A Room with a Review: SmackDown 02/07/20

Posted: February 8, 2020/Under: Belts/By: Richard Phillips

California’s Bay Area is hosting Friday Night SmackDown, which I assume is their punishment for the 49ers losing the Super Bowl.

Did you know Goldberg was coming back? They made sure to let us know at the beginning. Gotta grab them views.

The show starts off with The Miz and John Morrison. We’re getting the first episode of The Dirt Sheet in over a decade. They are debuting their new short film that is destined to win an award. It’s got Mr. Miz and Lance Storm and Johnny Ace! That’s a better ensemble cast than Knives Out. Too bad it’s just a plug for their tag team match against the New Day in Saudi Arabia. Thankfully, the champs are here to save us. Big E has a big bucket of popcorn, which he shares with the fans. The Usos also decide to join the party. As they head to the ring, Dolph Ziggler’s music hits. A distracted New Day gets jumped by Miz and Morrison until the Usos can make it to the ring to help them. Ziggler and Robert Roode eventually join them and we get a tag match, after the break.

It’s The Usos (Jimmy and Jey) vs Roode and Ziggler. The heels dominate early, isolating Jey Uso. After another commercial (the joys of being on broadcast TV), Jimmy gets the hot tag. Dolph gets the advantage back, but Jimmy kicks out of the Zig Zag. He eventually gets the win, pinning Roode after an Uso splash. It was fine.

Bliss Cross Applesauce have shirts! Alexa is going to be in a Fatal 4-Way match in the main event to determine a contender for Bayley’s SmackDown Championship. Why not Nikki?

And now for something completely different, it’s a video recap of King Corbin getting dog food dumped all over him. Corbin storms into the production truck, grabs the person who played the video, and throws him down the stairs onto the concrete outside the truck.

It’s Elias with the Out of Tune Blues. Before he can get too far into his song, Cesaro and El Presidente Sami Zayn interrupt him to complain about Elias interrupting them last week after Shinsuke Nakamura lost the Intercontinental Championship. It’s Cesaro and Elias, after another commercial break.

Back from the commercial and Corey Graves is having a problem with his microphone. Vamp, Michael Cole, vamp! Zayn punches Elias while the ref is distracted and Cole mentions that no one had put their hands on Sami since he transitioned to this new role. I really don’t like the idea of Sami not wrestling anymore. In other disappointing news, Elias gets the win after dropping the top rope elbow on Cesaro. At least he didn’t make any transphobic jokes this time.

Goldberg is apparently not here, as they show him getting mic’d up in his garage. He’s making his announcement, after they sneak in one more commercial break before the end of the hour.

After the break, King Corbin comes out to say he won’t be silenced. He says last week was an abomination (no argument here) and that Roman Reigns should have lost like the crowd’s 49ers lost to his hometown Kansas City Chiefs. The cheapest heat, but perfect for Corbin. He wants Roman one more time and isn’t going anywhere until Roman comes out. He dumps water on a “fan” wearing a Big Dog shirt, which prompts Reigns to come out and handle his business. He takes a drink from the “fan” and dumps it on Corbin. After taking his lumps, Corbin escapes through the crowd. Roman says that if Corbin wants one more match, then he’s got it. Only this time, it will be in a SOLID STEEL CAGE.

Now, via satellite, it’s Goldberg. This fool wants to take on The Fiend! He gets interrupted by a breaking news segment of Firefly Fun House. Bray says that he accepts. Goldberg says intimidation won’t work on him and that The Fiend is next. Please give me The Fiend completely no-selling the Spear and Jackhammer.

Daniel Bryan is watching that segment backstage. Heath Slater tries to cheer him up by reminding Daniel of how badly The Fiend beat the crap out of him. Daniel says let’s go to the ring right now. We get a Heath Slater match on SmackDown in 2020! This is officially the best episode since the move to Fox.

Daniel Byran angrily Yesses his way to the ring. He destroys Slater, who is unconscious when DB puts the LaBell lock on him. Maybe The Fiend really did change Daniel Bryan. Again.

Next is a recap of Braun Strowman winning the Intercontinental Championship. I really hope they do something with it. Shinsuke hadn’t defended it since October. Renee Young is here to interview Strowman. I miss Renee as an on-air talent. Nakamura and El Presidente come out to demand a rematch. Braun says he’ll defend it any time, including right now. Suddenly, The Revival jump Strowman from behind. Strowman takes everybody out and chases Sami around the ring. Nakamura intercepts Braun and hits him with the Kinshasa. We’ve got a faction, people!

Otis has a date with Mandy Rose on Valentine’s Day, so we get a wonderful montage of him preparing, including Tucker having to remind him to not eat his steak with his bare hands. I think I say it every week but we don’t deserve Otis.

They found Apollo Crews! Of course, since it’s Black History Month, he gets jobbed out to Sheamus, the whitest guy on the roster. Shorty G comes out to save Crews from eating another Brogue kick but ends up taking one himself. Ugh.

Main Event time. Dana Brooke, Alexa Bliss, and Carmella are already in the ring, so I’m not excited about their chances. Bayley is ringside to watch this Fatal 4-Way and she gets to see NaoMau5 make her entrance. Naomi hits all three of her opponents with a corkscrew plancha to the outside of the ring. While they are all laid out, Bayley stands over them with her title. Naomi gets up and they start brawling. No disqualifications in a Fatal 4-Way means that Bayley can throw her into the ring steps without consequence. Nice nod to the Twitter fans as Dana Brooke hits Alexa with a Batista Bomb. Looks like they’re calling it in the ring as the mic picks up Naomi telling Alexa to take a small package. Good thing Jerry Lawler wasn’t here to make a joke about that. Alexa goes for Twisted Bliss, but Naomi gets her knees up. She hits Bliss with the Rear View, but Carmella takes her out with two superkicks for the win. I did not see that coming, but maybe they are saving Bayley vs Naomi for WrestleMania. Naomi should not have taken the pin, though.

This episode was a smidge better than some of the previous ones, but not by much. I hate all of the build-up to a Saudi show that I’m not going to watch, but there’s more than that. Sometimes it seems like SmackDown is a Chanel suit and WWE Creative is Marge Simpson, trying to repurpose the same thing each week, just slightly different. What are your thoughts on the recent run of SmackDown? Let me know in the comment section below.

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