 Kevin Owens Confronted United States Champion Logan Paul; Owens def. Austin TheoryPaul always plays his role well, whether he's wrestling or cutting a promo, but he was extra funny in this segment before Owens came out. The finish to their championship clash at the Royal Rumble made it clear their rivalry wasn't over and their back-and-forth here confirmed that. LA Knight should be getting the shot at WrestleMania 40, so I assume the rematch will happen at Elimination Chamber. Owens vs. Theory was solid and the finish was well done, but we've seen so much of them against each other in the last year and a half that there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about this. Tyler Bate & Pete Dunne def. Pretty Deadly, The LWO (Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde), and Legado del Fantasma (Angel and Berto) in a Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Qualifying MatchIt was said that on next week's show, the winners of this match will face the winners of a Fatal 4-Way tag team match on Monday's Raw with the winners of that match challenging The Judgment Day for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship at Elimination Chamber. That's a good use of a lot of teams between the two brands. This was fun stuff and Bate and Dunne were the correct choice to advance with Legado and LWO currently feuding with each other and Pretty Deadly being heels like Judgment Day. On a side note, Humberto is now just Berto for some reason. Bayley Attacked Damage CTRL and Chose to Challenge WWE Women's Champion IYO SKYWhen Bayley won the women's Rumble, it was clear she'd challenge SKY and that would complete her babyface turn. I didn't think we'd get the Damage CTRL betrayal so soon, but I have no issue with them setting this in stone for 'Mania so Raw can figure out who will be vying for the Women's World Championship at the event. This was excellently executed with Bayley revealing she knows Japanese and is well aware of what SKY and The Kabuki Warriors have been saying about her, leading to them attacking her before she retaliated. I'm really looking forward to seeing this feud play out and we still have the question of where Dakota Kai's allegiance will lie since she wasn't present for this segment. Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits vs. The Final Testament (Karrion Kross and AOP) Went to a No ContestI thought it was weird how last week's face-to-face confrontation was hyped in advance and this six-man tag team match was not, but then the bell never rang and it made sense. The brawl we got was fine, but nothing special. The focus was on B-Fab coming to the aid of Lashley and the Profits to counteract Scarlett. Trust me, I have zero desire to see Scarlett vs. B-Fab, but this is a smart use of B-Fab as it evens the odds for the babyfaces. Tiffany Stratton def. MichinWe found out in a backstage segment earlier in the episode that both Naomi and Stratton have signed to SmackDown, and during that same segment, Stratton faced off with Bianca Belair before slapping Michin (to set up this match). With Charlotte Flair out injured, I'm all in on Belair vs. Stratton at WrestleMania. That could be a strong non-title matchup for the women. This was a nice outing and the win gave Stratton some credibility out of the gate. Cody Rhodes and The Rock Confronted Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman ReignsReigns verbally burying Seth Rollins and the World Heavyweight Championship aside, I loved what we got from him and Rhodes. Rhodes specifically mentioned that he had Reigns beat before the dirty finish and that he intends to finish his story at his expense, but the segment went downhill once he said it wouldn't be at WrestleMania. He didn't say where or when before bringing out Rock for the face-off with Reigns to close the show. Rhodes was made to look like a total loser by literally stepping aside for Rock. There's a thousand reasons why I hated this, all of which I'll get into at another time and place, but Rhodes willingly giving up his guaranteed 'Mania main event with Reigns to Rock was completely illogical. Perhaps it will end up being a swerve or they'll change course, but I'm definitely doubtful. I understand Reigns vs. Rock is the biggest match WWE can put on at the moment, but waiting any longer to do Reigns vs. Rhodes II is a mistake and this just ensures Reigns will be champion past WrestleMania (as Rock winning would be even more ridiculous). They basically took a year-long story and threw it away in favor of a marquee match they could have done at some other point down the road. That's what frustrates me the most about this. Overall ShowI thought this was an above-average edition of SmackDown up until that stupid ending. Unfortunately, that will be all anyone is talking about coming out of this show, which otherwise had a lot to like about it. The arrival of new names and returning stars is cool, the Damage CTRL segment was great, and other feuds were furthered. If Rock vs. Reigns goes on as planned, and I suspect it will, will either of them bother to show up in the lead-up to WrestleMania? SmackDown will suffer if not, but at least there's other stuff worth getting invested in right now.
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