Smackdown Live comes to us tonight from the Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas. This is the final episode of SmackDown Live before the Royal Rumble!
The Man gets the upper hand
The Man kicked off tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live. She said that she’s going to main event Wrestlemania and it all starts Sunday at the Royal Rumble. Lynch said that Asuka is one of the best in the world, but she’s better. Asuka came out and holds up the belt in Becky’s face. Charlotte’s music hits and tells the two that she’ll win the Rumble and reminds Asuka that she ended her undefeated streak. Asuka attacks Becky and the two had to be split apart. Becky gets most of the offense and leaves Asuka on the ground. The two are still brawling after coming back from the commercial break.
There’s no doubt that these two will have a great match this Sunday. My prediction is that Becky loses in a dusty finish and ends up winning the Royal Rumble. But who knows?
The Miz vs Cesaro
The Miz and Shane McMahon will challenge the Bar this Sunday for the SmackDown Tag Team championships. Tonight, however, the Miz takes on Cesaro. This was a pretty decent match. Cesaro showed some impressive feats of strength in the bout as all. Cesaro pinned Miz clean with a gotch neutralizer.
Shane attacked The Bar after the match. He put Cesaro onto the announce table and climbed to the top rope. Sheamus attacked Shane before could hit his elbow onto Cesaro. Sheamus hit McMahon with a nasty brogue kick as well. The Bar stand tall after beating down Miz & Shane.
This was a solid match leading to a beatdown. I’m invested in this story and want Shane to get his revenge on the Bar. A good way to make me want to watch this match.
Styles & Bryan face to face
Vince McMahon came out to mediate this face to face encounter between champion and challenger. He introduces Styles and Bryan down to the ring but Bryan refused to step into the ring with a sociopath (Styles). Bryan says he uses his power as champion for the greater good. Daniel Bryan is the planets champion. Styles says Bryan is fickle and that he’s afraid to step in the ring.
Vince got impatient and had to tell Bryan several times to get in the ring. AJ decides to get face to face with Bryan by going after him but Bryan leads him into the ring, hitting his running knee on AJ and runs back up the ramp.
Styles vs Bryan will be one of the best matches of the weekend and this segment makes me want to see them wrestle even more. I cannot wait!
Andrade vs Mysterio best 2/3 falls
After their incredible match last week, we’re doing it again but 3 times in one match! This was the main event of SmackDown Live this week. Andrade didn’t exactly defeat Rey clean last week but no one was complaining. Andrade picked up the first fall from a power bomb on top of the turn buckle. The second fall was given to Mysterio when he hit an incredible spike canadian destroyer on the top of Andrade’s head.
The third and final fall was not to be as Samoa Joe came out of nowhere to beat down both men. Joe cuts a promo and says that this’ll be what happens at the Royal Rumble. Randy Orton then actually comes out of nowhere and hits and RKO on Joe to end the show.
This match was given over 20 minutes and in that time, these two men did everything you can imagine. They switched up the pace several times, hitting big move after big move. Rey looked as though he hit his head on the ground after hitting a lowpe sunset flip power bomb (look this up) and seemed to have slowed Mysterio down but was able to finish the match. Despite the run in from Joe, this was a fantastic match and it needs to happen again.
Overall, a good show with several good segments/matches throughout the show. With everything moving towards the Royal Rumble, this might be one of the best shows of the year already!
Look for my star ratings for NXT TakeOver: Phoenix and the Royal Rumble up this weekend!
