

Banks took him down with a wheelbarrow bulldog but missed a meteora in the corner. Reginald ate a knee to the face but caught her in a crossbody. She sent him out of the ring with an arm drag and took him down with a meteora from the apron. 

She eventually brought him down into the Bank Statement for the submission victory. 

                   

Grade: C+

                       

Analysis

As impressive as some of Reginald’s acrobatics were, this match still had some sloppy moments and awkward spots that would have benefitted from this bout being pre-taped.

Still, this was better than anyone expected it to be, so that’s a plus. The feud between Carmella and Banks didn’t need this but it was a fun change of pace from what we have seen in the past.

WWE has always shied away from intergender wrestling so it will be interesting to see if we get more matches like this down the road. 

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As soon as the bell rang, Big E hit a huge belly to belly suplex followed by a splash on the apron. Crews fired back with a couple of kicks that rocked the champ. He got a quick two-count with a standing moonsault and stayed on the big man with a pair of German suplexes.

Big E prevented a third and hit a big urinagi slam for another near-fall. Crews fought him off in the corner with a few headbutts. Sami Zayn had handcuffed himself in the aisle as a protest but he released himself and ran to the ring to hit both men with Helluva Kicks to cause a no-contest finish.

                          

Grade: C

                         

Analysis

The match was just getting going when Zayn interfered, so it ended up stopping short of reaching its full potential in many ways.

This might keep the storyline going but it still robbed us of what could have been a great title fight, so it’s hard not to be a little mad about it.

Crews, Zayn and Big E will likely end up in a triple threat match at The Royal Rumble to settle this once and for all. 

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Bayley gave us a rundown of the obstacles before they took to the course. She decided to run the course first and pushed Belair out of the way. 

She took her time getting through each obstacle and ended up cheating by running around the walls that were set up instead of climbing over them. She ended with a time of 1:12.

Before Belair took her turn, Bayley had some of the obstacles made more difficult. Belair still flew through the course but when she got to the fireman’s carry, she had to carry Otis instead of Chad Gable. She still did it and beat Bayley’s time by 17 seconds. 

Bayley attacked her and beat her down before throwing her into the pole of a basketball hoop that was part of the course. 

                        

Grade: C+

                           

Analysis

This was nothing special in terms of entertainment value but Belair’s physical prowess made it more enjoyable than it would have been without her.

We all saw this ending with an attack so there was no surprise or swerve. It played out how it needed to even if it was the most predictable thing on the show.

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Dominik Mysterio was looking to get some payback on Baron Corbin after The King defeated his father last week. Corbin’s knights were absent once again.

Dom went right after him and hit a few quick strikes before he sent Corbin out of the ring. The King leveled him with a clothesline for a two-count. 

Corbin was able to secure the win with The End of Days. 

                            

Grade: C

                         

Analysis

This wasn’t bad but it also wasn’t good. It just…was. We’ll move on and forget about this in a week or two after one of the Mysterios beats Corbin in a rematch.

It was nice to see Dominik again but it’s hard not to wonder why WWE had him skip NXT altogether. He could benefit from having more time to polish his mic skills. 

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As Heyman made his way to the ring, he pretended to suffer a leg injury. He did the same thing Pearce did last week and named a replacement. That is when Reigns came to the ring.

As soon as he hit the ring, The Tribal Chief nailed him with a Superman Punch. Pearce tried to come back but a low blow stopped him in his tracks. 

KO came out of nowhere and saved Pearce from certain destruction by attacking the universal champion. They brawled near the LED screens with fans on them before going back to the ring.

Owens blocked a Superman Punch and hit a Stunner. It took several officials to keep them apart and even then, they still managed to get to each other a few times. KO hit a second Stunner before he put Reigns through the announce table with a Popup Powerbomb. 

                        

Grade: B

                       

Analysis

We might not have gotten to see Pearce come out of retirement to hand Heyman a beating but we did get to see Owens destroy Reigns, so the show had a happy ending.

It was clear Heyman was never going to have a real match but there was still hope for Pearce to get in a few good shots. Maybe he will have another chance in the future.

The feud between Reigns and KO is being carried solely by the skill of the two men involved. The storyline is nothing special or original but how it is being executed has been fun to watch.