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‘Friday Night SmackDown’ (2/26/21) Results And Review: Bianca Belair Makes Her WrestleMania Decision, Daniel Bryan Fights For Another Universal Title Opportunity, And More

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Alan Draper
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10 min read
Friday Night SmackDown

Friday Night SmackDown took place inside the WWE ThunderDome at Tropicana Field in St Petersburg Florida with virtual fans in attendance. It was the first show after Elimination Chamber. How will Roman Reigns respond after Edge speared him at Elimination Chamber and chose to face him at WrestleMania?

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The show kicked off with Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman and Jey Uso coming down to the ring. They show a recap of the Elimination Chamber match where Daniel Bryan won it along with Roman defeating Bryan and Edge attacking Roman. Roman says SmackDown need him and so did the Chamber. He talks about beating Daniel Bryan at the Chamber saying it was the greatest ass whoppin of the decade. He says he operates in this ring at a higher level. He says the Chamber wasn’t perfect for him because of Edge spearing him. He gives Edge an opportunity to back out of the match with him at WrestleMania. He says he doesn’t want to hurt Edge and appreciates everything he stands for. He says a man like Edge doesn’t stand a chance against a man like him. Daniel Bryan’s music hits and he comes out to the ring. Bryan saying Roman’s title defense at the Chamber was nearly perfect and he agrees but he has heard people who thought differently of that. He says people think his defense was cowardly. Daniel says he wasn’t expecting him to compete in the second match of that night rather than the main event. Daniel says he knows Roman wants to create a legacy for himself so he is giving him the opportunity to prove it. He challenges Roman to a match at Fastlane for the Universal title. Jey Uso says all Daniel has is excuses and he wants Daniel to earn it by beating him. Roman asks Daniel if he wants him to hurt Daniel again. Jey attacks Bryan and send him over the barricade. They leave the ring, proud of their work.

Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville are talking backstage until Edge came in talking about Daniel Bryan challenging Roman at Fastlane. He tells them they need to talk.

Roman and Jey talk backstage. Jey said he jumped the gun on the attack and apologizes for it. Roman tells him there’s no reason to apologize as long as the job is done. Roman walks away after he tells him to handle it.

Edge talks with Sonya and Adam about what is going on and it was supposed to be a tag match at Fastlane. Adam said this match fell into his lap and if Daniel beats Jey tonight, he gets the shot at Fastlane. Adam says the Universal title match is a bigger attraction. Edge walks away.

Chad Gable and Otis show what they did to Rey Mysterio last week. They show it again in slow motion to rub it in their faces. They head to the ring for their match.

Otis and Chad Gable Defeated Rey and Dominick Mysterio

Apollo Crews came down to the ring. He talks about nobody knowing anything about him. They show a recap of what he did to Big E last week. He said he hasn’t had respect back to him when he shows it. He says he is from Nigeria and he is a real African American. He talks about his ancestry in Nigeria. He said Big E found out what he is all about last week and went back to his roots instead of catering. He said Big E will never disrespect him again and his opponent Shinsuke Nakamura will not disrespect him as well. Shinsuke came out to the ring for their match. Apollo attacks Shinsuke from behind before the match. Apollo grabs the steps but the ref stops him. They go to commercial.

Apollo Crews Defeated Shinsuke Nakamura

Paul Heyman talked with Roman backstage telling Roman that Daniel will face Jey Uso tonight to get the opportunity to face Roman and the tag match he was supposed to have at Fastlane was scrapped.

Tamina Defeated Liv Morgan

Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville were in the ring. They introduce Bianca Belair out to the ring for her to make her decision to who she will face at WrestleMania. Bianca came down to the ring. Bianca mentions it’s been 3 weeks since she has won the Rumble and it changed her life. Sonya mentions that she will face the champion of her choosing and asks who will it be. They show highlights of the current champions Asuka and Sasha Banks. Bianca says her mom always told her that life is about choices and the choices define who you are. She was about to announce it until Reginald interrupted. He tells her that Bianca saw first hand what Sasha could do in the ring and how she was elevated from Sasha’s genius. He says Bianca’s journey is inspiring and she’s special but if she faces Sasha then that dream of hers will disappear. He says she will be nothing but a loser. Bianca gets pissed but then Sasha came out to interrupt. Sasha grabs the mic from Reginald and tells Reginald to not speak for her like she mentioned before to him. She tells Bianca that she should choose her if she calls herself the EST. Sasha says she is the best which makes Bianca second best. Bianca tells her she will make Sasha eat her words at WrestleMania and she will show her she is the BEST of WWE. She tells Sasha she will face her at WrestleMania.

King Corbin was shown preparing for his tag match backstage until Sami’s camera crew distracted him. Sami comes in and asks him about WWE’s conspiracy against him. Corbin asks why are they partners tonight. Sami said he made it that way because he can’t deny the chemistry they have and they might become tag champions. He talks about taking over the tag division. Corbin says he agrees with that but Sami should not tell him what to do. Corbin walks away.

Street Profits Defeated Sami Zayn and King Corbin

Kayla Braxton interviewed Daniel Bryan backstage about the match with Jey Uso. He asks if he might face Edge at WrestleMania. Daniel thinks he has a better chance at beating Roman than Edge. He said he appreciates Edge’s comeback but he doesn’t think Edge has what it takes to beat Roman. Edge comes up to him saying if Daniel beats Roman for the title, who wins their match at WrestleMania. Daniel said he’ll keep that answer to himself but we’ll see when he beats Jey Uso.

Seth Rollins came out to the ring. Seth says he has incredible news. He said the letter he sent to WWE got a huge response on social media. Cesaro interrupted and Seth says him and Cesaro got a lot to discuss. He wants Cesaro to hear him out as Cesaro was about to attack him. Seth said he didn’t call him a loser but he called him because of the situation he was in. He calls Cesaro a star and compliments his physique. Seth calls him the strongest man to step into the ring. He asks Cesaro why does he come up short. He tells Cesaro he lacks killer instinct and he could give it to Cesaro. He wants to lead Cesaro. He says him and Cesaro would be unstoppable. He said Cesaro would’ve won the Chamber and be standing as Universal Champion if he didn’t walk out on him. He gives Cesaro a second chance to embrace the vision. He gives Cesaro a week or two to think about it. Cesaro grabs him by the legs and swings him around the ring. Cesaro lands a vicious uppercut to Rollins and leaves the ring. Daniel Bryan came down to the ring for his match as Cesaro went up to the stage. They greeted each other as Daniel made his way to the ring.

Jey Uso vs. Daniel Bryan Ended In A No Contest

Jey continued the attack until Daniel Bryan got him in the Yes Lock. Roman came out and attacked Daniel. Bryan got Roman in the Yes Lock but Jey kicked him in the head. Roman speared him and put him in the guillotine head lock. The show ended as Roman Reigns stood tall over an unconscious Bryan.

Overall Review: Not a bad show. It was another show that had its good and bad but mostly good. The whole Apollo Crews turn is interesting although I wish he’d beat somebody different other than Shinsuke Nakamura who it looked like for a second they were starting to put the gas pedal behind. Chad Gable and Otis turning heel I’m not too big on because of Otis having more steam as a lovable big guy rather than a heel but we’ll see where this goes. I loved the promo with Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair with them finally making it official that it will be Sasha and Bianca for the Women’s title at WrestleMania. It’s about time this happens. I really hope the whole thing with Reginald going involved is for Carmella to have some kind of match with either of them at Fastlane instead of inserting her in the title math at Mania. I hope that doesn’t happen and it should be just one on one with Sasha and Bianca. Sami Zayn and King Corbin would definitely make a entertaining tag team as much as I’m not a fan of Corbin, I think Sami with the character he is now could bring something out of Corbin. The Rollins/Cesaro segment was what it was to set up a feud with them possibly for WrestleMania. Nothing special but I enjoyed it. With what happened with Daniel Bryan, one thing I don’t understand is why is Edge making a big deal about Daniel Bryan possibly challenging Roman Reigns for the Universal title? Wouldn’t he not care who he faces for the title and only care about getting the title back that he never lost? The result of the match with Daniel and Jey was surprising with the fact that there was no winner so I guess they’re extending it to next week which is okay to hook people for next week but I’d rather they just have Bryan win this match because it sounds like that’s where this going unless it becomes a triple threat with Jey inserted in the match. Also, why didn’t Edge come out to help Daniel Bryan when Roman and Jey was beating him down? Edge was in the building so where was he? That part I didn’t get either.

Grade: 6/10

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Alan Draper

Alan is a vastly experienced sports and gambling writer who is the Chief Editor of The Sports Daily.
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Alan Draper

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Alan is a vastly experienced sports and gambling writer who is the Chief Editor of The Sports Daily.
View All Posts By Alan Draper
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