3 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (14 Nov - Results & Review)
Ups...
3. Jey Uso Moves On In The Tourney
John Cena and AJ Styles earned a lot of praise for outright lacing their Crown Jewel classic with everyone's finishers. It was like 2 kids play-wrestling on the sofa. 'I'll hit the Rock Bottom, then you lock on the Walls Of Jericho!'. It was good, clean fun. The Miz vs. Jey Uso from this week's SmackDown wasn't as epic, but it still had more to offer than you might imagine.
At first glance, Miz moving closer to working Cena’s final match in December would’ve made sense due to their history, but Jey and John have some history too. After all, they were the final pair in February’s (still weird) Royal Rumble, and it was Uso who got the win that night. Plus, Miz knows the deal - he’s a star-maker, not the actual star himself these days. Dude could lose pretty much every match he works from here until his own retirement and still get reactions from live crowds.
This was a real watertight match with a nice heat section from Miz before Uso’s comeback for the popular win. Personally, this fan enjoyed Miz hitting some trademark Cena moves too, including the shoulder barges and Five Knuckle Shuffle. There was a cool near fall on the Skull Crushing Finale as well that successfully tricked the crowd into thinking Jey was about to eat defeat.
Nah, he needed this win more than his opponent.
It already feels like this 'Last Time Is Now' tourney could drag, but you've got to call each match on its individual merits. This was rock solid, and that'll feel good for Jey after the scorn his performance vs. CM Punk got on the recent Saturday Night's Main Event at the turn of the month.