{"id":3370,"date":"2018-01-16T19:00:09","date_gmt":"2018-01-17T01:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?p=3370"},"modified":"2018-01-18T17:04:34","modified_gmt":"2018-01-18T23:04:34","slug":"smackdown-live-recap-review-episode-961","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/smackdown-live-recap-review-episode-961\/","title":{"rendered":"SmackDown Live Recap &#038; Review &#8211; Episode 961"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?cat=622\">WWE<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?cat=10\">SmackDown Live<\/a><\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong>Episode 961<\/strong><br \/>\n#SDLive<\/p>\n<p><strong>Original Air Date: January 16, 2018<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Event Date: January 16, 2018<\/strong> (aired live)<\/p>\n<p><strong>City: <a href=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?tag=laredo-tx\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Laredo<\/span><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?tag=texas\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">TX<\/span><\/a><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Venue: <a href=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?tag=laredo-energy-arena\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Laredo Energy Arena<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Commentary: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Ring Announcer: Greg Hamilton<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Ring Area<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nThe show begins with Big E announcing the arrival of New Day in Laredo. New Day heads to the ring for the first match. Before the match, New Day describes how America is like a pancake. Woods says that a vote for him for US Champ is a vote for three. Good things come in threes, except for maybe <em>Home Alone 3<\/em>. Jinder Mahal hates <em>Home Alone<\/em>, and he hates freedom.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Match 1<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?tag=wwe-us-title-tournament\"><strong>US Title Tournament Semi-Final Match<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Xavier Woods<\/strong> w\/ Big E, Kofi Kingston <strong>vs Jinder Mahal<\/strong> w\/ The Singh Brothers<br \/>\n(referee: Jason Ayers)<\/p>\n<!-- Content Reveal v2.3.1 -->\n<div class=\"scrhead\" onmouseover=\"document.body.style.cursor='pointer'\" onmouseout=\"document.body.style.cursor='default'\" onclick=\"acr_swap_display('ran_69e60340df237','0','','')\">\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/simple-content-reveal\/images\/image1.gif\" class=\"scrimg\" id=\"scrimg_ran_69e60340df237\" alt=\"Reveal content\" title=\"Reveal content\"\/>');<\/script> Show\/Hide Results\n<\/div>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<div style=\"display: none\" class=\"scrdiv\" id=\"scrdiv_ran_69e60340df237\">');<\/script>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Result: Jinder Mahal wins via pinfall after The Khallas <\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Time: 14:19<\/strong> (1 break)<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<\/div>');<\/script>\n<!-- End of Content Reveal -->\n\n<p><strong>Match Thoughts<\/strong><br \/>\nPretty good match. Mahal dominated most of this match, and it felt fairly methodical. Woods has a small comeback towards the end, but it didn&#8217;t feel as exciting or as fast-paced as Woods usually is in those situations. I liked that they gave the match some decent time though. I think it was important to start making these US Title Tournament matches feel more important and competitive.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Video<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nBaron Corbin talks about being a loner in the Royal Rumble.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Backstage<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nRenee Young welcomes AJ Styles. Styles decides to refer to Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn as Kami. Styles says he will put an end to Kami at the Royal Rumble.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Video<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nCarmella, Natalya, Tamina, Lana, Naomi, Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan, Liv Morgan, and Becky Lynch talk about winning the Royal Rumble.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Match 2<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?tag=wwe-us-title-tournament\"><strong>US Title Tournament Semi-Final Match<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Bobby Roode vs Mojo Rawley<\/strong><br \/>\n(referee: Mike Chioda)<\/p>\n<!-- Content Reveal v2.3.1 -->\n<div class=\"scrhead\" onmouseover=\"document.body.style.cursor='pointer'\" onmouseout=\"document.body.style.cursor='default'\" onclick=\"acr_swap_display('ran_69e60340df350','0','','')\">\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/simple-content-reveal\/images\/image1.gif\" class=\"scrimg\" id=\"scrimg_ran_69e60340df350\" alt=\"Reveal content\" title=\"Reveal content\"\/>');<\/script> Show\/Hide Results\n<\/div>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<div style=\"display: none\" class=\"scrdiv\" id=\"scrdiv_ran_69e60340df350\">');<\/script>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Result: Bobby Roode wins via pinfall after a Glorious DDT<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Time: 9:28<\/strong> (1 break)<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<\/div>');<\/script>\n<!-- End of Content Reveal -->\n\n<p><strong>Match Thoughts<\/strong><br \/>\nGood match. Rawley seemed to have a bit of an edge in this one, but it was much more evenly fought than the Mahal versus Woods match. Rawley kept going for big, impactful moves that showed his strength and meanness. Roode was more calculating and hit important moves at opportune times. I liked how they worked together.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Ring Area<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nAfter the match, The Singh Brothers attack Bobby Roode. They kick at him, then run away up to the stage where Jinder Mahal waits. Mahal smiles and says he will defeat Roode next week in the finals of the US Title Tournament.<\/p>\n<p>Roode gets on the mic and says they don&#8217;t have to wait. Why not have the final tournament match tonight? Mahal says &#8220;no,&#8221; they&#8217;ll do it when Mahal wants to. Plus, he wants Roode to have a week to think about how badly he&#8217;s going to be embarrassed.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel Bryan comes out and takes the mic from Jinder Mahal. He says the US Title match will happen tonight. The crowd likes that, and so does Bobby Roode. Mahal is less pleased.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Video<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nRandy Orton talk about winning his third Royal Rumble.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Match 3<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong>Charlotte<\/strong> (SD Women&#8217;s Champ) <strong>&amp; Becky Lynch &amp; Naomi vs Sarah Logan &amp; Liv Morgan &amp; Ruby Riott<\/strong><br \/>\n(referee: Danilo Anfibio)<\/p>\n<!-- Content Reveal v2.3.1 -->\n<div class=\"scrhead\" onmouseover=\"document.body.style.cursor='pointer'\" onmouseout=\"document.body.style.cursor='default'\" onclick=\"acr_swap_display('ran_69e60340df38a','0','','')\">\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/simple-content-reveal\/images\/image1.gif\" class=\"scrimg\" id=\"scrimg_ran_69e60340df38a\" alt=\"Reveal content\" title=\"Reveal content\"\/>');<\/script> Show\/Hide Results\n<\/div>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<div style=\"display: none\" class=\"scrdiv\" id=\"scrdiv_ran_69e60340df38a\">');<\/script>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Result: Liv Morgan pins Naomi after a Jersey Codebreaker<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Time: 8:10<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<\/div>');<\/script>\n<!-- End of Content Reveal -->\n\n<p><strong>Match Thoughts<\/strong><br \/>\nGood match. Everyone had about an even amount of time in the ring, and both teams had a good amount of time with control of the match. This was a nice match even if it didn&#8217;t really do anything for any story lines.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Backstage<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nDasha Fuentes welcomes The Usos. The Usos talk about Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable, then get jumped from behind. Benjamin and Gable seem confident in their chances at the Royal Rumble.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Video<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nChronicling the buildup to the WWE Title handicap match.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Video<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nShinsuke Nakamura talks about winning the Royal Rumble.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Video<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nIn a clip from the online version of The Fashion Files, Rusev Day demands a match from Breezango. Breezango agrees to a match next week, but they agree to have The Ascension face Rusev Day.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Match 4<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?tag=wwe-us-title-tournament\"><strong>US Title Tournament Final Match<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jinder Mahal vs Bobby Roode<\/strong><br \/>\n(referee: Ryan Tran; at ringside: Shane McMahon, Daniel Bryan)<\/p>\n<!-- Content Reveal v2.3.1 -->\n<div class=\"scrhead\" onmouseover=\"document.body.style.cursor='pointer'\" onmouseout=\"document.body.style.cursor='default'\" onclick=\"acr_swap_display('ran_69e60340df3bf','0','','')\">\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/simple-content-reveal\/images\/image1.gif\" class=\"scrimg\" id=\"scrimg_ran_69e60340df3bf\" alt=\"Reveal content\" title=\"Reveal content\"\/>');<\/script> Show\/Hide Results\n<\/div>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<div style=\"display: none\" class=\"scrdiv\" id=\"scrdiv_ran_69e60340df3bf\">');<\/script>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Result: Bobby Roode wins via pinfall after a Glorious DDT and becomes the new US Champ<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Time: 11:42<\/strong> (1 break)<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<\/div>');<\/script>\n<!-- End of Content Reveal -->\n\n<p><strong>Match Thoughts<\/strong><br \/>\nGood match. Roode was made to be the underdog because he had less of a break between his match and the final match than Mahal did, and Roode got beaten up and attacked more throughout the night. Roode&#8217;s pain played into the match, and I think it worked well. I feel like these two men could have a better match, but the impromptu nature of the night made this match feel special.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Show Impressions<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nI liked this show. By focusing on the US Title, it made the show feel like one unified story rather than a bunch of separate segments. I like that. Of course they can&#8217;t do that every week, but it will make this show memorable. All the tournament matches this week were also given enough time to feel important which helped the main event feel even more important.<\/p>\n<p>The only thing I would like to have seen done differently is to have had a different main event announced and promoted right from the start of the show. The commentators kept saying the US Title match would be next week, but it never felt like the &#8220;impromptu&#8221; decision to make the title match happen tonight was changing anyone&#8217;s plans.<\/p>\n<p>If they had announced some sort of main event match involving Styles and Owens or something, and even had a segment where they built it up, it would have felt like the US Title match actually bumped something off the show. As it stood, with both semi-final matches happening in the first hour and nothing else being announced as the main event, it felt like the title match was always going to happen tonight. Having Owens and Zayn be bumped from the show would have given even more fuel to their story line of favoritism. They could have progressed their story without even being on the show, or at least not being on it much! I think that was a huge missed opportunity.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Match of the Night<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong>Bobby Roode vs Jinder Mahal<\/strong><br \/>\nThis was a good final match in the tournament. It felt like a good finale, but it also felt like the start of something. That&#8217;s exactly what it needed to be.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This episode of SmackDown Live was (almost) all about the United States Title, and even though it didn&#8217;t feel as impromptu as it was written to be, it was still a nicely entertaining show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[297,10,622],"tags":[476,234,550,633,494,854,847,438,537,545,527,535,272,546,668,382,536,516,446,445,469,151,521,452,1829,1828,677,515,680,460,294,517,136,451,1786,1785,632,1817,693,1210,1481,142,96,614,1208,563,898,1209,311,1620,520,444,570,478,522,7,1816,482],"class_list":["post-3370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-show-results","category-smackdown","category-wwe","tag-aiden-english","tag-aj-styles","tag-baron-corbin","tag-becky-lynch","tag-big-e","tag-bobby-roode","tag-breezango","tag-byron-saxton","tag-carmella","tag-chad-gable","tag-charlotte","tag-corey-graves","tag-daniel-bryan","tag-danilo-anfibio","tag-dasha-fuentes","tag-fandango","tag-greg-hamilton","tag-jason-ayers","tag-jey-uso","tag-jimmy-uso","tag-jinder-mahal","tag-kofi-kingston","tag-konnor","tag-lana","tag-laredo-energy-arena","tag-laredo-tx","tag-liv-morgan","tag-mike-chioda","tag-mojo-rawley","tag-naomi","tag-natalya","tag-new-day","tag-randy-orton","tag-renee-young","tag-riott-squad","tag-ruby-riott","tag-rusev","tag-rusev-day","tag-ryan-tran","tag-samir-singh","tag-sarah-logan","tag-shane-mcmahon","tag-shelton-benjamin","tag-shinsuke-nakamura","tag-singh-brothers","tag-smackdown","tag-smackdown-live","tag-sunil-singh","tag-tamina","tag-texas","tag-the-ascension","tag-the-usos","tag-tom-phillips","tag-tyler-breeze","tag-viktor","tag-wwe","tag-wwe-us-title-tournament","tag-xavier-woods"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3370"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3374,"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3370\/revisions\/3374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}