Friday Night SmackDown Review - March 13, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley and Sasha Banks def. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross

Most of Bayley's shtick consists of her making fun of fans in attendance (with poor insults might I add), so she didn't have the chance to do that here. She did call Cross a "little idiot," though. It's hard to analyze a match that's wrestled without a crowd, but what we got from them was solid. Asuka costing Bliss and Cross the victory seems to set up a WWE Women's Tag Team Championship match between Bliss and Cross and The Kabuki Warriors for WrestleMania. Beth Phoenix and Natalya were also rumored to be involved, so we'll see they'll also be added in the coming weeks.

​Michael Cole Interviewed Roman Reigns

Reigns' sit-down interview with Cole the last time Raw was cancelled five years ago was excellent, and while this wasn't as strong, it still successfully hyped up his Universal Championship match with Goldberg at WrestleMania 36. The build for that bout has been nearly nonexistent in recent weeks due to Goldberg not being around, but at least they're trying in his absence. Hey, at least Reigns and Goldberg can't be booed for the next week or two. I'm sure WWE is thrilled about that.

SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Miz and John Morrison Addressed Their Elimination Chamber Victory

This followed a full replay of Sunday's SmackDown Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber match. I guess that's one way of killing television time, but they won't be able to do that for every episode of Raw, SmackDown and NXT for the next two weeks or so...right? At any rate, the brief promo from Miz and Morrison was entertaining but didn't give us any indication what's next for them. I assume The Usos will get the shot at WrestleMania because of how overexposed The New Day have been in the title picture over the last year, unless Daniel Bryan and Drew Gulak are put in the title hunt before then. Speaking of which...

Daniel Bryan def. Cesaro

Bryan was so impressed with Gulak's performance at Elimination Chamber that he's decided to heed his advice and allow him to manage him. That's a pretty cool pairing and I hope it sticks. Bryan and Cesaro had a very entertaining encounter despite the circumstances, even though the outcome was never in doubt. Bryan and Gulak vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro would seem to be a logical match for next week's show, but I'm curious who Sami Zayn will defend his Intercontinental Championship against at WrestleMania. Braun Strowman? Bryan? Jeff Hardy? Maybe a multi-man matchup with all of the above?

Jeff Hardy def. King Corbin

I feel so bad for Hardy having to make his return in an empty arena. I'm sure he was looking forward to that big pop, but alas, life goes on. This was a total nothing match that solely existed to give Hardy a win in his comeback and advance the Corbin vs. Elias feud that absolutely nobody is looking forward to. I'd be stunned if that's blown off at WrestleMania in a one-on-one matchup. On a side note, would it have killed WWE to give Hardy his old theme song back as he requested?

Bray Wyatt Interrupted John Cena

Cena making his entrance in an empty arena was a sight to see. He didn't let that faze him at all and instead cut a great promo about how Wyatt is to blame for his own downfall. Cena mentioned that fans always point fingers at him whenever a Superstar's career takes a turn for the worse, yet nothing is said whenever he loses a monumental match. Wyatt's response was also excellent and it may have worked better without anyone there. I love how he came face-to-face with Cena and didn't interrupt him via an episode of the Firefly Fun House. This did more to get me excited for their WrestleMania matchup than their interaction two weeks ago.

Overall Show

WWE is so lucky they have the Performance Center to hold all of their programming at until this coronavirus craziness dies down. It was a unique show to say the least and one we'll never forget given the circumstances. The lack of live crowd was an obvious obstacle, but they made the most of it to the best of their ability and delivered a quality show. In fact, it was more enjoyable than what we usually get from the blue brand on FOX. Replaying full-length pay-per-view matches isn't ideal, but there wasn't much more they could do. Triple H was a highlight on commentary as well. I just question how long this will last because, while it's cool in the interim, having no crowds will definitely take its toll on these shows sooner rather than later.