WWE SmackDown Results and Grades 1 Jan 2021: Vicious Roman Reigns tosses rival off a huge ramp

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Saiyed Adeem Karim

WWE SmackDown results and grades: The first SmackDown of 2021 promised a lot of action as WWE kick-started the New Year.

Big E was set to be in action against Baron Corbin just a week after his Intercontinental title win over Sami Zayn.

Big E is the new Intercontinental Champion
Big E defeated Sami Zayn to become the Intercontinental champion (WWE)

Roman Reigns was expected to speak up after his steel cage win over Kevin Owens last week. The Big Dog opened this week’s show too and here are the WWE SmackDown results and grades.

Owens wants more

The show started off with a tribute to the departed Brodie Lee and then Roman Reigns walked down the ramp with Jey Uso and Paul Heyman.

Reigns claimed that he saved Heyman and also that Uso had the best year of his life thanks to The Tribal Chief.

Owens interrupted and even though Reigns shouted at him, KO said he was still standing after several beatings. KO also said that Reigns should be embarrassed for the way he won the title.

The Canadian finished off by saying that he wanted a match with Uso.

Grade A

Both promos worked great and Reigns is only improving in his new heel roll. KO vs Reigns part 3 would have been nice but Uso has been excellent in singles competition and this was a match to look forward too.

E vs Corbin

Zayn was on commentary duty as the two big men faced off in the ring.

The match ended in a DQ win for Big as Zayn, Brandon Cutlet and Wesley Cutler attacked Big E.

Apollo Crews made the save and this was made into a tag team with E and Crews teaming up to face Zayn and Corbin.

It was Crews who got the pin and the win for the faces.

E wins; E and Crews win

Grade B

The match was a fun outing and Crews getting the win was also nice to see. Zayn and Corbin are excellent as heels and they continue doing some great work.

Riott Squad vs Tamina and Natalya

Billie Kay was with Natalya and Tamina as they made their way to the ring to face Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan.

Kay was told to keep shut by Tamina as the Australian tried to encourage her partners.

Kay then started supporting the Riott Squad and helped them win thanks to a distraction. However, the Riott Squad wanted nothing to do with her after the match.

Morgan and Riott win

Grade C

The match was fun but the whole Kay bit brought the grades down. What is WWE trying to do with her and why is she switching sides mid-way through matches?

More tag team madness

Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair teamed up to face Carmella and Bayley in a tag team. The match was a fun one with all four women doing their bit to try and get the win.

In the end, Reginald, the sommelier of Carmella, helped her avoid getting pinned. Banks attacked Reginald but that allowed Carmella to get the win.

Carmella and Bayley win

Grade B

Mella getting the win means she could still face Banks later on for the title. The EST of WWE, Belair, also looked great and so did the heels.

Profits taken out

We got to see a glimpse of Sonya Deville as she walked backstage but didn’t do much.

The Street Profits then wanted to celebrate but were attacked in the ring by Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode.

Grade B

The attack and all was fine but it was interesting to see Deville back in WWE. She was ‘fired’ after losing to Mandy Rose and it will be interesting to see how things go.

Bryan and Otis team up

Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura were in action against Daniel Bryan and Otis in another tag match on the show.

Chad Gable was at ring side to encourage Dozer and it seemed to be helping the big man.

Cesaro and Nakamura did their best in the ring but it was Bryan that got the win thanks to the Yes Lock.

Bryan and Otis win

Grade B

This was, like all the matches on the show, a great one with all four men doing something great in the ring.

Gable and Otis working together is interested and WWE could do something special with them.

KO vs Uso

This was another hard hitting affair with KO and Uso going all out. KO made it a point to tell Uso that he was being used by Roman Reigns and viciously assaulted Uso.

Uso then injured his leg after a landing and KO picked up the win thanks to a stunner. He then kept attacking Uso, tied him with handcuffs and started beating him more.

He kept calling Reigns out but The Tribal Chief didn’t come out to save Uso. Owens was taking Uso backstage but was attacked by Reigns and the cousins started beating up KO.

The madness ended with KO being thrown off a pedestal and into a table.

Owens beats Uso

Grade B

The match was fun to see, especially with Owens using mindgames on Uso and getting the win. The assault after that was good too, except it went on a little too long and the result was as expected.

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