The WWE Smackdown Reaction for 3/4/22
Welcome to the WWE Smackdown Reaction, where I offer my take on this week’s show in Miami, FL.
As always, you can check out John’s full in-depth report here.
We kick off Saturday Night’s Main Event with promos from the competitors in the main matches for night. All we needed was the cheesy green screen logo backgrounds. I loved it and they really should bring this back.
Our opening bout is the Intercontinental Championship match with Sami Zayn defending against Ricochet. This match was really good. It really showed off Ricochet’s talents in the ring. There were several nearfalls that looked like the title was going to change hands. In the end, Johnny Knoxville showed up to throw Zayn off his game a little and Ricochet capitalized with an amazing looking hurricanrana to capture his first Intercontinental Championship. Knoxville left to allow Ricochet to celebrate with the title. Later in the show, Zayn would challenge Knoxville to a match at WrestleMania and Knoxville would accept. The Zayn/Knoxville match was expected and now the title is not going to be a factor in it.
After recapping Mr. McMahon’s appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, Raw’s Austin Theory came out to introduce himself to the Smackdown audience. Theory got in McAfee’s face and said that he was his WrestleMania opponent. Theory slapped McAfee before leaving. McAfee’s emotional reaction seemed so genuine it was awesome. That should be another really good match at WrestleMania. At least it isn’t Vince McMahon wrestling like some of the rumblings said.
Up next, Naomi took on Carmella in singles action. They had a really cool way to integrate Sasha Banks into Naomi’s Glow entrance. The match was quick, as it should be for a Carmella match, but it was good. Naomi picked up the easy win here so Banks can take on Queen Zelina next week. I’ll go against typical 50/50 booking wisdom and pick a Banks victory here.
Happy Corbin was shown playing poker with some scrubs and Madcap Moss, like he had stolen the old Duke Hudson gimmick. Moss told bad jokes as Drew McIntyre was shown on the TV coming out for his scheduled match with Jinder Mahal. McIntyre hindered Jinder in a really entertaining match. After the match, Kayla Braxton interviewed McIntyre about his match with Corbin at WrestleMania and McIntyre was ready to take Corbin out. They cut back to the poker game and nobody was laughing at Moss anymore.
Rick Boogs is ready to play Shinsuke Nakamura to the ring when they get wiped out by The Usos to set up their WrestleMania title match, perhaps with others as well. Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman make their way to the ring with The Usos to cut the same old promo about Brock Lesnar. It was good, but lacking in new content. Reigns and Heyman left so The Usos could defend their tag team titles against The Viking Raiders.
The tag match was really good as well. The Viking Raiders had a lot of credibility and are a good choice for opponents. They still need a little bit more of building back up before they can be considered serious threats to the tag team titles, Mania perhaps? Anyway, The Usos retained the titles with the 1D.
Big E taking on Sheamus was supposed to be next but Sheamus and Ridge Holland just beat up Big E and Kofi Kingston before stealing Big E’s ATV and destroying it. I guess we needed a reason for them to feud? It was announced later that the two teams will square off next week.
Main event time with Sonya Deville taking on Ronda Rousey. Charlotte Flair come out to try to make it look like Deville had a chance but we all knew she didn’t. Rousey finished off Deville in a quick match that seemed longer than it was. After the match, Flair and Rousey faced off and Rousey made Flair tap out to the ankle lock to close out the show.
Let’s take a look at tonight’s highs and lows.
The Highs
Smackdown was a great show from top to bottom. From the Saturday Night’s Main Event style opening to Charlotte Flair tapping out to Ronda Rousey at the end, it was a solid show with great matches and promos to build towards WrestleMania. If you missed the show, you should go watch the whole episode.
I’m so happy for Ricochet winning the Intercontinental Championship tonight. It is a well-deserved honor and let’s all hope this is the start of a much bigger push for him. He can do some really amazing things in the ring and the fans would get behind him if they let him do his thing.
The Lows
I’m sure that The Usos attacking Boogs and Nakamura was to set up a title match at WrestleMania, but couldn’t we have found a better way to start the feud off. It was just confusing why they would do that.
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That’s all I’ve got, until next time.