Although the Mar. 21 episode of SmackDown will air in its usual time at 8 p.m. ET on USA in the United States, it won’t be live. That’s because the show is part of WWE’s three-week pre-WrestleMania 41 tour of Europe and the United Kingdom, and comes our way from Unipol Arena in Bologna, Italy — and airing live there (and, as far as we know, everywhere SmackDown calls Netflix home) at 3 p.m. ET. That means spoilers will be available for those who wish to partake.
Advertised for the show: Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & CM Punk will deal with the fallout of their night at Madison Square Garden a couple Mondays ago, Liv Morgan crosses Jade Cargill’s warpath, Jacob Fatu & Braun Strowman will break stuff as they try to break each other, Piper Niven tries to protect Women’s United States champion Chelsea Green, and more!
We’ll update this post as results come in from Bologna.
- Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett on the call as we see Jade Cargill backstage, followed by the arrivals of Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez, CM Punk, and others arriving at the arena.
- Randy Orton out first and gets his theme sung to him by the crowd. Before he can say a word, Kevin Owens’ music hits. He says Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn deserved what he did to them, but Orton didn’t. Randy picking Cody over him made him angry, and caused him to do something he regrets. KO thinks Orton should understand doing something regrettable when angry. Owens pulled Carmelo Hayes from the ring before Orton could punt him last week because he wanted to save Randy from himself. The Viper has matured, and that’s the guy people want to see, not the one that kicks people in the head. He makes a pitch for them to go after the Tag titles at WrestleMania, which the crowd hates, but KO tells Orton not to listen to those idiots.
- Orton thinks about it, and admits it’s an intriguing idea. He definitely didn’t expect Owens would admit he was wrong. But KO can take his half-hearted apology and stick it up his ass. It used to be Fight Owens Fight and now its Bitch Owens Bitch. The Voices that have been talking to him again lately say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, and that’s where he’ll kick Owens’ head off his shoulders.
- After a video package about Damian Priest and Drew McIntyre’s recent dealings, Priest heads to the ring.
- Damian Priest & Big Jim Uso def. Drew McIntyre & Shinsuke Nakamura. Damian doesn’t wait and starts swinging on McIntyre during his entrance, but they eventually get to the ring for the official start. It’s not long before the heels are working Uso over, setting Priest up for the hot tag. The finish sees Big Jim kick McIntyre to the floor, drawing Nakamura’s attention and leaving him open to take South of Heaven before Priest pins him.
- McIntyre blindsides Priest and beats him down post-match, finishing with a Claymore.
- Braun Strowman is in the back when LA Knight rolls up. The United States champion (men’s version) tells Strowman he’ll be keeping his eye on his match since Jacob Fatu doesn’t go anywhere alone. Braun tells Knight that Nick Aldis says the winner of his match with Fatu gets a shot at the U.S. title, so he’s going to win to ensure he gets on the at WrestleMania card.
- A recap of Charlotte Flair & Tiffany Stratton’s issues plays, and we see them on split-screens before another break.
- First question if for the champ, but Flair cuts her off. She says Stratton has shown a lot, but she used her Rumble win to pick Tiffy because she feels sorry for her. She tried to compare herself to The Queen, but she’s not that special. Stratton points out she has the WWE Women’s title, which Charlotte reminds her she won via cash-in. WrestleMania will be the night of Stratton’s career, but for her it’s just another night at the office. They go back-and-forth about Flair’s early support for Stratton’s career, and Tiffany eventually hits her by saying Flair always finds the hottest thing and throws water on it. Charlotte says she’s not even the hottest thing on SmackDown, let alone the whole company. Flair’s accolades are covered, as Stratton says she has her whole career to match those. Charlotte says Tiff will be lucky to be here at her age, to which Stratton closes it out by saying things run on Tiffy Time.
- Braun Strowman def. Jacob Fatu via disqualification in a U.S. title #1 contenders match. The end saw Strowman powerslam a meddlesome Tama Tonga, which led to Solo Sikoa attacking Braun and triggering the DQ.
- Tonga attacks Strowman afterwards while Fatu yells at Sikoa for costing him the match. He turns his attention to Braun and the heels are in control until Knight makes his way out. The good guys clear the ring and stand tall.
- Cathy Kelley interviews Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez. Morgan says their issue with Jade Cargill is that they continued to get blamed for being part of her attack when they didn’t have anything to do with it. They think Cargill’s just mad they beat her friend Bianca Belair to win the Tag titles. Liv has a plan to finish the job tonight.
- Jacob Fatu is tearing stuff up backstage as Solo Sikoa tries to calm him down. Sikoa says he was trying to help, and Fatu says he doesn’t want their help.
- Piper Niven def. Zelina Vega. The Green Regime (U.S. champ (women’s version) Chelsea Green and Slaygent #1 Alba Fyre) are with Niven, of course. This one got a lot of time and Vega had some great nearfalls in her comeback, but Piper hit her with a crossbody after she was forced to knock Green & Fyre off the apron before going for her finisher.
- A look back at Monday’s big John Cena/Cody Rhodes segment follows some commercials.
- We get the official announcement of Kevin Owens vs. Randy Orton for WrestleMania.
- Jade Cargill’s time to talk to Cathy Kelley, and Jade says what she does to Liv Morgan is a preview of what she’ll do to Naomi, who she’s coming for again after she takes out Liv.
- We see a smokey “4” video for the second week in a row.
- Liv Morgan def. Jade Cargill via pinfall. Liv has Raquel with her, natch. A back-and-forth match that also got quite a bit of time. Cargill was poised to win with Jaded when Naomi appeared. She ended up hitting Jade with one of the tag belts while Raquel had the referee distracted. Morgan hit obLIVian for the win.
- Naomi takes advantage of the situation, kicking her nemesis out of the ring and into the announce desk.
- Drew McIntyre is interviewed by Cathy Kelley about Damian Priest. McIntyre says he’s explained things already, and if anyone doesn’t get it or thinks they can prove him wrong they’re idiots — like Priest. Drew will be in London next week if anyone needs further explanation. He crosses paths with an arriving Seth Rollins after the interview, and Rollins laughs in his general direction.
- New WWE Tag champs Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford make their way to the ring, and the crowd is hyped to see Street Profits, who’s theme song is different (Twixter says it’s the one they used when they were with Bobby Lashley as The Pride a couple years back). They get some mic time to celebrate winning gold for the first time in four years. Ford says they’re celebrating tonight, but if he can be serious for a moment… he knows that no matter what happens, he can always count on his brother.
- Legado Del Fantasma is out, and Santos Escobar says this is a beautiful moment, but it will end soon because his familia is going to take the belts. Cue Pretty Deadly to remind Escobar they’re the #1 contenders. The banter stops when Ford says Kit Wilson & Elton Prince already have a title shot, but they’ll fight Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo right now. “Let’s get loco, chico!”
- Another unnamed luchador promo video, and while they don’t name him, you can clearly see that its Rey Fenix in this one.
- Street Profits def. LDF’s Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo via pinfall in a non-title match. Another lengthy affair that includes a cool spot when Montez flips over in mid-air while taking a double press slam to land on his feet, leaving his opponents stunned. It ends after Dawkins takes out Escobar & Carrillo with a dive and Ford hits the Seven-Star Frog Splash for a three count.
- We see Paul Heyman arriving at the arena as we head to break.
- Pretty Deadly bump into #DIY backstage. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa suggest they could ensure Wilson & Prince win their Tag title match against the Profits next Friday in London, an offer PD decline with a, “NO BOY”. Motor City Machine Guns’ Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin roll up, welcoming #DIY to the back of the line, and reminding Ciampa & Gargano they still want to kick their asses.
- In addition to the Tag title match, we’re told that Braun Strowman’s U.S. title (men’s version) match against LA Knight is also next week.
- The One True Tribal Chief is here, accompanied by his Wiseman. Roman would like Bologna to acknowledge him, and the Northern Italians do him that favor. He tells him he loves them, and shares what’s on his mind. At Royal Rumble, CM Punk screwed him, so at Madison Square Garden, he screwed Punk (phrasing, sir). At Royal Rumble, Seth Rollins tried to kill him, so at the Garden he tried to kill Punk. He flew all the way here, so he’s gonna hang out for a few minutes if anyone wants to do anything about that, he’s got the time.
- Rollins music hits and he makes his was to the ring, which takes some of Reigns’ time (oh, oh, oh, ohhhhh). Seth tells Roman he should have let him finish Punk in New York. He’s dangerous to the future of the industry. It’s not about him, anyway. It’s about them, it’s always been about them. There’s no Reigns without Rollins, and vice-versa. Their story has a lot of pages, and another chapter is about to be written. He starts to take his jacket off…
- LOOK IN MY EYES, WHAT DO YOU SEE. Once in the ring, Punk says his right hand isn’t taped up to hold a mic, but first let’s talk facts. Big Chief and Grimace (Seth’s ensemble is purple) have never beaten him. He didn’t screw Reigns at the Rumble, that match is every person for themself and Roman wouldn’t have even been there if he hadn’t joined his WarGames team. Then he reminds Heyman about the favor and thanks him for delivering Reigns on a platter.
- Roman wants to know what Punk’s talking about, and Punk throws the mic at him and unloads! Rollins goes after Punk, Reigns throws Rollins into the turnbuckles, and it’s on! Officials and security are out to separate them, and Punk eventually gets on the desk, points at the ‘Mania sign. He pulls Reigns, who was still fighting Rollins in the ring, to the floor. Seth dives on both of them and he points to the ‘Mania sign. Roman pulls him to the floor, smashes Punk and Rollins with the ring steps, then he points to the ‘Mania sign!
- Seems official. Roman and Seth are still throwing punches as the credits come up. Punk is trying to join in as we fade out.
