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‘Friday Night SmackDown’ (1/15/21) Results And Review: Universal Title Match Made Official For ‘Royal Rumble,’ New Talk Show Segment Debuts, And More

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Alan Draper
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Friday Night SmackDown

Friday Night SmackDown took place inside the WWE ThunderDome at Tropicana Field in St. Petersberg Florida with virtual fans in attendance. The show featured a contract signing for the Universal title match at the Royal Rumble with Roman Reigns and Adam Pearce, Rey Mysterio went one on one with King Corbin and Jey Uso fought against Shinsuke Nakamura in the main event.

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The show opened with Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman. Paul tells Roman that the contracts are all the same and said he hated it the moment he read it. He tells Roman that the match needs a stipulation to teach Adam Pearce about respect. He tells Roman he’ll take the contract to Pearce and leaves.

Jey Uso came out to the ring. He welcomes everyone to the Bloodline show. He says that him and Roman’s family run the show. He says that everyone should be thanking Roman for the food he is providing for everyone in the back. He declares that he is entering the Royal Rumble match and claims he will win it to win the WWE title so that him and Roman will dominate WWE. He talked about Shinsuke Nakamura’s performance last week in the gauntlet. He tells Shinsuke that he should be thanking them for letting him survive. He threatens Shinsuke that he will beat him down if he crosses his family. Shinsuke came out saying if Roman is the Big Dog then Jey is his puppy. Jey was about to attack Shinsuke but Shinsuke caught him with a kick, setting up the match between them.

Shinsuke Nakamura Defeated Jey Uso

Cesaro celebrated with Nakamura in the ring.

Sonya Deville tells Adam Pearce that he has a chance against Roman Reigns judging by his past matches. He said he doesn’t think his past self could beat Roman. Paul heyman appeared and gave Adam the contract. He tells Adam that he has an opportunity to main event the Royal Rumble against Roman for the Universal title. He says the stipulation is in Adam’s favor saying it will be a no DQ match. Adam signs it saying it is ridiculous and it will be a way for him to get injured. He gives the contract to Paul.

Jey Uso was arguing with Charles Robinson about the result of the match. Charles said Jey’s feet was on the ropes as he was pinning Shinsuke. Jey warns Charles that his job is on the line as he walks away.

Kayla Braxton interviewed The Street Profits about losing their titles due to them injuring Montez Ford the week before. Montez says they are not scared and they were champions for over 300 days. Montez said they will run it back. Dawkins calls Ford family and they will be getting their titles back in their rematch.

Roman was talking with Apollo Crews backstage until Paul Heyman gave him the signed contract. Roman said he won’t sign it because he wants a Last Man Standing match instead. Paul says Adam won’t go for it. Roman says he will because Paul will make him do it in the ring later tonight. He gives Paul the contract and continues talking to Apollo.

Natalya Defeated Liv Morgan

The Riot Squad argued with Billie Kay in the ring.

King Corbin Defeated Rey Mysterio

Adam Pearce was walking backstage and met up with Paul Heyman. Adam asked if Roman signed the contract and Paul said no. He tells Adam that it will be a Last Man Standing match against Roman at the Rumble. Paul presented him the contract and told him to take his time to look it over. Paul walks away as Adam looks at the contract.

Rey and Dominick was backstage. Dominick accused Rey of backing down from Corbin. Rey said he is not backing down. Dominick said he wants to fight Corbin. Rey tells him that he knows just the guy to talk to who will deal with Corbin.

Bayley was in the ring for the premiere of her new talk show Ding Dong Hello. She introduced her guest Bianca Belair. Belair made her way to the ring and has Bianca go through the door to ring the bell. Bianca took Bayley’s seat. Bayley congratulates her on her new Chronicle episode on the WWE Network. She plays a sneak preview of the episode but it is a clip from last month where Bayley beat her. She asks Bianca why she calls herself the EST of WWE. Bianca said because of her accomplishments and it is her being her. Bayley said she is not the best because she beat her in the ring. Bianca challenges her to a rematch. Bayley challenges her to an obstacle course challenge for next week. Bianca accepts the challenge and claimed there will be no way Bayely beats her in that challenge.

Footage was shown of Daniel Bryan and Otis working their hips with Chad Gable. Kayla Braxton asks about their training and Daniel says he is ready for the Rumble with his work out. Bryan said there is no hard feelings with Nakamura and he was the better man last week. Cesaro interrupted saying that Nakamura shook his hand because he felt sorry for Daniel. Cesaro mocks them for doing the Macarena. Daniel challenges Cesaro to a match and Cesaro accepts.

Cesaro Defeated Daniel Bryan

Kayla Braxton interviewed Carmella backstage. Carmella said Sasha Banks can’t touch her when it comes to natural talent. She said Sasha is not here because she is scared but then Sasha attacked her from behind. She tells Carmella that she has her rematch for the SmackDown Women’s Championship as long as she has a match with her assistant.

Apollo Crews Defeated Sami Zayn

Apollo grabbed the Intercontinental title from Big E and Big E got up to confront them, The two talked trash to each other as Apollo gave Big E the title back and walked away.

Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman and Jey uso came down to the ring. Adam Pearce made his way to the ring for the signing. Jey took him out of his seat to give to Roman. Adam signed the contract and gave it to Roman. Roman signed the contract as well. Adam tells Roman that he waited all night for him to sign it and leaves the ring. Adam started limping as he went up the ramp. Adam said his knee is hurting him and said he reserves the right to find a replacement for Roman. He said he has a replacement in mind and it’s Kevin Owens. Owens came out and signed the contract. The show ended with Owens laughing and Roman pissed off in the ring.

Review: This was the usual watchable SmackDown show that WWE has been showing for a while now, probably ever since Roman Reigns returned as the Tribal Chief. The buildup for the Universal title match was exactly how I expected it to go down in terms of us thinking it would be Adam Pearce but it would be someone else. The only difference is I thought it would Shinsuke but they are running it back with Kevin Owens which I have no problem with. In a Last Man Standing match, they will really tear it up. The best matches on the show no doubt was Shinsuke’s match with Jey Uso and Cesaro’s match with Daniel Bryan. I was pleasantly surprised they had Cesaro go over on Bryan which pretty much confirms to me unless WWE shows me otherwise that Bryan is not going to be winning the Rumble and his role right now is helping other guys on the roster get over. The new talk show with Bayley is interesting but I’m not really seeing her as one of the wrestlers that has a talk show like Miz with Miz TV and Kevin Owens with the KO Show. I’m willing to give it a shot though. It was a good way to have Bianca Belair and Bayley further their rivalry and the promos between them was pretty good in general.

Grade: 6/10

 

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Alan Draper

Alan is a vastly experienced sports and gambling writer who is the Chief Editor of The Sports Daily.
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Alan Draper

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Alan is a vastly experienced sports and gambling writer who is the Chief Editor of The Sports Daily.
View All Posts By Alan Draper
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