Twitter Reacts to this week's WWE SmackDown (8th January 2021) - Roman Reigns, Shinsuke Nakamura and others comment on tonight's show
WWE SmackDown delivered an explosive episode this week with just the kind of developments that will keep the fans talking about the show till its next installment.
It's abundantly clear that SmackDown is functioning at a better creative level than WWE RAW. The characters are well-defined, storylines are simple yet intriguing, and importantly, the wrestling is top-notch. There's hardly anything negative to be pointed out on SmackDown these days.
Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode became the new SmackDown Tag Team Champions after defeating The Street Profits in a terrific bout. Now that a heel duo is the champions, we could see the team of Gable and Otis stepping up to lay down a challenge for the titled
Big E retained his Intercontinental Championship against Apollo Crews in a match that was controversial at best.
It felt like Crews had won the title a few minutes into the bout. However, the replays showed that both the men's shoulders were on the mat.
Though the referee ended the match on a draw, it was restarted on the insistence of Big E, who would then go on to win the match convincingly. The former US Champion may soon turn heel, and it might be the exact boost he needs to propel his career on to the next level.
The Women's division was largely ignored this week on SmackDown, except for a few backstage segments. Bayley and Bianca Belair have officially announced that they will be a part of this year's Women's Rumble match, while Sonya Deville has seemingly taken up the role of being an assistant to Adam Pearce to help him manage weekly proceedings on the show.
Adam Pearce wins the gauntlet match on SmackDown to face Roman Reigns at Royal Rumble 2021
The most talked-about development from this week's SmackDown was Adam Pearce walking (or maybe crawling) away as the challenger for Roman Reigns' Universal Championship at Royal Rumble 2021.
Though it was a well laid out plan by The Tribal Chief, Jey Uso, and Paul Heyman, it would be exciting to see if WWE really goes ahead with this match on a massive PPV like the Royal Rumble.
Apart from this, Shinsuke Nakamura has seemingly turned face after a tremendous performance in the gauntlet match. The King Of Strong Style came up on top against Rey Mysterio, King Corbin, and Daniel Bryan before falling to Adam Pearce in controversial fashion. It might just be the beginning of a career resurgence for the Japanese Superstar.
Let's take a look at what the Twitterati had to say about the memorable developments on this week's SmackDown.