 Seth Rollins Addressed CM Punk and Roman ReignsRollins sitting in the ring like CM Punk used to in 2011 (specifically when he cut his famous "pipe bomb" promo) while talking was an excellent touch. I loved that he acknowledged how it was Paul Heyman who, in storyline, brought Rollins and Reigns into WWE as a "shield" for Punk in 2012. Rollins is at his best when he's not acting all goofy, so I thought the did a terrific job here of hyping their Triple Threat match at WrestleMania 41. Carmelo Hayes Won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle RoyalTo be perfectly honest, every installment of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal has blended together for me, especially with there being so many of them over the last decade-plus. That said, this was very fun down the stretch. Hayes, Andrade and Rey Fenix all worked really well together and any of them could have realistically won. The Miz celebrated with Hayes afterward, but I hope this means Hayes isn't long for the tag team division. He gains nothing from teaming with Miz. Women's World Champion IYO SKY, Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Naomi and Jade Cargill BrawledI appreciate the attempt to get these women mic time one last time before WrestleMania, but it fell flat because they tried to do too much in such a short segment. None of the mic work was meaningful and it wasn't smart for them to try to further two feuds at once. At the very least, it was established that Belair isn't done with the drama between Naomi and Cargill, so we'll see if that leads to interference in either of these 'Mania matches. WWE Tag Team Champions The Street Profits vs. The Motor City Machine Guns Ended in a No ContestIt's a bummer this didn't make the WrestleMania card, and worse yet, a Triple Threat TLC match with these teams and #DIY was announced for next week's SmackDown. That sounds way more interesting than The War Raiders vs. The New Day, but hey, what do I know? This was enjoyable while it lasted and the non-finish was logical, but the crowd was unfortunately quiet for a majority of it. Randy Orton Issued an Open Challenge at WrestleMania 41I was hoping they'd make Orton's WrestleMania match official on this show, but if they didn't last week, I understand wanting to wait until the event itself to announce his opponent via the open challenge format. This was a good promo from Orton to establish what he'll be doing on Night 2. A vignette aired on this episode all but confirming that it's Aleister Black who's coming back next Friday on SmackDown, so my money is on the returning Rusev being Orton's opponent. Zelina Vega def. Women's United States Champion Chelsea Green (Non-Title)A six-woman tag team match was originally scheduled for this show, but I assume they changed plans because last week's Vega vs. Green match had a botched ending and this was what was supposed to happen last week. Unfortunately, this wasn't much better. It was a brief bout without much heat and Vega winning didn't feel like a big deal because Green has lost a fair amount of matches during her run. This obviously sets up a future championship match, but Vega isn't over enough yet for fans to care. United States Champion LA Knight def. Solo Sikoa by Disqualification (Non-Title); Knight and Braun Strowman def. Sikoa and Jacob FatuKnight and Sikoa was nothing new because they've had a handful of matches over the last year and a half. It wasn't bad by any means, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, either. The impromptu tag team match was a bit better with more life. Knight and Strowman gave the ex-Bloodline their comeuppance ahead of Knight and Fatu's United States Championship clash. Rey Fenix and The LWO (Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee) def. American Made (The Creed Brothers and Chad Gable)Seeing Fenix and Mysterio team up (with Lee, no less) was surreal and hopefully it isn't the last time. For an impromptu match, this was a treat, but I almost wish it didn't happen as Mysterio getting hurt would've been prevented. This was a solid preview of Mysterio vs. El Grande Americano at WrestleMania, but unfortunately, it doesn't look like Mysterio is going to be cleared. Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes Attacked John CenaI really liked the last segment these two had on Raw a few weeks ago and it was easily their best, but they needed one more war of words ahead of their WrestleMania main event and I'm glad it was saved for the SmackDown of WrestleMania weekend. This was more excellent stuff from them and that Sting line from Rhodes was quite the deep cut. Rhodes laying out Cena yet again makes me confident Cena is taking the title on Sunday. Overall ShowThe three hours have largely been a drag for SmackDown so far this year (reportedly, we only have another month or two of this), but they made effective use of the format this week by incorporating plenty of quality last-minute build for WrestleMania this weekend. It was also slightly eventful for Mysterio's injury, Hayes' Battle Royal victory and the mystery person we can only assume is Aleister Black being announced as arriving next Friday night as well as the Triple Threat TLC match.
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