Best and Worst of SmackDown: Underperforming star to get a title shot at WrestleMania, Cody Rhodes makes first major failure since returning to WWE (March 3rd, 2023)

Welcome to this week's edition of the best and worst of SmackDown. The first episode of SmackDown in March was a solid show in the build-up to WrestleMania 39.

There were certainly a lot of feuds and matches teased, we also got the first interactions between certain top stars. There were a few ups and a few downs on the show, so let's jump right into it:

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#3. Best: A six-man ladder match at WrestleMania 39

Drew McIntyre was the first to make his presence known as Gunther's potential Intercontinental title opponent at WrestleMania. A furious Sheamus came out, calling McIntyre a backstabbing ba**ard because of how much the title means to him.

LA Knight, Kofi Kingston, and Karrion Kross also made their presence known, and it led to a brawl between them.

It seems clear that we're heading for a six-man ladder match at WrestleMania for the Intercontinental title. However, we do feel that the underperforming Karrion Kross isn't the best addition.

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#2. Worst: Cody Rhodes doesn't step up his promo game in the most important segment of his career

Cody Rhodes had one of the biggest promos and confrontations of his career, and he was absolutely crushed by the more confident Roman Reigns.

Perhaps it was a bit of character work, but The American Nightmare didn't emanate the same confidence that we've seen him have since he returned to WWE.

It was, unfortunately, one of his weakest promos since returning, and we hope that he is able to step it up the more he confronts Roman Reigns.

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#2. Best: Dominik Mysterio the heat magnet

Dominik Mysterio has been WWE's best heat magnet and is one of the best heels in wrestling right now. He, along with the rest of The Judgment Day, is operating on another level, and he got even more heat this week when Rhea Ripley helped him beat Santos Escobar.

He made things worse by taking the mask that Rey Mysterio gifted Santos Escobar and ripping it apart. Escobar's reaction to this was brilliant, and Rey Mysterio came out to confront his son, only to be unable to hit him.

Dominik ended the segment by nudging his father down and standing tall. We can't wait to see an arena of over 80,000 people boo him when he faces his father at The Show of Shows.

The Judgment Day seems to be slowly taking over SmackDown.

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#1. Worst: The Bobby Lashley-Uncle Howdy segment on SmackDown

Bobby Lashley called out Bray Wyatt this week on SmackDown and was met with a surprise attack from Uncle Howdy instead. He would proceed to get the better of Uncle Howdy before the lights went pitch black and the latter disappeared.

It was a poor segment, and we can't help but feel that Bobby Lashley vs. Bray Wyatt is a big mismatch for WrestleMania 39.

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#1. Best: Making Sami Zayn look good even in defeat

We were admittedly upset at first when Sami Zayn lost in the main event of SmackDown, as our mentality was that WWE was overprotecting Solo Sikoa. However, in classic Triple H fashion, things took a turn, and Sami Zayn stood tall when Jimmy Uso failed to get the job done in terms of destroying the Canadian.

While Jimmy Uso helped Solo Sikoa beat Sami Zayn in the main event of SmackDown, the specific instructions given to Jimmy was to destroy Sami. As it is, Roman Reigns has told Paul Heyman that Jimmy Uso will be held responsible if Jey doesn't return to the Bloodline by next week.

The layers of storytelling on SmackDown have been fantastic to watch, and everybody in this storyline has been knocking the ball out of the park.