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With the Royal Rumble pay-per-view just two days away, Friday’s edition of SmackDown attempted to lay the groundwork for the chaotic nature of the annual event with a show featuring Raw crossovers and a main event. of 10 players.
In the end, the chaos may have been a bit too much with the main event resulting in a pair of disqualifications as match size increased in the final hour of the program. More important than the match itself, Braun Strowman made a surprise comeback to close the show, exposing plenty of men in the main event and apparently indicating he would be participating in the Royal Rumble. Strowman had been out of action since the day after the Survivor series in November.
CBS Sports was with you all night, bringing you recaps and highlights from all the action. Read on for everything you need to know about the Royal Rumble Return Home Edition of SmackDown.
Chaos before the Royal Rumble with the return of Braun Strowman
Daniel Bryan opened the show in the ring with a promo, welcoming the WWE Universe to the Royal Rumble Weekend and highlighting the stakes in Sunday’s Royal Rumble match. Bryan said he’s been in WrestleMania before and knows how meaningful he is and that the Rumble was his ticket to remaking it before being cut short by Raw’s AJ Styles. Styles accused Bryan of looking like he already had one foot in the door, which led to Bryan challenging Styles to a game later that night, which Styles quickly agreed to.
Daniel Bryan beats. AJ Styles by disqualification after interference from Sami Zayn. The match was interrupted early by Zayn, who had earlier approached Shinsuke Nakamura backstage, asking Nakamura to keep his back forward to be told to “go to hell”. Zayn continued to circle the ring with signs and his team of documentaries complaining about the plots against him. Styles almost finished early with a calf chopper before Bryan took to the ropes. Big E finally came to ringside and laid Zayn with a clothesline and threw him over the announcement table and almost into Cesaro. This led to Cesaro attacking Big E before Bryan hit Cesaro and Zayn with a suicide dive after Styles escaped. Zayn then ran and punched Bryan from behind for the DQ. Nakamura ran for the save, leading to a six-man brawl.
Daniel Bryan, Big E and Shinsuke Nakamura beat. Cesaro, Sami Zayn and AJ Styles by disqualification after interference from The Miz and John Morrison. As you might expect, the arrival of the previous match led directly to a six-way tag. With Cesaro and Nakamura on opposite sides, it looks like their tag team is officially over. The Miz and John Morrison, who had brawled with Big E backstage earlier, interrupted him, attacking Nakamura before attacking Big E, causing another disqualification. This made Otis stand out, renewing his rivalry with Miz and Morrison months ago as he took out the two.
Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, Big E, Otis and Shinsuke Nakamura fight. The Miz, John Morrison, Cesaro, AJ Styles and Sami Zayn via pinfall when Sheamus hit Zayn with a Brogue Kick. The game was now 5 against 4 after a second round of interference. The heel side took out all the faces outside the ring, leaving Bryan with no one to score until Sheamus’ music hit and he ran to the ring, climbed onto the apron and took a tag. of Bryan although he is not in the game. This led to a great run of every man in the match hitting score moves until Sheamus put Zayn on for the win. Miz, Morrison, and Styles attacked Sheamus, but Braun Stroman made a comeback, coming into the ring and rampaging on the heel team to end the show.
What an absolute waste in this whole situation. To start with Bryan vs Styles was awesome, the two have played many great games dating back to their time on the independent stage. But it just turned into overbooked nonsense that fell into the standard pre-Royal Rumble trap of the idea that just putting a bunch of guys in the ring is somehow meaningful or exciting before a match designed for. do just that. Why was Sheamus allowed to just fit into the match? Why play the cross-brand invite trick with Styles just to let two other Raw contestants fight on SmackDown with Miz and Morrison? Does Strowman have greater motivation to only target heels? It was a disappointing stretch for SmackDown, a show that was reliably very good. Quality: C-
Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens exchange their last words
The heralded “war of words” between Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens took place as the two were questioned from different locations. Owens said he felt he had beaten Reigns twice already, but Reigns was bailed out asking his family to save him. Paul Heyman spoke for Reigns, saying no one was allowed to talk about the Universal Champion like Owens had done, demanding reverence and respect. Reigns finally spoke, saying Owens was looking for excuses when talking about his family, then pressed Owens on his own family, asking Owens what kind of man his father was. Owens warned Reigns to watch his path with his words, giving one final warning. Reigns said he was the king on the chessboard and the man everything revolves around before blaming Owens’ family for the challenger’s foolishness by not realizing it, calling the father and grandfather of Owens for both being fools. Owens again warned Reigns that on Sunday they would not be in separate rooms, but Reigns pressed the button again, claiming Owens was a disgrace to his family. Owens exploded, screaming at the screen to be the last man standing and the pride his family had in him before Reigns cut off his power.
It was lower stakes than anything involving the two men for months on end, but still managed to deliver the goods by pushing Owens’ intensity up. Reigns’ distance throughout the segment was delivered well as it was clearly a mixture of fear and determination to push Owens into making bad decisions in their game. Owens can offer the microphone as a heel or a face as well as anyone in the business and he has helped push the segment to where it seems believable it can come undone on Sunday – even if there isn’t. has absolutely no way this is happening. . Category B
What Else Happened on WWE SmackDown?
- Bianca Belair beats. Bayley via pinfall after a kiss of death. Ahead of the match, Bayley vowed to send Belair on the run ahead of the Royal Rumble. After a good game Belair took the win before saying after the game that the only way for his week to improve would be to win the Royal Rumble.
- King Corbin has won. Dominik Mysterio via pinfall after reaching the end of days. Dominik tried to attack Corbin from behind before the match started. Corbin still controlled much of the game apart from Dominik’s brief comebacks as Rey Mysterio watched from the announcement table. Corbin managed to survive Dominik’s brief bursts to achieve his goal. Corbin attempted to attack Rey after the match, but Rey led him into the ring and hit a senton to kick Corbin out.
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