WWE Smackdown Review (Layin’ The Smarkdown!)
January 29, 2016
By: Alex Kahrs of Wrestleview.com
OH, WRESTLEVIEWNIVERSE! DON’T YOU DARE BE SOUR! CLAP FOR YOUR LOCALLY WORLD FAMOUS SMACKDOWN REVIEW, AND FEEL THE POWWWWAAAAH!
Hello friends, and welcome to a new edition of Layin’ The Smarkdown! It’s a new age in WWE with the arrival of The Man That TNA Nearly Forgot, AJ Styles, and so much more on the horizon!
Opening Segment: Oh man oh man, it’s The New Day. In all honesty, I love watching these guys do their thing. It’s hard for their schtick to get boring, in my opinion. Meanwhile, Miz continues to actually do a good job as annoying “I’m better than you because Hollywood” heel, and they all mesh well together in this segment. I actually enjoyed the response from the Usos, as well. Good lead-in for the opening match of the night!
Eight Man Tag Match: Great stuff here, I really enjoyed the chemistry between all the guys involved, especially Miz and New Day. I don’t understand why Titus is going it alone this past week, unless Darren Young is either hurt or taking time off for another reason why not have the Prime Time Players together on this? Still, a good match to kick this show off, and I do like the bit about Titus visiting the schools that week and hanging out with those kids after the match. Nice touch there.
US Title Match: Great, GREAT showcase of high flying from both guys with just a dash of technical prowess. I’m a fan of Neville’s deadlift German suplex, have been since I met the guy (then known as PAC) in 2012. Good win for Kalisto here, and I can’t wait to see where they go from here.
Highlight Reel: Entertaining segment from all three guys to start, really enjoyed the banter between Roman and Dean. Fast Lane should be a fun show to watch, and matches like that triple threat will be a big part of it. The Wyatt Family make their presence known here, looking to bring the Apocalypse upon the WWE. I like it.
Styles/Axel: More competitive of a match than I expected, considering both the hype around AJ’s debut in WWE and the fact that this is Curtis Axel we’re talking about. Still, I’m digging the Social Outcasts gimmick, and in all honesty I really enjoyed this match. I wonder how many people are going to be annoyed/upset that Styles finally hit his Styles Clash finisher, and it was on Smackdown instead of RAW.
Divas Match: Good stuff from both women, and it’s nice to see Natalya back!
Main Event: Wyatt Family always manage to impress me with their style of brawling, and the trio of Ambrose, Reigns, and Jericho worked pretty well together to try to stop them in this match. Great stuff all around, and aside from the fact Big Show turned face for the umpteenth time, the post-match stuff was well done.
Well, that’s Smackdown for this week. What did you think of the show? What do you think about the feuds heading into Fast Lane and then Wrestlemania? Do you think AJ had a decent enough debut this week, overall? Are you digging the direction some of the guys are going right now? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @Power2TheSmarks!
Until next time, this is Alex Kahrs reminding you to be excellent to each other. Party on, dudes!