The WWE Smackdown Reaction for 1/14/22
Welcome to the WWE Smackdown Reaction, where I offer my take on this week’s show in Omaha.
As always, you can check out John’s full in-depth report here.
We get a recap of last week’s happenings from Brock Lesnar’s appearance to throw us to Promo Time with The Usos. Cole mentioned that King Woods suffered a torn calf muscle and is out indefinitely, which sucks. He’ll miss the Rumble as will Sasha Banks. The Usos do some over-the-top ring announcing for the Fatal Four Way match to determine the new #1 contenders for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship. The teams are Los Lotharios, Cesaro and Mansoor, Jinder Mahal and Shanky, and The Viking Raiders. The Usos stayed on commentary for the match.
The match was not too bad. The match stayed relatively under control, surprisingly. The Cesaro/Mansoor team looked impressive and could be a thing going forward, since Smackdown is lacking in face teams. Los Lotharios looked pretty good and could be a challenger for The New Day once Woods is cleared for competition. The ending came when The Viking Raiders hit the Viking Experience on one of Los Lotharios to earn the next shot at The Usos. At least we’re getting a fresh matchup out of it.
Backstage, Creative finally remembered why they are doing the Sonya/Naomi feud but it still doesn’t matter why. Can we just move on?
Promo Time with Sami Zayn is up next. Zayn was claiming to be more extreme than Johnny Knoxville by debuting the first episode of In-Zayn. It was terrible. I genuinely felt bad for Zayn here. He chickens out of performing the stunt after hyping it up. Ravishing Rick Rude arises to confront Zayn. Oh wait, that’s Rick Boogs with a Rude hairstyle. Why did they cut his hair? Anyway, Shinsuke Nakamura appears and drops Zayn. Boogs tosses Zayn out of the ring on to the crash pads set up for the stunt to end the spot.
Aliyah is backstage getting ready for her singles match debut when her opponent Natalya shows up to brag out her world records. Natalya said she was collecting another one when she beats Aliyah in record time. So, we know where this is going. Natalya beats Aliyah up before the match and Aliyah hits the ROLLUP OF DEATH~! as the bell rings to win the match in record time. Natalya is becoming the female version of Dolph Ziggler.
Promo Time with Lita is up next. Lita talks about how she has one more run left in her when Charlotte Flair shows up. Flair looks so much older than Lita even though it should be reversed. Flair put Lita down and brags like she usually does. Flair mentioned her match with Trish Stratus and how she ended her career and Lita was next. Foreshadowing a Stratus Rumble appearance? Lita dropped Flair with a Twist of Fate that Flair fumbled the sell on to end the segment.
In-ring competition resumes with Sheamus taking on Ricochet. I’m not feeling Ricochet’s new music. I liked the old song more. It fit him better. The match was really good as you would expect from these two. They didn’t do much in crazy spots, likely given with Ridge Holland getting his face kicked off a couple of weeks ago. Ricochet should have won with the sunset flip powerbomb off the second rope but Sheamus kicked out for a nice nearfall. Sheamus got a nice-looking Brogue Kick as Ricochet came off the ropes to pick up the win.
Naomi was ready to beat up Sonya Deville when Adam Pearce showed up and offered Naomi a Championship Contenders match with Charlotte Flair next week instead. Let’s hope Sonya can keep her nose out of that match.
Kofi Kingston takes on Madcap Moss next. Kingston announces that he will be in the Royal Rumble since Woods is injured and Moss tells terrible jokes to Corbin. We didn’t get to see a lot of the match, but it wasn’t too bad. Moss picked up the surprising win over the former WWE Champion. Moss appears to be improving in the ring but is stuck with a terrible gimmick.
The Face to Face between Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns was the main event. Their back and forth was pretty good telling the history between these two. Reigns ended storytime saying he would have picked the megastar in his family to face instead, his wife (not naming Becky). The Usos showed up to spoil the fun so Rollins bailed and escaped up the ramp to close out the show.
Let’s look at tonight’s highs and lows.
The Highs
It was great to see Lita back. She still looks like she did before leaving the WWE. It would be interesting to see if she can still go in the ring for another short run while the women’s corps get replenished.
Aliyah has a bright future ahead of her. Creative just does not need to screw it up. I could see her as a champion in a year or two.
The Lows
The Sami Zayn In-Zayn segment was just awful. I know his gimmick is about all of these conspiracies against him, but the booking is just awful. Zayn needs something better to do after this Johnny Knoxville confrontation is over.
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That’s all I’ve got, until next time.