WWE SmackDown Live – January 22, 2019 (Review)

What was the worst part of last night’s episode?

Dylan Kapisky

I thought this was the payoff? After weeks of build, we finally saw Naomi take on Mandy Rose, and it was… fine. There was nothing wrong with this match, and it was booked correctly – feeling more like a fight than a wrestling match – but something didn’t click for me. Perhaps it was the finish.

Despite the lengthy build and only one satisfying ending, Mandy Rose scored the pinfall via nefarious means, likely extending the feud. That would have been good, but this doesn’t need to be extended. The story already peaked, and the only thing left to do was give the babyface a win. There was nothing overly wrong with the action, but the decision to give Mandy the win hurt this feud.

Nate Craver

Naomi vs. Mandy Rose was bad. I’ve seen worse wrestling matches, but unlike Joe and Ali, this was neither simple nor effective.

You’ve had the weird marriage storyline. Sonya not wanting Rose to be a heel. This was the chance for Naomi to get her hands on Mandy. It felt more like a traditional women’s match with nothing at stake. The in-ring action didn’t line up to the out of ring story. I don’t believe they portrayed the hatred their mouths have been spewing for the last few weeks. Couple that with the interference and lacklustre finish, and for me this was the worst thing on SmackDown.

Steven Lugo

Randy Orton is the last face I see. Damn, Randy. I’m not sure there’s a person on the WWE roster right now who could make me groan more than good ol’ Randy Orton. He has a way of making the ‘New Era’ boring (even when the ‘New Era’ was when SmackDown first went live).

In any event, he has won the Royal Rumble twice already, and is looking for that third win. He inserted himself into the post-match drama following the Andrade / Mysterio match (which I assume was ruled a no-contest) and gave Samoa Joe the RKO. This was a ‘same ole’ WWE’ moment for me, which also managed to diminish a great heel in Joe. Not the image I want to be left with on the go-home show for the Rumble.

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Kyle Payne

The worst part of the show came down to only one thing: “The New” AJ Styles. Not Styles in particular but rather that the commentators referred to him as being “new”. I didn’t care for this at all.

‘The New’ Daniel Bryan made sense because he’s a heel and he knows that would annoy people but, because he’s a bad guy, it hasn’t really bothered us. Maybe that’s to do with his drastic character change, but now that they are doing it to Styles too, it’s tacky. I don’t like it and I hope it’s short lived.

I’m good with both the CURRENT version of AJ Styles & The NEW Daniel Bryan. #SDLive

— MATT HARDY (@MATTHARDYBRAND) January 23, 2019

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