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WWE SmackDown Live came crawling back last night (Feb. 27) from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Find all the results at the best damn live blog on the internet here.
Desperation John
John Cena may be desperate, but he’s not stupid. He knows SmackDown is being run by two buffoons who are just handing out title shots willy-nilly. If the Free Agent wants a ticket to WrestleMania, SmackDown is the place to be.
He opened the show, asking to be added to a match that’s already a fatal 5-way. I mean, even on SmackDown, that’d surely be too much of a cluster for them to consider, right? Nope!
Shane McMahon, who’s shirt was so tight that his nipples distracted from the majority of the segment, came to the ring and reminded us all if he did give Cena this opportunity, John would be headed into WrestleMania an historic 17 time champion. Daniel Bryan came out and agreed with his boss. Cena could earn his way in... if he could defeat the current WWE champion in the main event. I think. Again, Shane’s nips were really distracting.
Cena and Styles locked up and obviously it was good. Was it as good as their past meetings? Of course not. Those were big PPVs and this was an unannounced SmackDown main event. But the chemistry was still there.
AJ was fighting to try to keep a sixth out of the Fastlane main event. And we already know how desperate John Cena is. John is worried that he may not be on the WrestleMania card. And he needs that WrestleMania payday because Ford Motors may be coming for some money.
In the end, Cena picked up the win. After the match, everyone else in the title match ran out and fought because that’s what you get with multi-man builds.
We may have hit the point where this story has become a parody of itself. A fatal 6-way? That’s just ridiculous. That’s saying “Hey, we’re going to book a clustermuck for the main event for the PPV, cool?” “Yeah, that works.” There’s another week left. They can add a couple more dudes.
We’ll see what the final build for this match is next week. Ah, who am I kidding? It’s going to be a 6-man tag.
Rivalry Renewed
The New Day and the Usos are something special. But you already knew that.
That being said, it was great being reminded of it. New Day started off by cutting a New Day style promo. But things heated up when the Usos came on down to the ring and cut a promo of their own. When the Usos speak, we all listen.
They discussed how they’ve been sidelined every WrestleMania. But now, they’ve learned to evolve, unlike the New Day, and they’re going to take that spot.
Then something different happened... Big E got angry. He didn’t care for the Usos talking about how they’ve gone stale, so he reminded them that they’ve been on top for five years, and did it without their daddy’s help. And they’re not sidelined, they rush the field. Angry Big E was a promo we rarely get, but it was something special.
It doesn’t take much to get me to buy into this feud and this easily did the job.
But wait, there’s more!
The Bludgeon Brothers interrupted doing what they do best: Ominously walking to the ring. Hey, there’s no need to do more when they can get the point across with a slow walk and cool music.
The Brothers entered the ring, hammers in hand, causing the two top tag teams today to scurry.
This was all quite fun. I don’t know if they’re going to add Harper and Rowan to the Fastlane match. I think I’d prefer them face the winner, but either way, this is great fun.
All the Rest:
Superkick Party
Sami Zayn had a match with Baron Corbin last night with Kevin Owens at ringside. Just the fact that Owens was on commentary upset Shane McMahon, who bickered with Bryan about it backstage as they watched the match. Yes, this is still happening.
KO never got involved. Instead, Ziggler blindside superkicked him. That distracted Zayn, which allowed the Lone Wolf to land the End of Days for the win. However, he was unable to enjoy his victory for long as the Showoff superkicked him as well.
Oneupmanship
Ruby Riott defeated Naomi as she tries to knock off Charlotte’s friends in response to the Queen’s mission to take out the Squad one by one.
It’s not a terrible story by any means, but it’s rather uninspired. That’s likely because the Riott Squad has been around for months and this is the first real story they’re in. And it’s still rotating matches between 6 women.
Artiste vs. Rockstar
Shinsuke Nakamura picked up a win over Aiden English. The match was OK, but the main thing is two acts that have been off TV for too long, Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev Day, were finally seen on SmackDown. After the match, John Cena came out early to stare down Nakamura, implying they could meet up at WrestleMania.
Case Closed
Breezango were on TV! Sure it was to promote USA’s upcoming show, but the New Day were there and it was still one of the more entertaining moments of the show.
This show is still working through major kinks and probably will until they get through this fatal 6-way or 8-way or 10-way or whatever they decide on for Fastlane. But at least this week, we got Styles vs. Cena and a really hot tag team segment. Plus, the US title feud about the popularity list was barely on the show, which is a positive.
Grade: C+
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