WWE SmackDown Live Review // 23rd January 2018 // AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens then Sami Zayn

This week's SmackDown Live came to us from Washington, D.C., the same city that bought us Battleground 2016 and Backlash 2000! It was also the go-home edition before one of WWE's biggest shows of the year, the Royal Rumble, so it had to be good? Right? 

At a Glimpse 

- WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens then Sami Zayn 
- Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin 
- Appearances from: Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, The New Day, Shelton Benjamin and Natalya

AJ Styles def. Kevin Owens // Submission 

then...

Sami Zayn def. AJ Styles // Pinfall

Lets with some positivity here, because I'm aware I can be a grumpy fucker at times. The match between AJ Styles and Sami Zayn was a bloody good television contest, featuring some world-class exchanges between two of the smoothest wrestlers around today. Driven by Zayn having to attack Styles to break up a Calf Crusher on Kevin Owens, the bout had energy, especially in the final third. The gear change bought a series of exciting exchanges, with seemingly flowing like water at points, as the two went back and forth at pace in action that wouldn't have looked out of place on a PPV. The two also deserve commendation for their selling throughout the match, whether that be of the effect of the physical action and big moves, the frustration of not being able to put their opponent away and the dislike they shared for each other, it all came across clearly and gave depth to what could have been another throwaway clash.  

So onto some negativity, because there were a couple of things to moan about here. The main thing is that it is very difficult to work out who is supposed to be the villain within this storyline. Styles holding onto the Calf Crusher after squashing Owens made sense, the Phenomenal One looking to gain some kind of advantage for Sunday's Handicap match, whilst also offering up a potential get out of jail card for Owens when his team takes a loss at the PPV. Yet, having Styles repeatedly assault KO when he was being seen to by medical staff, including pushing him off a stretcher, seemed out of character and almost uncomfortable to watch. This being added to Styles initially asking for the handicap match and then asking to face Zayn and Owens back to back, only to try and get out of both matches, creates even more of a grey area. Surely, a top babyface is supposed to be a man of his words and certainly shouldn't be one to backpedal on a challenge? Add Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan's ambiguous storyline into the mix and you've got even more of a mess of a storyline, where I've got no idea who I'm supposed to be getting behind.

The segment that set up the main event was the weakest part of the whole affair. Kicking off the show, this was bloated, sluggish and unnecessarily long for what should have been an easy set-up. There really was no need for this segment to go on for almost fifteen minutes and it only served to put on spotlight on the distinct lack of chemistry between AJ Styles and his two current rivals. If it wasn't clear in the summer of 2017 that Owens and Styles have no connection as rivals, either on the mic or in the ring, then it's become blindingly obvious at the start of 2018. I'm not sure what it is, but things weren't helped by a number of long pauses where it appeared as it someone had forgotten their line. All three men are talented performers but are being under-served by the creative right now. To end on some positivity, I am loving the relationship between Owens and Zayn at the moment and the attention to detail that the pair have been putting into their characters and body language.

Shinsuke Nakamura def. Baron Corbin // Disqualification

A good semi-main event match here, that I was close to calling one of Baron Corbin's best until the Disqualification finish. Corbin wanting to walk out so early in the match was a little lame, but once we got past that, Corbin and Shinsuke Nakamura put together some strong quality action. There were a couple of lovely sequences here with The Lone Wolf blocking a Kinshasa with Deep Six and Nakker's beautiful counter of End of Days into a rolling cross-armbreaker particularly standing out. The attack from Randy Orton just as the match was heating up could have been a little dissapointing, but seeing Orton fly from one side of the screen to the other and nailing an RKO on Nakamura was a great piece of television that I didn't see coming. The follow up RKO to Corbin was a nice little piece of set-up for the Rumble. The fact that Orton and Nakamura have been teaming up a lot recently got over the every man for himself element of the upcoming bout and it will be interesting to see if we get any further interaction between the two on the road to WrestleMania. 

Kofi Kingston & Bobby Roode & Xavier Woods def. Rusev & Jinder Mahal & Aiden English // Pinfall 

A fun six man tag match here, which felt mostly like it was about mixing the signature characteristics of New Day and Bobby Roode. The promo before the match was a good example of this, with the New Day trio combining with the new United States Champion for a humorous few minutes, including a cute build-up to Roode's "Glorious" catch-phrase. This continued into the match as after a Kingston face-in-peril run, it was straight into a fiery Roode hot tag and breakdown stretch, that concluded with a quad-ripping spinebuster of doooooomahhh and Wood's Home Run to English for the win. It was a shame that Rusev, Jinder Mahal and Aiden English felt a little like afterthoughts here, as they had a lot more to offer than being here to put over Kingston, Roode and Woods and with a little more time or tighter blocking could've offered up a match that would've remained a little longer in the memory.

Chad Gable def. Jey Uso // Pinfall 

I like Chad Gable and I like Jey Uso, but this one way exceeded my expectations. Often these singles matches featuring two members of tag teams that are facing each other at the next PPV are relatively pointless exercises featuring some interference and a mild stare down, but this was actually a really good TV opener. During the break we were treated to some split-screen action that was mostly Gable working over Uso's arm and shoulder with different holds and strikes, which was followed up on after the break with Uso selling the injury for all the it was worth. Whilst it didn't play into the match here, it would make a lot of sense to carry the injury over to the 2/3 Falls match at the Rumble and base the story of that bout around the injury. The rest of the bout included some lovely tease and build to an Uso suicide dive and a sublime closing sequence with both men going back and forth before Gable was able to hit Chaos Theory to pick up only his second TV singles match victory.

Naomi def. Liv Morgan // Pinfall 

Because Women's wrestling is so important to WWE and not at all just a way of making Stephanie McMahon look good anytime she makes a major announcement, the only women's segment on the show received the least amount of time. The match itself featured very little of note, but had a good physicality behind it and featured a cool variation on the double stomp from Morgan. After Naomi picked up her first singles win since dropped the SmackDown Women's title at SummerSlam (yes her first win since AUGUST!) with a Sunset flip, things descended into general Royal Rumble build with the rest of the division (Natalya, Lana, Tamina, Carmella, Sarah Logan and Ruby Riott) taking turns to hit moves and throw each other over the top rope. The only interesting moment came when Becky Lynch attempted to chuck her pal Naomi over the top rope, only for Naomi to land on the apron, before they looked at each other awkwardly. Charlotte Flair headed out to close the segment with a promo about how it didn't matter who won the Rumble, because she'd beat the shit out of them at WrestleMania anyway or something like that. The build to the Women's Royal Rumble has been dire.

Also

A highlight pack of RAW 25, set to Fall Out Boy's My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark, makes the show looks much more exciting that it actually was...Tye Dillinger discussed his entry in the Royal Rumble...

Finally...

Overall, I found a lot to enjoy on this week's SmackDown, especially when it came to the in-ring action. I still can't get my head around the main storyline, but the wrestling portion of Sami Zayn vs. AJ Styles was very good, whilst Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin, the six man tag and Jey Uso vs. Chad Gable all featured some stellar wrestling at points and didn't outstay their welcome. The development for the Women's division is something desperately needs to improve as I still couldn't tell you what the Riott Squad are supposed to be or why WWE thought they'd put enough time and effort into the division to warrant holding a Women's Royal Rumble. 

Clash of Champions 2017 Review // AJ Styles vs. Jinder Mahal // WWE Championship

The final WWE PPV of the year had come around with very little fanfare, as the Clash of Champions card read more like a standard house show line-up, full of feuds that appeared to have ended and very little else. The SmackDown branded event saw Jinder Mahal receive his expected WWE Championship rematch against AJ Styles, desperately seeking a match that would be described with brighter terms than "average" in the main event. The upper end of the card featured Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn tagging up to face Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura in a match piled high with gimmicks and stipulations as Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan operated as dual special guest referees and a potential loss for Owens & Zayn would result in their WWE contracts being terminated, whilst Charlotte Flair put the SmackDown Women's title up against Natalya in an oddly balanced Lumberjack Match. Could Clash of Champions recover from it's half-arsed build? Lets take a freaking look, hen.

WWE Championship // AJ Styles (C) def. Jinder Mahal // Submission 

As always we begin our review with the main event, a contest which saw Jinder Mahal provide a career best performance, opposite the superlative AJ Styles. I'm not going to go overboard, but this was a good match and, considering Mahal's previous PPV efforts against Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura, should be considered a Christmas miracle and further prove that Styles is the best professional wrestler in WWE right now. The bout's story was the cliche "simple, told well" situation, with Styles locking in a Calf Crusher early, before a limping Mahal turned the tide by dropping the champion midriff first across the top rope. Mahal would focus on the ribs for the rest of the match, before Styles was once again able to lock in his signature submission, when Mahal abandoned his game-plan and went for a Styles Clash and, after a sustained period in the hold, Jinder was finally forced to submit. Mahal did a solid job of selling his right leg just enough to keep the injury in the back of the viewer's mind, whilst I felt Styles was on fine form when fighting from underneath.

The contest was maybe a little long (making up for a six match card), coming in as Mahal's longest non-gimmick PPV bout, but there was good feeling of momentum throughout, even during the Canadian's lengthy periods in control. Mahal bought a good intensity, that was missing from some of his earlier matches, whilst also mixing up his moveset, pulling out a double knee gutbuster and a variation on Ryback's Shellshocked, as he continued to work over Styles' ribs. I also got a kick out of the little touches from Styles as he tried to fight through the injury, highlighted by the creative Ushigoroshi where the Phenomenal One bounced Mahal off the ropes first in order to be able to get him up for the Fireman's carry part of the move. After playing a big part in the build up, the Singh Brothers' involvement was kept to a minimum and whilst the bumping bad boys have generally been the best element of any Mahal main event, it allowed for a much more satisfying contest and meant Jinder's intensity could come through. They did however provide the bouts best near fall after getting battered by the WWE Champ on the floor and allowing Mahal to land a Khallas for a long two, calling back to every Jinder match since May. 

After the match, my main feeling was that AJ Styles had looked like an absolute star throughout the event. Following back to back losses on PPV to Finn Balor and Brock Lesnar (as well as dropping the US title to Baron Corbin in a three way), his performance here, both in and out of kayfabe, was a pleasing sight. In story he took an arse-kicking, dug deep and used his technical prowess to outsmart an act who'd got the better of Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura on multiple occasions and out of it, he helped a limited performer to the best bout of his career. His interview on Talking Smack added to Styles aura as a special talent, as he put over Mahal's effort, bought up some interesting points about the Singh Brothers' involvement and just generally came across as a star. After a disappointing feud with Kevin Owens cooled Styles' summer, his form in the last three months of 2017 has been outstanding, putting on top tier matches with Balor and Lesnar in October and November, before seeing the year out by pulling a talent to a match that many thought he was incapable of achieving, even with the companies best.  

Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn WWE Contracts on the Line // Special Guest Referees: Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon // Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn def. Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura // Pinfall 

What seemed like a needlessly overbooked match heading into the show ended up being just that as Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura and Randy Orton went through the motions, whilst Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan pissed around as special guest referees. Despite previously mentioning in a backstage segment that they would discuss how they would deal with the match "in private", Bryan and McMahon almost instantly began arguing over who should be counting the falls. What the fuck did they talk about? Dad things, probs. Whilst Orton was busy looking like he'd rather be anywhere else for most of the match and Nakamura was running through a tepid tag (like a hot tag, but not...that hot?), we were treated to McMahon and Bryan splitting the ring in half to decide who should count the pinfalls. This took way way too long to achieve, meant there was very little meaningful action and didn't amount to much anyway. 

The bout was saved from being a complete dud by a fun closing section. This featured some decent near falls for both sides and a number of soap-opera style moments, even if there was a lack of anything genuinely surprising. Saying that, Daniel Bryan did kind of take a bump in WWE in 2017, almost certainly leading to a thousand opinion pieces predicting an imminent 2018 return, as Owens pushed him on McMahon to deny Orton the win after an RKO on Zayn. Shane flatout refusing to count the pinfall for the heel team got a strong reaction, whilst the fast-count from Bryan should lead to some interest surrounding Tuesday's SmackDown. There was also a cool highspot where Zayn aided Owens in hitting Nakamura with a running splash from one announce table to another. However, two minutes of quirky back and forth, doesn't a good twenty minute match make. 

I'll let it be known that I'm not interested in seeing a Shane McMahon vs. Daniel Bryan feud on SmackDown, perhaps if I was then I'd have enjoyed this clash a little bit more and be more hyped following it's conclusion. McMahon has been featured way too heavy for my liking on SD Live in 2017 and whilst I'll give him some leeway for having a very good match with AJ Styles at WrestleMania 33, it's been a case of diminishing returns when he's been pushed into storylines with other top talents. If WWE are willing to let Bryan compete again, it will definitely be on a limited basis and when you have a roster packed with better in-ring talent than WWE has ever had, it would be extremely wasteful to put The American Dragon in their with the boss' son. That being said I'd take McMahon vs. Bryan over the rumoured Bryan vs. Cody (Rhodes) contest on the indies! (Just realised I've barely talked about any of that actual competitors in the match, but that's pretty much how the match was put together, so there) 

SmackDown Women's Championship // Lumberjack Match // Charlotte Flair (C) def. Natalya // Submission

A hot mess of a Lumberjack match, that was dominated by it's gimmick and featured very little of anything else. Beyond the finish, I couldn't name one sequence that Natalya and Charlotte Flair had with each other, as most the bout's action was one throwing the other to the outside and that person either getting beaten up by the rag tag Riott Squad and the rag tag bunch of Carmella, Lana and Tamina or the bout's sole babyface lumberjack Naomi. Mixed into the generic lumberjack antics we had whomever put the match together throwing shit at the wall and seeing what stuck as we got the two heel groups squabbling over who got to beat up Flair leading to a springboard crossbody from Naomi to take everyone out, a teased Money in the Bank cash-in from Carmella before the Lumberjacks stormed the ring for no particular reason and then Flair nailing a beautiful moonsault to the floor onto everyone but Lana, who bumped anyway, seemingly out of sheer FOMO.

With the entire Women's division involved (and bizarrely every Lumberjack getting their own entrance), one would've expected an element of storyline progression or something to justify everyone being involved. Unfortunately, that wasn't present, with most of the match simply...just kind of happening. I'm not quite sure what Natalya's promo was all about after the match, but maybe Lana has a point on Total Divas (seriously, that might be my favourite feud in all of WWE right now). On the other side of the coin, Charlotte Flair owned her appearance on Talking Smack, once again making me sad that the show is no longer a weekly affair, as even with notorious dweeb Sam Roberts hosting this was a fun watch. With a visible mark on her face from her scrap and real emotion in her voice throughout, Flair talked about wanting to become an irreplaceable attraction in WWE and it was wonderful. Real emotion is so important for driving professional wrestling television and WWE needs to be harnessing this more often, as Flair came across as a relateable and likeable human being, something which isn't always the case on SmackDown.

SmackDown Tag Team Championships // The Usos (C) def. Big E & Kofi Kingston and Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable and Rusev & Aiden English // Pinfall

Standing out amongst the pack, the four way tag bout was my favourite contest of the night. Following two entertaining promos from Rusev & Aiden English and The Usos, the match kept the crowd hot with multiple spills to the floor in the early goings, before settling down and then launching into a great closing stretch. Rusev and English might not be the Best Boys, but their probably in the top twelve and their extended period of near falls and Accolades was handled nicely, with the live crowd hot for every moment. Chad Gable looked like the Gable we chanted about during that first UK NXT tour (remember that?) and just kept hitting Chaos Theories on anyone in sight, including one that appeared to have straight up murdered English. Those last three, four or five minutes was some of the most fun I've had watching WWE this year. The bout wasn't without it's own problems however, as having four lads in at one time lead to a little clunkiness, seen notably with an awkward double faces in peril sequence transitioning into an Uso and Big E simultaneous hot tag that didn't come across as well as I think it could have. 

In a night where AJ Styles seemed to be finally cemented in a top role in WWE, I got a similar feeling when The Usos overcame significant challenges to walk out with the blue and silver belts once again. Considering the breakout performance from Chad Gable and how many near falls the popular Rusev and Aiden English tandem got, it felt like The Usos had come up against a significant threat, faced kayfabe career best performances and walked out with the tag titles anyway, making the most of an slip-up by Gable and, perhaps most importantly, winning with their finishing sequence. It would have been easy to hot shot the belts onto Rusev and English, who are riding a wave of Rusev Day-based euphoria, but Jimmy and Jey have had a magnificent 2017, in the ring and on the microphone, winning fans over with their Uso Penitentiary gimmick and completely earned this showpiece victory. It would seem like the duo will work a programme with the Bludgeon Brothers in early 2018 (a team they had two good matches with back in the summer of 2014), with this being hinted at during Talking Smack.

United States Championship // Dolph Ziggler def. "The Glorious" Bobby Roode and Baron Corbin (C) // Pinfall

Whilst the match came together for seemingly no reason, Dolph Ziggler, Bobby Roode and Baron Corbin outworked the prior booking, putting on a good opener with a surprising ending. The early stages weren't doing much for me and whilst the one in, one out style was okay, it lacked pace and any real story to get my teeth into. Then seemingly out of nowhere the three were all in the ring together and put together a flowing back and forth sequence including a Ziggler dropkick and concluding with a lovely Deep Six from Corbin. After that we were off to the races, with a classic tower of doom spot and a very good near fall for Roode off a Glorious DDT to Ziggler. The finish was a difficult-looking spot, timed to perfection, as Corbin got Roode up for an End of Days, only for Ziggler to slide in from behind and hit the then US Champion with a Zig Zag for an unanticipated victory. Perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised that The Show-Off finally regained the belt he lost to Zack Ryder six years ago as WWE has developed a habit of having guys who have no right to be in multi-man contests walk out with the win over the last couple of years. Ryder's Intercontinental Championship win at WrestleMania 32 and Jinder Mahal becoming #1 Contender to the WWE title in April spring to mind.

Side note: Later on, we'd see Corbin launch a plastic bin at a door. 

Mojo Rawley def. Zack Ryder // Pinfall

My expectations weren't high for this one, but you know what it was exactly what it needed to be. Zack Ryder worked hard and Mojo Rawley looked like a bastard. Ryder starting proceedings by furiously going after his former tag team partner got over the personal issue between the two arguably better than any other match on the card, with the clothesline over the top rope punctuating things well. The bump from the top rope to the floor that Ryder took was well placed just before the break as well. The finish seemingly coming out of nowhere put over Rawley's explosive power, as he cut short a Ryder comeback with a chop block to the knee that had cost the team a tag title shot, before twatting his old pal with a running forearm shot in the corner to seal the deal. Rawley has potential as a heel, after years as a dull blue-eye, but not everyone will bump around for him like Ryder did here and not every match will hide his weaknesses so well.

The Bludgeon Brothers def. Breezango // Pinfall 

A pretty straight-forward squash match with Harper and Rowan having a counter for everything and anything that Tyler Breeze and Fandango had to offer, before winning with the double crucifix powerbomb.

Finally... 

Looking down the card and having watched the build, it was difficult to remember that Clash of Champions was even taking place. Yet, when I finished watching the show I realised I'd had a much better time watching it than I was expecting to. Whilst the Owens & Zayn vs. Nakkers & Orton and the Women's Lumberjack match were booked to death, almost everything else delivered above expectations. The Four Way tag was top of the pile, but Jinder Mahal pulling a good main event out made me bizarrely happy and fuzzy inside, as well. Yes, it could have been booked better and the time could have been used better (two Women's matches, surely?), but I spent more time thinking "Oh that was quite nice" than thinking "What the fuck is this happening for?" which hasn't always been the case with WWE this year.