We are going to look at the biggest winners to come out of WWE SmackDown during the show’s Jan. 31 episode, which featured Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Braun Strowman in an Intercontinental Championship match, Roman Reigns tangling with King Corbin in a “Loser Eats Dog Food match.”
As the fallout episode of WWE SmackDown after the Royal Rumble, this show was an eventful one. We got a big title match, Otis got a date, and Baron Corbin got drenched in dog food courtesy of Roman Reigns.
In recapping the show, let us look back on the WWE Superstars who showed out in the most impressive way possible and left an impression. Starring with a glowing return.
3.) Naomi
Last Sunday during the Royal Rumble match, Naomi made her long awaited return and tore the roof off the place. The moment her music started blaring through the speakers, fans jumped to their feet and were excited to see the former two time SmackDown Women’s Champion. Some of her spots even managed to go viral and reach some non-wrestling fans.
WWE were able to see the quick surge of popularity that Naomi gained with her return to PPV and used it to catapult her into an even bigger return to SmackDown by instantly inserting herself into a feud with SmackDown Women’s Champion, Bayley. In doing so, Naomi immediately catapulted herself into title contention, especially after laying out the champion and declaring her intentions to receive a title match of her own. Naomi came back in a big way.
We will have to wait and see when this bout takes place, but whenever it does, it looks like fans are more than ready to see it happen.
2.) John Morrison
Last night’s SmackDown saw John Morrison and his good buddy, The Miz, outlast three other tag teams (Heavy Machinery, Lucha House Party, and The Revival) in a Fatal Four Way to determine the number one contenders to the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. Now, after Morrison picked up the pinfall victory for his team, Miz and Morrison will continue their feud with The New Day in hopes of capturing the latter’s titles.
We could easily list The Miz in this entry as a winner as well, but it is worth shining a special spotlight on Morrison specifically. While his WWE PPV return performance at last Sunday’s Royal Rumble was admittedly less than stellar, his performances on SmackDown have proven to be just the opposite, as the past few weeks have seen him pick up singles victories in memorable one-on-one matches against Tag Champs Big E and Kofi Kingston.
On SmackDown now, he picks up yet another win not only to continue his television winning streak, but inch him one step closer to gold.
Should they beat The New Day, it would be Miz and Morrison first run with tag team gold in 11 years and Morrison himself’s first taste of WWE gold since 2009. We will have to wait and see if Morrison’s hot streak ends in gold.
1.) Braun Strowman
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Without a shadow of a doubt, no one had a bigger night than The Monster Among Men. After feuding with Shinsuke Nakamura for these past couple months, Braun Strowman finally was granted an opportunity to battle for The King of Strong Style’s Intercontinental Championship.
Miraculously, despite the best efforts of Sami Zayn and Cesaro to keep the belt in their stablemate’s grasp, an exposed turnbuckle set up for the wrong man eventually led to the match ending with Strowman having his hand raised with the title in hand.
What makes this moment so special is not just that the new champ became, well, the new champ, but this is actually the champ’s first singles championship. Which is surprisingly hard to believe, given that Strowman has been working on WWE’s active roster for four years now. Sure, he’s had a couple brief Tag Team Championship runs with Seth Rollins and, uh, a child, but this win kicks off his first reign with a title that he can call his own.
The coronation of Strowman has been long overdue, but better late than never. Now, time will tell if the big man can be booked into a memorable, exciting reign and hopefully, after it took so long for him to win a singles title, it’s a lengthy reign at that.