{"id":54496,"date":"2018-01-25T19:46:22","date_gmt":"2018-01-26T01:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=54496"},"modified":"2018-01-25T19:46:22","modified_gmt":"2018-01-26T01:46:22","slug":"wwe-smackdown-hits-misses-1-23-gable-vs-jey-uso-owens-vs-styles-sami-vs-styles-new-day-naomi-vs-liv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/01\/25\/wwe-smackdown-hits-misses-1-23-gable-vs-jey-uso-owens-vs-styles-sami-vs-styles-new-day-naomi-vs-liv\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE SMACKDOWN HITS &#038; MISSES 1\/23: Gable vs. Jey Uso, Owens vs. Styles and Sami vs. Styles, New Day, Naomi vs. Liv"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3930227374\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><h3><b>SMACKDOWN HITS<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>Chad Gable vs. Jey Uso: <\/b>This was a good match that continued to put the spotlight on Gable, who has really stepped up in recent weeks. Both combatants put on a fun contest that will make at least some question if The Usos will lose the titles this Sunday. Either way, the two teams have developed a nice feud recently, and I wouldn\u2019t be opposed to seeing Gable and Benjamin become Tag Team Champions.<\/p>\n<p><b>Main Event: <\/b>This was a very enjoyable main event that accomplished a few things. Firstly, it gave Sami Zayn an opportunity to shine, due to the quick tapout from Kevin Owens. Secondly, it allowed A.J. Styles to show a much more aggressive side to his character. Throughout the match, Styles did a good job of showing the frustration that has built up over the last few weeks. In addition to that, with Zayn\u2019s win, it helped plant seeds of doubt into whether Styles will be able to retain this Sunday.<\/p>\n<h3><b>SMACKDOWN MISSES<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>Opening Segment: <\/b>While the main event was a hit, the opening segment that led to it was not. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, while entertaining, were reciting the same statements that we\u2019ve heard in the past, adding nothing really new to the story. In addition, when Daniel Bryan appeared, Styles acted foolish by assuming what was going to happen, and accepted the challenge with just days to go until his match at the Royal Rumble.<\/p>\n<p><b>Naomi vs. Liv Morgan: <\/b>This was a poor match that was unnecessary and booked simply for the purpose of promoting the Women\u2019s Royal Rumble match. On top of that, Smackdown mimicked Raw again by having the women throw each other over the top rope after the match had concluded. Not only was it lazy, but it didn\u2019t do anything for the wrestlers in promoting the match.<\/p>\n<p><b>The New Day: <\/b>While I have been a fan in the past, it seems that The New Day are in desperate need for a character refresh. They are coming across as unfunny and childish more and more, and the crowd reaction to the team seems to be dying down. Hopefully a pending feud with Rusev Day will lead to something positive, but I\u2019m fearful that it will just lead to more \u201ccomedy.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Jeff Indelicato has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was knee high to a grasshopper (little kid) after coming across the Wrestling Challenge episode after WrestleMania 7. He has not looked back. His passion has led him to winning wrestling trivia contests in his city, and even won him his Senior Talent Show by dancing to Shawn Michaels\u2019 theme song. When not annoying others with wrestling talk, he loves spending time with his family and friends, and focuses on his other passion: movies. Follow him on Twitter @the_Indel or send him an email at <a href=\"mailto:indelpw@gmail.com\">indelpw@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK&#8217;S COLUMN:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/01\/19\/wwe-smackdown-hits-misses-1-16-roode-wins-u-s-title-tournament-royal-rumble-promotion-shallow-roster-depth\/\">WWE SMACKDOWN HITS &amp; MISSES 1\/16: Roode wins the U.S. Title Tournament, Royal Rumble promotion, Shallow Roster Dept:<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-685734983\"><div id=\"pwtor-3772911971\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>SMACKDOWN HITS Chad Gable vs. Jey Uso: This was a good match that continued to put the spotlight on Gable, who has really stepped up in recent weeks. Both combatants put on a fun contest <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/01\/25\/wwe-smackdown-hits-misses-1-23-gable-vs-jey-uso-owens-vs-styles-sami-vs-styles-new-day-naomi-vs-liv\/\" title=\"WWE SMACKDOWN HITS &#038; MISSES 1\/23: Gable vs. Jey Uso, Owens vs. Styles and Sami vs. Styles, New Day, Naomi vs. Liv\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,28,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists_hitsandmisses","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/NaomiWK_3x2_600.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54496"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54498,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54496\/revisions\/54498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}