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After a great episode of NXT at the WWE Performance Center, the Blue brand headed to the arena to show what the other top brand of WWE is capable of.
There were a couple of returns scheduled for the show along with a few top appearances from stars like Jeff Hardy, Paige, and the legendary John Cena. However, Paige was unable to make it to the show due to some travel issues.
Apart from that, there were a few great matches that took place during the show in the build-up to WrestleMania 36. The Women’s Tag Team Champions scene finally seems to be shaping up after all these months, and it will be interesting to see if the title will be on the line at WrestleMania 36.
Bray Wyatt was allowed to leave a mark on Cena which was another great segment that will help develop their rivalry before they take it to the ring at WrestleMania.
Most interestingly, we saw Daniel Bryan make a new friend who could help him get even better while getting the rub himself.
In this article, we will look at the 5 things that the creatives got right on this week’s SmackDown from the Performance Center.
#5 Hardy’s return
While Matt Hardy may be long gone, Jeff Hardy was all ready to make his return to SmackDown this week. While fans were not expecting that he’d compete on his first show back, it was good to see him get in a feud with King Corbin right away and a match was set up between the two men.
Elias was on commentary during the match and fans saw both men deliver some of their best in the silent arena. The Charismatic Enigma seemed a bit out of sorts, but the plausible reason is that there was no crowd to support him during the match.
After a hard-fought match, it was Elias who provided a distraction to allow Hardy to regain control during the ending stages of the match.
He hit the Twist of Fate and followed it up with a good Swanton Bomb to pin the heel and pick up his first victory upon return from injury.
It will be interesting to see where the creative heads with Corbin after his loss as they needed to build him up further and throw him in a feud with Elias. As for Hardy, he’s just managed to catch the train to WrestleMania.
#4 The WWE Women's Tag Team Championship build-up
To the utter disappointment of fans, Paige was unable to make it to this week’s show due to some travel issues.
Instead, the company gave us a women’s tag team match between the team of Sasha Banks and SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley and the team of Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.
The Boss and The Hugger were dominant throughout the clash and it did not look like Bliss and Cross were going to come out on top even after their challenge to The Kabuki Warriors.
Ater The Goddess got the hot tag, she exploded into the match and tried to turn things around. However, Asuka appeared out of nowhere and attacked Bliss, leaving Cross vulnerable in the ring. Banks applied the Bank Statement to Cross and helped pick up the victory for her heel team.
While Bliss and Cross shouldn’t have taken a loss so soon after their challenge to The Kabuki Warriors, having them lose the match with Asuka’s interference was the right thing to do.
This seemingly confirms the feud between the two teams and we will likely watch them compete for the Women’s Tag Team titles at WrestleMania.
#3 Triple H on commentary
“I’m the only man in the world that can get demoted and get busier.”
Triple H did not hold back on SmackDown this week as not only did he decide to get behind the announce table, but also tried his hands at handling a camera.
Fans would remember the time when an injured Samoa Joe took to the commentary team on RAW and was excellent in his role as an announcer before he got back to the ring.
This week, fans got a brand new announcer for SmackDown, possibly for one night only, as Triple H took to the announcer’s desk to try his hands at one of the busiest jobs in the industry.
He was excellent as an announcer and his voice made things sounds even bigger than they already were. What made things great was that he took jabs at certain rumors while joking about certain things himself.
Triple H also put several competitors over during his time on the mic, which is always great as fans tend to take the legends more seriously than the men who usually do the commentating.
#2 Daniel Bryan’s mentor
Who’d have thought that two of the best technical workers in the industry would set their differences aside and find a way to work together to make each other better?
For about a month, Drew Gulak looked to point out Daniel Bryan’s many weaknesses which led to a clash between the two men at Elimination Chamber. Even though Gulak was unable to defeat The Planet’s Champion, he managed to impress him enough to get him by his side.
This week, Bryan put Gulak over speaking about how he was impressed by his work and asked him to accompany him to the middle during his match against Cesaro. Sami Zayn with Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro made fun of The Planet's Champion for joining forces with a "nobody".
During the match, Bryan showed his technical prowess by getting his best grappling offense out to keep The Swiss Cyborg down. After Cesaro got back in the match and started to gain momentum, Bryan caught him with a schoolboy for three.
The heels were unhappy with the outcome and we saw Nakamura, Zayn, and Cesaro beat down the former WWE Champion before Gulak came in for the save. However, the numbers game proved too much and they beatdown the newcomer too before Bryan recovered and sent them running.
This was a great way to put the former Cruiserweight Champion over while setting up a brand new rivalry which will see masters of the ring — Bryan, Gulak, Nakamura, and Cesaro — compete against each other for some time to come.
#1 The Role Models
John Cena was on SmackDown once again this week and he was put in an interview with Michael Cole. The two spoke about Cena’s match for WrestleMania, and Cena was very clear when he told Cole that he didn’t see Bray Wyatt as the future of WWE.
This resulted in Wyatt coming out to talk to WWE’s most decorated Superstar directly. Wyatt called out Cena for not being a true role model and nothing more than a pretender. He promised that The Fiend would slaughter The Champ and bury his legacy.
The two men used the empty arena to great effect and delivered another powerful segment. Wyatt seems to be becoming the expert in making rivalries out of nothing just but speaking a few words.
Cena naming rising stars such as Rhea Ripley, Matt Riddle, Tomasso Ciampa, Drew McIntyre, and The Velveteen Dream was the highlight of the night for me. NXT Superstars deserve as much spotlight as anyone else, and The Champ did well to put them over.
Wyatt appearing in person and not through the Firefly Fun House was a great touch as the empty arena wouldn’t have worked well with Wyatt speaking through the screen.
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
