5 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Jan 26 - Results & Review)
1. Roman Reigns’ Absence Stood Out
Friday was the go home show for one of the biggest PLEs on the calendar, but Roman Reigns wasn't present at all. Yes, the 'Tribal Chief' was there last week for a hot angle involving his challengers at the Rumble, but...come on, man. WWE booked this build all out of sync, for some reason.
If anything, Randy Orton surely should've been hitting that RKO on Reigns here. Instead, Orton, AJ Styles and LA Knight brawled with each other and other members of The Bloodline not-named Roman. It all came across a bit half-baked, and that's hardly great when the Rumble was only 24 hours away.
Triple H might've scheduled Roman's dates a little better, eh?
There is a caveat to this: WWE don't get a pass for Reigns' absence, but at least they've got three challengers and some other Bloodline members for them to fight. That kept things just busy enough. However, it would've been nice to end the show with something Roman-related heading into the Rumble.