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From Mandy Rose and Otis Dozovic’s Valentine’s Day drama to Bray Wyatt and Hulk Hogan’s split-screen dispute over Goldberg, this week's episode of SmackDown featured several contrasting moments.
The show felt like an entertaining dose of Blue brand shenanigans from start-to-finish. There seemed to be a heavy focus on the “Entertainment” side of WWE this week, and despite the episode’s faults, Bruce Prichard has done a great job of making SmackDown more engaging than it has ever been in the past few months.
Here are the 5 Biggest News Stories from this week's episode of WWE SmackDown (February 14, 2020).
#5: Bayley defeated Carmella as Naomi entered the SmackDown Women's Title picture
At the beginning of the episode, “A Moment of Bliss” set up Carmella and Bayley’s SmackDown Women’s Title Match to kick off the show.
Before the match itself, Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross divulged into the topic of celebrity crushes and Carmella’s past friendship with Bayley.
Both of these elements didn’t feel as necessary as compared to the rest of the show since Carmella would eventually lose her title shot and the Brad Pitt mention may have been a publicity ploy.
Bayley and Carmella put on a decent contest that was further complemented by a hyped crowd in Vancouver.
The Women’s Division feud played out for at least a quarter of the night’s proceedings, which sounds good, but we all knew that Naomi was the real deal here.
Setting up Carmella to lose in a stretched premise didn’t provide us with any whopping new details, except that either or both Naomi and Carmella may face Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at the upcoming Super ShowDown event.
We could even be looking at a Triple Threat Match in the end. But as of now, Naomi seems to have the most momentum as Bayley’s next challenger.
#4: Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan defeated The Miz & John Morrison in the main event
Roman Reigns was announced to take on The Miz & John Morrison with a surprise partner at the end of the episode.
Daniel Bryan turned out to be that surprise partner, and with all due respect to Bryan, WWE has a knack of baiting fans with surprise reveals without backing up with the actual “surprise” itself. Daniel Bryan is an active member of the SmackDown roster, and that didn’t come off as a huge surprise since we also know that Miz and Bryan are some of the most infamous rivals of this generation.
Bryan and Reigns also defeated their opponents last night, which can be quite confusing from a booking standpoint since Miz & Morrison are the top contenders for New Day’s Tag Team Titles right now.
Why have two of the most famous singles stars defeated a Tag Team that is supposed to take on the Tag Team Champions at WWE Super ShowDown in just a few weeks?
Putting Bryan and Reigns over in the main event gives a positive ending to the episode, but it doesn’t help with the long-term scenario at hand.
#3: Elias and Braun Strowman crashed Sami Zayn and Cesaro’s protest concert
Sami Zayn and Cesaro staged a protest concert during the episode. As expected, Elias interrupted the proceedings to overwhelming fanfare. The Drifter staged his own counter-protest in a sarcastic manner.
The fiasco transitioned into a 2-on-1 brawl after a while, and the Intercontinental Champion, Braun Strowman would come out to save Elias.
This sounds like a very simple premise for a weekly episode of Friday Night SmackDown, but the Vancouver audience turned this into a bigger moment than it would have been in any other city.
The “Walk With Elias” chants made it easier for Sami Zayn and Cesaro to play off as annoyed heels in the segment.
It led to a moment where Cesaro baited fans into thinking that he was actually going to play the cowbell. When he threw it away, the live audience was furious, which just goes on to show how underrated Cesaro is.
Even if the whole segment wasn’t heavy on plot developments, the performers and the audience made it one of the most engaging moments of the night.
#2: Bray Wyatt and Hulk Hogan had a split-screen confrontation ahead of WWE Super ShowDown
Hulk Hogan appeared to discuss his upcoming induction into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the nWo.
Michael Cole conducted the interview and Hogan made his presence felt via satellite.
Hulk Hogan was his usual self, hyping up his upcoming Hall of Fame induction as a part of the nWo, until Bray Wyatt interrupted the interview with his own parody of Hogan’s faction.
This was a great moment in general. The business has evolved from “Hulkamania” to a complex character like “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt, and this was apparent during the split-screen confrontation last night.
Wyatt has consecutively been on the air with legends like Goldberg and Hulk Hogan now. This elevates his stock as WrestleMania 36 looms in the distance.
More than that, Hogan stormed off – just like Goldberg last week – when Wyatt mentioned about how The Hulkster could be The Fiend’s next victim.
This was one of those segments where WWE attracted viewers with the promise of a small dose of nostalgia, and instead, built upon the important future at hand.
#1: Mandy Rose broke Otis Dozovic’s heart on Valentine’s Day
A vocal section of the WWE Universe has no interest in seeing melodramatic segments on WWE TV.
While Mandy Rose and Otis Dozovic’s love saga can be off-putting for people who solely tune in for the wrestling, it is still one of the best examples of “Entertainment” done right in WWE.
Majority of the fans have expressed how these segments have done a great job at building Otis as one of the most underrated stars on SmackDown.
From Otis preparing for his big night to the hilarious video package, the build-up to Otis and Mandy’s Valentine’s Day “date” was perfect.
As suspected, the major conflict of the night was introduced in the form of Dolph Ziggler, who ended up having dinner with Mandy just when Otis showed up.
There is a universal demand for stories where the everyday, common man (Otis) has to fight against a dashing hotshot (Dolph Ziggler) to seal his fate with the woman of his dreams (Mandy Rose).
A love triangle is where this storyline seems to be headed, and unlike Rusev, Bobby Lashley and Lana’s overdone love triangle on RAW, Otis just became the most sympathetic character on SmackDown after this week’s episode.
