Drew McIntyre and Sheamus VS The Viking Raiders, LA Knight and Bray Wyatt
SmackDown started with the Bloodline pulling up in the parking lot, but Roman Reigns didn’t seem too interested in Sami Zayn. We then headed to the ring as Sheamus and Drew McIntyre were about to face the Viking Raiders in the first round of the SmackDown Tag Team Championship Number 1 Contenders Tournament. This was a pretty hard-hitting contest and they got a lot of time to show what they had. The Viking Raiders have struggled with their characters for years now, but when they get in the ring, there aren’t many better teams than them. As for Drew McIntyre and Sheamus, they just love to have a fight! In the end, Drew McIntyre hit the Claymore onto Erik before Sheamus hit the Brogue onto Ivar to get the win. This was solid.
Grade: B-
Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn were sitting in the Tribal Chief’s locker room before Roman Reigns snapped at Sami Zayn for questioning what happened at the end of last week's show. The most interesting part was when he told Sami to get out and “look for his own bloodline”. Raquel Rodriguez then told everyone why she is going to win the Royal Rumble before LA Knight came out. The Megastar cut one of his excellent promos before his match with local enhancement talent Greg Jones, which he won pretty quickly. After the match, the Firefly Fun House music played and we cut to Bray Wyatt welcoming everyone back to his house. Huskus the Pig Boy, Mercy the Buzzard, Abby the Witch and Ramblin’ Rabbit were all there and the Rabbit once again got himself in a spot of bother after he said LA Knight was pretty cool. Wyatt did his normal Fun House shenanigans before Uncle Howdy popped up on the screen and he said the words “All you needed was a little push”. It’s kind of crazy that the Firefly Fun House hasn’t even been gone for two years, yet it felt really nostalgic seeing all the characters again. Also, LA Knight’s great. YEAH!
Grade: B (for Knight’s promo and the Fun House)
Hit Row VS Los Lotharios, Charlotte Flair and Sonya Deville
We were then straight into another first-round matchup in the SD Tag Team Title number 1 contenders tournament as Hit Row took on Los Lotharios. It’s fair to say that this was definitely the weakest part of the draw and the match was both short and uninteresting. Los Lotharios aren’t featured nearly enough to get a reaction from the crowd and Hit Row are just obnoxious. The singers picked up the victory to set up a clash with Drew McIntyre and Sheamus for next week’s show.
Grade: C-
Braun Strowman declared himself for the Men’s Royal Rumble before he said the match was tailor-made for him. Charlotte Flair was then out in the ring and she cut a promo on Sonya Deville before the Jersey Devil came out and demanded that she gets a rematch for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. The two both went back and forth at each other before Adam Pearce came out to stop it. When this happened, Sonya punched Charlotte in the face before she ran off. This segment wasn’t great and it only slightly built their feud up.
Grade: C-
Brawling Brutes VS Imperium, Legado del Fantasma VS Maximum Male Models
Paul Heyman spoke to Roman Reigns backstage (Reigns still hadn’t moved) and Heyman showed why he’s the Wiseman by telling Roman that it’s better to have Sami on his side than against him going into the big title match with Kevin Owens at the Royal Rumble. We then got another Lacey Evans video and I’m almost certain that this was the same one as last week's. Like seriously, I’m not kidding. It was then time for another tag team match as the Brawling Brutes took on Imperium in the first round of the number 1 contenders tournament. Both the Brutes and Imperium have wrestled each other a bunch of times and they work really well together. Holland and Butch have done a really good job at coming across as a genuine babyface team whilst Imperium are one of the best tag teams in the world. In the end, Imperium advanced to the semi-final after hitting the Imperium Bomb to get the win.
Grade: B-
Shayna Baszler was the next person to declare herself for the Women’s Royal Rumble before we got a long video package showcasing all the top moments from the last 30 years of Monday Night Raw. This was really good, but it felt like it went on for about 30 years! Karrion Kross then cut a promo where he made it clear that he was going to finish off Rey Mysterio next week before we got our final tag team match of the night. Legado del Fantasma took on the Maximum Male Models and the thing that made me laugh was Legado looked more like models than the actually Models themselves. I thought this match was alright, it was nice to see Mace and Mansoor back on “proper” television and I’m always happy when Legado’s on. I’m going to be happy next week too as Legado hit their high-low finishing manoeuvre to get the victory and advance to a semi-final clash with Imperium next week. Please give me a Gunther-Escobar face-off.
Grade: C+
Kevin Owens crashes the Contract Signing for the Royal Rumble
Roman Reigns (STILL SITTING IN THE SAME SPOT) apologised to Sami Zayn for getting angry at him again. He told Sami that he wants to go off and get everything ready for them to leave. After an ad break, Roman Reigns’ music hit and he came down planning to sign a contract for his match with Kevin Owens which takes place at the Royal Rumble. However, the contract signing itself never took place as Kevin Owens ran from out of the crowd, threw Sikoa outside of the ring before he hit a Stunner onto the Champion. Owens then took out the Usos who ran down to try and help before he took Sikoa out again. He then got back into the ring and hit Reigns with a Pop-Up Powerbomb through the table. KO then signed the contract before he went and stood in the crowd whilst Sami Zayn looked on. This was really well done. It was short, but it once again showed that Reigns isn’t safe without everyone around him. Also, Kevin Owens arguably beats up the Head of the Table better than anyone. Even though I know who’s going to win, I’m really looking forward to their match at the Rumble.
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