BRM Reviews the 2/26/2021 Smackdown

[Big Red Machine]

OPENING SEGMENT- AWESOME!
Roman came out and was a fantastic heel. I love how he bragged about beating Bryan by talking about how much he wasn’t bragging about it because he didn’t have to. Tremendous heel hypocrisy. Then he used all of his heel bravado to offer Edge a chance to back out of their Mania match, letting us know that Roman might be worried.
Daniel Bryan came out and was also great, maneuvering Roman into a spot where Roman would have had to point out his own hypocrisy to explain why he didn’t demand the main event spot he usually does. Then Jey Uso played his role wonderfully, getting in Bryan’s face so Roman never had to answer the question. Roman then cut a promo on Bryan, distracting him so that Uso could attack and lay Bryan out. Uso had also challenged Bryan to a match where if Bryan wins, Bryan gets a title shot at Fast Lane.

They’re hyping up that Bianca Belair will announce her WrestleMania opponent tonight. That’d be a lot easier for me to believe if they hadn’t hyped up other shows like this in the past. A

EDGE, ADAM PEARCE, & SONYA DEVILLE BACKSTAGE- bad
Pearce & Deville are talking to each other about how great Bianca’s potential WrestleMania match-ups are like a bunch of marks. I get that it makes sense for them to talk about it, but WWE has not figured out how to do so in a way there they don’t come off as shills for the camera we’re supposed to pretend isn’t there.
Then Edge showed up. Why is Edge allowed to be here? He’s on Raw. You switch shows if you win the title; not just if you feud with the champion (otherwise, everyone would be allowed on every show during Survivor Series season).
Anyway, Edge is upset that Daniel Bryan is getting a title shot before him, even though Bryan was in the same Rumble that Edge won. This sort of thing always happens and no one has a problem with it. Did Edge expect there not to be a Universal Title defense at Fast Lane? Is this twenty-year veteran not aware of the way WWE’s schedule works?

THE BLOODLINE BACKSTAGE- fine
Jey apologizes to Roman for challenging Bryan to a match without Roman’s permission. Roman tells him there is nothing to apologize for “so long as you get the job done.”

EDGE, PEARCE, & DEVILLE BACKSTAGE- bad
Okay. So Edge is upset because he was told the Fast Lane match would be him and Bryan vs. Roman and Jey. That’s a little more understandable to be upset about, but I still stand by my objections to his original comment. If this is what Edge was upset about, he should have said this in that first segment.
Pearce has no good defense for his actions, and manages to offend Edge as well by telling him that a title match is a bigger match than him and someone else vs. the champ and his lackey. I’m not saying Pearce is wrong (he’s not, and Edge should understand that and looks bad for not understanding it), but a company official should be able to say that more tactfully.

THE MYSTERIOS vs. ALPHA ACADEMY (Chad Gable & Otis Dozovic)- 4.75/10
I appear to have missed Otis turning heel last week by getting himself DQed and then attacking Rey after a match. Rey’s ribs are taped up from said attack. Otis and Gabel won clean here when Otis hit Rey with a top-rope splash. How did it take them so long to figure out that a guy with Otis’ body should be using a top-rope splash as his finisher?

Apparently Apollo completed his heel turn last week by attacking Big E. to the point where he had to be stretchered off. Wow. I missed a lot in one week. I didn’t expect any of that on a go-home show..

APOLLO CREWS EXPLAINS HIS HEEL TURN- good
I’m sure I’m in the minority here, but I mostly liked this. Yes, having a great-grandfather who was royalty back in the old country is campy, but it makes this less generic than every other “I’m turning heel because being a babyface wasn’t working for me” turn. It also makes the whole “the humble guy you’ve known for years isn’t the real me” thing work a little better.
The only thing I didn’t like was when he started speaking with an African-English accent, and it’s entirely possible that my dislike of that is just PTSD from Booker T using that accent during the “I’m just here for my big paycheck” part of his TNA run.

APOLLO CREWS vs. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA- 6.5/10
Crews won relatively cleanly with an Olympic Slam.

PAUL HEYMAN TELLS ROMAN REIGNS THAT THE STIPS OF THE BRYAN VS. USO MATCH HAVE BEEN MADE OFFICIAL- good
They made the point that if Bryan won, the tag match at Fast Lane would be off, which did a good job of subtly building up the idea that Roman doubts his ability to beat Edge.

LIV MORGAN (w/Ruby Riott) vs. TAMINA (w/Natalya)- 2/10
Neither wrestler got her entrance shown. Tamina won a match that didn’t even go four minutes. Michael Cole spent the whole match telling us thinks that Nattie and Tamina have supposedly felt and told him. This sort of thing would be a lot more effective fi we actually heard it from the wrestlers themselves.

BIANCA BELAIR MAKES HER DECISION- meh
She is immediately interrupted by Reginald. Why is this goof getting so much TV time all of a sudden? He’s not even a good promo?
Sasha Banks came out and was an annoying heel. I imagine that she was trying to be annoying, but this babyface run has been littered with segments and promo where she was trying to be likable but achieved the opposite effect, so who knows. Bianca cut a promo on Sasha and agreed to challenge her at WrestleMania.

SAMI ZAYN & BARON CORBIN BACKSTAGE- didn’t like it
I can’t call this bad, but unless this tag team is actually happening, this was an annoying waste of time. What benefit is there to having these two feud? They’ve both been so heelish and annoying that you’re not going to be able to redeem them quickly.

SAMI ZAYN & BARON CORBIN vs. THE STREET PROFITS- 4.5/10
Both announcers agree that it’s ridiculous that the Street Profits weren’t just handed a rematch for the tag titles. Okay… so hasn’t management given them that rematch yet? Does do they just not five a sh*t?
The babyfaces won because Corbin got annoyed at Zayn’s documentary crew for filming him, and this distracted Sami Zayn.
Roode & Ziggler were shown watching backstage, doing their best approximation of frat boys trying to act cool.

KAYLA BRAXTON INTERVIEWS DANIEL BRYAN- fine
Bryan cut a good promo. Edge showed up to take issue with stuff Bryan said that made Edge look childish. They teased a WrestleMania match between them.

SETH ROLLINS IS INTERRUPTED BY CESARO- bad
I don’t understand why Cesaro doesn’t just kick Seth’s ass for attacking him a few weeks ago. Why is letting Seth jabber on?
Anyway, Rollins puts Cesaro over, but then asks him why he always “seems to come up short.” Seth says it’s because Cesaro lacks “killer instinct” and offers to teach Cesaro. You can say this is unfair of me, but I’ve heard Seth run his mouth so much over the past year that I’m not going to like any segment that involves him running his mouth like this when there is no reason for the babyface to listen to him instead of kicking his ass.
Eventually, Cesaro just kicked Rollins’ ass, so why did he wait so f*cking long?

IF DANIEL BRYAN WINS, HE EARNS A WWE UNIVERSAL TITLE MATCH AT FAST LANE 2021: Daniel Bryan vs. Jey Uso- 7.25/10
Bryan’s knee was worked over. They went to a double-count-out, so Bryan doesn’t get his title match.
Uso kept attacking Bryan but Bryan got the Yes Lock. Roman made the save for Jey but Bryan got the Yes Lock on him until Jey broke it with a superkick. Roman speared Bryan and then locked in the guillotine just because.
I just don’t get the booking here. Everything they had done seemed to be specifically setting up Roman making sure Bryan won (likely with an attack for a DQ) so that Roman didn’t have to face Edge in a tag match at the PPV. Why would they not follow through on that?


This was an okay episode of Smackdown. I will give them credit that the show really feels like it has been shaken up in the past month or so… but it’s still WWE and I have some well-earned skepticism towards most directions that they decide to take… and I think the booking of the main event after everything that set it up is a good example of why.

[XIV]

My main issue with how the built the tag match vs title match thing is I was waiting for Edge to make the save at the end, which he didn’t.

Now, if they’re using that as a subtle build to Bryan v Edge in the future, I’m down with that. I think we all want to see that happen.

But if it’s not, then Edge should be making the save to build the tag match idea.

[Big Red Machine]

My main issue with how the built the tag match vs title match thing is I was waiting for Edge to make the save at the end, which he didn’t.

Now, if they’re using that as a subtle build to Bryan v Edge in the future, I’m down with that. I think we all want to see that happen.

But if it’s not, then Edge should be making the save to build the tag match idea.

This.