Match Ratings For WWE Smackdown Live 1/22/19, Podcast Notes From Sean Ross Sapp Of Fightful.com

Opening Segment

• Becky Lynch says that it seems weird to her that Asuka isn’t bothered by not actually beating her for the title.
• Asuka comes out and does her screaming thing.
• Charlotte Flair follows and runs down her history of beating everyone in title matches.
• Asuka attacks Becky from behind, but ends up getting her ass kicked pretty thoroughly.
• Becky whips her with her jacket, too. That was a nice touch.

Mandy Rose (w/ Sonya Deville) defeated Naomi
3.75/10

• We see a highlight video of Mandy Rose trolling Jimmy Uso and Naomi.
• Naomi meets Mandy Rose on the ramp, which is the absolute right thing to do. 
• Naomi throws out some SCHMACKS. Lots of slow-down holds during the break though.
• Naomi gets a nice kick, but it’s followed up with some of the lightest clotheslines and shoulder blocks ever.
• WWE shows a replay of a facebuster being botched. It looked vicious though.
• Naomi kicks Sonya before she can interfere. Mandy posts Naomi and pins her, though.
• This was not good. Some nights Naomi is really on, and some she’s really off. This was an off night. 
• Jimmy Uso consoles Naomi.

Cesaro (w/ Sheamus) defeated Miz (w/ Shane McMahon)
5.25/10

• I mean, shouldn’t Shane and Miz be getting something of a tune up match?
• Miz locks in a Figure Four, but Cesaro gets out and takes over before the break.
• Back from commercial, Shane McMahon saves Miz by throwing his feet off the ropes.
• Shane gets sent into the barricade.
• Sheamus cracks Miz, who walks into a Neutralizer. Cesaro wins.
• Shane McMahon attacks after the match and takes out both members of The Bar.
• Shane goes to do his elbow drop, but Sheamus pushes him off the top rope and posts Miz. 
• Shane eats a nasty Brogue Kick. The Bar follow up with an insane H Bomb through the announce table on Shane, who is thrown on Miz.
• This was an awesome angle.

FICKLE.

• We saw Vince McMahon looking on as Shane McMahon and Miz are tended to.
• Vince McMahon comes to the ring and brings out AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan.
• “He slammed me into a bunch of processed animal carcasses.”- Daniel Bryan.
• Bryan has a Hoh Rainforest shirt on. He says AJ panders to the crowd and doesn’t make them feel bad about things they should feel bad about. 
• Styles says Bryan didn’t bicycle to the arena. He took a plane. He calls Bryan fickle. He says Bryan corrupted himself for the WWE Championship, and when he takes that, Bryan will have nothing.
• Vince tells Daniel Bryan to get in the ring and Bryan SHOOTS HARD on baby boomers taking, taking, taking.
• This has been really, really good stuff from AJ and Daniel Bryan. Vince is on tonight, too.
• Styles goes after Bryan, who puts Vince in front of him. This allows Bryan to land a big knee. 

Backstage Crappenings

• R-Truth says he doesn’t want Brock Lesnar to take him to Sioux Falls City. He calls Buddy Murphy “Bobby,” and Carmella tells him there’s a weight limit. Truth tells him that’s a fat insult.
• Carmella approaches Charlotte Flair and cuts a promo about her chances in the Royal Rumble. Charlotte says the Rumble isn’t the tornado — she is. 
• We see New Day studying Royal Rumble tape. Tony Chimel makes a cameo, and New Day say if one of them win, they all win. Xavier and Big E encourage Kofi, who is worried about his fantastic saves ending.

Samoa Joe defeated Mustafa Ali
5.75/10

• There is a really good highlight promo on Mustafa Ali, that was a lot like his 205 Live promos. 
• Mustafa does a dive outside the ring, but gets cut off a little bit later when he gets too ambitious. 
• Samoa Joe takes the strikes to Mustafa and kicks him hard.
• Mustafa buys himself some time with a rolling facebuster. A couple of nice dropkicks land, too. 
• Mustafa goes up to the top rope and yanked down. Coquina Clutch taps out Mustafa.
• This was a good showing for Ali.

2 Out Of 3 Falls
Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade
8/10

• Zelina is banned from ringside for this match.
• There will be like two or three spots in this match that would be better than anything WWE would let their wrestlers do for several years about a decade ago
• Rey jumps from the inside corner over the top to the outside and huracanranas Andrade.
• Andrade catches Rey with a dropkick, but Andrade also gets hit with a Code Red
• Mariano Rivera reference from Corey Graves. 
• Both men end up yanking each other off the top rope. Andrade gets the first pin with a super powerbomb!
• Andrade follows up with a slingshot powerbomb, but Rey gets a pin with an insane Canadian Destroyer.
• We come back from a commercial break and Rey does a baseball slide sunset flip powerbomb to the barricade. Yeah. That just got typed.
• Back in the ring, Rey pulls off the West Coast Pop. 
• You can hear how legit excited and in awe of these two that Tom Phillips is in. It’s a passion we don’t always hear on commentary.
• Andrade pulls a rope hung triangle out of nowhere. He catches Rey outside and powerbombs him into the post. After a Hammerlock DDT, Rey gets to the ropes. 
• Rey got a little too ambitious channeling the 1997 Halloween Havoc DDT. It didn’t work. A reverse hurcanrana does, though.
• Rey gets caught after a 619 and Samoa Joe attacks both men. Joe says he came to make a statement. 
• RKO OUT OF NOWHERE. Randy Orton is here! That was the perfect way to announce him.

Rating guide

10- Perfect, 9- MOTY Territory, 8- Excellent, 7- Great, 6- Good, 5- Average to above average, 4- Slightly below average, 3 or below: Poor

Each match starts at a 5 and slides up and down based on entertainment, execution, time, environment, reaction and stakes. The ratings are in no way an indication of a “star rating,” which is a completely different system. A standard, non-offensive “TV match” lands at a 5.The gap between 5.75-6 is generally the largest, with anything reaching 6 being recommended viewing.
These are opinions, and incredibly inconsistent ones. Don’t take them too seriously, and have (and share) your own!