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With WrestleMania less than two weeks away, SmackDown’s universal title image continued to dominate the series. Edge started the night by laying out his intentions now that WrestleMania’s universal title match has turned into a triple threat match.
Daniel Bryan was the only one of the three superstars to fight on Friday. Bryan sought to build momentum towards branded pay-per-view as he faced off against Jey Uso in a street fight. During the game between Bryan and Uso, Edge served as a guest commentator and further expressed his opinion on the triple threat game.
CBS Sports was with you all night, bringing you recaps and highlights of all the action from the ThunderDome.
Edge defines himself once again as “the ultimate opportunist”
The show kicked off with Edge entering the ring to tackle the formalized three-threat match for WrestleMania. He began by saying that the events of Fastlane and Smackdown last week could have been avoided. He compared Daniel Bryan to roadkill and accused Bryan of breaking his way into the universal title match at WrestleMania. Edge was intrigued by the possibility of teaming up with Bryan to take on Roman Reigns and Jey Uso at Fastlane. However, Edge said that was not enough for Bryan. Edge didn’t see Bryan coming and went through the storylines Bryan volunteered to be involved in a Universal Title game, whether facing the winner of Reigns and Reigns immediately after or even on the second night of WrestleMania. Following Adam Pearce’s decision, Edge said he was upgraded and was definitely angry with Bryan.
Edge has claimed he liked what he saw in the mirror after the events of last week. He finally saw the Superstar Rated-R watching him. Edge didn’t think Pearce, Reigns, or Bryan understood the ramifications of what had happened. Edge also said he broke after Pearce had a triple threat match and finally woke up. Edge called himself a man Reigns and Bryan aspire to be and emphasized that he is a legend and the ultimate opportunist. Edge finally believes he’s the Rated-R superstar again and has said he felt great when he hit Bryan and Reigns with repeated chair shots.
Additionally, Edge was interviewed behind the scenes about Bryan sustaining significant damage at the hands of Jey Uso during a street fight later on SmackDown. He didn’t feel Bryan at all and he wouldn’t mind if Bryan couldn’t compete in WrestleMania.
Daniel Bryan beats. Jey Uso via submission. After the match started, Roman Reigns came out and sat at the top of the ramp. Uso continued to wear it to Bryan throughout the game, including using a chair and a steel chain to punish Bryan. However, Bryan rebounded to inflict a punishment on Uso as he landed several steel chair kicks in the back of Uso. Bryan then rained blows on Uso with the steel chain and subdued Uso with the Yes Lock. Immediately after the match was over, Bryan hit a knee on Edge in the comment office and then bounced Edge’s header out of the ring post several times. After finishing with Edge, Bryan ran to the top of the ramp and hit another knee on Reigns. Additionally, Bryan performed another Yes Lock on Reigns on the ramp. SmackDown concluded with Bryan standing.
Edge delivered a terrific promo to start the night by revealing that he once again defines himself as the ultimate opportunist. The full heel turn is almost done for Edge and the return of the Superstar Rated-R was great to see. SmackDown ended with Bryan beating Uso as expected, but seeing Bryan smash and take out Edge and Reigns added even more excitement to the storyline. WrestleMania can’t come soon enough. Grade: A
What else happened on WWE SmackDown?
- Chad Gable, Otis, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode fight. Street Profits, Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio via pinfall when Gable hit a German suplex on Ford. Otis followed this up with a huge splash from the middle chord to save the three count.
- Seth Rollins and Cesaro were interviewed by commentator Corey Graves in the ring. Cesaro has said WrestleMania will mark the biggest game of his career. He added that there was “something different” this time around. Rollins responded by saying the WrestleMania season has several huge moments under his belt and calling his “Heist of the Century” in WrestleMania 31 over Hulk Hogan slamming Andre The Giant at WrestleMania III. Cesaro closed the segment, he can beat Rollins at WrestleMania and can embarrass him, and also tells Rollins to “swing” to him before WrestleMania, before Rollins leaves the ring.
- Natalya beats. Shayna Baszler via pinfall when Natalya pinned Baszler with a small package. After the match, Nia Jax attacked Natalya and then pretty much every women’s team on Raw and SmackDown stepped into the ring. The melee ended with Tamina and Natalya standing by taking out Lana and Naomi.
- Sami Zayn unveiled the trailer for his documentary. Zayn brought YouTube star-turned-boxer Logan Paul to the ring and asked Paul to be his guest at WrestleMania again for his match against Kevin Owens. Paul accepted Zayn’s request. After the … bizarre … trailer was shown, Paul revealed that Owens told him that Zayn was delusional and that there was no conspiracy against him. Owens ended up ambushing Zayn and delivering a stunner to him. Owens even gave Paul a little push on his way out of the ring.
- Bianca Belair beats. Carmella via pinfall when she hit the KOD on Carmella out of nowhere. Carmella was talking about trash when Belair grabbed her. After the match was over, Sasha Banks attempted to go after Belair, but Belair was prepared for it. Belair ended up pointing to the WrestleMania sign as Banks stepped out of the ring.
- In a backstage segment, Apollo challenged Big E to a Nigerian drum fight for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania.
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