WWE Friday Night Smackdown comes live from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT, tonight as the company barrels forward towards the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in eight days.
As we prepare for another episode of Smackdown tonight, I’ll give some of my quick thoughts about the show and what’s in store on the card.
Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn
The final moments of the Royal Rumble was one of the best endings to a pay-per-view the company has had in recent memory. Last week’s main event segment between Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn was one of the best setups to a ppv main event they’ve had in recent memory as well.
It was simple and very effective. Reigns explained why he had to cast Zayn out of the Bloodline only for a fired up Zayn to lay a sneak attack and offer a challenge for the title. Normally, that’s where the show would end but we didn’t get that. Instead, we got the Bloodline (sans Jey Uso, I’ll get to that) beating down Zayn and the champ taking on the challenge specifically for the opportunity to destroy the challenger in front of his friends and family in Montreal. Really good stuff here and the people insisting that Zayn needs the Wrestlemania main event spot over Cody Rhodes need to relax. This is perfect. Let it be.
Jey Uso
Jey Uso was a no show for last week’s episode of Smackdown and that drew the ire of Reigns, who kept peppering Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa about the whereabouts of their brother.
The Usos have a tag title match tonight against Braun Strowman and Ricochet and there’s numerous directions they could go with this. Could they have Jey show up at the start of the show but not be mentally in it? Could he be a complete no-show all the way up until the match? Will he show up during the match? This will be a fascinating story arc to follow as the night progresses.
Other thoughts
- After prevailing in the Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match at the Royal Rumble, we didn’t hear from Bray Wyatt (or Uncle Howdy) last week. The L.A. Knight program is done (I assume) and I can’t imagine who he will rub shoulders with next.
- There’s a No. 1 contender’s match for the Intercontinental Championship tonight as Karrion Kross, Rey Mysterio, Madcap Moss, and Santos Escobar will meet in a fatal four-way match. They haven’t done anything meaningful with Moss in a while, so why not him?