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From Roman Reigns and Adam Pearce's contract signing segment to Bayley's new talk show, this week's edition of WWE SmackDown featured many contrasting moments.
The latest episode from the Blue brand was highly engaging when it came to a few of their production and creative choices. The 8K camera quality was a great inclusion to some entrances. As far as the creative content of the episode was concerned, many Superstars earned huge victories this week. However, not all creative decisions struck a unanimous chord with the fans.
WWE also introduced and teased a few interesting plot threads that may lead to newsworthy outcomes on future SmackDown shows.
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Which show was better this week, RAW or SmackDown? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Here are the five biggest news stories from this week's episode of WWE SmackDown (January 15, 2021).
#5: Bayley debuted her 'Ding Dong, Hello' talk show with special guest Bianca Belair on WWE SmackDown
Bayley and Bianca Belair's feud reached its next phase on this episode of WWE SmackDown. Outside of their in-ring rivalry, Bayley introduced Bianca Belair as the first guest on her talk show titled, 'Ding Dong, Hello'.
Bayley is at the top of her game with her heel character, and the silly yet entertaining premise of having to enter through a pretend door seems creative enough for the talk show to potentially earn a recurring spot on WWE SmackDown.
Bayley and Belair threw a few digs against each other. However, Bayley didn't want to face The EST of WWE in an in-ring match once again. Instead, both women will compete in an obstacle course challenge next week to determine which woman is more athletic.
Bayley may not have accepted the challenge without a few tricks up her sleeve. This is because Bianca Belair's entire identity has been built upon her athletic background, so Bayley could possibly throw in a few shenanigans during their competition next week.
#4: Dominik Mysterio's involvement in Rey Mysterio's match against King Corbin cost his father the victory on WWE SmackDown
King Corbin's feud against the Mysterio family continued on this week's WWE SmackDown.
Corbin faced Rey Mysterio in one-on-one action, with Dominik Mysterio on commentary alongside Michael Cole and Corey Graves.
Dominik Mysterio was just humbled to be there, but it was Corey Graves who asked him the hard-hitting questions on air. Graves pressed on the issue that Dominik Mysterio may have to carve his own separate path someday, and the taunts from Corbin towards Dominik added more pressure on Rey Mysterio's son.
Dominik Mysterio finally tried to get involved towards the end of the match, but Corbin used the opportunity to shove Rey Mysterio onto Dominik, to set up the End of Days maneuver.
The father and son duo talked about their issues from the aforementioned match in a backstage segment, later during the same episode. Rey Mysterio gave a piece of advice to Dominik Mysterio, saying that one always has to have a plan in WWE while stepping up to stars like Corbin. Rey Mysterio teased the fact that he knows an outside party who could potentially take care of this situation.
It remains to be seen who this outside party will be. Could Cain Velasquez make a comeback to WWE, as a result of Rey Mysterio and King Corbin's storyline?
#3: Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura earned major singles victories on this episode of WWE SmackDown
Shinsuke Nakamura put on a great performance in the Gauntlet match during last week's WWE SmackDown. Some fans were worried that WWE wouldn't follow that up with a proper arc for Nakamura in the future. After this week's episode, it seems like WWE have decided to invest in Nakamura once again.
The King of Strong Style made his entrance last night with 'The Rising Sun' theme song from his old days as a babyface in WWE. Nakamura faced Jey Uso in singles action, as a result of Roman Reigns and Uso's targeted hostility towards him in the previous episode.
Nakamura's tag team partner, Cesaro, would also show up for commentary at one point during the match. Uso nearly defeated Nakamura with a pin where his legs were on the ropes.
Unfortunately for The Tribal Chief's ally, he was caught cheating by the referee. This opened up an opportunity for The King of Strong Style to hit his opponent with the Kinshasa, for the victory.
Cesaro also earned a huge victory later in the same episode. The Swiss Cyborg defeated Daniel Bryan in an excellent match, that too, in a clean fashion. Now, there is plenty of scope to push Cesaro as a singles star, alongside Nakamura.
This plot direction couldn't come at a better time, as WWE is currently on the road to WrestleMania 37.
#2: Apollo Crews teased an alliance with Roman Reigns on WWE SmackDown
Apollo Crews displayed a new attitude on WWE SmackDown not too long ago. He has been involved in a storyline with Big E, where Crews has gradually been painted as somewhat of an antagonist, over time.
This week, Apollo Crews joined Roman Reigns in a backstage segment. It looked as if Reigns was giving Crews some advice. Paul Heyman joined the duo soon after. Heyman brought a no disqualification match contract to Reigns, which had already been signed by Adam Pearce for their WWE Royal Rumble clash.
The Tribal Chief told Crews to stay in his position, perhaps to show him a lesson. Reigns then quickly assumed control of the situation, telling Heyman that he wanted a Last Man Standing match instead.
The stipulation change itself wasn't the major takeaway here. The main takeaway was the subtext of the segment, where Reigns wanted to display his authority and power in front of Apollo Crews.
In the same episode of WWE SmackDown, Crews would also defeat Sami Zayn by scoring the pin while grabbing Zayn's tights. It was a sly move on Crews' part that fell in line with the ideology of doing whatever it takes to win. This way, Crews added more legitimacy to his rivalry with Big E, as the storyline between the two WWE Superstars seems far from over at this point.
#1: Adam Pearce outsmarted Roman Reigns; Reigns is now set to face Kevin Owens at WWE Royal Rumble 2021
Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman influenced the Gauntlet match to target Adam Pearce on last week's WWE SmackDown. The WWE official won the match despite his own reservations, and Pearce was set to face Reigns at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view this year.
Throughout this week's SmackDown, Reigns remained adamant that he won't let Pearce weasel his way out from their upcoming match. As mentioned in the previous slide, Reigns still exercised his power on the Blue brand by calling the shots to book a Last Man Standing match stipulation against Pearce.
However, the WWE official had an ace up his sleeve this whole time. In his contract signing segment with Roman Reigns at the end of the episode, Adam Pearce allowed Reigns to spin the situation in his own favor.
After the proceedings were done, Pearce suddenly started to limp while walking up the ramp. The twist came when Pearce said that he had been afflicted with an old 'injury', which meant that the card is always subject to change in situations like this one.
Being a WWE official, Pearce had the authority to announce his own replacement, who turned out to be Kevin Owens. Owens signed the contract to make his Last Man Standing match against Roman Reigns official at the Royal Rumble event.
Many fans were already on board with Adam Pearce vs. Roman Reigns, as it made sense from the perspective of Reigns' authority on SmackDown. Several others opposed that idea last week. The fans who opposed that idea are somewhat happy with Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns at the Royal Rumble, while the other half are now disappointed.
Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns does feel a bit repetitive, but it is mostly a great idea because of the pre-established chemistry and history between Reigns and Owens. In the end, all that matters is that WWE did a good job in making the transition from Pearce vs. Reigns to Owens vs. Reigns this week. All Superstars involved in this scenario were at the top of their game in terms of acting performances as well.
Do catch SK Wrestling experts Rick Ucchino and Denise Salcedo as they share their thoughts on all that went down during last night's WWE SmackDown in the video linked above.
Vince Russo answers who killed WCW HERE
