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WWE SmackDown comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Feb. 28, 2020) from the TD Garden in Boston, featuring all the fallout from yesterday’s Super ShowDown event in Saudi Arabia.
Advertised for tonight: John Cena returns, new Universal champion Goldberg will be on hand to talk about who’s next, and more!
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the SmackDown live blog kicks off once the show starts on USA. It will be below this line here. (REMINDER: NO GIFS OR PICS ARE ALLOWED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. OFFENDERS WILL BE BANNED.)
WWE SMACKDOWN RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR FEB. 28
In wine there’s truth but in silence there’s surrender, a screaming for the silence in stunned suspicious terror. Built a temple in my life and used God to seal the pillars, after twenty years of fighting young heretics and killers. I watch my temple fall to pieces at the first signs of oncoming weather, but now, I liveblog this here pro wrestling show for you, folks.
The show opens with a weird teal screen that must be some kind of broadcasting error.
When the feed comes up after half a minute or so, Goldberg makes his entrance.
He gets on the mic to scattered boos and says it’s not about who was last, it’s about who’s next.
Enter Roman Reigns.
He circles the ring before getting in and staring Bill down.
He gets on the mic and simply says “I’m next” before leaving.
Commentary hypes up John Cena’s return and we get a little hype reel of his early days to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Bayley is in the ring taunting a fan at ringside.
Bayley vs. Naomi
Bayley gets on the mic and says this is ridiculous and she shouldn’t have to be here tonight. She already made history last night when she beat Naomi, but she’s here for one reason and one reason only— to introduce a future multi-platinum artist, better than Beyonce or Cardi B— SASHA BANKS IS BACK!
Banks makes her entrance and Bayley takes advantage of the distraction to blindside Naomi and put boots to her! Whip reversed, scorpion kick and a dropkick, Stinger Splash, going for a corner bulldog but the champion blocks. Pass her into the turnbuckles, Rear View connects but Sasha rushes the ring and referee Jessika Carr has no choice...
Naomi wins by disqualification, not that it gets announced.
Post-match the Boss & Hug Connection beat Naomi down but Lacey Evans makes the save!
Boss & Hug Connection (Bayley & Sasha Banks) vs. Lacey Evans & Naomi
Double dropkicks from the babyfaces set up double planchas and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Banks is in control of Naomi, slamming her face into the mat and tagging Bayley in. Whip across, double hip toss into a double side slam, only two. Stomping away, forearms, choking Naomi over the rope, kneeling armbar follows. Tag to the Boss, double whip into the corner, corner knees, only two. Naomi with a Manhattan Drop and a spinning wheel kick to clear the path but Sasha cuts her off with a basement dropkick.
Kicks in the corner, quick tags, Naomi gets the double mule kick and the swinging jawbreaker but Evans is on the floor. Enzuigiri gets Naomi separation and the tag! Lacey in hot with kicks, back body drop puts her on the apron, legsweep, boot, slingshot elbow, hard kick! Tag made, Senton de la Muerte, Naomi comes in with a crossbody and Banks breaks up the pin!
Evans gets dumped to the floor, Sasha hits the lungblower but Lacey yanks her out to throw her into the barricade! Jockeying for position, Naomi with a kick and a slingshot...
Lacey Evans & Naomi win by pinfall with a slingshot sunset flip from Naomi on Bayley.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get some more John Cena retrospective hype reel action.
Kofi Kingston vs. Robert Roode
Circling, Roode with a headlock, shot off, shoulder block, right back to the headlock. Kingston out, arm wringer, but Robert gets him in the corner for a chop. Follow it up with a monkey flip, Kofi lands on his feet and hits a dropkick for two. Roo with overhead elbows to cut him off, off the ropes, drop down, leapfrog, leapfrog, corkscrew elbow and Robert rolls to the floor!
Roode fakes a shot into the steel steps and referee Dan Engler ejects Big E to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Roode has Kingston locked down in a reverse chinlock. Kofi to his feet, whip into the corner, explode out with a dropkick and Robert rolls to the safety of the floor. Hanging Kingston’s neck over the top rope, cover for two, jockeying for position over a suplex but Roode clubs him into the corner. I miss some action taking care of a thing and when I come back Robert is lame in one leg and Kofi’s struggling back into it.
Springboard lariat, big chops, dropkick, off the ropes, leaping lariat and Kofi is fired up! Off the ropes, Boom Drop, calling for it... Roode ducks Trouble in Paradise! Kick, whip across, springboard crossbody... SO CLOSE! SOS blocked, Robert gets a full nelson slam for two! Jockeying for position in the corner, nobody home on the double stomp and Roode hits the spinning spinebuster for another nearfall!
Glorious DDT blocked, SOS connects this time but Dolph Ziggler puts Roode’s leg on the ropes! Roo with a schoolboy...
Robert Roode wins by pinfall with a schoolboy pin.
Backstage, Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose are shown watching, and Sonya notes to Mandy that “her man” looks happy, which Rose lets go by without comment.
Elsewhere, Heavy Machinery are chilling. Otis says he doesn’t know what to do, something’s not right about Mandy and Ziggler being together but he can’t put his finger on it. Tucker says he’d do anything for his pal but the truth is, sometimes you just don’t get the girl, and he’s gotta let Mandy go. But next week, they’re gonna get Otis back out there and get him the love that he deserves, from the WWE Universe.
The ring is set up for a contract signing between Braun Strowman and Shinsuke Nakamura as we go to break.
Back from commercial, another round of Cena retrospectives.
Renee Young is in the ring to moderate our contract signing. Shinsuke Nakamura is out first, with Cesaro and Sami Zayn in tow as usual, followed by Braun Strowman in street clothes.
Renee tells Nakamura to sign first but Sami holds the proceedings up, demanding that Braun take a seat. Strowman takes a seat... and throws it out of the ring. Zayn wants to look the contract over before signing it, because they’ve been treated very poorly of late. Sami complains about the nine stitches Nakamura got from being slammed into a table, and Braun tells him to shut up.
He doesn’t care what’s in the contract, because at the end of the day he knows he needs to fight all three of them no matter what, so he’s signing it. Zayn asks if everybody heard that, and asks if Strowman is really willing to fight all three of them. Sami amends the contract and has both his boys sign it before asking Young to take the contract to the notary backstage.
He’s made it a handicap match! Sami tells Braun he’s going down at Elimination Chamber, to which Strowman moves the table. Zayn yells that nothing is gonna happen tonight, and Strowman asks what makes him think he’s gonna make it to Elimination Chamber before taking Cesaro and Shinsuke down with one punch each! They recover and manage to hold Braun down for Sami... HELLUVA KICK! ANOTHER ONE! KINSHASA! CESARO AND NAKAMURA WITH A DOUBLE SUPLEX LIFT... HELLUVA KICK PUTS STROWMAN THROUGH THE TABLE!
We get a recap of our opening segment so that commentary can announce that it’s official— Goldberg will defend the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania!
Daniel Bryan makes his entrance, he’ll be in action after the break.
Back from commercial we get a recap of the Undertaker’s appearance yesterday.
Curtis Axel vs. Daniel Bryan
Drew Gulak on commentary, Bryan gets a waistlock and Axel backs him into the corner and puts boots to him. Snapmare, running blockbuster into a kneeling armbar. Dan posts to his feet, uppercuts get a knee, Curtis whips him across and catches the boot, hanging him in the ropes for northern lariats! Bryan passes him into the corner, chest kicks, whip across, Axel with the front kick and he dumps Dan to the floor.
Whip into the ringpost over Gulak’s protestations, back inside, kick to the head, trapping him in the ropes and raking his forearm across Bryan’s face, whip across, backflip up and over, duck the lariat... AXE BOMBER! American Dragon fired up, chest kicks ensue, duck the buzzsaw, schoolboy, Bryan reverses to the omoplata, Curtis posts, trying for pinning predicaments, Dan kicks out, Axel blasts him from behind with another northern lariat!
Thinking Perfect-Plex but he’s too slow, Bryan takes him down into the omoplata...
Daniel Bryan wins by submission with the LeBell Lock.
We get more Cena retrospective stuff.
Miz and Morrison are shown doing a photoshoot to send us to break.
Back from commercial, we get some hype for WWE Backstage, which will feature Jeff Hardy next week.
The Miz and John Morrison make their entrance.
The Miz says much like Rocky or the Godfather or the Marine, the sequel is much better than the original, and Morrison says they can relate, because if you thought they were great back in the day, check ‘em out now. Miz says they proved the haters wrong and now they can choke on their pancakes. You can hate on ‘em, you can chant “You suck!” but all they hear is the sweet sound of victory, which happens to be the chant they came up with.
Johnny wants a victory song and calls for Miz’s entrance theme to be played.
Ring announcer “Weird Hair” Greg Hamilton gets on the mic and announces that their first tag title defense will be against New Day, Heavy Machinery, Lucha House Party, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode, and the Usos, and it’ll be inside of the Elimination Chamber!
Miz and Morrison go apoplectic at this news, of course.
The Usos make their entrance and we go to break.
The Miz & John Morrison vs. the Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso)
Morrison and Jey to start, John with a side headlock, shot off, shoulder block, off the ropes, drop down, hip toss, legsweep, big splash, stalemate! Tag to Miz, Uso with a hip toss, shoulder thrust, tag to Jimmy. Leaping forearm, cover for two, screen gets glitchy. Shot off, shoulder block, Morrison with a cheap shot and Miz hits the basement DDT for two!
Quick tags, working Jimmy Uso over at length. He eventually dumps Miz, enzuigiri to Morrison, and the path is clear! But Miz pulls Jey off the apron! Springboard roundhouse kick from John, only two and we go to break.
Back from commercial, tags made and Jey Uso comes in hot! Drop-down slap, Samoan drop, only two! Charging in, Miz sidesteps, block the Samoan drop, block Skull-Crushing Finale, tag to Morrison, double-stomp-assisted neckbreaker... Jimmy breaks it up! The A-Lister dumps Jimmy to the floor, Jey dumps Miz, uppercut, Morrison ducks a lariat, right hands, tag from Jimmy.
Sidestep the charge, stereo enzuigiris, tag back to Jey! Suicide dive, diving splash, knees are up... NOPE! Back body drop to the apron, John with a forearm, up top, Uso cuts him off. Blind tag from Jimmy, Morrison forearms him to the floor and goes for Starship Pain but gets cut off with a gamengiri! Tree of Woe, Jimmy climbs to join him and directs traffic, Miz knocked to the floor with a superkick!
AVALANCHE FLIP PILEDRIVER! JEY OFF THE TOP WITH A DIVING SPLASH! IT’S OVER!
The Usos win by pinfall with a diving splash from Jey Uso on John Morrison.
Commentary hypes up John Cena’s return and we go to break.
Back from commercial, John Cena makes his entrance.
He greets the crowd and says this is crazy, asking what’s going on. He thanks the crowd and asks what he’s doing here before saying it must be time to answer the question of what he’s doing at WrestleMania. He knows his role is changed, but he is and will always be a WWE Superstar. But what’s he doing? He’s doing something different, because he knows exactly how hard WWE Superstars work just to hope for one WrestleMania moment.
He also prides himself on always listening to the biggest WWE Superstar of them all, the WWE Universe. And you may feel like they don’t listen, but trust him, he hears you after every Raw, NXT, and SmackDown, and we’re all passionate about the future of WWE, and he feels us because he is, too. So what is he doing for WrestleMania?
He’s doing the right thing, and this year WrestleMania should go on without John Cena. This isn’t goodbye, he just respects the day-in-day-out work of the WWE Superstars and WrestleMania spots should be earned, not demanded. So he wanted to make his announcement in a place that he calls home. The crowd chants for him and he says that means more than we’ll ever know and takes his leave.
The lights go down.
When they come back up, the Fiend is on the stage with Cena.
They stare at each other for a beat and Wyatt points at the WrestleMania sign. John turns and gives him a little nod and a “You can’t see me!” and the lights go down again.
That’s the show, folks.