SmackDown

As for SmackDown Live this week, the first thing I would like to mention is how excited I am that R-Truth is getting a sizable push compared to what he normally gets, as he got a notable victory against Shinsuke Nakamura. I am also happy that Nakamura and Rusev appeared to be forming a tag team, as I was not sure which direction either of their careers were headed. WWE just wasn’t sure what to do with Rusev after the whole Rusev day thing. And let’s be honest, Nakamura has been losing traction for a year and a half since he earned a WWE title opportunity against John Cena and dropped him awkwardly on his neck after attempting a reverse exploder suplex. I think that left a bad taste in the mouth of Vince McMahon since John is Vince’s Golden boy. I am not being judgmental, that’s just my opinion. Unfortunately, that’s just the way the cookie crumbled for Shinsuke (Thank you very much Bruce Almighty). Shinsuke will still need to drop the United States championship at some point here soon. It’s also extremely encouraging to see that the rivalry between Rey Mysterio and Andrade looks like it will continue well into 2019. There will no doubt be some jaw-dropping matches.

I would be a little remiss not to discuss the new title belt that Daniel Bryan unveiled. To me, it looks a little more consistent with the universal championship since it is red too. Some people complain about the look of the universal title, but there are always going to be critics that are just trying to nitpick and find something wrong with what the company is doing.

Shocking News: Dean Ambrose is unhappy with the creative direction of his character and is planning to leave the company when his contract expires after WrestleMania. This is very reminiscent of CM Punk’s circumstances surrounding his departure. I wonder if the next time WWE comes to Cincinnati if the crowd will chant Dean Ambrose’s name. it makes me kind of sad to see him go since he’s my hometown boy, but who knows—maybe he’ll get signed by AEW or something and become the champion.

I don’t have much to add about this week’s episode of SmackDown Live. It was very similar to last week’s episode. It’s very clear that WWE as a whole is already jumping ahead to the Royal Rumble.

I will admit that this week’s episode of Smackdown Live wasn’t the greatest, but some Wrestling is a heck of a lot better than no Wrestling. And it’s not like the episode was horrible or anything, I would probably give it a C-. The segment when the show first opened was again awesome with Otis making some sort of protein shake or something and Becky Lynch drinking it. Even the New Day was grossed out by the scene. We also saw a great match between Andrade (I guess they decided to drop the “Cien” Almas from his name, just like a couple years ago when WWE dropped the “Samson” from Elias’ name).

On the SmackDown side of things, I didn’t think that this episode was the greatest episode. No storylines really took significant steps forward, but some wrestling is a whole lot better than no wrestling (that’s for sure). The most positive thing I can take away from last night is how much I am buying Daniel Bryan as a heel. He opened the show by cutting a great promo by entering the arena through the crowd and subsequently being attacked by AJ Styles. And of course, it was great to see Becky Lynch get her rematch for the SmackDown Women’s title which she never lost.

It was also a great match between the team of Rey Mysterio and Mustafa Ali versus the team of Andrade “Cien” Almas and Samoa Joe. I am liking this kid Mustafa Ali. He has all the tools physically to be a future champion (the only thing I see potentially holding him back is the fact that he is a little bit undersized than WWE typically likes out of a top guy. But Finn Balor had the same issue when he first got promoted to the main roster and they still updated to make him the first universal champion. We will see if WWE thinks that highly of Ali.

I also feel that WWE needs to debut the incoming stars from NXT because I feel they have been promoting them for a more than adequate amount of time. It’s also interesting to see how WWE is building up R-Truth and he is starting to have prominence again. He is set to enter the Royal Rumble match at number 30 after winning the mixed match challenge and he was put in a match with Daniel Bryan last night. Last thing, I promise. I know my readers have stuff to do: it’s great to see Mandy Rose involved in a love triangle story. WWE would be smart to take advantage of her beauty, and that’s exactly what they’re doing. That’s all I have for my review of SmackDown this week.