Posted on 1/11/125 by Bob Magee
– Joe Tessitore welcomed everyone into the show as outdoor
scenes of Portland, Oregon aired. Wade Barrett was
Tessitore’s broadcast partner and the two stood at ringside.
Footage of Nakamura and Tiffany Stratton from earlier today
aired. Paul Heyman was shown making his way to the ring for
the opening segment. A video recap of Raw then aired.
The Paul Heyman/Cody Rhodes segment
This was good. And for the second week in a row, I don’t
know why they don’t advertise these types of things
beforehand. A Paul Heyman/Cody Rhodes segment would have
been noteworthy and maybe even drew some more eyeballs to
the show; is there a reason we can’t know this is going to
happen ahead of time? Anyway, Roman entering the Royal
Rumble is mildly intriguing because that notion isn’t one
that’s been talked about much when it comes to all the
fantasy booking scenarios involving Cody, Roman, about a
dozen other people and WrestleMania. Heyman put Cody over
pretty well here – to the extent that it looked like Cody
was genuinely choking up for a second. The Owens touch was
nice because everybody has been whining about The Rock and
Cody’s interaction on Monday and someone needed to say it
out loud. Also, and finally, did that final sequence mean
Cody vs. Fatu is on the horizon? Lots of stuff here to open
the show. I like it.
Paul Heyman walked into the ring and did the “My name …”
bit. Heyman said he was excited to be there and announced
that there is only one reigning, defending undisputed Tribal
Chief of the WWE Universe and the entire Island of Relevancy
and that Tribal Chief is Roman Reigns. The crowd cheered and
“OTC!” chants broke out. Heyman said Reigns authorized
Heyman to tell everyone what Roman intends to accomplish
next. Heyman said he wanted to share the news with one man
in particular – and that man is Cody Rhodes. Cody’s music
hit and Cody’s entrance began.
Cody and Heyman shook hands once Cody entered the ring.
Heyman said Cody deserved the response he received from the
crowd and Cody has done something few have ever done, which
is earn the respect of Roman Reigns. Heyman talk about how
great of a champion Cody has been. Because Cody has been a
great champion, Reigns told Heyman to go out there and tell
Cody that Roman wants his title back. Heyman said Reigns
wanted Cody to know how he intends to get his title back.
Heyman declared that Roman Reigns will be in the Royal
Rumble this year to earn his way into a match against Cody
for the Undisputed WWE Championship. Heyman then asked Cody
what he wanted to talk about, which was funny.
The crowd chanted Cody’s name as Cody fetched a microphone
for himself. Before Cody could speak, Kevin Owens’s voice
was heard and it turned out that Owens was in the crowd with
a microphone. Owens said just when he thought it couldn’t
get worse, it did get worse because Cody went and shook
hands with The Rock on Monday. Owens brought up how Heyman
just mentioned how Roman Reigns wants his title back. Owens
said he should have let the Bloodline rip Roman to shreds.
Owens kept rambling and Cody ran out of the ring and brawled
with Owens in the crowd.
With Heyman alone in the ring, Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu
showed up. It looked like they were going to attack Heyman,
but Jimmy Uso’s music hit and Jimmy ran out for the save.
Jimmy grabbed a chair and hit Fatu and Tonga with it, but
all it did was wake Fatu up. Fatu hit Jimmy with a flying
elbow and the two worked Jimmy over. Fatu kicked a referee
in the face, which made the rest of the referees scared to
enter the ring. Cody made his way back through the crowd and
towards the ring. Cody threw Tonga out of the ring and Fatu
and Cody faced off. Cody clotheslined Fatu over the top and
to the outside. Cody’s music hit to end the segment.
**********
– Fatu and Tonga were shown being thrown out of the building
by officials. Fatu fought back and started yelling at them.
LA Knight showed up and threw Fatu out of the building
himself, saying he has a title to win later. So … um … oh
no, LA Knight?
Chelsea Green defeated Michin to retain the Women’s United
States Championship [8:42]
I was surprised they went back to this match so quickly, but
I’m also happy that it doesn’t appear as though Green and
Michin’s story is over, considering the holding of the
tights and the post-match developments. In some ways, I feel
like these two could work together through the Royal Rumble
and it would still be entertaining each week. Green is
impossible not to like and she has great, worn-in ring
chemistry with Michin, so their matches rarely disappoint.
As such, this match didn’t disappoint. Are we in for
Dumpster Match Part Two? Or is there another stip out there
with which these two could have fun?
Green went for a kick and Michin moved. Michin then held
control of the match early, complete with a dropkick and a
pin attempt. Michin stretched Green over the top rope, but
it wasn’t long before Green fought back and threw Michin to
the outside. Green threw Michin into the crowd barrier, but
Michin made it back into the ring to beat a count out. Green
kept her offense up as the show went to a commercial break.
Back from break, Green had the upper hand and worked a chin-
lock. Michin got out of it via a back suplex. Michin landed
a shotgun dropkick and danced before hitting a Cannonball on
Green in a corner for a two-count. Michin went to threw
Green, but Green countered by planting Michin face-first.
Green went to the top, but missed a dropkick and Michin took
control with a running knee. Michin went on the apron and
kicked Piper Niven in the face. Michin then went to the top
and hit a cross-body, but Green rolled through and held
Michin’s tights to get the win.
After the match, Michin tried to attack Green, but Niven
interfered and hit a Senton on Michin, allowing Green to get
away.
**********
– Footage from last week’s tag title match aired. Motor City
Machine Guns were shown complaining to Nick Aldis earlier
today. Pretty Deadly, A-Town Down Under and Los Garza were
in the shot, too. Aldis told everyone to shut up. Pretty
Deadly and Los Garza will face each other while MCMG and A-
Town Down Under will square off with the winners potentially
wrestling each other for a shot at the tag titles.
Los Garza (Angel & Humberto) defeated Pretty Deadly (Elton
Prince & Kit Wilson) [8:56]
So this is why SmackDown went to three hours, eh? Give some
folks some TV time and grant the viewing audience that Los
Garza vs Pretty Deadly bout they’ve been craving for months
now? Cool. This match was just kind of there despite
everyone’s efforts to heat up this mini feud last week. My
biggest problem? Since when did Los Garza or anyone in
Legado Del Fantasma start working as babyfaces? The crowd
cheered them here (or at least crowd sounds, wherever they
did or did not come from, cheered them here), but I can’t
really figure out why they’d do that other than they played
the role of Not Pretty Deadly. But even then – even then! –
wouldn’t Pretty Deadly be better babyfaces in this scenario
because of their silly, comedic musical skits that have
popped up through the weeks? My head is spinning. Either
way, the match was harmless.
Los Garza jumpstarted the match and Humberto hit a suicide
dive on Wilson on the outside. Back inside the ring,
Humberto hit a standing moonsault for a two-count. Angel
tagged in and the two hit Wilson with a double super-kick
for a two-count. Humberto tagged in and landed a dropkick
for a two-count. Prince got a blind tag and dragged Humberto
over the top and to the outside via a gnarly neck-breaker.
The show went to a commercial break.
Back from break, Humberto was doing his best to turn things
around against Prince, but couldn’t do so. Wilson then
tagged in and missed a splash immediately, which allowed
Humerto to get the hot tag to Angel, who fired up and landed
a cross-body from the top rope for a two-count. Angel did
the take-his-pants-off spot, which hasn’t been shown on WWE
TV in ages. He threw the pants at Wilson and kicked him for
a two-count. Prince reasserted himself and planted Angel
while the referee was distracted. With the ref still
distracted, Santos Escobar crotched Prince. From there, Los
Garza hit their finisher on Prince for the win.
**********
LA Knight defeated Shinsuske Nakamura via DQ [14:06]
This was much better than their Survivor Series match and it
would have been even better if we got a clean finish out of
it, but after Knight went and gave an f-word when it wasn’t
his turn to give an f-word (to, in a censored way, quote
“The Wire”) with Fatu earlier in the show, you could see
this finish coming from a million miles away. I hope
Nakamura and Knight get to run it back at some point (I
still think Knight gets that belt back sooner than later)
because this proved that they could go deep and it could
work. I’m as entertained by Knight as anybody, but he isn’t
typically considered as one of the best in-ring fellas in
the game. Here, though, he went into deep waters and it
worked. Good job from both guys.
The match started slow with neither wrestler getting the
upper hand for long. Nakamura eventually got control and hit
a running knee on Knight, who was draped over the ring
apron. Knight tried to fight back, but Nakamura cut him off
and went to work on Knight’s knee. Knight found himself on
the outside of the ring and ultimately clotheslined Nakamura
and sent him to the floor. Knight followed that up with a
baseball slide and proceeded to repeatedly pound Nakamura’s
head on the commentary table. Back inside the ring, Knight
clotheslined Nakamura over the top to the outside again.
Nakamura ran Knight into the ring post twice and the show
went to a picture-in-picture break.
The show returned and the two traded blows until Knight took
over and slammed Nakamura before hitting an elbow for a two-
count. Knight lifted Nakamura, but Nakamura worked his way
out of it. Nakamura pulled the turnbuckle pad off the second
rope and followed it up with a sliding German Suplex. With
Nakamura on the top, Knight ran up the ropes and super-
plexed Nakamura for a good near-fall. Knight sunk in a weird
version of a reverse Boston Crab (surely, Excalibur knows
the name of the move), but Nakamura made it to the ropes for
a break.
Nakamura went for an arm-bar, but Knight rolled Nakamura up
for a two-count. Nakamura popped up and kicked Knight.
Knight went for a BFT, but Nakamura countered with a back
elbow. Nakamura followed that up with the Kinshasha, but
Knight got his leg on the bottom rope to break up the pin
attempt. Nakamura put Knight’s head on the exposed
turnbuckle, but Knight moved and Nakamura ran into the
exposed turnbuckle. Knight then hit the BFT but Tonga and
Fatu showed up and attacked Knight to end the match.
Fatu hit all his greatest hits on Knight until Cody and
Jimmy ran back out. This time, Cody was dressed in wrestling
attire. They double super-kicked Fatu and Fatu and Tonga
retreated through the crowd. Cody grabbed a mic and yelled
for Nick Aldis to make a match between Cody and Jimmy and
Fatu and Tonga. Aldis made the match.
**********
Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin)
defeated A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory & Grayson Waller)
[12:06]
A solid match, and a much better tag match than the other
tag bout on this show earlier. MCMG seem to be kind of/sort
of finally clicking in WWE Land, and I hope whatever that is
continues to grow. Meanwhile, Theory and Waller looked
pretty good holding their own against the veteran former tag
champs. In fact, Waller and Theory were given a lot of
offense here and they made the most of it, which doesn’t
always happen in these scenarios. Does this mean we get Los
Garza vs. MCMG soon? Or does MCMG skip the line and head
right back to #DIY?
Shelley and Waller began the match. Waller had the upper
hand and Theory tagged in. Theory threw Shelley chest-first
into a corner and followed it up with a clothesline. Sabin
tagged in and gave MCMG control briefly until Waller tagged
in and hit a series of knees to Sabin’s head. Waller then
landed a spinning right hand for a two-count. Waller then
went to work on Sabin’s arm. Sabin ran the ropes and Shelley
bling-tagged himself in. MCMG kicked and clotheslined Waller
over the top rope. Sabin went for a splash, but Theory
tripped Sabin. From there, Waller hit a rolling Flatliner on
Shelley inside the ring for a two-count. The show then went
to a commercial break.
Back from the break, Waller and Theory stayed on top of
Shelley. Theory worked a chin-lock on Shelley. Waller tagged
in, but Shelley ran Theory into Waller and super-kicked
Theory. Shelley rolled and tagged Sabin, who landed a series
of punches on Waller. Sabin went to the second rope and hit
a missile dropkick on Waller. Shelley tagged in and the two
landed stereo baseball slides on Theory and Waller. MCMG
followed that up with Sabin’s suicide dive through the top
and second ropes.
Inside the ring, Shelley tagged in Sabin and while Waller
ran the ropes, Theory tagged himself in. The action spilled
outside and Sabin ran at Waller, but Theory cut Sabin off
with an elbow. Waller tagged in and the heels hit a double
punch to Sabin’s head for a two-count. Shelley eventually
tagged in as things broke down and all four wrestlers were
down. Sabin tagged in and took Waller out. Shelley and Sabin
singled Theory out and hit Skull & Bones on Theory for the
win.
**********
– Ciampa and Gargano were shown upset backstage. They ran
into Pretty Deadly, who asked #DIY why they didn’t help them
out earlier. Gargano said Pretty Deadly will get their title
match eventually and Pretty Deadly need to trust them.
Apollo Crews walked into the scene and if they were dumb
enough to believe #DIY, they’ll deserve everything coming
their way.
– Nia Jax and Candice LeRae were talking in the locker room.
Jax wondered what Tiffany Stratton would say later. Jax then
walked to the ring and said she was going to congratulate
Stratton herself.
The Tiffy Time segment
Wow. And speaking of not advertising things that should have
been advertised … . My goodness. A Fatal Four-Way for a shot
at Stratton seems like a thing they could have announced
ahead of time, but again, what do I know? Nothing. That’s
the answer. Nothing. Anyway, everyone here showed good fire,
most of whom was Jax, who really seemed really pissed and
sold it really well. Bayley and Naomi, meanwhile, had good
logic. And Tiffy is settling in nice into her spot as a sort
of pesky tweener champion (make her an official babyface
already!). This upcoming four-way should be fun.
Stratton came out to a big positive reception from the
crowd. Byron Saxton was in the ring and reminded Stratton
that she became the new WWE Women’s Champion last week.
Saxton congratulated Stratton and Stratton yelled “It’s
Tiffy Time!” She also called it a “tiffy-turn-of-events.”
Stratton then recapped her run so far on the main roster and
said she is better than “your favorites.” The crowd cheered
her. Saxton started talking about Jax bullying Stratton, but
Stratton cut off Saxton. Stratton said she got JAx to trust
her and Jax thought Stratton was just a dumb blonde and Jax
let her guard down. As a result, Stratton said, she stole
Jax’s most prized possession. Stratton yelled to put respect
on her name and to tell her what time it is.
On cue, Jax’s music hit and Jax walked out with a
microphone. Jax looked angry. Jax called Stratton and
“ungrateful little s-@#.” Jax said she could kill Stratton.
Jax said Stratton would be nothing without Jax because Jax
made Stratton. Jax said it took Stratton long enough to take
advantage of her. Jax walked onto the ring apron and then
into the ring. The crowd chanted “Tiffy Time” and Jax said
“Time’s up,” before telling Stratton to give Jax her title
back or Jax said she’d take it back. Out of nowhere,
Bayley’s music hit and Bayley walked out with a microphone.
Bayley told Jax to shut the hell up and told Stratton she
always thought Stratton was stupid. Bayley recalled how Jax
took Stratton under her wing and Stratton still outsmarted
Jax. Bayley stepped into the ring and said the only reason
Jax had her title was because Jax had Stratton’s help.
Bayley said it was only fitting that Bayley takes Stratton’s
title from her. Naomi’s music then hit and Naomi walked out
with a microphone and Bianca Belair.
Naomi said everyone knew Naomi had Jax beat last week. Naomi
said if it wasn’t for Stratton, Naomi would be holding two
titles. Naomi said Jax has to see her first before going
after Stratton. Jax said nobody cares about Naomi. Jax
attacked Belair and Naomi. As Naomi, Bayley, Belair and Jax
were fighting, Stratton hit the Prettiest Moonsault on
everyone and left them lying as she walked away with her
title.
Aldis showed up with a microphone and said he had an idea.
Aldis announced that there will be a Fatal Four-Way right
now to determine who will be the No. 1 contender for
Stratton’s title.
**********
Bayley defeated Nia Jax, Naomi & Bianca Belair to become the
No. 1 Contender for the WWE Women’s Championship [17:16]
An unexpected outcome, but a welcome outcome nonetheless.
Bayley and Stratton should have a quietly very good-to-great
match and I’m looking forward to that. I was convinced Jax
would win to get her rematch, but that next beat in the
Jax/Stratton program will clearly come at a later date. I’m
a fan of this being the longest match on the show and even
more a fan of how much space these women were seemingly
given when it comes to putting this match together. It was
almost like an AEW match – move after move after move after
move with bouts of little-to-no-selling until the match
reset itself a couple times. Lots of fun stuff in here and
maybe – just maybe – this will win Match Of The Night honors
after it’s all said and done.
Naomi and Belair teamed up on Jax early until Jax tried to
suplex both at the same time and barely got them over.
Bayley returned to the action and pounded on Jax until Jax
threw Bayley away. The babyfaces went after Jax, but Jax
pushed them all away. Naomi, Bayley and Belair stared each
other down and Jax pulled Belair to the outside. Bayley and
Naomi then locked up inside the ring and Naomi got the best
of it early until Bayley came back and the two traded pin
attempts. Bayley was pulled to the outside by Jax and Jax
threw Bayley into the crowd barrier.
Inside the ring, Naomi landed a chin-breaker on Jax. Naomi
leapt at Jax, but Jax caught her and slammed her for a two-
count. Belair tried to lift Jax, but Jax stopped her. In
all, it turned into a dropkick from Belair into Jax. Belair
pounded on Jax in a corner. Jax powerbombed Belair, but
Bayley broke up a pin attempt. Bayley suplexed Jax and went
to the top, but Jax cut Bayley off. Jax lifted Bayley for a
Samoan Drop, but Naomi and Belair ran in and slammed Jax,
who slammed Bayley, and all four wrestlers were down. The
show then went to a commercial break.
Back from break, Jax slammed Naomi, but Belair and Bayley
broke up a pin attempt. Bayley and Belair took turns
punching Jax. Bayley and Belair sent Jax to the outside and
then went after each other. Bayley rolled up Belair for a
two-count. Bayley rolled Belair up again, but Jax broke that
up. Naomi returned to the action and kicked Jax before
landing a Russian Leg Sweep. Naomi hit a Split-Legged
Moonsault on Jax for a near-fall.
Bayley came form the top rope and hit an elbow drop on Jax
for a two-count. Belair then came off the top and hit a 450
splash on Jax, but Bayley broke that pin attempt up. The
babyfaces tried to pin Jax at the same time and it didn’t
work. LeRae then walked down to the ring and Naomi and
Belair worked some double-team moves on Bayley. That left
Naomi and Belair alone to fight each other. Instead of going
at it, they went at Bayley and Jax on the outside. Jax
caught Naomi and ran her into the ring apron.
Jax returned to the ring and was the recipient of a
shoulder-block from Belair. Bayley then hit Bayley-To-Belly
on Belair, btu Naomi broke it up. Naomi hit a Rear Vew on
Bayley, but Jax broke that up. Jax dropped Naomi and Belair
broke up that pin attempt. The match reset again with all
four wrestlers down in the middle of the ring. Belair
planted Bayley and hit a moonsault on her for a two-count.
Belair lifted Bayley for a KOD, but LeRae broke it up by
pulling on Belair’s braid. Belair then accidentally hit
Naomi with the braid.
Jax and Belair took each other over the commentary table.
Inside the ring, Bayley hit the Rose Plant on Naomi and that
was good enough for the win.
**********
– Cody and Jimmy were shown talking backstage and Cody said
he knew Roman would want his title back so all was good.
Cody walked away and Carmelo Hayes walked up to Jimmy and
half-threatened Jimmy. Jimmy talked about how Melo shoots
nothing but bricks and then half-yeeted.
– Bayley was walking backstage and ran into Byron Saxton,
who said Bayley’s match against Stratton will take place
next week. Bayley said she’s grown up in this business and
she pointed out that Stratton has never beaten Bayley. Also
set for next week, MCMG will take on Los Garza. Solo Sikoa
is set to return to SmackDown next week as well.
– Jacob Fatu was yelling while walking backstage and towards
the ring with Tonga. Fatu’s tone has shifted from crazed
Solo Sikoa follower to a more serious approach and it’s
great.
Tama Tonga & Jacob Fatu defeated Cody Rhodes & Jimmy Uso
[13:18]
I love it. I love Fatu getting the win, even if that means
it was because Cody was taken out of the match. Keep that
version of The Bloodline strong, even after Solo’s loss and
let’s get some heat for the eventual Solo vs. Jacob
showdown. If Jimmy and Cody would have won, this would have
felt like a regular dark match that was designed to send the
live crowd home happy; instead, we further the strength of
Fatu – and even Tonga, to a degree. Really good booking
here, at least in terms of WWE (yes, I know you hate WWE,
but be reasonable). On the other hand, that weird final spot
with the makeshift spear that Cody just kind of leaned into
felt a little odd. But we got to where we needed to go. A
very good way to end an unusually better-than-solid
SmackDown these days. Let’s see how next week goes.
Cody and Tonga started the match and Cody dropped Tonga.
Cody went to Tonga’s arm and tagged in Jimmy, who went to
the top and came down on Tonga’s left arm. Tonga fired up
and beat Jimmy into a corner. Fatu tagged in and Fatu went
to work on Jimmy. Fatu landed his pop-up Samoan Drop on
Jimmy and the show went to a PIP commercial break.
The show returned and Tonga tagged in to dropkick Cody and
work Jimmy’s leg and yell odd things. Fatu tagged in and
landed a Senton on Jimmy after hitting Cody off the apron.
Fatu landed a hip attack on Jimmy. He did that two times
over. After the second time, Fatu got a two-count out of it.
Fatu placed Jimmy on the top rope and screamed “I love you
Solo!” Jimmy then fought back and knocked Fatu off the
ropes. Jimmy eventually hit a spinning splash on Fatu and
Cody received the hot tag.
Cody snap-powerslammed Tonga, who also tagged in. Tonga
received a Disaster Kick. Cody lifted Tonga, but Tonga got
out of it. Fatu and Tonga were on the outside and Cody
landed a suicide dive on both heels. Back in the ring, Cody
did the Dusty punches/elbow on Tonga for a two-count. Cody
set up for a CrossRhodes on Tonga, but Tonga countered into
a DDT for a two-count. Cody lifted Tonga and perched on on
the top while Jimmy tagged in. Cody and Jimmy did a
variation of the Power And Glory finisher, but Fatu broke
things up. As a response, Cody hit a Cody Cutter on Fatu and
Jimmy sent Fatu over the commentary desk.
Kevin Owens walked down the aisle. Cody saw him and Cody and
KO brawled to the back. Inside the ring, Jimmy hit a spear
on Tonga and went to the top and hit the Uso Splash, but
Fatu pulled Jimmy to the outside. Fatu then tagged in and
slammed Jimmy’s head on the commentary table before rolling
himi back into the ring. Fatu hit an Impaler and his
moonsault and that got him the win.
Meanwhile, Owens and Cody brawled back into the arena and
onto traveling equipment. Owens set up for a powerbomb, but
instead the two traded punches. From there, Cody speared
Owens and the two went through two tables in the crowd. Both
guys sold pain and that’s how the show went off the air.