WWE SmackDown: 2/25/2022

The SmackDown after the Elimination Chamber payperview is here! With WrestleMania being weeks away at this point, we’ve already found out which matches will be main eventing both nights of WrestleMania respectively: Charlotte Flair versus Ronda Rousey for the SmackDown Women’s title will close Night 1, whereas the title unification match between WWE champion Brock Lesnar and Universal champion Roman Reigns closes Night 2. With the main events being set in stone, this show did add a bit more elements for the blue brand’s side for WrestleMania; so let’s dive right on in!

Match 1: Tag Team Match; Los Lotharios vs the New Day. (Rating: 3.5/5)

These two teams wrestling against each other hasn’t gotten boring whatsoever honestly. With this being a rubber match of sorts between E and Kingston against Carrillo and Garza, it had to have been a special bout and it was! Granted the one from several weeks ago was my personal favorite, but regardless all these four men looked absolutely amazing in this opening contest for SmackDown. With yet another Midnight Hour by the New Day, Big E and Kofi picked up a victory against these talented rookies in Humberto and Angel. Hopefully by WrestleMania, one of these two teams get involved in the tag team title picture for the blue brand.

Segment 1: Sami Zayn’s Road to WrestleMania… with a Jackass??

It seems as if we’re going to be getting yet another celebrity competing at WrestleMania this year! After Logan Paul was revealed as the Miz’s partner, speculation began to arose on whether or not Sami Zayn’s on screen feud with Jackass star Johnny Knoxville would result in Zayn versus Knoxville at the grandest stage of them all and it seemed that the rumors were indeed true! After Zayn bragged about how he’s a fighting Intercontinental champion and threw out the challenge to any person in the back, Knoxville made his way into the ring and basically challenged Sami for not only a match, but a match for the IC title! Zayn, of course, didn’t respond verbally as he attacked the Jackass star and laid him out with a Helluva Kick. After Johnny’s pretty impressive and entertaining Royal Rumble appearance late last month, him facing Zayn definitely makes a lot of sense.

Match 2: Sasha Banks vs Shotzi Blackheart. (Rating: 2/5)

A quick and rather disappointing match. This isn’t towards either woman whatsoever, as Sasha is without a doubt one of the pillars of WWE’s women’s division but with how quickly she disposed of Blackheart in this match just seemed lackluster. Ever since being called up from NXT, Shotzi hasn’t had a moment for herself. Sure, she’s faced Banks before and she also faced Charlotte Flair but other than that the most notable thing she’s done was just turn heel, and turn heel randomly on Banks. Sasha ended up locking in the Banks Statement on Blackheart at least five minutes in the match and won via submission almost immediately.

Final Segment: The Tribal Chief = the final boss

This segment to close off the show, you can truly feel the hype that’s around this unification match. Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns have faced each other in 2 separate WrestleManias and each encounter they’ve had have always felt hard hitting yet satisfying considering the fact that both men are solid workhorses. Security grounds were in the ring separating both men as they proceeded signing the contract for, quite possibly, the biggest match that both men have had and would ever have against each other as both world titles in WWE are set to unify at that event. The way that Roman carried himself in that contract signing, how he basically proclaimed himself to be the end all be all in the WWE really emphasized how Reigns has come a long way since the early days of the Shield in 2012. The man really is the final boss in this company and I truly hope that he’s the one to unify the titles.

Final rating: 3/5