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Last night's edition of SmackDown felt more like filler than a way to heat the blue brand up for WrestleMania. Storyline development fell flat and the one major progression was something we've seen before.
On the plus side, we had two very good matches. Let's find out who got closer to the big stage in New Orleans and who only got closer to the backstage.
Gained momentum: Charlotte Flair
Look who just shut down all of Tony Khan's critics! More HERE.
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Liv Morgan never felt like a threat to Charlotte, and to WWE's credit, they didn't book a 50/50 match. The SmackDown Women's Champion dominated most of it, and as soon as Morgan's backup was tossed out by the referee, she was put away quickly.
"1 down, 2 to go," the champ declared.
Ruby Riott might be Charlotte's Fastlane opponent. Even if she's not, this feels like a mini-feud to make Charlotte look as strong as possible heading into WrestleMania, where her likeliest opponent is either Asuka or Ronda Rousey. If that's the case, WWE is doing this thing right.
Gained momentum: The Bludgeon Brothers
At first this looked like another squash match that was getting stale, but the staredown with the Usos afterward put The Bludgeon Brothers on a clear course. A meeting with the SmackDown tag team champions at Fastlane or WrestleMania is coming.
Gained momentum: Bobby Roode, Rusev, and Randy Orton
Bobby Roode retained his United States Championship in a thrilling match with Rusev at the start of the show's second hour.
After the contest concluded, Randy Orton came and laid out Roode, Rusev, and Aiden English out with three RKOs. We don't know what the Viper's motivations are, but a U.S. title program is probably in the cards for WrestleMania. It's even remotely possible that Rusev could be involved in the angle.
Let's see where it goes.
Lost momentum: Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin
Though they beat the Ascension last night, it was the fact that they were tangling with the Ascension at all that tells you where Gable and Benjamin stand on the ladder. After their disappointing Royal Rumble loss, they're out of title contention, and no obvious WrestleMania program is set to emerge for them as of now.
Lost momentum: Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens
Sure, they're in a title match at Fastlane and they had a great match last night, but everything about this feud screams "filler." Its goal will be to make AJ Styles look as good as he can before his clash with Shinsuke Nakamura in New Orleans.
It's also simply lazy. We've seen AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens many times, and a victory for Sami Zayn would have been original and helped to set up a slow dissolution of "Kami" as tensions increased closer to WrestleMania. WWE instead opted to rush things starting last week and then put the two in a multi-man match. Typical!
