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The 24/1/20 edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown seemed to rush by, but it was an enjoyable episode.
Here some of the highs and lows.
Roman Reigns and The Usos vs Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode was the opening match. It was a decent match, lengthy, but decent, we saw a bit of a preview of this Sunday’s upcoming Falls Count Anywhere match as Reigns and Corbin battled in the crowd a little bit, all good stuff, they work fantastically together, so that was pretty good to watch. The finish of the match saw Jimmy Uso hit a splash on Roode for the pinfall victory. – A high, it was a decent match in the end.
Up next, we saw Cole stood on the stage, and he brought out Lacey Evans. Cole asked her how this feud all started with Sasha and Bayley, and why she called them out for her leadership. Lacey called them bullies, and said that she wasn’t going to stand around in the back and talk about bullies.
Michael Cole asked about Lacey’s upbringing, and what inspires her. Evans quickly broke down, and said that her father lost his battle with addiction and depression. She said she wants to show people that there’s nothing they can’t accomplish if they set their mind to it, even if they are going through tough times.
Lacey held herself up as an example, having a rough upbringing and finding her way to WWE through the Marines. Evans wanted to show the crowd that she knows they are going through things, and she wants to inspire them to keep fighting to be their best.
Cole then switched the focus onto her daughter, and showed footage of Sasha and Bayley assaulting her in front of her daughter. Lacey said that she was proud of her daughter for standing up to them, but she would show them on Sunday – Bayley assaulted Lacey from behind before she could finish what she was saying. The referees rushed out to separate them. – This was a fantastic segment, it seems that WWE are going all in with the Lacey Evans good guy run, the story is all there, everything was touched on in this promo, and it is all truth. An inspirational, heartfelt promo from Evans here, hopefully the general audience takes to Evans and she becomes the star that she’s destined to be. – A high, great building towards the Women’s Title match at the Royal Rumble.
Kofi Kingston vs John Morrison was a good match, not as good as it could and perhaps should have been, but it was enjoyable. Morrison picked up the win with Starship Pain, a move that never gets old to watch, beautiful looking finishing move. – Another high, building up the Miz/Morrison and New Day feud even more, Morrison now has wins over both active New Day members.
The contract signing between The Fiend Bray Wyatt and Daniel Bryan for their Strap Match for the WWE Universal Championship was the closing segment for the show, more horror elements from The Fiend were good to see, before signing the contract, he attacked Bryan with a Mandible Claw, then he stabbed himself with the pen, stamping the contract with his blood to make the match official, that was quite interesting to see. This segment gets a high, while Strap Matches aren’t the most exciting, this match is still one to look forward to.
Now for the lows of the episode…
It was Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross vs Fire n Desire, the match was about to begin, when Lacey Evans ad Bayley rushed to the ring, everyone brawled and the match didn’t end up starting. WWE’s usual pre-Rumble “Everybody brawls” spot, the Women’s Royal Rumble match has had quite a weak build this year, with virtually no time dedicated to it, disappointing to say the least.
Strowman and Elias vs Cesaro and Nakamura. Prior to the match, Elias was singing, quite an alright song this time around… He said that he needed help singing the next part, and brought out Braun Strowman, just as he was about to sing, Cesaro and co came out. This match was quite quick and really didn’t serve much purpose to be honest, Elias got the win hitting a big elbow from the top onto Cesaro.
Highs – 4
Lows – 2