The WWE Smackdown Reaction for 4/2/21 by Kelly Dishnow
Welcome to the WWE Smackdown Reaction where I offer up my take on this week’s show. As always, you can check out John’s full in-depth report here.
The show starts off with a recap of the Universal Title feud from Fastlane to now. That throws up to Promo Time with Edge. Edge talked about what’s been going on lately with Daniel Bryan trying to get inserted into the WrestleMania Universal Title match. Edge said he was finally woken up and realized he needed to turn heel. This feels oddly familiar to me like we’ve seen this storyline before. After making his point, Edge leaves and is asked backstage by Kayla Braxton his thoughts on tonight’s main event, Daniel Bryan vs. Jey Uso in a Street Fight. Edge said it wouldn’t break his heart if Bryan had to miss WrestleMania. This has the whole WrestleMania 30 vibe minus Triple H needing to wrestle to me. Either way, Roman will not be involved in the decision.
Our first match of the night is an eight-man tag with the Smackdown Tag Team Champions Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode and the Alpha Academy taking on The Street Profits and The Mysterios. We find out that the Fatal Four Way Tag Team Title Match will be on next week’s TAPED WrestleMania Smackdown. Apparently, there wasn’t enough room on either night’s pre-show to squeeze them in. That likely eliminates The Mysterios from winning the titles. The tag match is your standard WWE eight-man tag formula and a really good match. The Alpha Academy picks up the win for their team after Otis pins Montez Ford.
Paul Heyman asked Adam Pierce for a hold harmless agreement for the street fight and Sonya DeVille agrees to it.
Corey Graves hosts Promo Time with Seth Rollins and Cesaro. I’m sure Becky Lynch did not pick out that purple tie-dyed three-piece suit Seth was wearing. The promo was good to hype the match between the two at WrestleMania with Seth showing his usual confidence and Cesaro eager to show he’s ready for the match as well. I’m going with Cesaro.
I blinked and missed the alleged “match” between Shayna Baszler and Natalya. Natalya won in under one minute and then the entire women’s tag team division rushed to the ring one team at a time to hit their spot before the next team knocked them out. It’s likely leading to a match at WrestleMania although nothing is official yet. Afterward, it looked like Carmella is going to tag with Billie Kay to get a “WrestleMania” match.
Sami Zayn was up next for his documentary’s red carpet premiere with his special guest Logan Paul. The trailer was Sami’s usual nonsense about everyone out to get him. It could have been worse, I guess. Sami asked Logan what he thought and he was underwhelmed. KO showed up and stunned Sami before bumping Logan to end the segment. So, Sami will be Smackdown’s celebrity victim at WrestleMania.
Carmella did her stripper routine to indicate she’s up next. Before that, we need to interview KO and Bianca Belair and have a recap of the Smackdown Women’s Title match feud at WrestleMania. Bianca finally made her entrance for her match with Carmella. The match wasn’t anything special and Bianca picked up the win with the KOD.
A promo tells us what is confirmed for next week’s WrestleMania Smackdown, the Fatal Four Way Smackdown Tag Team Title match, and the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Sorry guys, maybe next year.
Apollo Crews is backstage and challenges Big E to a Nigerian Drum Fight at WrestleMania for the Intercontinental Title. A Last Man Standing match would have been better. We’ll see how this goes.
Main Event time with Daniel Bryan facing Jey Uso in a Street Fight and Edge is out for commentary. Roman Reigns eventually comes out. We get another really good fight between the two. There was a good use of weapons but it was kept minimal. Bryan eventually picks up the win making Uso tap out again. After the match, Bryan laid out Edge for revenge from last week. After taking out Edge, Bryan takes down Roman and locks in the Yes Lock on him. This was a good setup for the WrestleMania match and likely not going to be revisited on WrestleMania Smackdown next week. I think Bryan is going to win the Universal Title given the current direction and Edge will likely eat the fall. I originally thought that it would go the other way with Edge taking out Bryan to capture the title.
Let’s look at tonight’s highs and lows.
The Highs
The Bryan/Uso street fight was really good. It set a good final chapter for rolling into the WrestleMania match.
The eight-man tag was good as well, albeit the standard tag match formula.
The Lows
There really isn’t any time on the two pre-shows to have the two, likely three, matches on the actual WrestleMania card and not have to fake a third night on Smackdown? I feel really bad for those who have had their “WrestleMania” matches on a taped third night. There must be some additional restrictions in place for this.
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That’s all I’ve got. Until next time.