Last week, it was an exclusive interview with big Bill Goldberg. This week, the Blue brand announced a special interview with the immortal Hulk Hogan in an attempt to keep all eyes on the show which has nothing to do with large sums of money coming from Saudi Arabia whatsoever. There was also the matter of the SmackDown Women’s Championship match, Otis and Mandy’s hotly-anticipated Valentine’s date and the perpetuation of the longest feud since records began between Roman Reigns and Baron Corbin. Welcome to the most must-see SteelChair review in history; welcome to… the SmackDown Review

Results:

– Bayley retained the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Carmella.

– Sheamus defeated Apollo Crews and Shorty G in a 2-on-1 handicap match.

– Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan defeated Miz and Morrison.

Bradley’s Best Bits:

With only 3 matches taking place on last night’s show, all of which failed to really set the world on fire, the best segments could be found away from the ring, firstly with Bray Wyatt once again playing mind games with the special guest.

Not only was The Immortal One there to talk about the NWO being inducted into this year’s Hall of Fame, but also to build-up Goldberg’s Universal Championship match with The Fiend at Super ShowDown. Hogan did well to remind fans that he once came up against Goldberg during the peak of his career and warned that Wyatt needs to be careful he doesn’t suffer the same fate. This was when the former Eater of Worlds interrupted to let the Hulkster know that there is always a place for him in The Fiend’s own Hall of Fame…

 

Later in the show, Otis finally got his date with Mandy Rose on Valentines Day. Only to discover Dolph Ziggler had gotten there an hour before him following a text to the big man to say Mandy was running late. This now leads us all to wonder who the culprit is? Mandy? Dolph? TUCKYYY???

Whoever has set up poor Otis for disappointment, there will be hell to pay when he eventually finds out who done it! The best part about this is how only last week I was highly sceptical of this storyline, but one good training montage later and I’m now fully invested. This is the sort of segmented story that makes WWE so enjoyable with new developments taking place outside of the ring rather than getting 50/50 booking inside the ring each week.

The one downside is that Sonya Deville and Tucker seem to have fallen at the wayside to allow their tag partners to take centre stage. Maybe Otis has been set up by these two after all? Not that this would benefit either of them.

 

For Fox Sake:

The show opened with A Moment of Bliss, hosted by the eponymous Alexa Bliss and her tag team partner Nikki Cross. It was the tried and tested formula of an interview to set up the opening contest. That being, Carmella vs Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. The whole segment, including the match, dragged on for more than a quarter of the episode which would be perfectly fine had this contest been longer in the making rather than the throwaway match that it was.

Eventually, Bayley retained her title despite, at one point, being locked in the Code of Silence by Carmella. Yet, this match was never really in doubt for The Role Model who used the ropes for leverage to score the victory. Following the match, the champion launched an assault on her opponent only for Naomi to come out and make the save.

It seems unfair to Carmella to spend little time building her up for two weeks only to immediately take it all away to put the momentum back on Naomi where it should have been in the first place since the Royal Rumble. There could be hope for The Princess of Staten Island yet, as she will take on The Glow on next week’s SmackDown for the huge opportunity to face Bayley for the title at Super ShowDown.

Repetition seems to be the order of the day for the blue brand as Sami Zayn was once again out to support his client Cesaro only for him to be challenged by Elias and his guitar for another week. This is fun in parts, but it is the same formula that is starting to get a little boring when Strowman comes out to help Elias every week. This could all be in the build-up for putting all men in the Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania, however, which would be a good one to watch.

 

Another man that could be in such match is Sheamus who, as predicted last week, took on Apollo Crews and Shorty G in a 2-on-1 handicap match. This does help Sheamus look incredibly strong and ruthless on his way up the card, but the long term effects will be felt hardest by the former Chad Gable and Apollo Crews who have been made to look like chumps here.

Arguably the best bout of last nights three saw Roman Reigns team up with Daniel Bryan to take on Miz and Morrison. The match itself featured some of the companies safest hands and they put on a contest that sent the fans home happy.

However, this was all centred around King Corbin’s one-week suspension from in-ring competition who still found himself at ringside for the match and launching an attack on Reigns following the victory for the babyface duo.

Wrestling is mostly nonsensical, but Miz and Morrison with plenty of momentum behind them here taking on Reigns and Bryan and then losing made little sense going into the Dirt Sheet Duo’s huge tag team championship match with The New Day. A loss against an in-form team would not have effected Reigns or Bryan, especially not if Corbin was to attack the Big Dog at any point either. Whilst it was enjoyable to watch everyone in this match land key offence (Reign’s spear to Miz for the win looked very impressive), it did nothing to hide the repetitive nature of the locker room leader storyline.

All pics and videos courtesy of WWE

By Bradley Tiernan

"Wrestling is better than the things you like" - John Oliver

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