Daniel Bryan makes AJ Styles eat his own words once again by placing him in two matches in one night. With the Royal Rumble just a week away, has Styles bitten off more than he can chew?
With Xavier Woods failing to clench the United States Championship there remains only one hope for potential co-champions ahead of the Royal Rumble: Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. The two life long friends have bragged repeatedly about their inevitable WWE championship reign. Once more they have continually overcome odds with the help of Daniel Bryan.
In a year of firsts will we bear witness to WWE co-champions? Smackdown Live comes to us from Washington, DC this January 23rd, 2018.
Walking The Walk
The self proclaimed future of the WWE took shots at the 25th anniversary of RAW. Owens and Zayn are looking towards the future while the company’s Monday night show trot out “retirees” to spike ratings. After the clever jabs AJ Styles confronted the Canadian duo in a great back and forth promo. Owens claims that Styles talks a big game by offering to compete in a handicap match but then walking it back once it was made official.
Daniel Bryan interjected himself but before he could make another crazy match Styles volunteered to make good on his recent claims. He would book himself in two matches against each of his Royal Rumble opponents in the same night. Styles rejected Bryan’s defense and questioned the general manager’s neutrality when it comes to Owens and Zayn. Bryan would later sanction both matches.
Picking up where they left off, Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon are once again taking shots at each other.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWY88a49IKs]
McMahon is concerned with Bryan’s ability to lead. After sanctioning two matches for AJ Styles in the same night, Bryan is seemingly disregarding the interests of the WWE’s top performer. Bryan’s intentions in the eyes of McMahon and Styles are questionable at best.
Usos Likely To Drop Titles
Chad Gable defeated Jey Uso with a beautiful roll through German suplex pinning combination. I have little faith that the Usos will retain their titles at the Royal Rumble. Not only are Gable and Shelton Benjamin gaining momentum but their in ring ability is not to be questioned. These factors coupled with recent unfortunate developments in Jey Uso’s personal life point towards new Smackdown Live tag team champions this Sunday.
Gable and Benjamin have put on thrilling matches with the Usos. It is sad to see this match at the Royal Rumble impacted by events outside of the ring. The excitement of new champions would be diminished as it is almost a certainty at this point.
It would be great to get new tag teams in the title picture against formidable champions such as Gable and Benjamin. Smackdown Live has continued to prove their tag division has great potential. Although this is not the most desirable of circumstances, this is an opening for talent to step up and shine.
Riott Squad Lose While Lynch Wins
Naomi comfortably beat Liv Morgan in their singles but was attacked by the Riott Squad directly following the bout. The women’s locker room promptly emptied to promote the first Women’s Royal Rumble match with an impromptu brawl.
The downside is that once again the Riott Squad failed to come away with any kind of momentum heading into this Sunday.
There was a great moment where Becky Lynch attempted to throw Naomi out of the ring after the scuffle. The crowd was taken aback by the temerity of Lynch to turn on her friend. But as you will hear 100 times this during the Royal Rumble, it is every man or woman for themselves. This was the only interesting part of this segment.
Charlotte even came out to applaud Lynch for her seemingly new found viciousness. With full understanding that I am reading way too far into this, Becky Lynch would make a great heel. WWE could book her as a dominant suplex machine and pair her with a braggadocios manager. After six months of destroying superstars she would be ready for an epic showdown with the likes of Asuka.
Currently she is merely lost in the shuffle.
All Hype?
Much like Mojo Rawley as of late, Baron Corbin seems to be finding his character. Corbin seeks to prove he is not to be overlooked in the Royal Rumble. Corbin is sick of the hype surrounding darling superstars such as Shinske Nakamura. The sour demeanor exhibited by Corbin contrasts beautifully with the energy of Nakamura.
The Artist is fun while the Lone Wolf is full of himself, unafraid to tout his previous accomplishments.
These two competitors work very well together and their styles compliment each other. Heavy hits and brilliant counters to signature moves made for Smackdown Live’s match of the night.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWB3hohzed0]
Literally out of nowhere Randy Orton delivered an RKO to Nakamura which ended the match. The crowd lost their minds as Corbin fell victim to another RKO.
This was brilliant.
Orton had warned there would be no allies in the Royal Rumble as his actions clearly demonstrated. This is the type of shock and awe that was sorely lacking in RAW’s 25th anniversary despite all the star power. Smackdown Live has the potential to create exciting moments, sometimes better than their Monday night counterpart.
The Viper has done more to build the Rumble in a few moments than RAW has in a month. This is great booking.
The Glorious New Day
The New Day and Bobby Roode celebrated the coronation of the new United States Champion. The party was short lived as Rusev Day and Jinder Mahal arrived for six man tag team action.
All participants were able to shine at various points during the short match. Xavier Woods picked up a much needed victory for his team after losing in the United States Championship tournament last week.
Roode, Woods and Rusev look strong as we head into the Royal Rumble this Sunday.
Two For One
As the Canadians made their way to the ring they were stopped by Shane McMahon. McMahon stipulated neither Owens or Zayn could be at ringside during each others matches or risk being fired on the spot. Owens played a great role here as he argued that Daniel Bryan made this match and should be the only one dictating stipulations in this match.
This is a great arguing point.
Styles, Owens and Zayn feel like the kids of the dysfunctional relationship of Bryan and McMahon. Without a unified directive, all of them face daily uncertainty. Any manager knows that employees cannot function in a work environment like this. This was a nod to the frustration Styles has been expressing over the past few weeks.
Styles almost immediately tapped out Owens in the first match. Zayn ran back out to attack Styles who refused to release his calf crusher on Owens. Because the match was over this did not violate the rules set forth by McMahon earlier.
Zayn continued to beat Styles for a decent period of time before the ref finally started the next match.
As Owens lay prone at ringside Styles took the opportunity to inflict damage on his future opponent. This enabled Zayn to gain the upper hand off of the distraction. Once again Owens found a loophole within Shane McMahon’s stipulations, this time physically incapacitated.
After attacking Owens once again at ringside, Styles was blindside by a Helluva Kick from Zayn followed. Zayn followed up with a Blue Thunder Bomb to gain the victory over Styles.
The Slow Fizzle
As both Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon watched the main event from the back there seemed to be no noticeable aggression towards each other. Other than the comments made by McMahon earlier you would not know they are issues between them.
Like a firework that fails to ignite it seems that WWE may not go anywhere with this potential rivalry. The set up and final build toward the Royal Rumble handicap match does not have a place for the underlying story that could have been.
This would not even need to involve Bryan wrestling necessarily. Smackdown Live has demonstrated are many ways to create drama without Bryan stepping back into the ring. Even if there was no intention of allowing Bryan to wrestle again it would be in the best interest of WWE to tease fans into viewership.
The Royal Rumble would be the last opportunity to blow this feud up. If Owens and Zayn win the WWE Championship there will be hell to pay for Bryan.
