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The go home episode of SmackDown Live tried to hit it out of the park yet again but did falter on a few occasions this week.
Becky Lynch and Asuka kicked off the show in great fashion, after which Charlotte walked out to provoke a brawl between the two women. The brawl helped build up the rivalry between the two women heading into the big event.
The Miz had a good match with Cesaro where Cesaro came out on top, which was followed by The Bar driving Miz and Shane McMahon through the announce table.
Naomi and Mandy Rose were not so lucky, as their match went from bad to worse and completely watered down a good rivalry that was brewing between the two women.
Rey Mysterio and Andrade put on another good match, but it did not reach a conclusion thanks to the interference of Samoa Joe, which could have been avoided.
An overall good show with a few weak spots took SmackDown right to the doorsteps of the Royal Rumble, where we will see four championship matches from the blue brand along with participation in both the Royal Rumble matches which could see at least one victor from the blue brand.
Take a look at the 4 things we learned from the episode before the Royal Rumble and share your thoughts on the episode in the comments section below!
#5 SmackDown haven’t built up their Royal Rumble contenders like Raw
Raw has used their previous two episodes well to build up their contenders for the Royal Rumble match. We have seen men like Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins, Elias, Dean Ambrose, and others work well to show that they are real threats for the match.
However, SmackDown has been focused on the internal feuds in the roster more than the Royal Rumble match, and therefore we haven’t seen too much build up.
Only this week did we see Randy Orton return only to remind that fans that he is still active and will be a part of the Rumble through his attack on Samoa Joe.
Joe, on the other hand, awkwardly tried to prove his dominance for the match after interrupting Rey Mysterio and Andrade's match.
Joe could have easily done so after defeating Mustafa Ali, but waited until the end of the night, after which Orton attacked him and laid him flat on the mat.
#4 Charlotte will remain in the race for the Women's Championship
While the face-off between Becky Lynch and Asuka was heating up, Charlotte's music hit and The Queen walked out to interrupt the two women.
It seemed like the segment was about to take a detour, and possibly cause SmackDown to somehow also insert Charlotte in the match at the Royal Rumble to make it a triple-threat affair, but thankfully that didn't happen.
Instead, Charlotte managed to provoke the two women into getting in a brawl, which helped the case of further building the rivalry.
Not only did the segment manage to achieve that, but it also managed to establish the fact that Charlotte will remain in the race for the SmackDown Women's Championship no matter what the results at the Royal Rumble event are.
The WWE Universe has gotten used to seeing Charlotte be one of the competitors for the championship of whichever brand she has been on, and it seems like that won't change for some time to come.
#3 The United States Championship will be left on the sidelines
The United States Championship was once on par with the WWE Championship on SmackDown, with both titles being defended regularly and with great superstars involved.
After Shinsuke Nakamura won the championship, it slowly disappeared from television and WWE failed to build a good rivalry around it, which was never the case with SmackDown.
When Nakamura finally lost the championship to Rusev, we hoped that the value of the championship would increase once again. However, that hasn’t really been the case as yet.
It’s upsetting to see how Nakamura easily got his rematch for the championship, which was announced on last week’s episode and nothing was done to forward the feud anymore this week either.
The United States Championship has seen some great winners and rivalries, and it seems as though the championship has slowly become a case for the pre-shows and has decreased in importance since the importance of the Women’s Championship has increased.
#2 Becky Lynch is still the Crown Jewel of SmackDown
Even after losing her SmackDown Women’s Championship, it seems as though Becky Lynch is far from losing her importance on the blue brand.
So much so, that SmackDown relies on her to get the crowd up and going, and therefore her segments have become a treat to watch week after week.
Even though The Irish Lass Kicker hasn’t competed in as many matches on SmackDown as she used to last year, she has still gotten more than enough screen time each week to shine, and that has greatly helped the blue brand.
It’s ironic how once even the Women’s Champion did not get as much screen time as the men on the roster, and now we have a former Champion leading the roster and the WWE Universe in attendance.
Lynch has surely done something right, and she is now reaping the benefits as she becomes one of the biggest female superstars of the modern era.
#1 Mustafa Ali will emerge victorious at the end of the rivalry
Samoa Joe may have gotten the first victory, but it looks like Mustafa Ali will have the last laugh.
What seemed like a rivalry to keep two superstars engaged before the Royal Rumble seems to have developed into something better now and could go on to shine later on.
Joe hasn’t gotten many victories in the past year even though he has become SmackDown’s greatest villain, while Ali has jumped up extremely high with his high-flying style and landed with the elites of the brand.
While Joe has gotten the first victory in this rivalry, it doesn't look like he will get much of a push on SmackDown as he has already gotten into championship rivalries and failed repeatedly on both the main brands.
Ali, on the other hand, seems to be getting a push of a lifetime and we could see him get in contention for the WWE Championship by the end of this year or beginning of next year. Therefore, Joe will prove to be a hurdle in his way which he will overcome and win the rivalry between them to progress towards other threats.
