5 Things We Learned From SmackDown Last Night

Following a very good Royal Rumble PPV on Sunday night, SmackDown this week came at us as the first show for the blue brand on the road to WrestleMania.

And to say that tonight’s show was a bit of a letdown would be accurate. While WWE surely has some big things ahead for us as we await New Orleans in April, this was a show that felt very average in a lot of ways.

SmackDown this week appeared to build up next week’s show (which should be great) more than it did to produce a great show this week. So while we will all be excited to tune in next Tuesday, this week felt like a commercial for that broadcast seven days from now.

So what all did we learn on this week’s SmackDown, and what should we be ready for next week? Read on and find out.

1. Fastlane Is Coming At Us…Fast

There was some scandal when it came to the WWE title match on Sunday night.

For those who missed the match, AJ Styles reversed a pop up powerbomb attempt from Kevin Owens and pinned him in the opening match of the PPV. However, an instant replay review revealed that Owens missed a tag from Sami Zayn ever so slightly, so Owens technically was not the legal man.

SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan announced on SmackDown this week that Owens and Zayn will face off on next week’s SmackDown for a chance to face champion AJ Styles at WWE Fastlane.

Later, in the show’s main event, Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura faced the team of Owens and Zayn. The alliance between Zayn and Owens slowly broke down throughout the match, with arguments, ignoring each other’s requests for tags, and eventually a walk-out by Zayn.

This eventually evolved into a shouting match that allowed Styles to shove Owens into Zayn and roll up Owens for a near fall. Following that, Zayn was mad at his partner and bailed to the back.

Owens was eventually pinned following a Kinshasa from Shinsuke Nakamura as Zayn watched on a television in the back. Renee Young asked him if this was the end of their friendship, to which Zayn replied “nope.” He said this is all about opportunity and Kevin understands this. He mentioned all of the titles that Owens has won and said its his time to shine, which means he will defeat his partner next week and go on to become WWE champion.

2. Rusev Day Rises Again

There was a four-way match to determine a number one contender for Bobby Roode’s U.S. championship. The winner of the match earned the right to go on to challenge Roode, you guessed it, on next week’s SmackDown broadcast.

Rusev went on to defeat Zack Ryder, Kofi Kingston, and Jinder Mahal to earn that right. This was the right decision as Rusev was, by far, the most over guy in the ring when it came to crowd reactions. How can you not love this guy?

3. Hey, Remember These Guys?

The Bludgeon Brothers (along with their fantastic entrance and ring gear) were back once again to destroy a pair of local talents.

This duo was doing great things in decimating everyone put in their path for several weeks but have kind of faded from the limelight in recent weeks as we moved toward the Royal Rumble where they lacked a role.

Expect to see more focus on the Bludgeons as we move toward Fastlane and especially WrestleMania. There’s still big things in their future when the feud between the Usos and Gable and Benjamin wraps up.

4. Time To Build Them Back Up?

Speaking of tag teams, it was pretty surprising when the Usos defeated Gable and Benjamin at the Royal Rumble in two straight falls. What had started out as a pretty entertaining match never really got the opportunity to build into something special.

So much time was spent building up Gable and Benjamin as legitimate title threats, so that would lead us to believe that WWE isn’t done with them and that they aren’t done with the Usos.

Their first step in getting back into a title match came on this week’s show as they quickly disposed of Breezango in a rare television match for the former backstage skit aficionados.

5. Carmella Remains the Wild Card

While we have to assume that Charlotte Flair will walk into WrestleMania 34 as SmackDown women’s champion, Carmella remains a wild card on the horizon.

The holder of the Money in the Bank briefcase got involved with Charlotte this week. Charlotte took part in an in ring interview with Renee Young, complimenting the women’s Rumble, talking about holding the title until Mania, mentioning Ronda Rousey, and wondering aloud who her opponent will be at Mania.

This brought out the Riott Squad. Ruby accused Charlotte of being arrogant and the entire Squad left Charlotte laying.

While she’s kind of been forgotten in recent weeks, that cash in has to be coming. She’s held the briefcase for over six months now. Perhaps we even see it cashed in at WrestleMania?

Other Thoughts From This Week’s Show

• Tye Dillinger was defeated by Baron Corbin. Both men had told Shane that they are deserving of a title shot, so I guess this put’s Corbin in the conversation again.

• Daniel Bryan made an awkward cell phone selfie video (yes, they’re still doing it) announcing their top ten list that will be made for title contenders. Did I mention it was awkward?
• Speaking of Bryan, is he still gravitating toward the heel side? Or has that been forgotten?