Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 3.20.18

Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 3.20.18

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Rusev @ 7:44 via pin [**¾]
– Baron Corbin defeated Tye Dillinger @ 2:29 via pin [NR]
– Non-Title Match: Natalya defeated Champion Charlotte @ 14:07 via pin [**¾]
– Luke Harper defeated Jimmy Uso @ 4:42 via pin [**]
– Naomi & Becky Lynch defeated Sarah Logan & Liv Morgan @ 2:36 via submission [NR]

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– Follow all of my reviews at this link.

– Csonka: Daniel Bryan’s Return Makes For Excitement & Trepidation.

– The US Title match is now officially a triple threat match…

BREAKING: #TheViper @RandyOrton will defend the #USTitle against @REALBobbyRoode & @JinderMahal in a #TripleThreat match at @WrestleMania! https://t.co/qbX3s4UqeG pic.twitter.com/dkclbL5EoS

— WWE (@WWE) March 20, 2018

– We open with highlights of Daniel Bryan’s retirement two-years ago, and then today’s magical news.

DANIEL BRYAN IS BACK – BOW AT THE ALTER OF THE AMERICAN FUCKING DRAGON: Bryan gets a great reaction, welcome back & Daniel Bryan chants. You can tell he’s moved by this. He says he will address the Shane issue, but will do it later since Sami &Kevin aren’t here. He talks about having to retire, and says he focused on being grateful. He would get angry and depressed, but he had a lot to e grateful for. He praises his family, friends, and fans. He gets broken up a bit talking about Brie and how she was always there for him, and helped him fight for his dreams. She encouraged him to go and see specialists and he ‘d go and keep going to see more. (Thank you Brie chants) She told him to keep fighting for his dreams, and he kept fighting. When he got depressed and angry and wanted to quit, he kept fighting. Over the last few months, WWE reevaluated him and they sent him to the best specialists in the country and he was cleared. It seemed so impossible, but it’s finally real. He thanks WWE & the doctors who took care of him, and to give him this next chance. He thanks the fans for all of their support over these past two hard years. They kept cheering for him and he thanks them for that. He thanks Brie, and says no one can understand how much she supported him during the past two-years. He doesn’t know when or where he will get back in the ring (the fans point to the Mania sign and chant WrestleMania), he doesn’t know if that will be the place but he will compete in a WWE ring again. Much like his retirement speech, this was amazing. It was it was emotional, it came off like a special moment, it came from the heart, but more importantly, it was real. This was once again Bryan speaking from the heart, allowing himself to be vulnerable in telling his story, and that is exactly why he has such an attachment and amazing relationship with the WWE fans. The man is an amazing babyface for all the right reasons.

February 8, 2016 vs. March 20, 2018#Grateful #DanielBryanReturns #SDLive @WWEDanielBryan pic.twitter.com/wlkFnuJITt

— WWE (@WWE) March 21, 2018

– Bryan tells Charles Robinson to tell him when Kevin & Sami arrives Dolph congratulates Bryan and says he can’t wait to beat him, Bryan tells him he can try.
https://twitter.com/WWE/status/976252083346132992

– AJ Styles is out on commentary.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Rusev: English is out with Rusev. They work basic back and forth to begin, Nakamura calls on Rusev and they trade kicks and strikes. Rusev takes control, covering for 2. We go screen in screen as Rusev maintains control, grounding Nakamura. Nakamura starts to fire up a bit, but Rusev instantly cuts him off. The belly to back suplex follows, and Rusev grounds things with a side headlock. Back to full screen as, Nakamura fights to his feet and connects with the running kick. Nakamura follows with a series of kicks, and then works over Rusev in the corner. Knee strikes follow, he fires up and looks for Kinshasa, but Rusev counters into the accolade, but Nakamura quickly escapes and eats a head kick, Rusev covers for 2. Nakamura now looks for the arm bar, Rusev rolls but Nakamura cradles him for 2. Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Rusev @ 7:44 via pin [**¾] This was a pretty good match, but they didn’t have the time to have a match at the quality of their Fastlane outing.

– Post match, Rusev & English attack. AJ slowly takes off his jacket and looks to help, but Nakamura takes them out and makes his own save before AJ could help. They’re setting up Styles to play the subtle heel role at Mania.

– We get an Asuka video package.

– Natalya meets with Charlotte and says Charlotte is afraid of Asuka. Natalya says she can beat them both, and Charlotte challenges her to a match tonight. This was not a good back and forth segment, Natalya’s verbiage is always so cringe worthy; Charlotte wasn’t much better.

– Styles and Nakamura meet backstage and Nakamura says he doesn’t need his help. Nakamura says he will beat him at Mania with a knee to face.

Baron Corbin vs. Tye Dillinger: They lock up and Tye works a headlock. He follows with rights and chops, but Corbin cuts him off. He follows with rights, but Tye cuts him off and dumps him to the floor. Tye follows and tosses him back in. Tye leaps in, but is caught and they blow the end of days spot. Corbin tosses Tye to the floor. Back in, end of days, and Corbin wins. Baron Corbin defeated Tye Dillinger @ 2:29 via pin [NR] Not good at all.

Champion Charlotte vs. Natalya: They lock up to begin, and Charlotte tosses Natalya aside. They work into some counters, Natalya gets a takedown, but Charlotte counters out. Natalya gets a roll up for 2. Charlotte takes her down, and gets an O’Connor roll for 2. Charlotte grounds the action, and works the rolling head scissors and covers for 2. Charlotte hits a neck breaker and big boot, sending Natalya to the floor. Post break, and Natalya is in control, working an abdominal stretch. Charlotte escapes the backslide and hits the basement dropkick. Natalya takes out the knee and lays the boots to Charlotte. Charlotte rallies with a lariat, and we get a double down. Charlotte now follows with chops, the XPLODER follows. Natalya pulls her to the buckles, but Charlotte hits the big boot. Natalya counters the figure four, Charlotte cuts her off and heads up top, but Natalya cuts her off and hits a sitout powerbomb for 2. Natalya looks for the sharpshooter and locks it in. Charlotte fights and makes the ropes. Natalya maintains control, and hits the rolling lariat for 2. Charlotte gets a small package for 2, but Natalya dumps her to the floor. Natalya follows and Charlotte spears her. Back in, figure four, and rolls to the floor with the hold on, and has to break. Charlotte up top, gets cut off and Natalya follows her up. The superplex connects and both are down. CARMELLA RUNS OUT with a ref. Charlotte takes her out, and that allows Natalya to roll Charlotte up for the win. This was not an official cash in. Natalya defeated Champion Charlotte @ 14:07 via pin [**¾] This was clunky early on, but ended up an overall pretty good match. The cash in tease was good, but Charlotte losing, even via fluke, wasn’t a good move in my opinion.

– Uso promo time, they put over their rivalry with New Day, and then discuss the Bludgeon Brothers getting involved and putting a beating on Jey, but he’s still here. They are still holding down the tag division. They don’t know how to back down, just survive and be the best. They won’t stand down; they are ready to go to war to get to Mania. Welcome to the Uso penitentiary.

Luke Harper vs. Jimmy Uso: Jey & Rowan are at ringside. They start off during the break, Jimmy stalls a bit, and Harper follows him to the floor. Jimmy attacks, but Harper cuts off the dive and tosses him back to the floor. Back to full screen, as Harper lays in rights back in the ring. Harper follows with chops, but Jimmy starts to fire back. Harper cuts that off and continues to dominate with rights and chops. Harper misses a charge and spills to the floor. Jimmy follows and slams him to he LD board. Rowan distracts him, and Jimmy attacks, running them together. Jey superkicks Harper, Jimmy follows with another, covering for 3. Jimmy heads up top, cut off and Harper follows him up and slams him off the post. Harper kills him with a lariat for the win. Luke Harper defeated Jimmy Uso @ 4:42 via pin [**] The match was only ok, but the booking was good to keep the Bludgeon Brothers looking dominant heading into WrestleMania.

Jinder Mahal Talks: The US Title match at WrestleMania is now officially a triple threat match, with Orton defending against Mahal & Roode. Mahal runs down the crowd for booing him, he’s made sacrifices to get hi WrestleMania chance. A man of his wealth & good looks doesn’t have to be here. He gave the WWE title glory and made Smackdown the premiere show. He says he should be our hero, and “you people” claim you want change… Bobby Roode appears now. Roode says Mahal is the true hypocrite, and adds that respect’s earned, and he doesn’t deserve any. Roode says all he deserves is being defeated at Mania so that Roode can win back his title. Randy Orton now appears. Orton tells Mahal to shut up and says no one respects him because with out the help of his stooge, he sucks. Mahal shoves Singh into Orton and Orton hits the draping DDT. Roode then DDTs him and he and Orton tease their finishes and have a stand off. This was an ok segment to built to the Mania match.

– Next week, it’s Roode & Orton vs. Mahal & Singh.

JUST ANNOUNCED: #USChampion @RandyOrton & @REALBobbyRoode vs. @JinderMahal and Sunil @SinghBrosWWE NEXT WEEK on #SDLive! pic.twitter.com/x3HvFdMpvA

— WWE (@WWE) March 21, 2018

Naomi & Becky Lynch vs. Sarah Logan & Liv Morgan: Naomi fights off both to begin, and covers Liv for 2. Becky and Naomi work double teams, with Liv running from Becky. Liv manages to slams her to the corner, and tags in Logan. Logan takes control, covering for 2. Becky battles back, but Logan cuts off the tag. Becky dumps her to the floor, Ruby rolls Logan back in and she cuts off Becky. Becky gets the arm bar, Naomi takes out Liv and Logan taps. Naomi & Becky Lynch defeated Sarah Logan & Liv Morgan @ 2:36 via submission [NR] This was a quick match, with the goal to announce that all of these women are in the women’s battle royal at Mania.

SAMI & KEVIN’s FATE DECIDED: Bryan arrives for our main event interview segment. He says this has been a big night, but he has one last thing to address. He calls out Kevin & Sami. They arrive and look very happy with themselves. Kevin hugs Bryan as does Sami. Kevin says they are thrilled for him and weren’t going to be here, but when they heard the news, so they had to come. They would have gotten here sooner, but got pulled over for speeding, but they talked their way out of it because everything is dumber in Texas. Sami says Bryan has been their biggest supporter, and was always fair to them while Shane tried to hold them down. This is a case of good things come to good people, and now Smackdown is the dream show now that Bryan is back. Sami says they could make a dream team. Bryan appreciates their words, but is here to deal with them attacking Shane last week (we get footage). Kevin finds the footage amusing. Bryan doesn’t think it was funny at all. Kevin & Sami say that they got “carried away a bit and that he deserved it.” Bryan says this is a big deal, he thinks they are two of the best performers of this generation, and when Shane said he was living through them, he was right. You got more than carried away, you assaulted your boss. Bryan doesn’t understand why they did it, you two won and you got a match at Mania. Imagine 10-years ago in an armory in front of 300 people someone told you that would become a reality. Hell, Shane was even leaving, and Bryan was going to be here in thier corner. Shane was right, and he doesn’t want to do this, because he’s been fired from here twice and came back a better man. Bryan fires them both. He’s sorry to do this and offers a handshake. Kevin shakes his hand and attacks! Sami joins in and lays in rights to Bryan. Bryan fights back, lays in kicks on Kevin but Sami makes the save. Bryan fights him off, corner dropkicks follow and Bryan is fired the fuck up! YES kicks to Kevin, but Sami cuts him off again. Kevin follows wit a superkick, and Sami hits the helluva to lay out Bryan. The crowd hates them for this. Bryan pulls himself to his feet, but the attack continues as they toss him to the floor. Kevin HITS THE APRON BOMB! They bring out the stretcher as Sami looks on emotionless and the crowd chants “you’re still fired.” This was an absolutely great angle to close out the show, with Bryan killing it again on another promo. The beat down angle was great, with some really strong heat on Kevin & Sami and the place exploding as Bryan got to lay in some signature offense. He looked so happy to be back in the ring and getting physical after so long and the crowd treated the whole thing like a huge deal. The heels stood tall again, setting the stage for the tag match with Shane & Bryan. Some will complain that Bryan got stretchered out on his first night back, but it was 2 on1, and he’s been out for over two-years, it made sense.

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.8

The final score: review Average

The 411

This week’s episode of WWE Smackdown was bookended by two great segments, unfortunately, the middle of the show was rather bland, with only minimal Mania build. If short on time, catch the opening and closing segments featuring Daniel Bryan, they were two of the better WWE segments of the year