WWE SmackDown Recap time! I’m running late so I got no time to waste with the intro, watch this space for updates!
Roman Reigns and co. open the show as always but the lengthy walk to the ramp isn’t shown due to a video package showing the events of Elimination Chamber. His promo starts and he says he saved this place again at the Chamber because that’s what he does. Anybody else in his shoes would’ve been boasting and bragging and had Paul throw a party for them after the Chamber. But he’s above that, he operates at a higher level that nobody else understands.
Says his title defense was nearly perfect, but one man kept it from being perfect and that’s Edge. Roman says Edge speared him. Could’ve left it at that but he had to make it official by pointing at the sign. Now it’s Roman vs. Edge at WrestleMania. Reigns says he wants to give one more chance to back out. He says Edge has a nice family, he’s a husband and father, Roman doesn’t wanna hurt him.
Daniel Bryan interrupts.
He notes Roman saying the defense was nearly perfect. He agrees, how magnanimous of him to put his title up against someone who’d already been in the Chamber. Says he deserves to be celebrated for that, near perfection! But he’s heard from some who felt him doing this was cowardly. That say a champion who would do this, isn’t a champion at all. But that’s not him!
He doesn’t come out here and complain, just addressing rumors from some people. But he didn’t expect the head of the table to defend his title in the second match of the night. Would’ve thought the head of the table would be in the main event spot! Or would that have given Bryan too much time to recover? Hm…
Bryan wants him to defend his title one more time. No qualifiers, nothing in the way, one-on-one with him at FastLane. Jey Uso swipes the mic and says he hears a bunch of excuses. Says Bryan lost and now he’s at the back of the line! Tells him he needs to go through the right hand man, warns him that he’ll get got.
Roman gets in Bryan’s face. But it’s a diversion, Jey attacks Bryan, sends him from the ring and throws him over the barricade!
WWE SmackDown Recap continues with Jey talking to Roman backstage, apologizes in advance but Roman says there’s nothing to apologize for as long as he gets the job done.
Edge talking to Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville backstage.
Edge seems to have taken issue with this Daniel Bryan situation for some reason. He acts like Bryan’s cutting in line even though his title shot isn’t until WrestleMania regardless and his status is unaffected by who wins at FastLane.
Alpha Academy vs. The Mysterios
Gable in a pre-match promo talks up the beatdown last week and shows highlights. Otis and Rey start the match, big man overpowers him and throws him around. Gable tags in, outwrestles Rey for a while but an enziguri breaks his grip on his ankle and Dominik tags in. Series of clotheslines, charging uppercut in the corner, floatover, flips Gable facefirst into the buckle! Leaping Tornado DDT off the second rope, nearfall!
Rey tags back in, Double 619 to Gable!! Rey with the cover, Otis breaks it up. Otis drags Gable to the corner for the tag. Rey springboards at him but Otis slams him out of the air. Otis on the second rope, big splash! And that’s that.
Winners: Alpha Academy
I’m not sure why they had to be heels before they could be pushed but glad to see it anyway, I guess.
Apollo Crews warming up backstage. Commercial break, WWE SmackDown Recap will resume when the show does!
We see the recap of Crews’ big explosion last week attacking Shinsuke and Big E. As it ends we see Crews in the ring, new gear, making a show of placing a towel over his neck. Says a lot of people have been wondering what’s been going on with him lately. Says what they saw, it’s not the Apollo Crews they know. He says you never knew him at all.
He’s always been humble and nice and shown respect but the others do not show him the same respect. Says his family doesn’t allow that. He’s not from the hood, he’s not from Suburbia, he is Nigerian royalty. He is a true African American. This is kind of an info dump. He adopts an accent on the spot as he threatens Big E until Shinsuke interrupts.
But before the bell rings for a match, Crews attacks him and takes him to the outside! He grabs the steps and raises them up, ref stands in the way to prevent this as we fade to commercial.
Apollo Crews vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Match begun during the commercial. Crews with a side headlock on. Wants a German suplex but Nakamura flips and lands on his knees, big kick drops Crews. Series of high kicks, whip from the corner reversed. Side-steps a Crews charge, kick to the head, sets him on the top rope. Axe kick to the back of the head, sliding lariato for a 2 count! Crews fights back, series of German Suplexes. Kick ducked, dragon whip lands.
Fight to the outside, Crews takes over and slams him into the steps. Takes him into the ring, Military Press attempted but Nak slips free. Chokehold, Crews grabs his scarf excuse me it’s not a towel, uses it to yank himself forward and send Nak headfirst into the buckle. Powerslam for the win.
Winner: Apollo Crews
I literally just said this with the Alpha Academy, they really prefer pushing people when they’re heels. Just, in general, they’re more comfortable with this. Crews can look fairly strong now.
Liv Morgan vs. Tamina
Liv out-speeds Tamina to avoid big shots with matrix dodges and rolls. But a big kick out of the corner drops her. Tamina with a forearm sends her reeling, grinds her into the buckles. Biel throw. Charging hip attack, yanks Liv to the center of the ring, cover for 2. She batters Morgan around. She flurries back, succession of shots, Missile Dropkick for a 2 count. Tamina catches her mid-run with a Samoan Drop. Black Hole Slam gets the win.
Winner: Tamina
I’m so excited for Tamina’s 20,002,039,349,030,593,599,503,994,028th push, she’s gonna be a big star this time, it’s really gonna work I can feel it. Commercial break, WWE SmackDown Recap will come back when the show does.
Sonya Deville and Adam Pearce are out here to introduce Bianca Belair to finally make her WrestleMania decision. Boy it sure would be awkward if she picked the Not SmackDown Champion.
Belair knows down to the minute how long it’s been since she won the Rumble. Sonya runs down the potential champs, Asuka and Sasha and we see video packages for both of them. Bianca says her mother always told her that you’re defined by your choices. And her choice is;
Reginald interrupts.
He comes out saying that she learned from the magnificence of Sasha Banks. Says she’s worked very hard to get here and her journey has been quite inspiring. But if she picks Sasha Banks, it’s going to be a disaster. And her mothers words will haunt her when she realizes her choice but her a loser. Bianca is bundling up her hair preparing for a whip when Sasha’s music hits and she comes down to the ring.
Sasha grabs the mic from Reginald. Puts an arm around his shoulder and says she told him to never speak for her. Shoves him away. She says she’s more than the champion, she’s the standard. If Bianca wants to make history and be atop the conversation, she will choose her. Says Bianca wants to call herself the EST of WWE. But she’s the best, she’s No. 1. And that makes Bianca second best! She laughs and drops the mic.
Bianca runs down her catchphrases, points at the Mania sign and says it’s on. Pyro fires and indeed this is apparently how you make this official now.
Sami brings his documentary crew along to Corbin and talks about the injustices committed against him. Corbin wants them to help solve the mystery of why they’re teaming tonight. Sami says it was his idea. They don’t get along sure but together they could win the tag team titles, they could dominate the division! Gives some ideas for team names like The New Can-Am Connection or the Kingdom of Liberty. Corbin shoots this down, says they COULD become tag champs and dominate the division, but Sami doesn’t tell him what to do. Shoves a cameraman as he leaves.
Sami Zayn & King Corbin vs. Street Profits
Profits take control of Sami quickly, he scrambles away and tags in Corbin. Corbin locks up with Dawkins, Angelo shoots him off, Corbin with a shoulder tackle. Dawkins with a couple of leapfrogs, big dropkick. Wristlock. Drags him across the ring. Corbin escapes, fights back, goes for the Ring Around The Ringpost but the camera crew is in the way! Corbin shouts at them to move, re-enters the ring but of course by now Dawkins is able to take over and send him to the floor. Commercial break, WWE SmackDown Recap will resume.
As we come back, heels are suddenly isolating Ford. Ford with an enziguri takes down Corbin but Sami tags in before Ford can make it to Dawkins. Sami grabs his ankle but Ford with the leaping tag and in comes Dawkins. Corkscrew Elbow, Corkscrew Avalanche, Bulldog for a 2 count. Ducks a Corbin clothesline, dropkick, sends him out of the ring. Zayn with a big lariat for a 2 count. Camera crew surrounding Corbin, he’s angry at them and shouting, Sami is distracted. Dawkins with an Elevated Neckbreaker, tag to Ford, From The Heavens gets the duke!
Winners: Street Profits
Corbin hollering at Sami afterwards, that can’t really be a match we’re building to is it?
WWE SmackDown Recap rolls on with Daniel Bryan backstage. Says facing Edge at Mania is a long way away, has to beat Jey tonight and Roman at Fastlane. But he likes his chances, he actually thinks he has better odds of beating Roman than Edge does. Says he has a lot of respect for what Edge has done but he needs to be straight with him, he’s taken a lot of time off. Edge confronts him over this and they have a quick back and forth. You do have to tease this match if you want people to take Bryan seriously as a challenger at Fastlane.
Seth Rollins makes his way out for our next segment.
He calls out Cesaro who rushes out quickly and is furious, shirt off and everything but Seth gets him to pause. Says he didn’t call him a loser, Twitter blew that out of proportion. He said he was only a loser because of the situation he was in. Says who says Cesaro can’t grab the brass ring? He’s a big star, he’s one of the greatest technicians in WWE history! So why is it that he always seems to come up short? What is he missing?
Seth says he has what Cesaro is missing, that’s killer instinct and he can give it to him. He came back to SmackDown to lead it into the future and he’ll start with Cesaro if he lets him. Says that together they can be unstoppable. If he took his invitation from the start, he would’ve won the Chamber match and beat Roman Reigns. But he has another chance to start again.
Cesaro thinks about it, then trips him up for the Swing! Before he gets going Seth still has the mic and demands that he let him go but the Swing starts! And then he pauses… and then it starts again! Seth loses his jacket as this happens. When the Swing ends, Seth is stumbling around until Cesaro uppercuts him!
Up next on the WWE SmackDown Recap, the main event!
Daniel Bryan vs. Jey Uso (If Bryan wins he earns a Universal title match at Fastlane)
Bell rings and Jey attacks right away. Bryan with a headlock, shoots him off, Jey with a shoulder block. Bryan with an arm drag. Wristlock, shoulder wringer. Kick to the chest. Jey with a shot, Bryan with some uppercuts. Wristlock from Bryan. Jey whips him to the corner, Bryan runs the buckles and flips over him, dropkick! And this leads to the charging dropkick in the corner! Yes Kicks! Takes him up top, Super Rana for a nearfall! Kicks Jey to the outside. Wants a tope suicida, Jey with a Superkick stops him out of the air! Takes him out there with him, holds him up, Kneebreaker onto the announce table and then a ringpost assisted Kneebreaker too! Just before the commercial break, WWE SmackDown Recap will conclude when the show comes back.
As we return Jey is pounding on Bryan in the ring, Bryan tries for the Zombie Yes Lock but Jey pounds on his bad knee to escape. Plants him for a nearfall! Bryan fighting back, low bridges him to the floor, big Baseball Slide! Running knee off the apron! Takes him into the ring, but Jey sends him into the buckles, leaping stomp to the knee! Half Crab focusing on the bad leg. Bryan rolls through and kicks himself free. Yes Kick to the head for a nearfall!
Bryan sets up for the Buisaku Knee but Jey responds with a chop-block mid-charge, Superkick for a nearfall! Jey takes him up top but Bryan re-takes control, Butterfly Superplex! Yes Lock attempted, Jey forces himself to the ropes for the break and rolls out of the ring. Bryan goes out there to fight with him, ref’s count reaches 10 right as Uce sends Bryan kneefirst into the steps.
Winners: N/A (Double Count-Out)
Jey takes Bryan into the ring, but he reverses on him and gets him in the Yes Lock. Roman runs out there but Bryan gets him with it as well! That is until Jey stops him with a leaping kick. Roman with a Spear and there’s the Guillotine. Roman stands tall and the show ends a couple of minutes early.
Fastlane isn’t really that far away but we’ll stretch this out anyway…