SEScoops

4 Takeaways From WWE SmackDown (1/1)

John Cena Becky Lynch SmackDown

Written by

Robert Lentini

in

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WWE taped this week’s episode of SmackDown this past Saturday at the PPG Arena in Pittsburgh. Here are 4 takeaways from the show:

Samoa Joe Put Jeff Hardy To Sleep

Samoa Joe battled Jeff Hardy tonight on SmackDown. The winner of the match would be added to the Fatal 5-Way match later tonight to determine the #1 contender for the WWE Championship.

Jeff Hardy started off the match in control and wrapped Joe’s knee around the ring post several times. Joe locked in the Coquina Clutch outside the ring and then locked in once again as Jeff was trying to get back into the ring. Hardy passed out and Joe qualified for the Fatal 5-Way later on the show.

AJ Styles Earned Another Title Shot At WWE Royal Rumble 2019

Shane and Vince McMahon had a conversation with AJ Styles backstage. AJ said that he should probably apologize for last week, but he won’t. Styles asked Vince if he wanted to see the real AJ Styles again right now. Shane asked Vince if he was sure if he wanted to see the real Styles and Vince said “absolutely”.

AJ Styles competed against Mustafa Ali, Samoa Joe, Rey Mysterio, and Randy Orton in a Fatal 5-Way to determine the #1 contender for the WWE Championship to close this week’s show. Styles started off the match in dominant fashion as the commentary team hyped up the new “real” version of AJ.

WWE Champion Daniel Bryan was shown backstage watching the match as AJ launched Mysterio into the turnbuckle. Chaos broke out and Samoa Joe slammed AJ Styles through the announce table. Ali connected with a beautiful Spanish Fly on Mysterio and went for the cover but Joe broke it up at two.

Ali went for the 054 but Joe got out of the way and locked in the Coquina Clutch. Rey broke it up with a 619 to Joe and then delivered another one to Ali. Orton launched Rey out of the ring and then planted Ali with an RKO. Mysterio broke up the cover and hit Orton with a 619. Rey hit got distracted by Joe and hit him with a Hurricanrana outside the ring. Back in the ring, AJ Styles connected with a springboard 450 Splash on Orton for the pinfall victory. AJ Styles will once again face Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble PPV later this month.

https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/1080298073279078402

I’m all for Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles’ feud to continue. They had a great match at WWE TLC 2018 and I’m looking forward to their bout at Royal Rumble with the next few weeks of SmackDown building up to it.

Nakamura Attacked Rusev

New United States Champion Rusev came down to the ring with Lana for an interview. The crowd greeted him with chants of “Rusev Day!”. Rusev stated that he will take pride in the United States Championship and will defend the title against any opponent.

Rusev started a “Rusev Day USA!” chant and then turned around into a knee to the face from Nakamura. Lana jumped on Nakamura’s back as Rusev made his way back up. Rusev hit Shinsuke with the Machka Kick but it also knocked Lana to the canvas. Nakamura booted Rusev in the face as he checked on Lana and then hit him with the Kinshasa.

The mystique surrounding Nakamura has completely vanished and that is through no fault of his own. I honestly don’t think he has recovered from his brutal feud with Jinder Mahal, in which he came up short several times. If you look back on that now, it is even more ridiculous. Jinder Mahal is completely irrelevant now since mercifully dropping the WWE Championship and wrestled in a tag team match against Rhyno and Heath Slater on last night’s RAW.

Nakamura won the Royal Rumble last year and once again came up short at WrestleMania 34. WWE turned him heel after the loss, but ultimately his feud with AJ Styles was also a disappointment. Nakamura is incredibly talented and could have been something special in WWE, but it looks like that ship has sailed. He wasn’t prominently featured on SmackDown when he was United States Champion, so I’m finding it difficult to get invested in this feud.

Becky Lynch Upstaged John Cena

John Cena returned to SmackDown tonight to his usual reaction from the crowd. Cena joked that he probably shouldn’t have had those beers for his match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Cena joked up about his hair, Nikki Bella dumping him, and dropped a quick plug for his new film Bumblebee.

Becky Lynch interrupted and made her way down to the ring. Becky said that she wasn’t aiming to just overtake Charlotte on the billboards, she was aiming to overtake Cena. Lynch stated that it was time for someone to fill Cena’s shoes as the face as the company and she thinks that she is the one to do that. Becky added that if Cena has a problem with that, Nikki Bella won’t be the only woman to drop him.

Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega interrupted and called Cena and Lynch old news. Cena challenged them to mixed tag team match and Almas & Vega accepted. Cena hit Almas with the Five Knuckle Shuffle and then an Attitude Adjustment.

Becky then snuck up behind Cena and threw him out of the ring. Lynch then tapped out Zelina Vega with the Dis-Arm-Her as Cena smirked on the outside. Cena tried to shake Becky’s hand after the match but Lynch used John’s “you can’t see me taunt” and walked away.

I spent my childhood despising John Cena, only to realize how valuable he was as I got older. The fact is that it is just a better show when Cena is a part of it. Becky Lynch is on another level than any other Superstar on the main roster right now. The crowd doesn’t respond to anyone else as they do for Becky.

She has entire WWE Universe in the palm of her hand and it is awesome to watch. It would be absurd if Lynch wasn’t in the main event at WrestleMania 35 at this point. SmackDown was a decent show tonight, but I am looking forward to live shows returning next week. WWE clearly adds crowd noise to their pretaped episodes and I find it to be more distracting than helpful.

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