The perfect night to stay in and watch Smackdown. Montréal hit with a 35 cm snowpocalypse while the Road to Wrestlemania is well underway. Moreover, another long-awaited return tonight, Goldberg to appear and let the world know who s next. Our aperitif if you will be mention of Goldberg appearing later on. Also, the main event involves, Carmela, Naomi, Dana Brooke, and Alexa Bliss.
We kicked the show off however with a return of the Dirt Sheet. Prior to that, the announce team let us know that Daniel Bryan is scheduled to appear. They then speculated as to what shape he will be in which leads most wrestling fans to want to engage in a comparative analysis between Bryan s welts of 12 days ago vs. those suffered by Cody just 2 nights ago.
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The Dirt Sheet lived up to its expectations and this being Oscar weekend, the Miz and the Shaman of Sexy showed a trailer for their upcoming motion picture extravaganza. This piece was very well done. Cameos by Lance Storm, Miz Sr. and even John Laurinaitis. If that was not enough, there was a tremendous shout out to Once Upon in Hollywood and a surprising reference to Slamtown, the home base of the then Johnny Impact.
As expected, the New Day crashed the party to spread the power of positivity and share their popcorn with the audience.
A nice change from pancakes and so suited to the movie trailer and Oscar weekend theme.
The forthcoming match for the championship was referenced and the New Day suggested that the thought of them losing the belts to the Miz and Morrison was as funny as a classic Richard Pryor movie.
Kingston and Big E were then ambushed by their soon to be challengers but luckily, the Uso twins intervened which brought us to our first commercial break.
The very first match of the night then took place featuring Jimmy and Jey Uso face off against the victory starved Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler.
The Glorious One and Ziggler took firm control early on with frequent tags and isolating Jimmy. Jey Uso is finally tagged in. Momentum shifts back and forth in a crisp and well-executed series of exchanges and a plethora of two counts, both sides coming oh so close.
We head to commercial break number two. Man, those Sour Patch Tropical candies sure looked good, Upon our return, the twins are both down and outside the ring. Roode and Ziggler are still dominant pummelling Jey. The aforementioned son of Rikishi comes then within centimeters of a tag only to fall just short.
When Jimmy is FINALLY tagged in, the momentum shifts immediately. Stop me if you’ve heard that one before. Roode and Ziggler mount a comeback and another series of 2 counts ensue. A blocked Glorious DDT coming at a very crucial moment in the encounter.
Jey and Jimmy would not be denied though on this night. After a pair of superkicks and a perfectly executed Uso splash, the twins would emerge with the W after a very well-fought battle.
Nice to see the tandem of Roode and Ziggler not tied to the hip of King Corbin. While the Usos will most likely be in the hunt for tag team gold for the next little while, it will be interesting to see if Roode and Zigs are split up or kept as a tandem.
We then got a tease and saw intensity personified, Goldberg for a second time before heading into commercial break number three. Once back on the air, we got to revisit Alpo King Corbin suffer the humiliation of a dog food deluge. Would have been the perfect segue for a Gravol commercial but instead, we were shown a Buccaneer themed Wrestlemania promo reminding us that THE event of the year is a mere 58 days away.
We then cut away to an exchange between Alexa Bliss and Niki Cross hyping tonight’s fatal 4-way final. Dana Brooke will square off against Little Miss Bliss, Naomi, and Carmela for a shot at Bayley s Smackdown belt at Wrestlemania.
Alexa hints at pulling a major coup tonight.
Our focus then shifts to the production truck. An irate King storms the vehicle and calls out the member of the production team who was responsible for showing the dog food segment. The poor individual who told Corbin he was merely doing his job was unceremoniously thrown down a flight of stairs. Awesome heel segment that definitely will leave a mark.
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We then cut away to Elias who is already in the ring and playing a wonderful bluesy piece on his Fender guitar. The ex drifter then tells the crowd he d like to perform a tune for them. The very moment he starts, he is interrupted by Sami Zayn and the Swiss Cyborg, Cesaro. A humorous exchange between Elias and Sami. Accusations fly about being cut off while addressing the crowd. Elias comes up with the line of the night. Something to the effect of being interrupted throughout the course of his 2.5-year tenure in the WWE.
Elias then squares off against Cesaro.
Poor Cesaro, in pristine shape, technically gifted but has not won a match since Mike Babcock was being discussed as a Jack Adams trophy candidate. While Cesaro took the early advantage, momentum shifts ensued.
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Cesaro hits a nice gut wrench suplex only to get a two count while Elias strikes back with a flying knee that would make Eddie Edwards jealous only to see Cesaro kick out at two. Elias though manages to ascend to the top rope and perform a phenomenal elbow drop on Cesaro. Game, set, match. The Macho Man himself would be mightily impressed.
As we go to a commercial break, we see Goldberg getting miked up, soon to appear.
We are about to head unto the second hour of the show which leads us to expect to see the Hall of Famer once the ads came to an end.
Quite the surprise however as the Alpo King invoking his special status appears and commandeers the show. Great heel moment number two of the night for him as he spills a beverage over someone in the crowd and taunts the San José crowd over the Kansas City Super Bowl conquest.
Corbin then went on to blame the collaboration between the Usos and Roman Reigns for his Royal Rumble defeat and even for being eliminated from the Rumble. He then called out Reigns and demanded one more match against the Big Dog. Roman answered the challenge and avenged the poor fan by spilling a beverage over the good King. We were then told that the confrontation would be a one on one affair in a steel cage at Super Showdown. Yes ladies and gentlemen, be careful of what you wish for.
Alas, we cut away to Goldberg s home in the great State of Texas.
In a short message, Goldberg first mentioned watching the Royal Rumble LAST week with his son. Parenthetic note, Rumble was two weeks ago. Either the segment was filmed 2 weeks ago and poorly edited or Bill s memory just slipped.
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Goldberg then let us know that his opponent of choice is Bray Wyatt -the Fiend for the WWE Universal Championship. Then, in a heartbeat, we go to the Firefly Funhouse for a news bulletin of utmost importance where the challenge is accepted. Mercy the Buzzard brought us up to speed on the weather and then the segment ended with Goldberg informing Bray that in fact, He is next.
We then head off to the dressing room where Daniel Bryan is being consoled by Heath Slater pursuant to his Royal Rumble loss and the sheer brutality of Bray Wyatt. Bryan challenges Slater to a match to take place immediately and the one time 3MB member is pinned in no time. Bryan then unleashes a series of brutal kicks to Slater s head and Athe announce team opines that no opponent can face the Fiend and not emerge a changed man.
We go to a commercial break and are promised an appearance by Braun Strowman upon our return.
The new I-C champions interviewed by Renée Young and tells the crowd how happy he is to finally have a singles belt. Shortly thereafter Sami Zayn comes to the ringside area with Nakamura demanding an honorable rematch but stressing it will not be tonight nor in San José and that he was devising a surgical plan to regain the belt. In a millisecond, the Revival joined the fray and the Monster Among Men was the victim of a beatdown. Nice to see the Revival do something relevant for a change. Interested to see where this goes.
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After a commercial break, we cut away to a segment showing Otis prepare for his Feb 14th date with Mandy Rose. The lovestruck heavyweight was shown working out in the gym, experimenting with his wardrobe and even attempting to be shown table manners.
Next up was Sheamus vs Apollo Crews.
The Celtic Warrior looking paler than a glass of skim milk beat Crews in a heartbeat. Shorty G did a post-match run in to assist Apollo but was summarily beaten down himself.
The stage was set for the Main Event. Four-way match between Carmela, Naomi, Alexa Bliss, and Dana Brooke. After a promo for Super Showdown, we are shown the fourth entrant enters the ring, that being Naomi with Carmela, Brooke, and Bliss already in the ring.
The four all go for early pins. As one would expect, even contest and many counts of two. With her three opponents outside the ring, Naomi seizes the moment and leaps outside to topple her foes. This leads to a confrontation with Bayley, the champ at ringside scouting her competition for her upcoming Tampa tilt.
The action in the ring heats up. Naomi returns to the ring where she is alone facing Alexa Bliss. Dana Brooke returns with a split top leg drop while Alexa Bliss is thwarted in an attempt to pull off her Twisted Bliss move. Out of the blue, Carmela reappears and two superkicks later emerge victoriously over Bliss, Brooke, and Naomi. She will face Bayley for the SD championship at Wrestlemania.
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Truth be told, I was very surprised by this result. I thought Naomi was in for a big push and that this would be her moment. That s the beauty of watching wrestling. Even though there is so much convention and predictability, there is always room for surprise.
