“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>A Trouble of His Own Making</strong></h3>
<p>Aaaand the loophole was finally seen and exploited by the duo of Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, who have come to be referred to by AJ Styles under the stupid, stupid name “Kami” (or Kemi, since Kemi would make a more equal composition of their names, but who cares). Within WWE logic, Owens and Zayn’s logic made complete sense (and yep, we will not use “Kami” unless it becomes an actual team name). AJ Styles technically asked for a handicap match in a moment of frustration, and that is exactly what he will get come Sunday.</p>
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<p>A pleasant thing we want to note is that through this segment, WWE had demonstrated very nicely how to build smart heel characters. These characters are those who make legitimate arguments that have just enough obnoxiousness to make people hate, yet just enough logic to make people think: “Hmm, these guys, you know, they kind of make sense.” It would be safe to say, Owens, Zayn, and The Miz all belong to this category, and we cannot have enough of these guys.</p>
<h3><strong>Good Outlooks</strong></h3>
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<p>The last bit of in-ring interaction between Gable and Benjamin and The Usos before the latter’s tag team championship defense against the former this Sunday at the first “Big 4” event of the year, Royal Rumble. To be honest, we do not have much to discuss about this segment. It was a decent match, and an okay booking step – not making the champs look inferior, but also reminding the on-screen audience about Gable and Benjamin’s dangerous potential to upset the Samoan boys in 5 days. Solid win for Chad Gable.</p>
<h3><strong>Jump Rope!</strong></h3>
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<p>Naomi took on Liv Morgan tonight, and we were quite impressed with Liv’s athleticism. That was not to undermine Naomi’s ablilities, but we were just surprised at Liv’s flex game (giggity). Fun little match. What followed was kind of predictable – women from all stables going at each other, and so were those from the same group – Becky Lynch tried to toss Naomi over the top rope without success. We like how Charlotte Flair never joined that commotion and just came out calmly with a microphone. That really helped build her “one level above the rest” character. This week, the women of Smackdown finally outdid those of RAW.<br />
</p>
<h3><strong>OUTTA NOWHEREEEEEE!!!</strong></h3>
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<p>Now that was how you used a meme, damn ít! Nakamura took on Corbin after Corbin interrupted Nakamura’s knee-face monologue. The match was going fine, Nakamura was average, Corbin was above his usual standards and the pace picked up towards the end, but what really got the crowd going was the perfect timing of Orton’s RKO – right when Nakamura was running towards Corbin to deliver the Kinshasa. There is something about that RKO that made us so willing to give up all common sense and mark out as little kids when we saw Orton twisting around after striking. If RAW had The Rattlesnake, we would be just fine with The Viper on Smackdown Live. The crowds love it, and so do we. Plus we get to see that more often than Stunners, so hah!</p>
<h3><strong>Glorious, But Too Starchy.</strong></h3>
<p>What is up with this pancake stint by The New Day? And even out of cereal boxes? What, did the cereal flakes evolved into something much flatter and 20 times as large? What stage is Cerealax at now? 2? Or did The New Day had passed their height of popularity, so they are not funded to have their own pancake boxes anymore? Either way, we are starting to get tired of the pancake thing. (Admittedly, part of our disgust towards pancakes arose from the day we went to Pancake House. Each person ordered a giant pancake, and it was indeed a freaking giant. A 15 inch in diameter monster it was (that’s what she said). We did not finish them alleach had pancakes for breakfast the next three days.) But still, even without our dining experience, we still do not find The New Day’s pancake shenanigans interesting. At all.</p>
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<p>And to add to the nuisance, RUSEV DAY was paired up with *sigh* Jinder Mahal. Rusev Day was a hugely popular team, and teaming them with one of the least favorite heels was, though an appropriate move, a sure-fire way to dampen Rusev and English’s popularity.</p>
<p>Other than those things, the new United States champion seemed invincible tonight, and we always want our champions protected. But Bobby, please stay away from the pancakes. They have lots of carbs.</p>
<h3><strong>A Pre-determined Gauntlet Match</strong></h3>
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<p>An interesting main event was set up, and it involved two matches. The WWE Champion, The Phenomenal One, The One That Built Smackdown Live – A. J. STYLES. – had to face Kevin Owens, and THEN Sami Zayn right after. It was too bad that Kevin Owens got defeated so handily. Sure, this implied AJ Styles’ frustration at the insufferable pair (this could also be seen when AJ did not even pose during his entrance), but Owens should not be made to look that weak. No heel should look that weak. Even Sami Zayn, the weaker of the two, took on AJ Styles for longer.</p>
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<p class="custom-indent">So what does this even mean for Kevin Owens’ position as a source of danger? It seems like KO had (kayfabe) relied so much on his partner (first Y2J, then Sami Zayn) for victories that his in-ring capacity had degenerate (and by in-ring capacity we obviously did not mean his actual moveset or his control of the flow of the match – geez, writing about professional wrestling is hard). At least Sami Zayn could have another victory over AJ Styles to his name.</p>
<h3><strong>Overall Review: </strong></h3>
<p>The go-home edition of Smackdown Live (and also the last TV show of WWE) before Royal Rumble was better than the norm, but it did not really have that “oomph” factor that made us not want to miss Smackdown’s offerings at the Rumble for the world. That being said, there were some highlights, notably the women’s division and the fun little show-long arc between AJ Styles and Kami Zayens (take notes, WWE – that is how you mix names together. Kami, ew.) The tag team titles feud also had some air time, but no progress, and it seemed like no one would be near Bobby Roode’s United States Championship for a while. Now that all the TV shows are out of the way, it is time for you (and us) to sit down and crunch those wacky Royal Rumble statistics in the next 5 days or so. The countdown has begun.</p>

WWE Smackdown Live Review & Results: January 23rd, 2018

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