WWE SmackDown Results, Highlights, And Grades For January 22, 2019

Mustafa Ali vs. Samoa Joe

This is Mustafa Ali’s chance at revenge, but at the match begins, Ali gets dominated by Joe in the corner and stomped to the outside. Joe hits Ali with an INSANE chop that cuts Ali in half and literally sends Mustafa to the floor. This time, Ali caught himself before hitting the ring post and changed the momentum early by diving to Joe on the outside.

Using his quickness, Ali set Joe up in the corner but was pulled back by the ref before being able to strike Joe more. That, of course, played right into Joe’s hands, as the Samoan Submission Machine chopped Ali in half again.

Joe dominated Ali after the break, but Ali managed to hit his huge facebuster to get back into things as both men lay down on the mat. Both men got to their feet at the same time, but it was Ali who was quicker to the punch, hitting Joe with two dropkicks before nailing a suicide dive.

Ali charged at Joe on the outside, and Joe thought he had countered by dumping Ali into the timekeeper’s area. However, Ali landed on his feet and hit a crossbody on the outside, adding some fists to it. The punishment on Joe didn’t stop there either! In the ring, Ali hit two superkicks and came milliseconds away from a victory via a slick DDT.

After ascending the top rope for an attempt at the 0-5-4, Ali was caught by Joe, who quickly transitioned into the Coquina Clutch and that was all she wrote.

We’ll see if Ali can get his revenge at the Rumble, but, for now, Samoa Joe has all the momentum heading into Sunday’s big match.

Grade: B, A solid match, and Ali will get his win soon enough.