With the Super Bowl taking place this Sunday night, the Blue brand became ‘super’ in the name of all things football due to their network partnership with FOX. Despite the grandeur of such a prefix to the name of the show and a surprising title change, the latest episode of Friday Night SmackDown was more standard than it was super. Welcome to the most must-see SteelChair review in history; welcome to… the SmackDown Review.
Results:
- Miz & Morrison defeated The Revival, Heavy Machinery and Lucha House Party in a Fatal 4 Way tag team match to become the new No. 1 contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
- Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross defeated Fire & Desire in a tag team match.
- Braun Strowman defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to become the new Intercontinental Champion.
- Sheamus defeated Shorty G.
- Roman Reigns and The Usos defeated King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode in a six-man tag team match.
Bradley’s Best Bits:
The first match of the night was an exciting Fatal-4-Way tag team match between the teams of The Revival, Heavy Machinery, Lucha House Party and Miz and Morrison. The result was something of a foregone conclusion given that Miz and Morrison have claimed consecutive singles victories over the SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day in recent weeks. Yet, this can’t take away from the match itself where every team involved was able to get in some key offence to woo the crowd.
Otis once again shined with his signature hot tag and a double caterpillar, but it was the incredible athleticism of Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik which was a welcome inclusion into this match. Eventually, it would be the cunning nature of Miz and Morrison that would secure them the victory when Miz landed a Skull Crushing Finale on Dash Wilder to set up Shaman of Sexy for Starship Pain. The former Dirtsheet Duo are now No. 1 contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
Braun Strowman’s demands for an Intercontinental title match were finally met this week when he took on Shinsuke Nakamura for the gold. The head of the collective, Sami Zayn, was up to his usual tricks alongside Cesaro at ringside but the sheer power of The Monster Among Men was too much as he ran through all three men, hitting a running powerslam on Nakamura for the win to claim his first singles title in WWE.
After the match, Zayn tried to conduct an interview but was repeatedly interrupted by Elias on guitar in the ring. The Swiss Superman went to go put a stop to the mockery only to get kicked straight out of the ring by Elias. Whilst it is disappointing to see such incredibly talented wrestlers as Cesaro and Nakamura (and Zayn for that matter) fall by the wayside here, it is great to finally see Strowman hold a title that has been long overdue.
Arguably the best match of the night but one that wasn’t really necessary was the rematch between Sheamus and Shorty G that had taken place only 5 days prior at the Royal Rumble preshow.
The man formerly known as Chad Gable attacked Sheamus during his entrance to gain an early advantage but the Celtic Warrior recovered to show his dominance in parts. The smaller of the two men was relentless in his attempts to prove his strength and wrestling ability despite his stature up against the imposing Irishman. In the end, Sheamus put his foot down with a trademark Brogue Kick as he will hopefully now look to move onto a new opponent.
It looks as though the next challenger for the SmackDown Women’s Championship will be the returning Naomi who received one of the loudest pops of the night during the Women’s Royal Rumble match.
As Bayley was in the ring, she gloated about seeing off Lacey Evans in her last championship match and hoped that Charlotte Flair would come out and challenge her. Instead, Naomi arrived wearing what looked like a disco ball on her head. Despite the odd choice of headwear, Naomi was clear in that Bayley has never beaten her which sparked Bayley to retaliate by attacking the third member of Daft Punk for her words. Naomi was up all night to get lucky though and sent Bayley on her way.
For FOX Sake:
There’s nothing quite like the stipulation of eating dog food to remind you that you’re watching a children’s tv show produced by the same man that shits his pants to make himself laugh. That’s exactly what we were treated to for the night’s main event when Roman Reigns and The Usos opened the show to inform us of the beatdown they want to lay on Corbin, Roode and Ziggler. I’m still talking about dog food by the way. Not an old man crapping his pants. Although that would have been more entertaining in fairness.
The match itself was genuinely fun in parts with the Oklahoma crowd hot for the action but the contest failed to deliver the same excitement we have seen from this feud at times over the last few months. With the added family ties of The Usos to back Reigns’ side, the win went the way of the Samoans when The Big Dog rolled up Corbin for the three-count. For all the hype since the Usos returned, this one left a bitter taste in the mouth. That’ll be the dog food.
A relatively short tag team match between Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross and Fire & Desire saw Many Rose take a Purge and Twisted Bliss to suffer yet another loss for her team.
Before the match, Otis finally scored himself a Valentines Day date with Mandy who may now use his advances as an excuse for her losses in the ring. With Corey Graves making comments of Otis “punching above his weight”, this one feels more like a cruel joke rather than a feel-good story.
All pics and videos courtesy of WWE.