SmackDown Results and Recap: Eco-Friendly Excellence
This week’s episode of WWE SmackDown LIVE featured the blue brand’s Superstars dealing with the fallout of Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view. We saw the next step in the Becky Lynch/Charlotte Flair feud, the birth of the “United States of Truth,” and even a new WWE Championship design
This week’s show opened with a confrontation between Becky Lynch—
Ronda Rousey’s WrestleMania 35 opponent—and Charlotte Flair, which you can read all about here.
Next, R-Truth entered the ring with Carmella for a United States Championship match against new champ Shinsuke Nakamura—one that was granted to him due to Nia Jax preventing him from entering the Men’s Royal Rumble match at his hard-earned #30 spot.
Nakamura soon gained control of their match, but Truth won with a roll-up counter so out of nowhere that Nakamura didn’t even register he’d been pinned. Truth, supported by the crowd once their shock wore off, posed with the first title he’d won in WWE in seven years.
But Truth’s celebration was interrupted by Rusev and Lana. Rusev said what just happened was “not right.” He said he took the championship from Nakamura because it deserved better, and if it deserved better than Nakamura, it “for sure deserves better than R-Truth.” As the crowd booed, Rusev challenged the new champion to a match right then and there. Shoving broke out between the two former Mixed Match Challenge teams, and Truth decided to put his title on the line. In Truth’s second match in a row, his opponent again dominated early, but he still managed to win quickly with a
However, Truth’s second celebration also didn’t last long because Nakamura kicked him from behind outside the ring. Back in the ring, Rusev and Nakamura, draw together by humiliation from the same man, beat R-Truth up together.
Backstage, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows confronted Rusev about his attack on R-Truth. The Good Brothers challenged Rusev and Nakamura to a match, which Nakamura accepted. Rusev stepped up to Nakamura and warned him, “I will team with you one time, but do not screw me over.” This tense tag team match will presumably happen next week.
Rey Mysterio entered the arena for a match with Samoa Joe, the reason why Mysterio and Andrade’s epic two-out-of-three falls match got thrown out last week. Instead of Joe, Zelina Vega entered the arena and accused Mysterio of getting her barred from ringside last week (he did) because he was too distracted by her hotness (he was not). As Vega started to talk about how great Andrade is, “El Idolo” attacked Mysterio from behind.
The attack included the start of a taunting Three Amigos—a signature move of Mysterio’s late friend Eddie Guerrero—which Mysterio managed to escape. However, Andrade ultimately got the better of Mysterio and arrogantly stood over the
“The Best Tag Team in the World,” The Miz and Shane McMahon, entered the ring for a celebration of their championship win at the Royal Rumble, which Michael Cole called “one of the greatest upsets in recent memory.” Shane showed a video he had made that recapped their journey to becoming tag team champions from The Miz’s perspective, much like the one The Miz had made for Shane’s birthday.
Shane McMahon then welcomed The Miz’s dad, George Mizanin, to the ring. Mr. Miz told his son he loved him and was proud of him, something The Miz said had never happened in his entire WWE career.
The emotional moment didn’t last long, however, because Shane McMahon announced a four-corners elimination tag team match between The Usos, The Bar, Heavy Machinery, and The New Day to become the number one contenders to the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. The beef boy showdown between Otis Dozovic and Big E was as perfect as anyone could have imagined. Heavy Machinery introduced the main roster audience to their signature moves and eliminated The New Day with the Compactor. The lengthy, exciting match boiled down to The Bar and The Usos after Sheamus eliminated Heavy Machinery. After his brother cleared ringside with a crazy dive, Jimmy Uso put Sheamus away with
In women’s tag team division news, Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose qualified for the women’s tag team Elimination Chamber match at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. We now know that match will include Deville and Rose (SmackDown), Nia Jax and Tamina (RAW), and Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan (RAW).
Rose also addressed the motivation for her ongoing, vicious feud with Naomi. She showed footage of the time Team B.A.D. visited Tough Enough in 2015. In the clip, Rose wrestled Tamina, and Naomi encouraged her teammate to splash the blonde rookie. Deville said that Naomi also made Rose cry when the cameras were off “and Mandy doesn’t cry.” Rose said she was dumped by her boyfriend during her downward spiral from being bullied on Tough Enough, so now she’s on a never-ending quest to destroy Naomi’s life. That is, until she and Deville win the Women’s Tag Team Championship.
After a montage recapping how Rowan helped Daniel Bryan retain the WWE Championship against AJ Styles, Bryan entered the ring and said that everyone in the audience and their children and their children’s children won on Sunday because “The Planet’s Champion” won. Despite his condescending tone and cheating ways, the crowd cheered Bryan’s eco-friendly message.
Bryan welcomed Rowan, who used the same theme song from his Wyatt Family days but sported a new flannel shirt and had a recycling symbol in his new entrance graphic. Bryan reminded us that Rowan is one of the most unexpectedly intellectual WWE superstars, which fans might remember from the days we used to see him doing Rubik’s cubes backstage.
Bryan addressed how AJ Styles called him a hypocrite last week. He admitted that he is a hypocrite because he carries around a WWE Championship, a symbol of “excess” as well as “excellence” that is “bound with the skin of a cow whose life was taken from her.” Bryan named this cow “Daisy” and the crowd chanted “Daisy!” and “Thank you, Daisy!” as he described the emotions that this cow might have felt in her bovine life.
Bryan threw the championship in a garbage can and said that in order to change the world they “need new symbols.” He and Rowan unveiled a new championship belt made of “100% sustainable, organic hemp, carved from a naturally fallen oak.” His description of the belt was interrupted by AJ Styles, who was offended by Bryan throwing his former title in the trash.
After Styles implied Bryan had been making decisions under the influence of marijuana and brought up how he cheated to win their match, Randy Orton entered the arena. Orton, then Jeff Hardy, then the much fresher face of Mustafa Ali expressed their interest in becoming number one
As the would-be-contenders fought, Bryan declared he would remain WWE Champion forever and grant no title shots. However, Triple H’s face appeared on the big screen to tell Bryan he will, in fact, defend his championship against all of the WWE Superstars in the ring—and presumably a few more—in the Elimination Chamber. Far from calmed by this announcement, Orton, Hardy, Ali, Joe, and Styles continued to brawl around the ring, in the audience, and even on the entrance ramp as SmackDown went off the air.