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WrestleMania continues to loom large on the horizon, and tonight WWE Smackdown is going to try and rebound from the near disaster that was last week. On the docket tonight we’ve got some kind of clash between WWE champion Brock Lesnar and WWE Universal champion Roman Reigns to continue building towards their main event, Kofi Kingston will be in action against the inexplicably still on TV Ridge Holland, there will doubtless be fallout from the Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair fiasco that closed the show last week, there’s still the tag team title match of The Usos defending against Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs to build, and Sami Zayn will probably rant and rave about conspiracies and Johnny Knoxville. . . Again, and the issue between Drew McIntyre and Happy Corbin will take up some portion of screen time. Well that’s enough preamble from me, let’s get to the action.

We open with a graphic dedicating the episode to the late Scott “Razor Ramon” Hall.

A recap of Roman Reigns assaulting Brock Lesnar in Madison Square Garden from a few weeks ago, then a reminder of the opening segment from last week. That brings us to live in Charlotte, North Carolina where Michael Cole and Pat McAfee welcome us to the broadcast.

Roman Reigns is out first tonight with his full entourage in tow. Once they reach the ring Heyman hands a mic to Roman, leading to Roman giving Charlotte the opportunity to acknowledge him. Roman is getting a more mixed reaction, the boos being a bit more obviously piped in. Roman says there’s plenty to be excited about, including this being the first time he and Brock will be face to face since he smashed him in Madison Square Garden. Heyman has a message on his phone, and has to unfortunately relay to us all that Brock Lesnar will not be here due to bad weather encountered during travel. Heyman apologizes but Roman looks unhappy. There’s a “We want Lesnar” chant that gains a bit of steam, and Roman understands, he wants Brock here as well. But we can’t blame Brock or the weather, that’s a business decision, the reality is Brock is scared of Roman Reigns. . . as he should be. Roman starts to go off, Heyman wants to give him new news but this time Roman doesn’t want to let him interrupt. Heyman looks scared and now says that Brock’s plane has just landed and he’s on his way here. Heyman freaking out his glorious. Roman knows what he’s going to do, he and the Bloodline are leaving and Heyman can wrap this up. Everyone heads out after that.

Commentary runs down the card for tonight.

In the back the Bloodline head for the parking lot, but here’s Brock with a smaller telehandler and he spears the windows out of the Bloodline’s SUV with the prongs as we go to break.

We come back to see Brock honking the horn on his telehandler before he uses it to lift the SUV by the roof and tip it over onto a side. I’d enjoy this more if the edits weren’t painfully obvious. After that the Bloodline got into a truck and headed out, with Brock chasing them and tearing the door off of the truck as they drove away. Brock then picked up the door and started walking to the ring with it. Back to the ring and here comes Brock with the door under his arm. Odds on Brock throwing that door and injuring someone in the crowd? Brock eventually gets into the ring and stalks around for a bit before getting a mic. He leans on the door before asking the audience to excuse him as he’s a little riled up. Brock tells Roman that he unleashed the bi-polar beast. Roman can run, or hide, but in two weeks at WrestleMania he’s gonna do more than blow the doors off of him. He’s coming for blood, and Roman better be prepared. Short but mostly sweet stuff from Brock there.

A recap of Boogs and Nakamura earning a title shot last week leads to Boogs on the stage. Boogs plays with the crowd before introducing Shinsuke Nakamura. They will be in action after the break.

We come back in time for the Los Lotharios Kiss Cam.

Match #1 – Tag Team Match: Rick Boogs and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Los Lotharios (Humberto and Angel)

Nakamura and Humberto start things off. Humberto avoids Nakamura then blows a kiss at him, which Nakamura catches and stomps on before imploring Humberto co “Come on”. Kicks from Nakmaura then a knee drop and some Good Vibrations in the corner. Nakamura puts Humberto on the top rope and lands a knee to the body. Side headlock from Nakamura, Humberto counters into one of his own before Angel makes the blind tag and blindsides Nakamura. Some double team moves from Humberto and Angel, then Angel removes his pants. Humberto tags back in and they work to isolate Nakamura. Double drop kick from Los Lotharios but they can’t keep Nakamura down. Nakamura fights back with kicks but misses an enziguri then Humberto drops an elbow and tags out. Angel retains control and lays into Nakamura with strikes. Humberto back in and cheap shots Boogs before Nakamura takes some tandem offense for a near fall. Nakamura fights back with a hip toss and tags out, as does Humberto. Boogs runs wild on Angel for a bit, then military presses Humberto for 10 reps then tosses him into Angel. Boogs blocks a chop from Angel, curls Angel a few times then hits him with the Boogs Cruise and pins to win.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Rick Boogs and Shinsuke Nakamura won

Rating: 2.5 stars

Nakamura doing the lion’s share of the work is probably smart, but I think he and Boogs have decent chemistry as a team.

A recap of Drew McIntyre fighting off four men last week leads to the Viking Raiders and Drew McIntyre coming to the ring. They’ll be in six man tag team action after the break.

As we come back our burly heroes wait in the ring for the bad guys. In the back Megan interviews said bad guys. She asks Corbin about the ambush backfiring last week, and Corbin says he ran over Drew and now he’s brought him down a few notches. Mania weekend will be the greatest in his life. Moss: “What do you call an episode of Happy Talk that puts everyone to sleep? Nappy Talk!” No one sells that, and Corbin looks like Moss kicked his dog. They head to the ring for the match.

Match #2 – Trios Match: Drew McIntyre and The Viking Raiders (Erik and Ivar) vs. Happy Corbin, Shanky, and Jinder Mahal w/ Madcap Moss

Erik attacks Shanky at the bell, but winds up running into a clothesline. Jinder tags in but Erik drills him with a spinebuster and lays in punches before tagging Ivar. Jinder gets run over by Ivar, then tries to fight back and tags in Corbin. Corbin hits Ivar but Ivar knocks him out of the ring then Ivar lays in punches before he gets caught in a spinebuster. Cheap shot to Drew, and Drew comes after Corbin as we head to break.

We come back to Jinder working over Ivar. Ivar starts fighting back up and sentons Jinder. Corbin tags in and cuts off the hot tag. Avalanche in the corner from Corbin. Jinder tries to attack Drew but Drew floors him with a Glasgow Kiss. Ivar avoids Corbin and tags Drew, Corbin instantly tags in Shanky to avoid Drew. Drew just runs over Shanky a few times, throws Jinder around then clotheslines him out of the ring before hitting a Michinoku Driver on Shanky. Claymore time, Drew sets for it and blasts Shanky then pins to win.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Drew McIntyre and the Viking Raiders won

Rating: 2 stars

I didn’t hate the interactions between Corbin and Drew, but the Raiders were almost an afterthought in the booking which is a shame.

We get a recap of Ricochet retaining the Intercontinental title last week. Sami Zayn is in the back, he blames Johnny Knoxville for not being champion right now. Knoxville is intent on bringing his world into Sami’s, so Sami wants to prove to Knoxville what it really takes to do this. Sami wants to make their WrestleMania match “Anything Goes”. That only makes sense, they’ll need tons of smoke and mirrors to make this work.

Naomi and Sasha Banks head to the ring, they’ll take on Rhea Riple and Liv Morgan after this break.

Carmella and Queen Zelina are sitting ringside for the match as we come back. All three of these teams will be on WrestleMania in a triple threat tag team match for the titles.

Match #3 – Tag Team Match: Sasha Banks and Naomi vs. Live for Brutality (Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan)

Banks and Morgan start us off, Naomi tags in quickly as they start to work on the arm of Morgan. Banks back in, she and Morgan trade holds then run the ropes resulting in Morgan avoiding a hip toss and shoving Banks. Time to throw strikes and Banks lands a chop then an arm drag. Morgan rolls up Banks for a 1 count. They trade various roll ups, both miss drop kicks then we get a stand off. Banks offers a handshake, Morgan accepts but Banks grabs a side headlock then tags Naomi. Naomi lands a kick then a split leg drop across the thighs. Jawbreaker from Morgan and she tags in Ripley. Ripley drop kicks Naomi. Naomi grabs a side headlock, but can’t get Ripley down with it. Ripley catches Naomi on her shoulders, but Banks is able to get a blind tag then knees Ripley in the face before hitting a satellite headscissors. Ripley blocks a snap suplex and hoists Banks up for a delayed suplex that sends Banks crashing to the mat. Morgan tags in but Banks hits a jawbreaker then tags out. Naomi with a slightly botched X-Factor, that was on Morgan. Morgan sends Naomi and Banks both out of the ring, tags Ripley and Ripley hits a cannonball senton from the apron onto both Banks and Naomi to send us to break.

Ripley is working over Naomi as we come back to action. Naomi avoids a suplex then hits a kick off of the second rope and both women are down. Both women tag out and Banks starts running wild with a kick to the face then a Meteora, and another one off of the second rope that gets a near fall. Morgan lands an enziguri then tags out, and hits Banks with a top rope drop kick for a 2 count. Ripley wants Riptide, but Banks counters into a Back Stabber, tags Naomi then hits a Vader Bomb followed by a split legged moonsault from Naomi and Morgan has to break up the pin. Morgan gets tossed out of the ring then Banks tags back in. Banks and Naomi put Ripley on the top rope and set for a double superplex but here’s Morgan back in so we get the usual Tower of Doom spot and everyone’s down. Here come Natalya and Shayna Baszler to attack everyone and end the match.

OFFICIAL RESULT: No Contest

Rating: 2.5 stars

Things were going well before the ending. Everyone starts brawling, Carmella and Zelina get involved and the faces get beaten down. Carmella and Zelina pose with their belts, then Baszler and Natalya give them predatory looks and the champs start to look nervous. Some pointing at the Mania sign follows.

A video from Johnny Knoxville, he’s made a career out of disregarding common sense. He’s done a lot of dumb things, and while Sami Zayn is awful to look at and a terrible human being, he is a good competitor. But to make a match with Johnny Knoxville anything goes? He accepts, and tells Sami that Sami is toast.

Pat McAfee is summoned to Mr. McMahon’s office and he leaves the commentary desk as we head to break.

Natalya and Baszler walk in the back, Sonya Deville finds them and loves what they did so she adds them to the tag team title match at Mania.

We get a recap of last week when Austin Theory slapped McAfee and this time McAfee jumped the table and beat him down. We then see McAfee coming out of a room labeled “Mr. McMahon” and he starts heading back to the ring. McAfee gets in the ring and gets a mic. He says on some random Monday when he was 11 years old he stumbled onto a no name network that changed his life forever. When he saw professional wrestling for the first time it changed him immediately, it shaped him forever on that Monday night when all hell was breaking loose. That was the thing he believed he was put on this Earth to do, and while other professions got in the way after he’d retired he got a call from Michael Cole offering him a spot on Friday Night Smackdown and he could only say “Hell Yeah”. Austin Theory’s music cuts him off, presumably because Theory realized that McAfee was just upstaging every promo he’s ever done. Theory heads to the ring and asks if McAfee has something for him. McAfee says it was suggested that he apologize to Theory or else lose his dream as well as his Mania match. McAfee starts to apologize a few times and eventually says he’s sorry for beating his ass last week, he’s sorry that Theory’s parents raised a douchebag, he’s sorry that he made Theory’s filter face relevant, and he’s sorry that Theory is a punk bitch. Theory smiles, shoves McAfee and jumps out of the ring. He’s claiming moral victory because he got an apology I guess?

A recap of heavy machinery related shenanigans from earlier in the show. McAfee has rejoined the broadcast booth as Kofi Kingston heads to the ring all by his lonesome. Kofi will try and avoid career threatening injury when he takes on Ridge Holland after this break.

Post break we get a recap of last week when Ridge Holland almost killed Big E, and the series of social media statements from Big E giving updates on his condition. After that here comes Sheamus and party.

Match #4: Kofi Kingston vs. Ridge Holland w/ Sheamus and Butch

Kofi attacks Holland at the bell, Holland grabs a side headlock while commentary tells us that Holland apologized in some capacity. Sure. Holland tosses Kofi around before Kofi low bridges him and hits a punt kick from the apron then hits a sort of trust fall where Holland pulls a Miz and doesn’t make any effort to catch him. That sends us to break. Seriously, why is Holland still on TV with his track record?

We come back to Kofi and Holland trading blows before Holland lands a back elbow and grabs a chin lock. Kofi fights back with a jawbreaker then he avoids an uppercut and lands kicks to the body and leg. Chops from Kofi as he tries to fire up, he hits a drop kick and avoids a clothesline then hits a jumping clothesline. Boom Drop from Kofi, he wants the Trouble in Paradise but Holland catches him then sets him down. Sheamus and Butch get involved and Kofi winds up dumped off of the top rope. The ref sees just enough of that to eject Sheamus and Butch. Holland is upset, Kofi rolls him up for 2. Kofi avoids Northern Grit and hits a double knee strike. Kofi tosses the shillelagh at Sheamus, Butch charges the ring and distracts Kofi long enough for Holland to hit Northern Grit and pin to win.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Ridge Holland won

Rating: 2 stars

Adequate, which is more than can be said for most of Ridge Holland’s outings.

We get a recap of the issue between Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair and what went down last week. That was a rough segment live and even the video highlights can’t salvage it. After that here comes Poochie to the ring, she’ll talk (and talk and talk and talk) once this break is over.

Post break Charlotte has a mic, God help us all. She claims to always have a plan, and last week she showed Ronda Rousey why she’s the best in sports entertainment history. No one has caused Ronda more pain than Charlotte (Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes are both obvious counter points). She claims Ronda was seconds away from tapping before the officials broke things up. That was just a taste of things to come. In the back Ronda watches TV at an odd angle while Charlotte desperately tries to get the crowd to care. Charlotte is the mountain you have to climb to make a legacy here, and when she beats Ronda at Mania then Ronda will cut and run again. Ronda doesn’t have the spine or the love to do this. Charlotte doesn’t want to “Rate” until Mania to eviscerate Ronda again, so she invites her down and gives a “Woo”. Ronda obliges, she starts walking to the ring. Charlotte drops her mic, and gets a kendo stick to menace Ronda. Ronda cares not at all, she avoids Charlotte and starts laying in strikes before going for the armbar and Charlotte runs out of the ring. Ronda tries to follow but gets pulled off of the apron. Charlotte tries to post Ronda but Ronda counters and shoves her a few times then counters a boot with another ankle lock. Charlotte gets another kendo stick and uses it to escape. Ronda still wont tap, so Charlotte powerbombs her though the announcers table to stand tall. Feels like they badly missed the timing there as we have to end a few minutes early.