[9.0] "Really good episode of Smackdown with an entertaining and forgotten Royal Rumble match to end the show with Eddie Guerrero getting his first shot at the WWE Title. There's also a good cruiserweight title match between Rey Mysterio and Jamie Noble with a great reveal from Nidia at the end. Its a great show with a lot of good story beats setting things up for No Way Out and Wrestlemania really well. The drama to the Royal Rumble match is added when Eddie Guerrero is attacked before the match and while you would assume it's Chavo that did it, I remember suspecting Kurt Angle because of his suspicious behaviour when he draws out his number and also his reaction after he loses to Eddie. Really clever storytelling there. The Bashams tag is decent, but short with the de-emphasis on the silly gimmick helping them look a more effective heel tag team. Brock Lesnar's match with Orlando Jordan isn't great as it's booked competitively instead of the squash it should have been. Anyone who wonders how good Paul Heman was as a heel really should watch the opening promo of the show as the way he talks himself out of getting punished by Vince McMahon for losing Chris Benoit to Raw is excellent!"

[7.0] "Heyman's opening promo with Vince was brilliant, and the way he was able to gaud Vince into letting him do a Rumble on TV was brilliant. Noble vs Rey was good for about the 8 minutes that it ended up running. The story with the injured Eddie returning was great and the Rumble itself was a quality TV match but the number of breaks they went to during the match was crazy. Overall I thought this was a good show."

[6.0] "This was a fun show. Stacked with a Brock match, tag team titles and CW titles being on the line, as well as a Rumble. A great way to move away from Benoit, who was one of the main focuses of the promotion for the past few months, and into Eddie vs Brock for No Way Out. Not too many promos to speak off besides Heyman manipulating Vince like a boss at the start of the show.. The Tag match was alright. The Basham's dominated, London was a solid FIP. Nothing special [**]. Noble vs Rey was a solid seven minute match. It had a few components from Noble and Nadia's storylines. Did its job [**1/4]. Brock vs Lesnar was a fun squash match. Brock selling for Jordan is too funny though. Too much offence from OJ but it was fun enough to see it. [SQUASH]. The Rumble at the main event good main event. It was built around Eddie towards the end, the rest was just filler but fun fillar. Can't complain honestly The final parts with Eddie and Angle were okay. Can't way I loved that final stretch but it was fine [***]."

[9.0] "Awesome show, the Rumble was great in terms of action and story, and I liked the other matches as well, except Brock/Orlando which was way too long for the squash it should have been."