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With WrestleMania just weeks away, the biggest wrestling show of the year underwent major changes during SmackDown on Friday night. That included the addition of three new matches as well as a huge change to one of the most anticipated bouts of the two-night event.
Much of the night revolved around the fallout from this past Sunday’s Fastlane event, where Daniel Bryan forced universal champion Roman Reigns to tap out — albeit while the referee was knocked out. Edge, who was in the role of special enforcer, snapped and attacked Bryan and Reigns with a chair, allowing Reigns to exit Fastlane still as champion. But, as was expected, Bryan was not ready to leave SmackDown without addressing the situation, and his feelings that he’d done more than enough to earn another shot at the championship.
CBS Sports was with you all night, bringing you recaps and highlights of all the action from the ThunderDome.
Edge and Reigns took issue with Pearce’s handling of the situation throughout the night, including Reigns threatening Pearce and telling him he would not wrestle both nights of WrestleMania. This eventually led Edge to confront Reigns backstage and tell him to use his stroke or else Edge may be able to beat Bryan and not Reigns to win the title.
Pearce, Bryan, Edge and Reigns all came to the ring to end the night. Pearce said every man’s points were valid and that Reigns was correct and would only defend his title one time at WrestleMania. Which meant that it would be a triple threat match at WrestleMania, inserting Bryan into the match officially. This led all three men to brawl before Edge was the last man standing after hitting both men with a steel chair. Bryan was able to escape the room before Edge could hit a con-chair-to as Edge attacked WWE officials.
There couldn’t have been a much better build to an announcement everyone knew was coming. Edge has snapped as his opportunity has been invaded by Bryan, Reigns has finally not been able to manipulate every step of a process to his advantage and Bryan got what he wanted — but continues to pay a steep price. It’s a deceptively simple story, but that’s often the best thing for professional wrestling. Grade: A-
From Publisher: CBSSports.com
Were you following this:
WWE SmackDown results, recap, grades: Shocking contender determined for Roman Reigns’ universal
WWE promised a contender for Roman Reigns’ title at Royal Rumble would be determined in a gauntlet match on Friday night’s episode of SmackDown. While a few options in the match seemed like obvious options to face Reigns at the end of the match, the winner would come from seemingly out of nowhere when WWE official Adam Pearce won the match.
Pearce was entered into the match by Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman as payback for Pearce’s actions in booking a match between Jey Uso and Kevin Owens one week prior. In the end, Reigns and Uso made sure Pearce would win, lining him up to face the consequences of going against the wishes of The Tribal Chief at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event.
CBS Sports was with you all night, bringing you results and highlights of all the action. Read on for everything you need to know coming out of SmackDown.
Adam Pearce def. Rey Mysterio, Sami Zayn, King Corbin, Daniel Bryan and Shinsuke Nakamura to earn a universal title shot at the Royal Rumble. Mysterio and Zayn started the match, with Mysterio quickly eliminating Zayn with a frog splash after a lengthy tirade by Zayn about having to be one of the first two in the match. Mysterio was bounced from the match when Nakamura locked him in an armbar.
By JillWith WrestleMania just weeks away, the biggest wrestling show of the year underwent major changes during SmackDown on Friday night. That included the addition of three new matches as well as a huge change to one of the most anticipated bouts of the two-night event.
Much of the night revolved around the fallout from this past Sunday’s Fastlane event, where Daniel Bryan forced universal champion Roman Reigns to tap out — albeit while the referee was knocked out. Edge, who was in the role of special enforcer, snapped and attacked Bryan and Reigns with a chair, allowing Reigns to exit Fastlane still as champion. But, as was expected, Bryan was not ready to leave SmackDown without addressing the situation, and his feelings that he’d done more than enough to earn another shot at the championship.
CBS Sports was with you all night, bringing you recaps and highlights of all the action from the ThunderDome.
Edge and Reigns took issue with Pearce’s handling of the situation throughout the night, including Reigns threatening Pearce and telling him he would not wrestle both nights of WrestleMania. This eventually led Edge to confront Reigns backstage and tell him to use his stroke or else Edge may be able to beat Bryan and not Reigns to win the title.
Pearce, Bryan, Edge and Reigns all came to the ring to end the night. Pearce said every man’s points were valid and that Reigns was correct and would only defend his title one time at WrestleMania. Which meant that it would be a triple threat match at WrestleMania, inserting Bryan into the match officially. This led all three men to brawl before Edge was the last man standing after hitting both men with a steel chair. Bryan was able to escape the room before Edge could hit a con-chair-to as Edge attacked WWE officials.
There couldn’t have been a much better build to an announcement everyone knew was coming. Edge has snapped as his opportunity has been invaded by Bryan, Reigns has finally not been able to manipulate every step of a process to his advantage and Bryan got what he wanted — but continues to pay a steep price. It’s a deceptively simple story, but that’s often the best thing for professional wrestling. Grade: A-
From Publisher: CBSSports.com
Were you following this:
WWE SmackDown results, recap, grades: Shocking contender determined for Roman Reigns’ universal
WWE promised a contender for Roman Reigns’ title at Royal Rumble would be determined in a gauntlet match on Friday night’s episode of SmackDown. While a few options in the match seemed like obvious options to face Reigns at the end of the match, the winner would come from seemingly out of nowhere when WWE official Adam Pearce won the match.
Pearce was entered into the match by Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman as payback for Pearce’s actions in booking a match between Jey Uso and Kevin Owens one week prior. In the end, Reigns and Uso made sure Pearce would win, lining him up to face the consequences of going against the wishes of The Tribal Chief at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event.
CBS Sports was with you all night, bringing you results and highlights of all the action. Read on for everything you need to know coming out of SmackDown.
Adam Pearce def. Rey Mysterio, Sami Zayn, King Corbin, Daniel Bryan and Shinsuke Nakamura to earn a universal title shot at the Royal Rumble. Mysterio and Zayn started the match, with Mysterio quickly eliminating Zayn with a frog splash after a lengthy tirade by Zayn about having to be one of the first two in the match. Mysterio was bounced from the match when Nakamura locked him in an armbar.