Main Event – January 18, 2018: More Than I Can Ask For
Main Event
Date: January 18, 2018
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness
It’s effectively the go home week for the Royal Rumble as next week is the big 25th Anniversary of Monday Night Raw. Smackdown could still offer a few changes, but at this point there isn’t much more to be done aside from adding a few names to the Rumble matches. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Curt Hawkins vs. Rhyno
Rating: D. This is the latest Rhyno vs. Hawkins match. Hawkins might not be anything great but his intros are funny and it could be a nice plot development for someone to lose to him. Either that or he loses to the Brooklyn Brawler on Monday and rage quits, which would be amusing enough as well.
We look at Braun Strowman ripping the set down to crush Brock Lesnar and Kane.
We see all of Strowman’s rampage from Raw, packed into one set of videos. He was fired, then he beat people up, then he flipped over a production truck, then he launched Michael Cole off a stage, then Stephanie McMahon solved everything in ten seconds.
Royal Rumble card rundown.
We look at Tuesday’s semifinal matches in the US Title Tournament.
From Smackdown.
US Title: Bobby Roode vs. Jinder Mahal
The bosses present Roode with the title to end the show.
TJP vs. Mustafa Ali
We start fast with an exchange of takedowns and reversals with TJP countering everything to very little avail. Ali misses a big kick and TJP nips up, only to be taken back down with a springboard armdrag. A spinwheel kick (good one too) drops TJP for two but he sends Ali into the corner and goes with the simple stomping. Ali is sent into the barricade and we take a break.
Back with Ali coming back with a few headbutts and the rolling X Factor for two. Ali puts him on top but gets missile dropkicked in the knee for a clever counter. The kneebar goes on in the middle of the ring but Ali makes the rope to fulfill the kneebar requirements. TJP charges into the post though and gets rolled up for the pin at 8:47.
Rating: C. This was better than I was expecting with both guys working hard and putting on a decent match when no one was going to be paying attention to it in the first place. Ali is another guy who can do a lot of good things in the ring and TJP is a talented guy, though I’m really not sold on the current losing streak deal.
Goldberg Hall of Fame announcement.
From Raw.
Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins
Overall Rating: C+. The stuff from the week’s show was good and felt eventful while the original matches weren’t bad at all. As usual, this show is up and down every single week and it’s really a guess about whether or not the show is going to be good. At least there was something this time though and that’s more than you get most of the time.
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