The latest episode of WWE SmackDown was highly entertaining. Several Superstars, who were languishing in the mid-card, seemingly found new direction.
Shinsuke Nakamura accumulated a major win against Jey Uso in the first match of the night. His face turn has been solidified after he used his old entrance theme on the show.
In a tremendous slow-burn angle, Apollo Crews is turning heel. On this week’s episode of SmackDown, Crews was seemingly being mentored by Universal Champion, Roman Reigns. Later in the night, he defeated Sami Zayn by adopting underhanded tactics and will challenge Big E for the Intercontinental Championship match next week. Though it’s hard to imagine the New Day member dropping the title so soon, the former US Champion can pull off a shocking upset given he’s aided by Reigns and Jey Uso.
Rey Mysterio faced off against King Corbin in a match that saw The Lone Wolf pull off a surprisingly dominant victory over the Lucha Libre legend. The ending involved Dominik Mysterio, as Corbin assaulted him to distract Rey and get the win.
In the best match on this week’s SmackDown, Cesaro defeated Daniel Bryan in a PPV worthy bout. The two in-ring technicians exchanged a flurry of offense and reversals that excited the viewers.
Cesaro coming on top has given him a lot of momentum going into the Royal Rumble, while Bryan still remains a favorite to win the 30 man over the top Battle Royal, considering the booking patterns.
Kevin Owens returnes to SmackDown as Adam Pearce’s replacement at Royal Rumble 2021
In the most shocking albeit a little underwhelming development from the night, Kevin Owens returned to SmackDown as the replacement for Adam Pearce and will face Universal Champion Roman Reigns at Royal Rumble. The WWE Official said that he was “injured” and made KO as his replacement.
The previous week’s SmackDown Gauntlet match that saw Pearce coming out on top owing to The Tribal Chief’s nefarious actions. Even though Reigns and Owens could produce another classic at the upcoming PPV, KO coming out on top still seems like a distant dream. Given the run Roman Reigns is on at the moment, WWE will not be ready to pull the plug on his Championship reign at the Royal Rumble.
On that note, let’s see how Twitter reacted to all the major developments on this week’s episode of SmackDown. Do share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Smackdown was strong tonight!
— Hurricane Helms (@ShaneHelmsCom) January 16, 2021
SmackDown: Roman Reigns vs Kevin Owens
NXT: Finn Balor vs Pete Dunne
Raw: Drew McIntyre vs Goldberg
That’s all that needs to be said. #Smackdown
— Sean Slate (@slate_s42) January 16, 2021
Smackdown is lightyears ahead of RAW regarding creative
RAW has existed longer than Smackdown and since 2016 Smackdown has been more superior than RAW even though they’re written by the same creative team #Smackdown
— Alastair McKenzie🏴 (@mckenzieas93V2) January 16, 2021
Apollo wins via roll up and he grabs the tights.
It adds to Apollo’s slow heel turn and also adds fuel to Sami’s conspiracy documentary because he got caught and Apollo didn’t.
Good booking. #SmackDown
— Fiending For Followers ‼️ (@Fiend4FolIows) January 16, 2021
Nakamura and Cesaro getting clean wins over Daniel Bryan has been such a big boost for both performers. #SmackDown has been doing a fantastic job of spotlighting the talent fans want to see and I love it.
— Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) January 16, 2021
Cesaro with a massive win over Daniel Bryan.
Hell of a match.
Could watch them wrestle for hours.
👏👏👏👏#SmackDown
— Mark (@WrestlingJebus) January 16, 2021
Roman Reigns put Apollo Crews over more just by him sitting on his couch for 45 seconds more than Charlotte Flair has put any talent over in 6 years #SmackDown
— JDfromNY (@JDfromNY206) January 16, 2021
Daniel Bryan using this final run to give back and put others over, when he easily could still be dominating the world title scene, speaks to how selfless he really is, once in a generation talent. #SmackDown
— Jake (@JetsandWrasslin) January 16, 2021
Published 16 Jan 2021, 12:25 IST
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