“I’m Better Than You, And You Know It”

"Every Man Has A Price For The Million Dollar Man"

"The Best There Is, The Best There Was, And The Best There Ever Will Be"

"Whatcha Gonna Do, When Hulkamania Runs Wild On You"

"And That's The Bottom Line Because Stone Cold Said So"

<h3><strong>Living Vicariously</strong></h3>
<p>Wait what? We thought Owens vs Zayn for #1 Contendership was set for Fastlane. Oh the capriciousness of WWE programming. This is Smackdown Live.</p>
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<p>Anyways, Shane McMahon had an excellent promo tonight, pointing out why Daniel Bryan was giving Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn so many opportunities: Their “Yep” movement, no matter how silly it may sound to a normal person, reminded Daniel Bryan days of a glorious past but abruptly ended by concussions. Shane had hit Daniel hard, and you could see it on Daniel’s face. For a moment, we could sympathize with the American Dragon. AJ Styles also did what a babyface should do, and that was to tell others what the audience wanted to hear – the General Manager and the Commissioner should stand back, and not pushing The Phenomenal One around like a ragdoll. A great promo segment to open the show.</p>
<h3><strong>Too Green</strong></h3>
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<p>Livv Morgan exposed her underdevelopment here, as she looked like an absolute rookie against Charlotte. It was not a bad thing, actually – it only went to show that Livv needs to work harder to prove herself. The match itself was nothing too spectacular, just another show of superiority from the Smackdown Live Women’s Champion, but a little point we would like to note here was the use of ejection from ringside. Usually, the ejection is reserved only for big matches (usually for a championship), when the referee deems it necessary to ban the henchmen (or henchwomen) completely from ringside to protect the integrity of a high-stakes match. But now the trope was used on a run-of-the-mill episode of Smackdown Live, and there goes another way of adding extra drama to consequential matches.</p>
<h3><strong>Firing Back</strong></h3>
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<p>The exact opposite of last week happened tonight – Bludgeon Brothers had a squash match, and The Usos made their entrance as Rowan and Harper were leaving. It was a nice detail, showing that WWE was not rushing to build this feud. That was a good thing – slow kindling means blazing flame, which was exactly what storylines nowadays need. Meanwhile, The Usos cut another badass promo, sending warnings to all potential lurkers of their titles. In a way, it felt like they were talking to The Bludgeon Brothers. Another fine touch.</p>
<p>Oh and the prison door slamming graphic was gone now. Good.</p>
<p></p>
<h3><strong>Another Day, Rusev.</strong></h3>
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<p>He did not capitalize on the United States Championship match on Rusev Day, even with the help of his melodious partner Aiden English. Nonetheless, it was a very good match, showcasing the talent of both competitors. We especially liked the ending sequence – cool reversals, and a quickly-discharged Glorious DDT for the win.</p>
<p>Rusev still looked very strong coming out of the match, and we can look forward to the Rusev push we have all been waiting for. But he probably will not be in the United States Championship picture for the time being, since Randy Orton fired the first shot at The Glorious One with an RKO Outta Nowhere while Roode was celebrating his victory. Come to think of it, Randy Orton vs Bobby Roode at WrestleMania for the United States Championship does not sound so bad, especially when it will happen on… RUSEV DAYYYYY!</p>
<h3><strong>Clowns</strong></h3>
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<p>Not sure if that was more suitable to describe The Ascension by this point (just like Gable and Benjamin did before the match) or to describe this cringy type of video promo. It needs refining. However, this was only the second week the handheld video promos were implemented, so we could always hope for the better. Gable and Benjamin vs Ascension did not carry much meaning to it – it helped the former re-establish their position in the tag division, and it meant another enhancement-talent week for the former NXT Tag Team champions. Oh the days of glorious past. They are such talented wrestlers, and at the very least, there should be a storyline for them. Maybe The Ascension could benefit from the shaky-handphone-camera thing, we know not.</p>
<h3><strong>Another Un-Phenomenal Move</strong></h3>
<p>Once again, AJ got himself into hot water, since his interjection into the #1 Contendership Match between Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn led Daniel Bryan to put BOTH Owens and Zayn into the championship match at Fastlane, effectively making it a Triple Threat match. This was another move that made Styles look not-so-smart. Pissed AJ once, shame on Sami; pissed AJ twice, shame on Styles – AJ had been through this exact situation before, so you would expect him to learn a lesson.</p>
<p>To us, a champion should be more level-headed than what AJ Styles exhibited tonight. We do not like to say it, but we will: Daniel Bryan made the sensible decision. His creating more opportunities for Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens will cause further tension between him and Shane O’Mac, which means more development in the McMahon – Bryan story next week. This scuffle might have slowly become our favorite rivalry on Smackdown Live. Bad in itself, but at least it involves 3 of the brand’s most popular wrestlers.</p>
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<p>Speaking about wrestlers, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn put on a fantastic showing tonight, a very clear evidence of how well the two have known each other after 15+ years fighting forever. Had it had a proper ending (as in no stupid interference DQ), it would have MADE THE LIST…of good matches in 2018. We compiled that list so that we will have much less sifting to do when we create our best-of-2018 lists in December.</p>
<h3><strong>Overall Review:</strong></h3>
<p>A solid show, and surprisingly little to write about. That, however, was by no means an indication of there being nothing of worth going on in the blue brand. Tonight, there were two good matches, in the form of Rusev vs Roode and Zayn vs Owens. There was also progression in many storylines (Shane – Daniel, Usos – Bludgeon Brothers, Styles – Zayn – Owens), and possibly the start of the build towards Orton vs Roode – a match we never knew we wanted.</p>
<p>The women’s division was still a minus, sadly – no storyline progress whatsoever. That is a problem that seriously needs to be addressed, and as we said, we will keep chewing on this issue until some actual weekly-running stories for the women are crafted. But there are enough potential developments in other rivalries for you to tune in next week, so we give this show a thumbs up.</p>

WWE Smackdown Live Review & Results: February 6th, 2018

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