Video: WWE Smackdown from Jan. 20, 2012, featuring Daniel Bryan vs Mark Henry

by Geno Mrosko on Jan 21, 2012 4:30 PM EST in Smackdown

Here's the latest episode of WWE Friday Night Smackdown, which aired on SyFy last night (Fri., Jan. 20, 2012) from Las Vegas, Nevada. Some takeaways from the episode:

It's been a slow process but Daniel Bryan is finally getting over as a heel. The reality is that he may very well have the best character in WWE right now. His promo to open the show was phenomenal. One line in particular, about his girlfriend A.J., was money -- "She loves me. And I ... I have a great admiration for her as well." That's brilliant because it shows another layer to the Bryan character that could expose itself in the near future. The guy loves the belt he carries and doesn't love his girlfriend, who loves him dearly. It's great.
Cody Rhodes getting heat by literally kicking around Hornswoggle was great because the Hornswoggle character sucks.
Skip to the 33:00 minute mark if you want to get to the Brodus Clay segment. He's getting over BIG now and rightfully so. The Funkasaurus is one of the funnest gimmicks we've seen in years. His new wrinkle of doing the dinosaur claws, as Michael Cole calls them (which I guess makes him the Funkasaurus Rex?), now gives kids everywhere something they can easily do to dance along.
William Regal is awesome and should be on my TV far more often than he is. He was fantastic during his short time on camera. What was also great was how we got to see Clay rebound from a spot that could have gone bad. Regal got over as a babyface with the crowd for his dance moves, enough so that they loudly booed Clay when he did his running splash spot. So how did he get the crowd back? He picked up the mic and said, "My bad. Somebody call his momma." Nice recovery, sir.
Hey, Sheamus actually lost a match.
I give WWE plenty of credit for finding new and interesting ways for Bryan to retain his title without ever actually beating anyone. They've executed his heel turn well and have found a way to make it acceptable that we keep getting robbed of actual finishes.

Overall, this was another good Smackdown show.

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Comments

Really enjoyed this one

Bryan is being booked terrifically and I like the slow but steady transformation. Lumberjack match with him and Henry fighting with the roster was fun and so was the Regalsaurus.

Smackdown allows me to rise above my hate for Raw.

It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.

by Jesse Holland on Jan 21, 2012 4:40 PM EST via mobile reply actions

I'm having such a hard time watching RAW these days.

I do enjoy watching CM Punk and sometimes I’m not minding RAW until John Cena comes on and dominates the show, it’s just such a turn off. WWE would be decent right now if they didn’t have a main guy that always wins and does it in ways that insult our intelligence.

P4P TOP 5 1. Nick Diaz 2. Nate Diaz 3. Fedor 4. Overeem 5. Junie Browning … Also Nate AND Nick will both be champions of thier respective brackets. Dont Fuck With Mean Mug he will make you slob all over your most hated fighters knob 209 BITCHES!!!!!!
Mythbuster rules

by Cyclonejoker on Jan 21, 2012 6:20 PM EST up reply actions

That Regal move was hilarious

If that was just improvising the “My bad” line, I may not have been giving Brodus enough credit.

And I loved the way Bryan got out of that lumberjack match. Bryan spends the entire time he’s outside of the ring berating every lumberjack. What a brilliant move.

And I really hope there’s a good payoff in this burial for Drew.

by hfl2013 on Jan 21, 2012 8:01 PM EST reply actions

And I really hope there’s a good payoff in this burial for Drew.

If this was Raw, I’d say not likely, but Smackdown’s earned the benefit of the doubt.

Together we are Ruining Your Special Night. Twice.

by sun yue on Jan 21, 2012 9:22 PM EST up reply actions

NOVA UNIAO
Tomas Taverin VS John Loceires
January 27th, 2012
Curitiba, Brazil at Pereira Arena

by CharactersAnalysis on Jan 21, 2012 8:16 PM EST reply actions

I appreciate this rundown of the show, because it allowed me to find out that Smackdown sucked without wasting one hour, twenty-six minutes, and twenty-nine seconds of my life.

by Finian1 on Jan 21, 2012 11:30 PM EST reply actions

Umm, did you even read it?

Smackdown has been excellent lately. It’s probally better than Raw. If watching Smackdown, a pretty damn good Smackdown at that, is a waste of time, I am curious to what you are doing that’s better

So go forth, my brethren, and proceed to mark the f*ck out

by C. J. Bradford on Jan 21, 2012 11:44 PM EST up reply actions

I read it. Two of your six bullets are positive reviews of things that I hate. I hate Brodus Clay’s idiotic gimmick and I hate wuss-heel-who-squeaks-by-in-every-title-defense Daniel Bryan. When Clay is a humorless terror who breaks everybody in two and wants to kill the fans, and Daniel Bryan is an intense, deadly submission machine, I’ll consider watching Smackdown again.

RoH tv sucked for about three weeks but this week’s episode was quite good. Last night’s local indy show was fantastic. I liked a recent episode of Superstars I watched. I haven’t liked an episode of Raw or Smackdown… Well, since I started trying to watch them last summer. They just suck week after week after week. I think if you look at the workers and money and resources that WWE has, and compare that to the quality of the main tv shows, you realize that the organization is in freefall in terms of effort and creativity. Too much talk, too much plot, not enough getting in the ring and putting on good matches.

by Finian1 on Jan 22, 2012 7:32 PM EST up reply actions

That's what WWE is though

It’s plots, characters, story arches, gimmicks, etc. It’s not that the shows suck, it’s just that you are not it’s intended audience. I love what the WWE try’s to do, and the last few weeks have been amazing. I can see why someone wouldn’t like it though, and that’s why ROH and the indie circuit exists.

So go forth, my brethren, and proceed to mark the f*ck out

by C. J. Bradford on Jan 22, 2012 8:03 PM EST up reply actions

That is why RoH and the indie circuit exists, but I have no idea how anyone could like what WWE does now. But then, I’m an opinionated jackass most of the time. That’s why I love the Internet!

by Finian1 on Jan 22, 2012 11:43 PM EST up reply actions

“She loves me. And I … I have a great admiration for her as well.”

That line was so greasy, it made KFC seem drier than the Sahara.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Smackdown.

And I’m 100000% agreement about William Regal. The man is just…great. They should pair him with Wade Barrett and bring Britani Knight out of FCW and turn them into an Avengers (the TV show, not the Marvel Comics team) style stable.

by TheAngryApe on Jan 22, 2012 2:54 AM EST reply actions

Regal will do great with whatever position he has

but my preference would be to have him on commentary.

by hfl2013 on Jan 22, 2012 3:49 PM EST up reply actions

Damn straight

I was able to watch some FCW on TV when I was in Florida over the holidays. He is great and deserves to be one of the big shows.

by King Oskar on Jan 23, 2012 11:48 AM EST up reply actions

I'm still highly wary of the Daniel Bryan turn.

I think it would be best if he got as far away from Big Show and Mark Henry after this month. Bryan cannot look credible against either of those two guys, especially as a conniving heel. Furthermore, neither of those two are going to be able to pass on any heat to Bryan; Big Show has “veteran babyface” heat in that the fans cheer for him by default if he lacks a character, while Henry is supposed to be a heel and had all of his heat sapped away by his clean loss at TLC.

Bryan needs to be put up against people where he’ll look credible. Randy Orton is the perfect answer, as Orton has great matches with everyone he faces and is at least close enough to Bryan’s size where Bryan’s offense can look legitimate. A long program leading to a Wrestlemania match would go a long way to solidifying Bryan and his new, entertaining character. But if he has to spend a lot more time doing one-on-one matches against people with no heat who cannot make him look credible, it will leave him looking very weak.

Fish Stripes, a Florida Marlins blog
Author, Baseball Prospectus Fantasy

by Michael Jong on Jan 22, 2012 11:10 AM EST reply actions

A Bryan vs. Orton program is something I think we can all get on board with.

Forget it Donny, you're out of your element.

by Geno Mrosko on Jan 22, 2012 12:20 PM EST up reply actions

As long as the promos are kept to a bare minimum....

…and they let their matches do the talking, I’m down.

by TheAngryApe on Jan 22, 2012 12:48 PM EST up reply actions

I'm actually feeling better about Orton's babyface promos

As long as he makes it about competition and wrestling rather than how he’s a psychopath who has done unspeakable things in the WWE, I think we’ll all be better off for it. As for Bryan, he’s really getting into his heel character, so his mic work has been fun so far.

Fish Stripes, a Florida Marlins blog
Author, Baseball Prospectus Fantasy

by Michael Jong on Jan 22, 2012 1:04 PM EST up reply actions

I seem to agree with many others when I say it’ll be nice (if we get) to see Bryan get away from the big guys and have a program where the size difference won’t be the main draw of the matches.

by Dedywre on Jan 22, 2012 3:02 PM EST reply actions