WWE SmackDown recap, review: Ronda Rousey packs a punch in SmackDown return
By Ryan Satin
FOX Sports WWE Analyst
Ronda Rousey appeared on WWE Friday Night SmackDown this week to once again make her presence felt – both figuratively and literally.
Welcome back to the "Highs and Lows," this time covering the 2/11/22 edition of Friday Night SmackDown featuring appearances from Rousey and Goldberg, as well Charlotte Flair defending her title in the main event.
Before I detail some of my thoughts, here are the quick results:
- Angel and Humberto defeated Big E and Kofi Kingston via pinfall
- Natalya defeated Aliyah via submission with The Sharpshooter
- Happy Corbin defeated Cesaro after hitting the End of Days
- Charlotte Flair defeated Naomi via clean pinfall
SMACKDOWN HIGHS
Naomi gets a chance to shine
While she might not have gotten the win over Charlotte, this was a great showing nonetheless and a reminder of what Naomi can do in the ring when given the opportunity to showcase her skills for that long.
Months of feuding with evil authority figure Sonya Deville has helped fans rally behind Naomi, and having Ronda Rousey assist in evening the odds against Charlotte/Sonya will ultimately be beneficial to both Superstars.
As I’ve pointed out before, the recent reactions Ronda has been getting are much more positive than they were prior to her hiatus, so pairing the ex-UFC fighter with a babyface that fans are currently cheering for is a smart way to keep that going at Elimination Chamber.
Naomi, on the other hand, gets exposed to Rousey’s huge audience and hopefully continues to get more opportunities on TV after. Everyone wins!
Mr. McMahon’s warning to Sonya Deville
A long overdue segment at this point.
Sonya Deville’s character, as entertaining as it might be, has been abusing power for months now, and a slap on the wrist for doing so felt necessary. That way, the next time she steps out of line, Mr. McMahon can appear on SmackDown to remind her of what he said and set up a match between Deville and Naomi at WrestleMania.
From a fantasy booking perspective, putting Deville’s authority figure job on the line there would make the most sense, too, so they can maximize the return on how much they’ve invested in this story.
SIDE NOTE: Props to Sonya for rocking a sling during Super Bowl media appearances to sell last week’s attack from Rousey. That’s dedication.
Goldberg and Roman Reigns
The two sit-down interviews Michael Cole conducted with Roman Reigns and Goldberg were simple, yet effective.
Roman claiming WCW would still be in business if he had been wrestling for them back then was my favorite line of the night. It got a genuine chuckle out of me.
Meanwhile, Goldberg was believable in his delivery, and the reasoning behind coming back for Reigns and wanting a shot at the Universal title made all the sense in the world (from the perspective of his character).
No complaints from me.
SMACKDOWN LOWS
New Day losing to Los Lotharios
To steal a dreaded adage from most parents, I’m not "mad" about the way Big E has been handled since Day 1. I’m just disappointed.
I can’t for the life of me figure out why he’s gone from WWE Champion at the end of the year, with a ton of fan support behind him, to now losing to an undercard tag team in the opening match of SmackDown (even if he wasn’t the one pinned).
What kind of message is that sending the rest of the talent? And worse, what kind of message does it send to fans when their favorites continually get dropped down the card for seemingly no reason?
Big E is beloved by viewers, respected by his peers, filled with charisma, a powerhouse in the ring, available for media, an uplifting voice in the community, polite. The list of his positives could go on and on.
Putting a World title on the 35-year-old Superstar felt like the signaling of a new main event level player, one who had been deserving of the spot for years, and someone who had undoubtedly "grabbed the brass ring" in WWE. Now, however, that’s all rapidly fading away for some reason.
At some point, creating multiple new top-level stars is going to be necessary (especially babyfaces), and de-emphasizing the ones who have momentum is counterproductive to that. And unfortunately, I don't think this is the first time we've seen this recently. Ask Cesaro or Finn Balor.
Bottom line, in my opinion, more effort needs to be made to promote talent who fans are invested in. The focus should always be on increasing their value to become worthy future title-holders in the eyes of fans.
Treating them in a way like Big E has since losing the WWE Championship only hurts in the long run.
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Ryan Satin is a WWE analyst for FOX Sports. Satin previously appeared on FS1's "WWE Backstage" and founded Pro Wrestling Sheet, where he broke countless news stories as editor-in-chief.
