The WWE Super Smackdown Reaction for 1/31/20 by Kelly Dishnow
Welcome to the Super Smackdown Reaction, where I offer up my take on this week’s offering from Tulsa. You can check out John’s full in-depth report here.
We get started with the opening video and pyro before Roman Reigns and The Usos come out for a promo. We have Super Smackdown this week to plug the Super Bowl Sunday on Fox. I wonder how Vince feels about having to plug the NFL given what Monday Night Football usually does to Raw’s ratings? Anyway, The Bloodline is out to talk about the happenings from last week’s Royal Rumble, where Roman beat Corbin but lost the Rumble. Roman says he is ready to march towards the main event of WrestleMania, which brings out King Corbin and his tag partners for later tonight, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode. Corbin says he should have won the Rumble and main event WrestleMania. Of the things that belong in the WrestleMania main event, Corbin is not one of them. Corbin replays the dog food humiliation of Roman from a couple of months ago and Roman offers up a stipulation for their six-man tag main event match tonight, Loser Eats Dog Food. Conveniently, chili that was made up to look like dog food rolls out onto the stage and it looks like we are set for later. I thought this feud ended at the Royal Rumble.
Our first match of the night is a tag team fatal four-way to determine who will face the New Day for the tag team titles and a Saudi Payday. The teams are Heavy Machinery, Lucha House Party, The Revival, and The Miz/John Morrison. The match itself was pretty good and everyone was given an opportunity to get their spots in and show what they could do. It was all action from bell to bell. The end came when John Morrison hit Starship Pain on The Revival’s Scott Dawson for the victory and tag title shot.
After a break, Otis and Tucker are backstage talking when Fire and Desire walk up to them. Mandy Rose thanks Otis for his help in the Woman’s Rumble match and Otis stumbles over his words to ask Mandy out on a date next Friday. Mandy said she was busy next week but was free the following Friday. The date was set and after Fire and Desire left, Tucker told Otis that the date was going to be on Valentine’s Day. I guess we will have several vignettes from that in two weeks.
We get a quick recap video from the Universal Title match between The Fiend and Daniel Bryan, along with reaction from Bryan himself.
Back in the ring, Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross are waiting in the ring for Fire and Desire. The four started fighting before the bell rings. Nikki caught Sonya in the ring apron and started punching her. Alexa slides into Sonya from inside the ring and got way too up close and personal straddling the ring apron on her way out to the floor. The bell finally rings and we get a decent tag match. It was longer than the usual three-minute special, but not by much. Alexa Bliss picks up the win for her team after hitting Twisted Bliss on Mandy Rose. Alexa is just not that interesting while Fire and Desire need wins to look credible. I’m guessing this win is going to set up a tag title match with the Kabuki Warriors soon since there really aren’t any other choices around.
Our first singles match of the night has Shinsuke Nakamura defending the Intercontinental Title against Braun Strowman. The match was okay for being an extended squash match, as Strowman dominated most of the match. The end came when Cesaro was caught trying to interfere in the match so Sami Zayn could expose a turnbuckle. Nakamura tried to ram Strowman into it, who blocked and rammed Nakamura into it instead into the running powerslam to capture his first singles title. Strowman celebrated the win in the ring as the heels looked on dejected from the ramp.
The Kayla Clone was backstage asking Zayn and company for their thoughts. Zayn started rambling on before being interrupted by Elias. Elias kept interrupting Zayn so Zayn sent Cesaro out to deal with Elias. Elias tried to do a quick song before Cesaro marched to the ring. Elias jumped Cesaro as he entered the ring and quickly dispatched him. Both guys deserve far better than what (Un)Creative is offering them.
Sheamus and Shorty G are up next and starts off with Gable dropping Sheamus as he was doing his entrance pose on the stage. The match was short and referee Jessica Karr got picked up on the mics a couple of times giving instructions to the wrestlers. Sheamus picks up the win after a Brogue Kick.
Promo Time with Bayley is next and she’s out bragging about her Royal Rumble win over Lacey Evans. Bayley said we all know Charlotte was going to be challenging her at WrestleMania so come on out and get it over with. Naomi comes out instead with a slightly different glow entrance and it appears she has one of Ali’s headgear on, so sort of full LED helmet. Naomi said that Bayley claims she’s beaten everyone, except her. Bayley and Naomi get into a quick scuffle before Bayley bails to the floor.
Main event time with The Bloodline taking on King Corbin and his jesters. We get a very formulaic WWE tag team match. The match was good with Roman picking up the win by using the dreaded ROLLUP OF DEATH~! after the Usos buried Ziggler and Roode under the announce table. Corbin tries to escape but he eats a couple of Uso superkicks and a Roman spear before the Usos handcuff him and hang him off the ring post like Corbin and Ziggler did to Roman a couple of months ago. Roman and the Usos dump the buckets of dog food on to Corbin before posing for a couple of pictures to close out the show. Hopefully, this ends this awful feud.
Let’s look at tonight’s highs and lows:
The Highs:
The Fatal Four Way match was nonstop action from the get go. All four teams looked really good.
So happy Braun Strowman finally won a singles title after two tag title reigns. He should be a triple crown winner by now.
The Lows:
Did we really need a Loser Eats Dog Food Match tonight? The loser didn’t even eat it, the dig food was dumped all over Corbin and nothing was done to Ziggler and Roode for losing outside of laying under the announce table. Please make this the end of the feud.
The Women’s Tag Team Title scene is nearly nonexistent. It looks like Alexa and Nikki will be getting a match soon as there really is nobody else. Fire and Desire always lose and The Iiconics have their pictures on milk cartons.
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That’s all I’ve got for today, until next time.