Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 1.16.18

Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 1.16.18

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– US Title Tournament Semifinal Match: Jinder Mahal defeated Xavier Woods @ 18:01 via pin [**]
– US Title Tournament Semifinal Match: Bobby Roode defeated Mojo Rawley @ 13:10 via pin [**½]
– The Riott Squad defeated Charlotte Flair, Naomi & Becky Lynch @ 8:20 via pin [**]
– US Title Tournament Finals: Bobby Roode defeated Jinder Mahal @ 15:48 via pin [**½]

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– My Top 23 EVOLVE Matches of 2017.
– My Top 24 ROH Matches of 2017.
– My Top 8 Matches of December 2017.
– My NJPW WrestleKingdom 12 Takeaways.
– My Top 38 WWE Matches of 2017.
– My Top 25 Matches of 2017.

– New Day makes their way to the ring, and Woods is here to win the title, spread the power of positivity, and the principle of pancakes. The ingredients are strong by themselves, but much like the US, when put together are even stronger. Woods asks for the support of the fans so he can defeat Jinder Mahal tonight. The Singhs arrive to introduce Mahal.

.@XavierWoodsPhD's principles:

✔️ Life
✔️ Liberty
✔️ The Power of Positivity
✔️ The PRINCIPLE of PANCAKES#WoodsUSChamp #SDLive @TrueKofi @WWEBigE pic.twitter.com/77quRFYLH4

— WWE (@WWE) January 17, 2018

US Title Tournament Semifinal Match: Jinder Mahal vs. Xavier Woods: Kofi, Big E, & The Singhs are all at ringside. Mahal kicks Woods in the face to start things off. Mahal lays in clubbing strikes to follow up. The knee drop follows. Woods fires up, but runs into a back elbow and Mahal covers for 2. Mahal maintains the heat as we take a break. Post break, and Mahal still has Woods grounded. Woods hits a desperation jawbreaker, but Mahal cuts him off, covering for 2. He then chokes out Woods in the ropes and follows with knee drops. He again grounds things with a side headlock as the crowd chants for pancakes. Woods gets to his feet, but Mahal stuns him off the ropes. Mahal now chokes out Woods with the ring skirt and follows with rights. Woods beats the count, fires back with rights but gets shot to the buckles as Mahal maintains control, grounding him again. Mahal runs into a boot, but cuts off the honor roll with a knee strike, covering for 2. We go screen in screen, as Mahal again grounds Woods, making this as boring as possible. Back to full screen, as they work up top. Mahal looks for a superplex, but Woods knocks him to the mat. The missile dropkick follows by Woods. Woods now fires back with chops, they trade strikes and Woods hits flying forearms and then a rolling elbow. Woods looks for a tornado DDT, gets cut off, but he hits an enziguri and shining wizard for 2. New Day chases off the Singhs, as Woods hits a belly to back suplex. He heads up top now, and the ropewalk elbow drop misses. Mahal sends Woods to the ropes throat first and the khallas finishes it. Jinder Mahal defeated Xavier Woods @ 18:01 via pin [**] While I can appreciate them getting a lot of time, they simply didn’t use it well. It felt way too long, the action was flat and outside of Woods firing up, this was painfully boring; there was also no drama in Woods possibly winning. It was technically sound and ok at best.

– Baron Corbin talks about winning the Rumble. It’s nice to want things.

– Renee interviews AJ Styles. He talks bout his handicap match at the Rumble, noting that it’s 3 on 1, because Kevin counts as two guys. He then runs down Sami & Kevin, calling them “Kami.” He’s faced and overcome challenges his entire career, and will end the YEP movement. This ain’t the Kami show, this is the house that AJ Styles built.

– We get some quick thoughts from the women in the Rumble match.

US Title Tournament Semifinal Match: Bobby Roode vs. Mojo Rawley: Rawley looks to use his power to begin, Roode locks back up, and takes Rawley down. He celebrates and they work to the corner. Roode avoids the attack, and lays in chops and a running back elbow, covering for 1. Roode grounds things, working the side headlock. Rawley elbows out, ad ten almost runs over the ref, and hits a pounce. Rawley lays in some head butts and talks trash to Roode. Roode ties to fire back, but Rawley cuts him off and sends him to the floor. Rawley follows and tackles Roode into the barricade. , and Rawley continues the heat on Roode now working an abdominal stretch. Roode escapes with a hip toss, but Rawley cuts him off with a big boot, covering for 2. Rawley talks some trash and then grounds Roode, working the ribs. Rawley sends Roode to the corner, and hits a corner spear. He misses the second and posts himself. Roode fires up with rights, follows with clotheslines and then a neck breaker. Roode to the ropes, and the blockbuster gets 2. Rawley counters the DDT and slams Roode to the mat gut first, covering for 2. Rawley is now frustrated. Rawley now works over Roode in the corner, and goes for the KO shot, but Roode counters and hits the spinebuster. The glorious DDT finishes it. Bobby Roode defeated Mojo Rawley @ 13:10 via pin [**½] This was better than the opening match, as Mojo had some solid aggression, and it had some good back and forth elements. It was rock solid overall.

– Post match, the Singhs arrive and beat down Roode. Mahal then promises to end Roode and win the US Title. Roode grabs the mic and says that they can do the finals tonight. Mahal refuses. Daniel Bryan arrives and books the finals match for tonight. Crazy uncle Dan strikes again.

– Randy Orton cuts a cell phone promo about winning the Rumble.

Charlotte Flair, Naomi & Becky Lynch vs. The Riott Squad (Riott, Morgan, & Logan): Liv and Charlotte to begin, with Charlotte overpowering Liv with ease. Charlotte keeps her grounded, going for pins but Liv fires back. Charlotte follows with chops, and tosses Liv down with something looking like a German. Ruby tags in, Charlotte grounds her right away and works her wacky rolling head scissors. Becky tags in, and double teams follow on Ruby. Naomi now tags in, maintaining control on Ruby as Becky tags in and attacks Ruby on the floor. We go screen in screen, as Becky & Ruby roll back into the ring. Logan tags in and cuts off Becky. The Riott squad works quick tags taking the heat, isolating Becky in their half of the ring. Back full screen, and Liv tags in and hits a face buster for 2. Becky looks for a tag, but Liv grabs the hair to stop her and tags Logan back in. Logan hits a shoulder block, but Becky manages to send her to the floor. Logan back in and eats a clothesline. We get wholesale changes to Liv & Naomi. Naomi runs wild, laying in speedball kicks and then an enziguri. The high cross gets 2 as it breaks down. Ruby cheap shots Naomi and that allows Liv to pick up the win. The Riott Squad defeated Charlotte Flair, Naomi & Becky Lynch @ 8:20 via pin [**] This was a largely fine, but disjointed match at times. It just never felt smoothed out or locked in.

– The Usos are interviewed about their 2 of 3 falls match at the Rumble. They mock Gable & Benjamin, and plan to retain at the Rumble. Gable & Benjamin attack them and lay out the champions. They know exactly who the Usos are, the former champions.

– We get a promo for the Styles vs. Sami & Kevin title match at the Rumble.

– Nakamura cuts a Royal Rumble promo.

– Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan will be at ringside for the US Tournament finals.

– Rusev Day challenges The Fashion Police to a match next week, but the Fashion Police says Rusev Day will face the Ascension instead.

US Title Tournament: Jinder Mahal vs. Bobby Roode: Mahal worked a longer match tonight, but dominated and took almost no damage. Mojo worked over Roode’s ribs during their match. Roode was also attacked by the Singhs, which in theory puts him at a disadvantage as he wrestles a second match. The Singhs are barred from ringside. Thy lock up to begin, but work to a stalemate. Mahal yells at Roode, and looks to attack the ribs but Roode stops that and lays in rights and chops. Mahal takes him down in the corner and lays the boots to him, attacking the ribs. Roode battles back, laying in strikes in the corner and then sends Mahal to the floor. Roode follows, but Mahal slams him to the apron and then the steps, attacking the ribs again. Mahal then slams Roode gut first onto the barricade. Post break, and Mahal is still working the ribs of Roode. To the floor and Mahal lays the boots to Roode, and then rolls him back in. Mahal now works the abdominal stretch, Roode escapes, but is immediately cut off with a knee to the gut, and Mahal covers for 2. He follows with more knee drops to the ribs, but Roode fires back with rights and chops. Mahal hits the running high knee, covering for 2. Mahal grounds things again, but Roode fights back with a sunset flip for 2. Mahal hits the boot, and covers for 2 again. Mahal lays in clubbing strikes, and beats down Roode in the corner. Roode manages to dump Mahal top the floor and then hits a clothesline off the apron. Back in and Roode heads up top, hits a high cross, but Mahal rolls through for 2. They work to the corner, Roode hits a knee, clothesline and then hits a blockbuster for 2. Mahal fights off the DDT, and cradles Roode for 2. They work into a double down now. Roode then catches Mahal with a spinebuster. Mahal looks for the khallas, but Roode counters into he DDT and wins the title. Bobby Roode defeated Jinder Mahal @ 15:48 via pin [**½] They set the stage for the match and layout of it with the Roode vs. Mojo match, and post match attack by the Singhs. In theory that should have given Mahal A lot of heat and allowed the crowd to be extra sympathetic towards Roode. In theory. They ended up having a solid match, Roode sold well, but after 18-minutes of Mahal earlier tonight, it was ready hard to watch his slow, bland, and boring offense again. He’s just so lifeless on offense, like a robot making mean faces, pretending to be a bad guy. Mahal still hasn’t evolved as a performer, and tonight’s matches showed that despite giving him a lot of time and control, he just can’t fill it properly. To me it just proved that Styles pulled him dragging and screaming to good matches.

– Shane & Bryan present Roode with the US Championship.

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

5.0

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

While I appreciate WWE giving the matches time tonight, and focusing on the US Title, the show just wasn’t good. The matches were ok to average at best, there was almost no rumble hype, minus the poorly done cell phone promos, and while Roode winning is cool, there was just nothing to keep my attention tonight, which is a shame.