Aleister & Ricochet vs. Rusev & Nakamura, Johnny "Wrestling" vs. Cesaro, Bryan and Kofi, Asuka and Mandy Rose –

WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER
FEBRUARY 26, 2019
CHARLOTTE, NC AT THE CENTER OF THE SPECTRUM
AIRS ON USA, 8:00, 00H00 . EST
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH SPECIALIST

Advertisers: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton

Arena and WWE items

WWE returns to center of spectrum in Charlotte, NC Smackdown for the first time since November 2017. The Raw Go-Home event held for Crown Jewel last November took place here, and the arena has hosted many WWE events since it opened for business. in 2005. The Spectrum Center hosts the second incarnation of the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA.

This is what WWE.com is posting for tonight.

• Aleister Black and Ricochet hope to make a place for themselves on Rusev & Nakamura
• Can Johnny Gargano continue his campaign against Cesaro? 19659011] "The new" Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston will sign the contract for their WWE title match at Fastlane
• Can Asuka recover from her loss to Mandy Rose?

Aleister Black & Ricochet vs. Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura [19659008] Last week Alei ster Black made his debut in Raw & Smackdown's main band. He defeated Elias on Raw and rival Andrade on Smackdown. Ricochet did the same thing by teaming up with Finn Balor to defeat Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush on Raw and eliminated Eric Young from Sanity on Smackdown.

Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura have been on the dance floor for a while, both as opponents and teammates. recently. They exchanged the US Christmas Championship at Royal Rumble, a week in which Nakamura finally gave the title to R-Truth. The truth defeated the two men in the same night, winning her and defending her successfully before being attacked by both Nakamura and Rusev. The following week, Rusev and Nakamura would team up to defeat the Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows).

Aleister and Ricochet have already teamed up to team up with Velveteen Dream and defeat Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano. and Tommaso Ciampa at half-time heat at this year's Super Bowl. They meet again tonight to meet the pair of Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura. Last night on Raw, they defeated Raw's Revival Champions team.

Analysis of Frank: Teaming Aleister and Ricochet take away from each of them what they could do individually. Historically, things of this nature have been more effective when the characters are better established and there is a reason to make the match. In addition, Aleister is a character who generally works best alone and who should team up only under extraordinarily necessary circumstances and with someone who complements his style. As for Rusev and Nakamura, they seem to be moving more towards teamwork. You wonder if they are heading for an opportunity at Smackdown titles at any given time given that WWE probably has nothing for them in the singles scene.

Johnny Gargano vs. Cesaro

Johnny Gargano also made his presence known. In the main training of Raw & Smackdown, in collaboration with his former DIY partner and longtime rival, the NXT champion, Tommaso Ciampa. On Raw, they defeated the Team Champions Revival Champions (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder) in an untitled match. At Smackdown, they defeated the bar (Sheamus & Cesaro).

Last week on NXT, Gargano dropped out of the North American championship at Velveteen Dream, followed by Ciampa. Tonight, Ciampa is in the corner of Gargano as he faces Cesaro in a one-on-one encounter with Sheamus in his corner.

Frank's badysis: This should be a good match between two wrestlers capable of delivering. In any other promotion, or if Vince McMahon was not running the WWE, it could be a game pushed to a much higher level. The problem here is that Gargano and Ciampa are on the same page. This is not what they did in NXT in the last year. By knowing the WWE reservation, you can not be as confident that they have something in mind that makes sense. We will have to sit back and see things unfold.

Signature of WWE Championship Match: Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston

Last week, we were kept in suspense during the entire episode of Smackdown, about which Daniel Bryan would defend the World Championship. the WWE against Fastlane. At the elimination chamber, Bryan was retained, but he had to face Kofi Kingston for the last 12-13 minutes.

The main event of Smackdown, last week, consisted of a match of six men opposing all the men involved in the elimination chamber. Sunday match. Jeff Hardy & A. J. Styles & Kofi Kingston (New Day) faced Samoa Joe & Randy Orton and WWE Champion Daniel Bryan. Hardy and Styles were "repairing" at the back when New Day arrived and offered a "pancake branch" after all that they lived at Elimination Chamber. Later, before the tag of six men, New Day was interviewed in a gorilla. They talked about Kofi's trip and how he had been here for eleven years and deserved this opportunity. Kofi explained that he had in his corner his friends "Mo and mentum".

Kofi would then pin Bryan to win the match for his team. Later, Shane McMahon would announce that facing Bryan for the title at Fastlane would be none other than Kofi himself. Tonight they sign the contract for this match.

Analysis of Frank: As a general rule, the signing of contracts takes place during the trade fair, and you wonder what they could have planned for next week. It was disheartening to see Kofi return directly to New Day's child antics after such an important match at the Elimination Chamber; However, everything went away when Shane made this announcement, which sparked a huge pop of the crowd.

I want to offer a different perspective on this game. I am for and happy to see Kofi do something meaningful. Is the question really "the merit?" I'm not saying that he should not have this opportunity, but he has spent the last five years making sheaves and throwing pancakes with New Day. He has spent most of the last ten years doing stunts at the Royal Rumble. Before the tough game and the Elimination Chamber, where was this incredible series of high-flying matches that made us say that Kofi deserved a championship game? I always liked Kofi, do not get me wrong. I just accept that he was a mid-card actor who put good matches and so on. Seth Rollins deserves his match with Lesnar and probably should have earlier based on his work in 2018. I think the hype of #kofimania has more to do with seeing something different and that's fine, but call it that way.

Asuka to bounce?

After spending less time on television, the female Smackdown champion, Asuka, seemed to be doing an interview in the ring with Dasha Fuentes. Dasha pointed out that the raw women's division was receiving more attention and asked if she felt lost in the brewing (duh). Asuka did not want to talk about raw women and wanted to know who was "ready for Asuka". (We need to get those slogans from people.)

Mandy Rose took the challenge and was of course accompanied by her fire. and Sonya Deville, partner of the Desire tag. They lasted about ten minutes and Mandy Rose won in the untitled impromptu match.

Here are some exchanges on Twitter with Asuka, Mandy and Sonya:

The ONLY woman who has all this ️ obviiiii https://t.co/ZGXqSm0u[/19659009] Mandy (@WWE_MandyRose) February 24 2019

CLOSE YOUR MOUTH pic.twitter.com/cemGXF9r9H [1945909]] – ASUKA / 華 (@WWEAsuka) February 25, 2019

original so original Asuka https://t.co/ AByvBaKISb [19659009hner-DariaBerenato(@SonyaDevilleWWE) 25 February 2019

Frank's badysis: It's pretty simple, as it seems to be heading towards a championship match between Asuka and Mandy Rose at Fastlane. Mandy has certainly played lately, especially when she played in the Elimination Chamber women's team game. For tonight, anything is possible, ranging from a match between Sonya Deville and Asuka, considering their recent Twitter exchange. Wherever they go, they should just be careful when hitting Asuka too much on TV. I do not know if the WWE realizes it, but last week, three champions lost between Revue and Smackdown (Revival against Gargano & Ciampa, Asuka against Mandy Rose and Bryan against Kofi in the six players). At the time, it was a big problem when a champion was pinned or submitted. I still remembered that the British Bulldogs had beaten the Hart Foundation in untitled matches and that advertisers were doing a lot with tracking.

What to Expect Tonight:

• According to CBSSports, WWE legend Wayne Ferris, better known as Honky Tonk Man, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year: