When my hand goes up, it’s time to smack things down! Welcome to another edition of SmackDown RunDown with the ever-so-sleepy Ricky. It’s that time of the year again. Rumble season is one of my favorite wrestling seasons. You just never know what’s going to happen. This week, SmackDown was certainly bitten by the Rumble bug as the competitors plead their cases for the last time before entering the biggest Royal Rumble match in recent memory.
Bray
Wyatts’ Second Coming
Last
year when I told the Wyatt Family to look for a bigger fish to fry, I never
thought they would fry a fish as big as Brock Lesnar. That certainly kept my
mouth shut. This week, the domination of the Wyatts continue as the head of the
Family defeated Ryback earlier during the show. That match has the sole purpose
of pushing Bray Wyatt back to the monster he was last year and I have no
complaints there. Ryback was also impressive during the match with his updated
moveset but he was there to lose anyway. It’s also interesting to see Wyatt aspire
for the world title. Now he's chasing something more feasible. Maybe that will garner him more success.
Roman
Reigns faced the entire League of Nations in this week’s main event and as
always, it ended in a chaotic brawl. The match was so-so at best, I didn’t
expect a straight-up conclusion. What made this interesting was who came up on
top and it’s the Wyatt Family. This sudden Wyatt push may be late at this
point, but this adds another dangerous torrent to Roman Reign’s already stacked
odds. Now we have more candidates to win on Sunday. The more, the merrier I
say.
The
Very First Episode of DeanTV
The
last confrontation of Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens wasn’t chaotic but it was
still decent. Dean Ambrose was the guest on MizTV that clearly no one cares
about and after interrupting The Miz, Ambrose went on and hosted the debut
episode of DeanTV (an improvement from MizTV, I say) where he gave us a tour of
his roller coaster of pain. Kevin Owens then came out and after some banter,
The Miz attacked Dean Ambrose from behind. KO gave Miz a pop-up for his
efforts, but Dean Ambrose was able to recover and fought off KO. The last man
standing match will definitely steal the show on Sunday. I feel slightly bad
for The Miz though. Just slightly.
Triple Superkicks Should be a Thing
This
week’s episode only had one match that stood out. The New Day faced the Usos
and honorary Samoan Dolph Ziggler in a fun 6-man tag match. That triple
superkick was awesome. These three always put on a good show and I’m glad they let
Dolph Ziggler win again. I have to ask though, what happened to New Day’s mean
streak? Remember when they were dominating big stars like John Cena and
Ambrose? I’m just reminding Creative that these three could be the meanest heel
group in the roster.
SMACKDOWN RUNDOWN: This week’s SmackDown
was pretty match just a throw-away go-home episode with a few statements
being made. I didn’t bother rating all the matches since only one match was
given enough time to develop and that wasn’t even the main event. I can
understand that, everyone just wants to see the Rumble already. I’d give this
episode a C.
The off-cam birthday celebration was fun, though. I enjoy moments like that where everyone in the locker room breaks kayfabe for one special occassion. I guess R-Truth is a really important figure backstage. Happy 50th birthday, R-Truth. That's what's up.
The off-cam birthday celebration was fun, though. I enjoy moments like that where everyone in the locker room breaks kayfabe for one special occassion. I guess R-Truth is a really important figure backstage. Happy 50th birthday, R-Truth. That's what's up.
Express
Thoughts:
- Becky and Charlotte’s last interaction before the Royal Rumble was disappointing. I get it, Becky Lynch has to look strong and hey, Alicia Fox wrestled, but I was expecting more. This should be a big deal, right? No contract signing or an epic verbal back-and-forth? Yeah, this episode felt lazy.
- Another O’Neil vs Stardust match? Really? This rivalry means nothing. NOTHING.
- #Kalisto2016 was taken out by the League of Nations. Yup, #Kalisto2016 is dead.
- I like Roody Tooty Booty. It’s a fun chant. Hate me.
Did you enjoy this week’s SmackDown? Are you excited for the Royal Rumble? Let me know down the
comments below.
Photos from WWE.com
: May the Odds Be in Roman’s Favor){kind=link}