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WWE SmackDown comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Mar. 12, 2021) with a show from the ThunderDome inside Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Tonight’s card features Roman Reigns sitting at the head of the table for a contract signing with Daniel Bryan ahead of their Universal championship match on Mar. 21 at Fastlane 2021. Bryan earned that title match when he defeated Jey Uso inside a steel cage last week.
Also advertised for tonight’s card: Kevin Owens returns to SmackDown to host “The KO Show”, with his guests Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair. Intercontinental champion Big E is also returning to SmackDown tonight, presumably seeking revenge on Apollo Crews.
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the SmackDown live blog kicks off once the show starts on FOX. 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 MAR. 12
I can’t even pretend that you are my friend, what has happened to you and I? And don’t say that I have changed, ‘cause man, of course I have, and in any case I’ve got to liveblog this here pro wrestling show for these folks.
The show opens with a recap of last week’s steel cage match where Daniel Bryan won a title shot against Roman Reigns at Fastlane.
Edge makes his entrance.
He gets on the mic and says he has a few things he needs to address, and he’s gonna start with Roman Reigns. He’s got all these lame excuses why Edge shouldn’t want to wrestle him and he picked up on something that flew under the radar for most folks— he got played when Daniel Bryan went into business for himself.
And speaking of Daniel Bryan, he said he deserves to be in the main event more than Edge because of his love of wrestling, but maybe it’s time that he reminds everyone just who the hell he is— while Dan was wrestling once a week, Edge was here up to seven times a week, wrestling guys like the Undertaker, John Cena, Batista, British Bulldog, Mr. Perfect, and Terry Funk, over a timeframe of decades.
Like everybody else he has to wait to see who wins at Fastlane now—
Enter Daniel Bryan.
He says he thinks Edge got sucked in and affected by what he said and that wasn’t even his intention. He thought he’d respect him going into business for himself the first time in his career, and he wants to set the record straight. He has an infinite amount of respect for what Edge has done in pro wrestling. He sees how hard he’s worked at this and how much he loves it, and how hard he fought to get back to it.
But to be completely honest, when he challenged Roman, it wasn’t about Edge at all. He was laying on the mat, watching Edge point at the sign, he got demoralized, and it wasn’t because of anything he did, but because he realized he might be going into his last WrestleMania on the back burner, and he decided he wasn’t going to take it, and he was gonna give it everything he’s got to be in the main event of WrestleMania.
And here’s the thing— Edge has his spot in the main event, so this isn’t about him, this is about how Bryan has to go through Roman Reigns to get a spot in the main event. Edge says he gets it but a win is a win and he won the Royal Rumble. He has mutual respect for Bryan, he likes him, he just doesn’t like how he did this, because he’s better than this, but he’s not better than Edge.
Commentary hypes up tonight’s show, including the return of Big E.
Street Profits and the Mysterios make their entrance, only to be attacked from behind by their opponents, the Dirty Dawgz and Alpha Academy, to send us to break!
Back from commercial in time for the bell!
Alpha Academy (Chad Gable & Otis Dozovic) & Dirty Dawgz (Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode) vs. Dominik Mysterio, Rey Mysterio, & Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford)
Dawkins and Roode to start, Angelo hot out the gates, headlock, shoot off, leapfrog, leapfrog, one-handed bulldog into a dropkick and then another one! Tag to Ford, big dropkick, tag to Dominik, assisted leg drop, only two! Gable tags in, tijeras sends him right out, tag to Otis and he cuts Mysterio off. Into the corner, up and over caught, Dom slips out, to the apron, springboard and Dozer cuts him out of midair with an axehandle!
Chad tags in, double-teams, bridging butterfly suplex... NOPE! Tag to Roode, working Mysterio’s leg over, quick tags, eventually Dawkins gets the hot tag and destroys Ziggler at length! Big spinebuster, tag to Ford, Roo cuts him off and knocks him to the floor and sends us to break.
Back from commercial, Ziggler is in control on Ford and lays him out with a dropkick! Sleeper hold applied, Montez fading, down to one knee, he fights back to upright and makes the tag but the referee didn’t see it because Roode was running interference! Keeping Montez isolated, quick tags, finally Gable proves the weak link and Ford gets away and tags Rey Mysterio in!
Tijeras on Gable, clear the apron, whip reversed, up and over, off the ropes, satellite DDT spikes Chad on his dome... OTIS BREAKS IT UP! Dominik with a diving crossbody, Otis catches him, Mysterio takes him out with a senton and sets Gable up for the 619 but Roode tags in! The match breaks down into a bit of “everybody do something cool”, and the Mysterios gets Robert set up... STEREO 619!
Springboard crossbody takes heels out on the floor, tag to Ford...
Dominik Mysterio, Rey Mysterio, & Street Profits win by pinfall with a frog splash from Montez Ford on Robert Roode.
We get a recap of Molly Holly being announced for the 2021 WWE Hall of Fame.
Jey Uso is walking backstage towards Roman Reigns’ dressing room and Paul Heyman gets between him and the door, telling him that maybe today isn’t the day to talk to him.
Uso says there’s some stuff he needs to go handle first and says he’ll wrap around later. Heyman says Reigns will be happy to see him by then and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Seth Rollins is interviewed backstage.
He’s upset that we’re still talking about Cesaro, and he was only trying to help him, anyway. He’s done with Cesaro, and he calls him the biggest waste of potential in the history of WWE. He’s informed that Cesaro requested a rematch against Buddy Murphy and his interest piques before he walks off.
We get footage of Nia Jax taking Reginald the Sommelier clothes shopping in an upscale men’s boutique, with Shayna Baszler bored and in tow. She has him try on several different colored blazers— blue, grey, red, gold, purple, grey checked— she spanks his bottom and he asks what he can do to repay her and she just gives him the eyes and thinks.
Cesaro makes his entrance, he’ll be in action after the break.
Back from commercial, Seth Rollins makes his entrance and sets up a chair on the stage to watch the match.
Buddy Murphy vs. Cesaro
Cesaro passes Murphy into the corner, uppercuts into punches, Buddy rams him into the corner, shoulder thrusts, the Swiss Superman cuts him off with an uppercut! Smashing his face into the corner, action goes to the floor, Murphy with an explosive knee! Back inside, headed up top, Cesaro hammers him with a dropkick and draws him up with the deadlift superplex!
Corner uppercut, whip across, more uppercuts, Buddy with a boot up on the charge, but Cesaro gets the giant swing! Rollins hits the ring and attacks him, leading referee Jessika Carr to call for the bell...
Cesaro wins by disqualification, presumably.
Post-match, Rollins keeps beating him down and hits Blackout! He taunts Cesaro and waits for him to get up before hitting a second Blackout! He grabs a chair and horsecollars Cesaro with it, punching away... AND BEFORE HE CAN HIT A BLACKOUT ON THE CHAIR ROAD AGENT AND FORMER ROH WORLD CHAMPION JAMIE NOBLE TACKLES HIM! Referees check on Cesaro while Seth walks off, taunting Cesaro verbally.
Rollins runs into Shinsuke Nakamura backstage and stares at him.
Kevin Owens is walking backstage when he runs into Sami Zayn and his documentary crew.
Sami asks him to hear him out and says he’s been thinking about it, and Owens knows him better than anybody, so he wants him to be part of the documentary. Kev says he’s got the KO Show tonight but they can talk later, Zayn accuses him of blowing him off and tries to sell him on it further. Owens says he’ll think about it and he gives Sami a blank card, for treat.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, Jey Uso runs into Edge.
Edge talks about his history with Jey’s family and says he came here to talk man-to-man, and asks him what he’s doing. He says he saw the Usos wrestle a match in 2015 that woke him back up and made him realize he could still love this. He points out that Jey’s walking around slouched and with his head low and asks what his dad thinks. Uso tells him not to talk to him like he knows him, and he should go enjoy some family time because when Roman’s done with him, he’s not gonna be able to enjoy anything.
Kevin Owens makes his entrance.
He welcomes us to the Kevin Owens Show and tells us he’s been out for the last few weeks because he’s had a tumultuous couple months but he’s gonna keep fighting until he can’t any longer.
He introduces his guests, Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks, and talks about how their WrestleMania match could be even bigger if they win the tag titles, because the only people that have ever done that before are John Cena and Shawn Michaels. He talks about what that means for their legacies.
Sasha says it’s not her fault she’s this cute and Reginald has a crush on her, which leads Bianca to scold her for letting him keep chasing her around. Banks says Belair couldn’t have done as much as she has if she hadn’t paved the road for her, and this gets Bianca out of her seat and facing off with her while KO rearranges the set to keep it out of their way.
They bicker, Sasha says she’s not worried about losing the title and is confident that she’s going to hold the tag titles as well, Belair says she’s glad Banks has her eyes on the prize and she might be on the road she paved, but she’s in her own lane.
Enter Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, and Reginald the Sommelier, who’s wearing the grey checked suit from earlier and gives us a little twirl because clearly there are so many details we couldn’t take in bef— damnit I promised myself I wouldn’t editorialize about how boring men’s fashion is here in the liveblog and yet here I am.
Natalya and Tamina make their entrance and we go to break.
Bianca Belair & Sasha Banks vs. Natalya & Tamina
Banks and Tamina to start, Snuka hosses her right into the corner and beats her down! Quick tag, Sasha sends Natalya flying out of the ring with an arm drag, baseball slide cuts her off, back in the ring, but the Boss gets distracted by Nia and Shayna on commentary and gets dropped by a lariat when she returns to the ring! Reggie gets up on the announce table to show off his impossibly bland grey blazer (there I go again) as the beatdown continues with tags.
Banks blocks a Sharpshooter and makes the tag! Belair with a series of dropkicks, leapfrog over, spinebuster, no pin because Reginald is distracting referee Charles Robinson! Reggie in the ring, distraction, the match breaks down, Tamina takes advantage...
Natalya & Tamina win by pinfall with a schoolboy pin from Tamina on Bianca Belair.
Post-match, Sasha and Bianca bicker, Belair berating Banks for entertaining Reggie’s nonsense and costing them the win.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, we see Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks still bickering backstage.
Banks says she’s not going to take the blame when a rookie took the fall, and storms off.
Big E makes his entrance, in a neck brace, knee brace, sling, walking boot, and one crutch. He tears all the medical gear off and makes his way to the ring, good to go!
He gets on the mic and says he had plenty of time to think while he was in the medical facility, and he hopes Apollo Crews knows what he did. He crossed the Rubicon, opened Pandora’s Box, and there’s no coming back from this. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle, and now he’s gonna have to go biblical on him, Old Testament, and now it’s eye for an eye. You take one of his, he takes two of yours.
You come to hurt, he comes to maim, and beating Crews isn’t enough, he has to end him. He’s gonna give him exactly what he deserves, and they don’t need to wait at all. He calls Apollo down for the opportunity he’s been waiting for.
When he gets no answer, Big says he got all dressed up to defend the title and he’s going to do just that, and he issues another open challenge.
Enter King Baron Corbin, wearing street clothes.
He tells E to calm down and says he’s acting crazy, but if he’s gonna open up a challenge, well he’s not dressed for fight, but he’ll tear his $10,000 suit off—
Enter Sami Zayn, shouting about how he accepts the challenge and thus he gets the match since he said the words first. It’s the perfect ending for his documentary! They bicker and Big says the shot goes to whoever gets in the ring first!
Sami runs and slides into the ring, E decks him with a few right hands and sends him to the floor with a belly-to-belly suplex as we go to break!
Back from commercial, we get some hype for tomorrow morning’s episode of Talking Smack.
Big E (c) vs. Sami Zayn (WWE Intercontinental Championship)
Collar and elbow, E pushes him into the corner, clean break at referee Jason Ayers’ behest, Big with a knee lift or three, Zayn cuts him off with a kick, side headlock applied, shot off, drop down, leapfrog, big back elbow from the champ for two! Charging in, knees up, northern lariat into mounted punches from Sami! Smashing E face-first into the turnbuckles, popping up, overhead elbow off the top, only two!
Big with the trifecta of belly-to-belly suplexes, Zayn rolls away before the third and E gives chase, throwing him back into the ring and laying crossface blows in while taunting Apollo Crews. Breaking the count, big splash on the apron misses and we go to break.
Back from commercial, jockeying for position in the turnbuckles, Zayn gets an avalanche sunset flip powerbomb... AND CAN’T KEEP BIG E DOWN! Slapping E repeatedly, whip across, Big runs through a lariat and hits one of his own! Scoop him up...
Big E wins by pinfall with the Big Ending to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
Post-match, Apollo Crews attacks and lays Big E out with an olympic slam! Another one for good measure! Crews tells him he’s going to continue to catch these beatings and goes out to grab the steel steps. He takes them in the ring and lays Big out with them!
Backstage, Nia Jax and Reginald are interviewed.
Nia complains about how rude is to be interrupted and says it’s funny that Sasha Banks thinks she’s gonna be a double champion. Reggie suggests that she challenge Banks for a title match next week, and she loves the idea.
Roman Reigns makes his entrance, flanked by Jey Uso and Paul Heyman, to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Daniel Bryan makes his entrance.
Five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce is in the ring to emcee and moderate.
He asks who wants to sign first and Roman Reigns and Jey Uso surround him, leading him to move a chair around so Reigns can be head of the table. Roman gets on the mic and says a couple weeks ago he agreed to this but he’s not feeling it tonight and Bryan doesn’t deserve it. Dan says he’s excited about this so he’s gonna sign it, and hey, who’d have thought Roman Reigns isn’t a man of his word?
Who’d have thought Roman Reigns is afraid? Maybe it changed last week because for years lots of people have thought that Bryan was better than him, and last week he proved it by doing something Roman could never do— make Jey Uso tap out. Maybe that should make him the self-proclaimed head of the table, ruler of the island, Afa and Sika would love him, they’re so kind!
That pisses Roman off enough to sign the contract!
Dan gets serious and says he’s got a message for Reigns— he’s gonna tap him out just like he tapped Jey out. This leads Uso to throw the table out of the ring and get in his face and demand Pearce make him the special guest enforcer in the match!
Enter Edge.
He says that sounds like a great idea but he wants to make it better— he wants a match next week against Jey, winner gets to be the special guest enforcer at Fastlane!
He hits the ring and a brawl breaks out! Bryan dumps Jey and goes to beat on Roman but Edge throws him out of the way! Dan hits the busaiku knee on Edge after he throws Reigns out of the ring!
That’s the show, folks.