SmackDown review, recap: Seth Rollins stands out
By Ryan Satin
FOX Sports WWE Analyst
Royal Rumble is inching closer – and this week’s SmackDown main event directly affected one of the show's marquee matches.
Welcome back to the "Highs and Lows" of SmackDown, according to yours truly, for an episode that featured The Usos versus Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens:
Charlotte Flair versus Naomi (with guest referee Sonya Deville):
And Johnny Knoxville making an appearance on In-Zayn:
SMACKDOWN HIGHS
Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins
Seth Rollins was on fire this week.
His promo at the top of the show masterfully straddled the line between heel and babyface, something quite necessary for a feud between two bad guys, and name-dropping Jon Moxley (rather than his WWE name, Dean Ambrose) wisely helped Seth gain favor with fans.
Rollins and Kevin Owens also had the crowd eating out of the palms of their hands during the main event, despite being two heels, and it was the first time in a while where you could see the audience wanting to cheer for Seth again (like old times).
I’m assuming he’ll get a similar reaction next Saturday at the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis against Roman Reigns.
Having Seth and KO win the main event match to bar The Usos from ringside at Royal Rumble was a nice touch as well. A Universal title match of that caliber deserves to have as clean of a finish as possible. I’m excited for it.
Naomi gets a match against Sonya (hopefully)
In a previous edition of the "Highs and Lows," I asked for some advancement in the storyline between Naomi and Sonya Deville.
This week, we got it in the form of Naomi vs. Sonya being booked for next Friday’s SmackDown, therefore it’s only right that I include this on my list of highs.
However, since I’m a big fan of both Naomi and Charlotte Flair, I would’ve loved to have seen their match get a bit more time. These two can go, and letting them display it would not only benefit us, the viewing audience, but Naomi as well in showing that she’s a future threat to the SmackDown Women’s title.
Eric Bischoff colluding with Adam Pearce backstage regarding Sonya Deville intrigued me, as well. He’d be an interesting replacement for her backstage role should Deville return to the ring full-time.
It’s also possible his appearance meant absolutely nothing, and I’m looking into something that isn’t there. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Johnny Knoxville
As I've mentioned previously, I loved Jackass growing up, so I can’t help but enjoy the appearances Johnny Knoxville has been making on WWE TV ahead of the Royal Rumble. Early 2000s nostalgia is right in my wheelhouse (and I have the When We Were Young festival tickets to prove it).
Yes, the electric shock bit with Sami Zayn was a little cheesy, but it was the good kind of cheese. Not fancy like gruyere or gouda — more along the lines of spray cheese, and if you pretend you don’t enjoy spray cheese, you’re lying to yourself.
What was I writing about again? Oh, right, SmackDown.
SMACKDOWN LOWS
Too many rematches
Madcap Moss versus Kofi Kingston, Natalya versus Aliyah and Sheamus versus Ricochet were all rematches from last week. In my opinion, that’s just too many for one show.
While it may have been nice to see Kofi get redemption for his loss, their match essentially made Moss’ win last week pointless after only seven days, and Big E being there didn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Similarly, Ricochet losing to Sheamus again did nothing but hurt his chances of being seen as a credible threat to other Superstars in the future, especially considering this match was much shorter than their last encounter.
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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.
