SmackDown In A Nutshell: Blue Brand Starting 2020 With A Bang

Welcome to another SmackDown Nutshell! Happy New Year once again everyone! It’s time for the first Friday Night SmackDown of 2020. That, of course, means SmackDown In A Nutshell, too. The blue brand looks to be starting 2020 with a bang as we roll toward the Rumble. Everyone is getting hyped up for January’s big PPV, as it kicks off The Road To WrestleMania.What better way to get hyped than with another SmackDown Nutshell? Now that we have Daniel Bryan set to face The Fiend in a few weeks, we can expect much more around this big match…but there is so much more coming at us. Let’s crack open this SmackDown Nutshell and find out!

Best Match of the night:

Speaking strictly of a match, give me the women’s tag match. The match was  a complete effort. It had a good running time and it had a nice finish. All in all, it worked, though in the grand scheme it wasn’t really special (as in, nice for tonight but otherwise forgettable).

The main event gets a nod here only because of the ending of it.

Worst match of the night:

Outside of the ending, I wasn’t feeling the main event.

Star of the Night

How about all the happy returns?

Jimmy and Jey Uso have finally been seen again! The brothers made their long awaited return, coming to the aid of Roman Reigns to close out the show.

Seeing that, tell me a Samoan faction isn’t worth doing?

Sheamus also returned, after we saw weeks of vignettes. For anyone wondering, it certainly appears like The Celtic Warrior has returned to the heel side of things.

Also, not much from it, but enough to have folks speculating…John Morrison returned, albeit in a locker room segment. He was seen and heard answering The Miz’s locker room door. It will be interesting to see where that one goes.

Spot of the Night:

Nothing super spectacular…but oh my God (say that in a Joey Styles voice…)…the bump Shorty G takes on the first Brogue Kick we’ve gotten in a long time…

Jobber of the Night:

Really wasn’t much of one…I’d go with Shorty G if I had to though.

Yes, he won his match. But he was then destroyed by The Revival and further decimated by Sheamus.

Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:

Not a single big one, but a few smaller ones that added up.

Sheamus returning was big. As much as a Rumble return could have been nice, with the vignettes airing, the “surprise” part of a surprise return was lost. WWE did tease us by making us briefly think that Sheamus could be returning to save Gable (though that would have been weird, as he did riff on Shorty G during one of his return vignettes).

John Morrison popping back up, and in The Miz’ locker room was big and could be fun to see unfold. While he was announced as returning, he was one that could have still been held out till the Rumble.

And of course, getting Jimmy and Jey back. Have had plenty of chances over the last 6 or 8 weeks where you thought they could have returned, but tonight was the night.

LOL Moment of the night:

I suppose I laughed a little over the New Day/Miz interactions. Not a lot, but some.

Noteworthy Moment:

The returns are the biggest takeaways from the show, in my opinion. Of the three, the Morrison one was probably the bigger surprise. We knew Sheamus was due back any day now, and The Usos were sort of in the same boat-minus the vignettes.

Overall lowlights:

I think my biggest complaint might be a lack of wrestling matches…but it was a busy and eventful show, so I am not all that unhappy with anything

Overall highlights:

Liked the women’s tag match.

Sheamus as a face could have been interesting, but Sheamus as a heel is top notch.

The Usos plus Reigns could be the start of something bigger and intriguing.

I am not opposed to a Miz and Morrison tag team either.

After the final bell:

Overall, there was a lot going on. Lots to like, and I feel I may have even left out some good stuff.

Pretty pleasing year-opening show, I would say. I’d definitely say that the blue brand started 2020 with a bang.