The fans in attendance on last night’s SmackDown received a major treat once the main show tapings were over. The Fiend Bray Wyatt featured in action that appeared to be a preview from the upcoming Royal Rumble pay-per-view. He defended the Universal title against Daniel Bryan in the non-televised segment.
As noted by wrestlingINC.com, “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt retained his title over Daniel Bryan on this week’s dark main event match. Earlier on SmackDown, Kane made a special appearance that appeared to be a bait to lure The Fiend into the ring.
WWE Friday Night SmackDown Full Results: January 17, 2020
Daniel Bryan was waiting in behind to hit a Running Knee on him. The Fiend quickly escaped the ring through a hole but Bryan was able to snatch some dreadlocks of him before his escape.
It's OFFICIAL. @WWEDanielBryan will challenge #TheFiend @WWEBrayWyatt for the #UniversalTitle in a STRAP MATCH at #RoyalRumble.https://t.co/zmKwEnu22l
— WWE (@WWE) January 18, 2020
This was not the only dark match for last night’s SmackDown. Mustafa Ali did “steal the show before the show” as noted on Twitter. The match before SmackDown from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina witnessed Ali defeating Drew Gulak in a singles contest.
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Ali often tweets clips or pictures from his dark matches since he is kept off SmackDown main shows for quite sometimes. As given on his Twitter account, he posted a quick shot of his entrance. These clippings are usually shot by WWE Social Media Producer Anthony Sant.
Steal the show before the show. #SmackDown
? @ViewsFromSant pic.twitter.com/unl6r2Y1CA— Mustafa Ali / Adeel Alam (@AliWWE) January 18, 2020
This week’s WWE SmackDown episode also hosted a match where we saw John Morrison wrestle his first WWE match in more than 8 years.
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He defeated SmackDown Tag Team Champion Big E in singles action showing off his incredible athletic maneuvers. But since he is acting as a heel with The Miz, the audience gave negative reactions to his return.
However, it was good to see Morrison back in action who did not show even a bit of ring rust while coming back to action.
WWE released a post-match video of the returnee where the interviewer noted how it didn’t look like he lost a step while being away from the company. The Miz responded by blasting the WWE Universe for booing Morrison on SmackDown,
“Didn’t look like he lost a step? It looked like he added a million steps.”
“I was very disappointed in that aspect because you look at John Morrison,” Miz said. “Like, he embodies everything that everybody wants to be, what a WWE Superstar is. You expect a hero’s welcome, the crowd chanting Morrison the entire time, but that just wasn’t the case, but maybe next time they’ll realize that you want to get with the winner.”
“They’ll figure it out eventually. Yeah, it’s no fun to cheer for the losers, come on guys,” Morrison ended the segment with this.
