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The IC title, along with the other mid-card mania feuds once again garnered a lot of the attention on this week’s Smackdown. Below are the complete spoilers for the March 12th tapings from Detroit.
Spoilers
-Daniel Bryan open the show with an in ring promo. He officially declares that he is entering the IC ladder match at Wrestlemania. Bryan, Barrett, Ziggler, Stardust, Ambrose, Harper all end up brawling in the ring while Truth is shown on the tron with the championship belt.
-Cesaro, Tyson Kidd, Los Matadores defeated The Usos, New Day (Kofi & Woods) in a great bout. One of the Matadors pinned Kofi to score the victory.
-Rusev v John Cena video package airs
-Ryback defeated The Miz who didn’t have Mizdow at ringside. There were some chants for Mizdow throughout the match.
-Roman Reigns cuts an in ring promo about Lesnar/Heyman before being interrupted by a returning Mark Henry. Henry tells him that he needs to earn the respect of the fans and the other guys in the locker room. Reigns ends up laying Henry out with a Superman punch before spearing him.
-Undertaker v Bray Wyatt video package airs
-Paige & AJ Lee defeat Summer Rae & Cameron when Paige makes Summer tap out. The Bella Twins were on commentary.
-Backstage interview with Mark Henry
-A Randy Orton backstage interview
-Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Dean Ambrose defeated Bad News Barrett, Luke Harper, Stardust in the main event when Bryan hit the running knees on Harper. Michael Cole interviews Bryan, Ziggler and Ambrose in the ring post match. The faces start showing jealousy amongst each other and Ambrose leaves after calling Bryan a turd. Ziggler also calls Bryan a turd before leaving. Bryan asks fans if he's a turd and they start a "no!" chant. Bryan thanks fans to close the show.
Analysis
After weeks of interaction with the IC title, Bryan has officially announced his participation in the ladder match at Wrestlemania 31. Just recently it was also announced on WWE.com that Stardust will indeed compete in the match. The ladder match fields seems set now with Barrett, Ambrose, Truth, Ziggler, Harper, Bryan, Stardust and with the possibilities that Goldust and/or Sheamus could join (but this seems unlikely now and would probably be a bad move). The IC ladder match feud has been gaining a lot of attention lately and looks to steal the show.
The tag champs along with Matadores, Usos and New Day all delivered a solid 8 man tag match. A straight Cesaro/Kidd v Usos rematch at mania may have been more appealing to many but it now seems likely that the tag titles will be defended in a multi team bout. A multi team bout will still be solid but will probably get relegated to the pre-show. WWE could have a mania pre-show elimination tag bout between Usos, New Day, Los Matadores, Ascension, PTP to determine who will face the tag champs on the main card. Usos could win and then go on to deliver a classic bout with Cesaro & Kidd (who should retain).
We were also provided with a taste of what it will be like to see AJ and Paige tag at mania as they united on Smackdown to defeat Cameron and Summer Rae.
We also saw the return of Mark Henry whose interaction with Reigns suggests a possible match between the two on the upcoming episode of Monday Night Raw.
The aftermath of the main event also displayed some tension between the three main babyfaces in the IC ladder match, Bryan, Ziggler and Ambrose.
The road to Wrestlemania is heating up while the focus of this week’s Smackdown tapings once again centred on the IC title, Tag Team title and other mid-card mania 31 feuds.
