“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 Weird Bone to Pick</strong></h3>
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<p>The opening segment of Smackdown Live this week was decent. It started with the hot Royal Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura coming out and talk about his match at WrestleMania against AJ Styles. It was all going well until Owens and Zayn interrupted to rant to Nakamura about how they were robbed off their co-WWE Championship (this still feels stupid to write). There was some reason to it, but we felt this was a bit forced.</p>
<p>If Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn had a bone to pick with anyone, it should have been with AJ Styles, or at least with the SD Live Commissioner or SD Live General Manager. But at least the best friends did a good job playing the bad guys here – interrupting the fan favorite, complaining about being screwed over (it was a legitimate claim this time), and walking away from a challenge from AJ Styles and Nakamura. Oh yeah, and we got AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura on a team, too *drools*.</p>
<h3><strong>WHAT DAY IS IT TODAY???</strong></h3>
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<p>IT IS RUSEV DAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! The Bulgarian Brute finally got a victory, and this time, it was a huge one. He won the #1 Contendership for Bobby Roode’s United States Championship in a Fatal-4-Way involving Jinder Mahal, Kofi Kingston, and Zack Ryder. This was the perfect call, capitalizing on Rusev (and RUSEV DAY)’s increasing popularity. Combine that with a champion whose theme song could be heard everywhere and we are going to have a match the fans will surely tune in to enjoy next week.</p>
<p>And the #1 Contender Match was actually pretty good, despite the not-so-inspiring line-up. Kofi spiced up the match with some high-flying moves and sick selling to clotheslines, Zack Ryder looked surprisingly dominant for a while, and Mahal was just, well, bland old Mahal. Even though it is more likely than not that The Glorious One will retain next Tuesday, Rusev would still receive a good rub, and come out higher on the pecking order than he is now. Good for him.</p>
<h3><strong>Those Were Macbooks, Goddamn It.</strong></h3>
<p>Not sure if we should review this segment or not. To us, Breezango’s “comedy” segment had lost its humor completely. It turned into this sort of cringy attempt at being funny, but the more the guys tried, the more the segments seemed to lose touch with the fans. Did you do this, Vince?</p>
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<p>And three MacBooks were flipped in this segment. Definitely Vince.</p>
<h3><strong>They Are Approaching</strong></h3>
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<p>So Usos vs Bludgeon Brothers might actually be the feud we are going with heading into WrestleMania season. Usos came out to cut a promo about how they handily defeated Benjamin and Gable, and the latter never showed up to deny that claim. Adding that to the fact they appeared in the earlier Breezango segment, and you could see Gable and Benjamin are out of the title picture for now. The introduction of the new challengers to the Usos’ championship was done well too, beginning with the “champions leaving when new challengers make their entrance” trope, followed by a good-old beat-down of a jobber team. And we were glad for Rowan and Harper as well – they very possibly will have their first meaningful match at WrestleMania in years. That is, if you count out the time when Erick Rowan had the shortest match in WrestleMania history against The Rock himself.</p>
<p></p>
<h3><strong>Teaser</strong></h3>
<p>Tonight’s women segment was so, so good. That segment was relatively short, but it was jam-packed with buddings for future storylines.</p>
<p>First, there was Charlotte’s obvious gripe with Ronda Rousey for overshadowing Asuka’s winning moments, and a historical night for WWE’s women’s division as well. The Queen looked (and sounded) really intense when doing that. Seriously, she sounded like she was about to cry out of frustration. Well, she in fact, WAS very unhappy about Ronda ruining Asuka’s glory.</p>
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<p>Second, the Riott Squad displayed their pack mentality here well, and (sort of) found a direction for themselves. Ruby Riott and the henchwomen cut a promo and then beat up the division’s champion, further proving their point that Charlotte’s time was over. That was a good enough starting point for a fledgling stable. But please, Ruby, please cut your hair.</p>
<p>And third, and this probably could not have come at a better time: Carmella reminded everyone that she still had the briefcase. Even though it was a failed cash-in attempt, it brought the suitcase back into the championship fold – we had disregarded it for so long. The potential future interactions between Carmella and Charlotte could make for very interesting television, which is exactly what was in dire need for the division come WrestleMania season.</p>
<h3><strong>More Filler Than a Squash Match</strong></h3>
<p>Another (probably) unnecessary loss for Tye Dillinger, falling at the hands of Baron Corbin. We found this match unwanted, because both possible scenarios coming out of this are not desirable at all.</p>
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<p>On one hand, this might be the resumption of the Dillinger – Corbin feud, but what is the point for that? We all knew who won the last time around, and the result just got shoved into our face once again tonight. So unless Dillinger had some extra motivation (like Corbin saying he despises the number 10 or something), Dillinger – Corbin would be a rivalry we all know the outcome. Would a predictable feud make for good programming? We do not think so.</p>
<p>On the other hand, in the event that Dillinger and Corbin will not feud with each other at all, their match tonight was nothing but a way to keep two guys, one barely over, the other barely winning, on television.</p>
<p>Really sad, especially for Tye.</p>
<p><strong>Side-note:</strong> We liked the little new additions to the televised experience Smackdown Live had done. The prison doors slamming, the hand-held feel of cameras filming wrestlers backstage – it was refreshing, to say the least.</p>
<h3><strong>The MacBook Flippers Did Not Receive Justice</strong></h3>
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<p>Shane McMahon’s oft-said line (the “We deal with things in the ring!” one) was in full effect here, as Breezango fought Gable and Benjamin after the latter flipped three MacBooks off a table earlier in the show. Match quality-wise, it was not much to talk about – a solid, day-to-day affair by both teams. At least there was some build-up to it, and our hunches predict there will be Gable/Benjamin vs The Ascension next week. All regular tag team affair.</p>
<h3><strong>Another Dream Match</strong></h3>
<p>Before we proceed to say anything about the quality or result of the match at all, let us say something: THIS DREAM MATCH THOUGH! We will just type the main event of this week’s Smackdown Live once again, just so that you guys can soak it in and appreciate the immense talent present:</p>
<p>AJ STYLES and SHINSUKE NAKAMURA vs KEVIN OWENS and SAMI ZAYN.</p>
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<p>Just four years ago, that dream match could main event any, and we mean ANY, indy event, and it would probably have cost every last penny of the promoter. And now, right here, on the post-Rumble edition of Smackdown Live, we were treated to this lavish showing of world-class talent. You should genuinely feel grateful for that.</p>
<p>The match itself was not that great; however, it had some interesting developments. Arguments in the Owens and Zayn unit started to spiral out of control until finally, Sami Zayn left Kevin Owens, leaving the Prizefighter to deal with two of the absolute best wrestlers in the world alone. Karma is a b*tch, huh? This match might be the official end to the best-friends period between Kevin and Sami. After tonight, another chapter in their story shall be written, and we cannot wait to see it unfold.</p>
<h3><strong>Overall Review: </strong></h3>
<p>This was one of the better shows of Smackdown Live in the past three months. There were segments that were not really bad, but just really bland, and there were ones full of quality story-telling and storyline development. Our personal favorites (storyline progression-wise) were Carmella’s teased cash-in and the break-up of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. The main event was satisfactory, and absolutely blew RAW’s out of the water, even in terms of star power. Sorry John and Finn, but we prefer Nakamura and Styles. ANOTHER DREAM MATCH SPOTTED.</p>

WWE Smackdown Live Review & Results: January 30th, 2018

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