WWE Smackdown spoilers & analysis for March 19th 2015

Smackdown spoilers & analysis

This week’s WWE Smackdown tapings for the 19th March comes to you from Kansas City. Once again the IC title feud was a major storyline but the main event of Smackdown this week saw the focus shift to the higher profile feud of Rollins v Orton while also including Reigns in the mix. Below are the complete spoilers/results:

Spoilers

- Roman Reigns opens Smackdown with an in ring promo. He speaks about Lesnar before being interrupted by Mark Henry. Henry praises Reigns and says that he has earned his respect. The Authority comes out mocking them while Rollins teases a possible cash in at Wrestlemania. Rollins also declares the Orton won’t be here tonight because security will be keeping him out of the arena. Kane announces the main event will be himself & Rollins v Reigns & Henry.

- Paige defeats Brie Bella with a roll up. Nikki was at ringside while AJ Lee was on commentary.

AJ Lee was on commentary this week

- An IC gauntlet match begins next which will feature all competitors of the mania ladder match except the champion Barrett. The match starts with Dean Ambrose who eliminates Stardust fairly quickly. R-Truth is out next but is soon eliminated by Ambrose as well. Luke Harper is out next and eventually defeats Ambrose. Bryan enters next to a huge standing ovation. The crowd is super into the action and Bryan ends up making Harper tap out. Dolph Ziggler enters last to another huge pop. The crowd was now even more into the in-ring action. Ziggler eventually won with a Zig Zag in a fantastic bout.

- Bad News Barret comes out cutting a promo and nails Ziggler in the face with his title. He blocks a running knee from Bryan before hitting him with the mic.

- Cesaro, Tyson Kidd, Natalya face Los Matadores and El Torito. Natalya picks up the win for her team with a powerbomb to Torito.

- The tag team main event is set to begin, but Henry is nowhere to be seen. A camera shot shows him knocked out backstage. The match now became a 2 on 1 handicap match. Reigns still ends up winning though with a spear to Kane.

- The Authority storms the ring post-match and beat down Reigns. Orton’s music plays and the crowd go wild. The babyfaces cleared the ring as Orton hit an RKO on everyone except Rollins who managed to slither away and escape.

The IC title feud has been the focus on Smackdown

Analysis

A huge portion of this week shows seems to be dedicated to the IC gauntlet which should be an incredible bout. The build-up for the IC ladder match has been quite interesting and has built a lot of anticipation for the final showdown. The battle between Bryan and Ziggler during this gauntlet match should be especially entertaining. Somewhat surprisingly Ziggler was the one to come out victorious this week on the show.

The divas were once again apparently given more time and AJ should be very entertaining to listen to on commentary, as she normally is.

The tag team champions along with Natalya picked up another win in what should still be a fun bout while hopefully minimising the goofiness of labelling it an ‘interspecies’ match.

The main event saw the feud between Orton & Rollins showcased while also allowing Reigns to build more momentum for his looming encounter with the champ, Brock Lesnar. Reigns and Lesnar have had minimal interaction thus far but are scheduled to go face to face on the final Raw before mania. It’s highly likely that some sort of (much needed) brawl will break out. It’s also possible that the Orton v Rollins feud will again ramp up the physicality.

The road to Wrestlemania 31 is heating up and with only one more Raw and Smackdown before the biggest show of the year, look for WWE to go all out in building anticipation.