Friday Night SmackDown Review - February 14, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley Crashed Moment of Bliss with Carmella, Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross; SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley def. Carmella

I liked how Bayley brought up her wins over Bliss and Cross from last summer during Moment of Bliss. The segment didn't last long, but it did a nice job of establishing the longtime history between Bayley and Carmella and setting the stage for their impromptu SmackDown Women's Championship clash. It ended up being a very well-wrestled opener, even though it was difficult to buy into the possibility of Carmella winning the title on a random episode of SmackDown. Bayley cheating to retain her title protected Carmella in defeat, and as a result of what happened with them and Naomi afterward, Naomi and Carmella will meet one-on-one next week to determine who will face Bayley for the belt at Super ShowDown.

Sheamus def. Apollo Crews and Shorty G in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match

Sheamus squashed Crews last week. He's defeated Shorty G twice in one-on-one action. Now, he's beaten them both in a 2-on-1 Handicap match. Can we please move on from this "feud?" I'm all for reestablishing Sheamus as a dominant force, but it's coming at the expense of Shorty G and Crews. Granted, they don't have much credibility to lose at this point, but I'd rather see them leave and take their talents elsewhere if they're going to continue to be booked like losers.

Universal Champion Bray Wyatt Interrupted Hulk Hogan

When I heard hours ahead of time that Hogan would be making an appearance on SmackDown, I got scared that he'd be announcing his return to the ring in Saudi Arabia at Super ShowDown. Thankfully, that was not the case. He didn't appear live in front of the crowd but rather via satellite. He didn't say much of note before being interrupted by Wyatt, whose nWo parody was fantastic. I enjoyed this exchange, even if it didn't accomplish much. I remain worried that Wyatt could lose his Universal Championship to Goldberg. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I put nothing past this company.

Intercontinental Champion Braun Strowman Saved Elias From Sami Zayn and Cesaro

I've said this before, but I'll say it again: I fail to see what Zayn, Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura are gaining from continuing to feud with Strowman and Elias. The babyfaces get the better of them more often than not, so therefore fans don't view the heels as threats whatsoever. Don't get me wrong, it's nice that Elias is getting over with the audience as a face and Strowman has been portrayed as unstoppable lately, but no one is benefiting and this rivalry feels like a holding pattern for everyone involved. Cesaro's mannerisms during this pseudo-concert were amusing, but the segment on the whole was a waste of time.

Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan def. The Miz and John Morrison

You had to know Reigns was going to choose Bryan as his partner because no one else on the SmackDown roster made sense, begging the question of why this match was made in the first place. It was a perfectly serviceable main event, but giving Reigns and Bryan the clean win over the number one contenders to the SmackDown Tag Team Championship was highly questionable. Why not have The New Day distract Miz and Morrison? Or have King Corbin interfere as Miz was getting pinned? Or replace Miz and Morrison with The Revival? There was a million things WWE could have done to protect Miz and Morrison, but they decided to treat them like any other tandem instead. Ugh. Meanwhile, it seriously feels like WWE has no idea what to do with Bryan at the moment. He was extra aggressive against Heath Slater last week, but it was back to business as usual for him this week. Oh, and Corbin laid out Reigns afterward for anyone who cares.

Overall Show

Props to the Vancouver crowd for being electric all night long, but this was a lame show. I'd love to say they phoned it with it being Valentine's Day, but this has been the case with the blue brand for a while. Otis and Mandy Rose were advertised as going on a date, but Dolph Ziggler prevented that from happening, unfortunately. The best thing on the entire episode was the women's match in the opener, but even that wasn't anything too special. I also can't believe WWE booked Miz and Morrison to lose in the main event, that left a sour taste in my mouth. This was another ho-hum edition of SmackDown where you missed virtually nothing if you didn't tune in live.