News Ticker

WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER 1/3/20: Bryan & Reigns vs. Corbin & Ziggler, Triple Threat Women’s Tag Team Match

By Frank Peteani, PWTorch contributor

January 3, 2020

Dolph Ziggler (Art credit Grant Gould © PWTorch)
SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER
JANUARY 3, 2020
MEMPHIS, TN. AT THE FEDEXFORUM
AIRS ON FOX NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EST
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

Arena, Top 10 Moments of Last Week’s Show

WWE Smackdown returns to the FedExForum in Memphis, TN. after appearing a little over five months ago in the run-up to SummerSlam. The building opened in 2004 and is home to the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies.

Here is the YouTube clip of the top 10 moments of last week’s show:

Tonight’s show will be the first WWE wrestling show of 2020 (Wednesday’s NXT was an awards show). We are now headed towards the Royal Rumble which of course kicks off WrestleMania season. We know of two matches already, one of which was set up last week on Smackdown. We also know of the first entrant into the women’s rumble:

  • Universal Championship: “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt (champ) vs. Daniel Bryan.
  • Raw Women’s Championship: Becky Lynch (champ) vs. Asuka (½ of WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions the Kabuki Warriors)
  • Charlotte Flair announced her entrance into the women’s Royal Rumble (duh)

WWE is advertising the following items for tonight:

  • Daniel Bryan teams with Roman Reigns to take on Dolph Ziggler & King Corbin
  • Bayley & Sasha Banks take on Lacey Evans & Dana Brooke and Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cros

Matches and Segments

Daniel Bryan & Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin & Dolph Ziggler

Last week on Smackdown, Daniel Bryan won a triple threat match between he, the Miz, and King Corbin to earn the right to face Wyatt. The match was to open the show, but Corbin was attacked by Roman Reigns whom Corbin defeated in a TLC match at the TLC PPV a few weeks ago. It was then decided that Miz would face Bryan one-on-one, but that match ended in a double DQ when Corbin’s henchmen interfered. They finally had the originally scheduled triple threat to close out the show. Reigns showed up mid-match again to attack Corbin and took him out of the match. Bryan eventually tapped out Miz to his Cattle Mutilation submission hold.

After the match, Bray Wyatt appeared on screen from the Firefly Funhouse and asked Bryan if he was willing to do whatever it took and “let him in.” Bryan responded by starting his famous “Yes” chant with the crowd. That match is set for the Royal Rumble.

King Corbin will certainly take issue with Reigns taking him out of the match last week. Tonight, he pairs with recent cohort Dolph Ziggler to take on Reigns and Daniel Bryan

(Frank’s Analysis: You couldn’t have expected Miz or Corbin to have the match against Bray, so Bryan is 100% the right call. At this point it’s a matter of whether or not Bryan wins the title. I’m not sold he’s not walking away with the gold, but it’s hard to say. I still feel like they want to set up Roman Reigns to be the guy to take down Bray, but I have a better idea. Put the title on Bryan and have him take on Reigns at WrestleMania. We’ll see how things may shake out starting with the tag team match tonight.)

Lacey Evans & Dana Brooke vs. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. Bayley & Sasha Banks

Last week on Smackdown, Lacey Evans was a guest of Alexa Bliss on A Moment of Bliss. She talked about how Sasha Banks crossed the line the week before when she taunted her six-year-old daughter. She called her and Bayley “nasties” that fail to be role models and proceeded to the ring to have her scheduled tag team match with Dana Brooke against Bayley and Banks. Bayley and Banks would win when Banks tapped Dana to the Bank Statement.

Things between Lacey and Bayley & Banks have been quiet on social media, but after tonight things may ramp up. Lacey & Dana pair up again to take on Alexa & Nikki Cross as well as Bayley and Banks in a triple threat. (Note, WWE.com isn’t saying triple threat match but it’s sure written that way.)

Frank’s Analysis: As I mentioned earlier, I thought they may be going to Carmella vs. Bayley in the short term. In the long run, I would think Lacey and Bayley would have a feud over the title. Whether or not that drags on until WrestleMania remains to be seen. This triple threat match just gets everyone on the show tonight to further what may or may not be the immediate plan.

Possible Storyline Follow-Up

Carmella and Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville

Two weeks ago, Carmella defeated Sonya Deville. Conspicuous by her absence at ringside was Mandy Rose who was mostly involved with Otis of Heavy Machinery backstage. Last week, Mandy was set to take on Carmella and asked Sonya to accompany her. Sonya brought up the fact that Mandy wasn’t there for her, but Mandy explained she couldn’t go out there because she had Otis’s sweat all over her. Sonya said she had some more programs to sign but would come out there.

The match took place, Carmella won again, but Sonya was not present as she said she would be. Michael Cole said Carmella was on a bit of a winning streak. Mandy was busy getting a homemade fruitcake from Otis but was seen talking to Dolph Ziggler later on who ended up smashing the cake. Otis showed up after they left and appeared to be sad seeing the smashed cake.

Carmella has been talking trash to Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/CarmellaWWE/status/1211482896407650306?s=20

 

There doesn’t seem to be any tension online between Mandy and Sonya, but they made a point to bring up not being there for each other. We’ll see where the paths of these three women go. Sonya did put this tweet up:

(Frank’s Analysis: I suppose they made be setting up Carmella vs. Bayley for the title at some point, which is probably fine if you want to keep Bayley’s reign going until they decide who they want defeating her. As far as anything between Mandy and Sonya, even if they run some kind of angle, I’m not sure it matters. Both women have been so low on the card that I don’t know if anyone will care. It’s all out there, so we’ll see if there’s follow up.)

Mustafa Ali’s Championship Aspirations

Last week, Mustafa Ali was featured in a video where he talked about 2019 being a tough year for him. It featured him getting knocked out of the Elimination Chamber match which ended up leading to the run of Kofi Kingston. It also showed Brock Lesnar knocking him off the ladder at Money in the Bank, as well as coming up short in his Intercontinental Championship quest against Shinsuke Nakamura. Here’s the video to get the full effect of what he was trying to say:

 

 

(Frank’s Analysis: It’s good that they acknowledged the shortcomings of 2019, although saying he remained in the light all year was a little weird as well the shattering of stereotypes. I’m sure we all wonder if he didn’t get hurt in that match against Randy Orton, would he have had the run that Kofi Kingston had? I don’t know if he’s earmarked for that this year, but we’ll see. They had to of brought this up fo some reason. I’m in a wait and see.)

Other Match Results from Last Week

Smackdown Tag Team Champions New Day (Kofi Kingston & Big E) teamed with Braun Strowman to defeat Sami Zayn & Cesaro & Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura. Strowman pinned Nakamura after a powerslam. Afterwards, he shook his groove thing for all to see. He then did a WWE.com exclusive:

Closing Thoughts

I don’t have a lot to say other than I hope 2020 brings better things for Smackdown. Raw is trending up, while Smackdown has gone in a surprisingly downward direction. I think the key is whether or not they realize that Daniel Bryan is the guy behind whom they should get. Given history, I’m not so confident, but we’ll see.

Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Questions and discussion are welcome. Thank you for reading!

Related Articles

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

ALL CONTENT © TDH COMMUNICATIONS INC. 2024