WWE SmackDown Results: March 10, 2016

The show, taped in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, opens with an advertised episode of Miz TV with Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, who comes out first. The Miz, in true heel form, takes time to bash Zayn until Owens makes his way to the ring, which draws out Neville. In the fray, Miz attacks Zayn, and that sets up the first match of the evening.

Zayn’s main roster return on Monday was one of the most truly exciting moments in months, particularly for an actual in-ring talent. The story between he and Owens feels genuine due to their long history together, and that’s good for the promotion.

Zayn/Neville def. Miz/Owens

Owens brings back his “doesn’t play well with others” schtick for this one, bailing on the Miz. That allows Zayn to get the pin on the “Hollywood A-Lister.”

This feels like more build to a multi-man match for the white and gold strap at Wrestlemania. It’s somewhat disappointing if AJ Styles isn’t also involved, but Zayn and Owens could make the match worth it on their own.

If they’re planning on going the ladder match route, it might be best to go ahead and make that a tradition now. To be clear, the prospect of Neville on the biggest stage in all of professional wrestling in a ladder match has lots of exciting potential.

Brie Bella def. Summer Rae

Bella gets Summer Rae to tap out, but that leads to Lana – who had been on commentary – attacking Brie.

This is such a random build to a match. It’s encouraging to see that Lana is actually going to be used as an in-ring performer because that means she’s been training, but it would’ve been nice to get some explanation as to why Lana doesn’t like Brie Bella and why these two should be dueling, seemingly at Wrestlemania. The Divas division desperately needs deeper stories, but they need to make sense.

Up next is a heel promo from Chris Jericho – who is very good at it – about his very temporary tag team partner AJ Styles and the fans who supported that pairing. He even sets a Y2AJ shirt on fire in a trash can and makes it clear that team is over. Styles interrupts, but for some reason, The Ascension returns from whatever storage unit they’ve been hiding in to attack him. Jericho leaves, while Styles takes out The Ascension before staring down Jericho.

The Ascension’s involvement here is odd, but that’s not the strangest part of this scenario. Jericho being Styles’ first feud in the WWE was questionable enough, but to pair them as a team for two matches before giving them a title shot, only to break them up again immediately, is downright confusing.

Added to that, the tag match they put on with the New Day was incredible, and it’s a real shame those two didn’t get a chance to maybe hold the belts going into WrestleMania. It’s hard to get excited about these two having their fourth match in the last two months, which is seemingly the plan for WrestleMania now.

League of Nations (Wade Barrett/Sheamus) def. Lucha Dragons

Barrett hits Sin Cara with the Bullhammer to pick up a rare victory, which protects United States Champion Kalisto.

This loss seems to play into Ryback’s recent promo when he told Kalisto that Sin Cara was holding him back. Who knows what direction that will go, but it’s decent storytelling to give Kalisto something to think about. As for the League of Nations, it’d be nice to see them get involved in the tag team division if they’re going to stick around, but Rusev should be part of that equation.

Speaking of Ryback, he’s up for a backstage promo about Kalisto, and it’s gotten fairly obvious the two of them are headed for a feud at Wrestlemania. If the creative team can avoid awkward promos by “The Big Guy” like the one on Monday, this could actually be a really good feud. Kalisto is pure excitement, and Ryback has really added to his repertoire while blossoming as a bruising tweener.

Dean Ambrose/Dolph Ziggler/The Usos def. The Wyatts

Nothing says Smackdown quite like an illogical pairing of faces and/or heels to close out the show. Fortunately, this is a fun match that showed some promise, but it also doesn’t do much to answer questions about the Wyatts’ next program.

Surely the most intimidating faction in the WWE has to have some involvement in the company’s biggest show, and that should be something outside of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale.

Perhaps Monday’s thrilling staredown between Bray Wyatt and Triple H was foreshadowing that Bray is ready to gun for belts, but he has to pick up some big wins first. That should begin Saturday with a victory over Brock Lesnar, which could easily come through dirty tactics.