TOP 3 DEVELOPMENTS – SMACKDOWN 2/20: Bryan-Shane-Sami-Kevin-A.J. Continues to Show Age, Mirror Booking for the U.S. Title, New Day for the New Day

Bryan-Shane-Sami-Kevin-A.J. Continues to Show Its Age…

Recap: The night began with an in-ring interview of A.J. Styles by Renee Young. A.J. detailed different scenarios where due to the nature of a Fatal Five Way Match, he could lose the title despite being able to defeat each one of the competitors individually. He was interrupted by Baron Corbin, who reminded A.J. that he had defeated him previously for the U.S. Title.

Kevin Owens then approached the ring. A.J. unfortunately made an attempt at humor, telling Kevin Owens he looked great after having a boil lanced. (Sami Zayn was supposedly the boil in the joke.)

Shane McMahon then interrupted the arguing to set a match between AJ and Baron Corbin, and another match between Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler.

The Owens-Ziggler match began immediately (to Owens’ chagrin). It ended when Sami Zayn distracted Dolph Ziggler, allowing Owens to superkick Ziggler for the pin. Later, Sami Zayn approached Owens backstage to thank him for all he has done for him, and to assure him that he would lie down for Owens at Fastlane after they had teamed up to take out the other three competitors. Owens seemed unsure as to whether he could trust him.

In the main event, Styles defeated Baron Corbin, only to be attacked by Owens and Zayn after the match. Before Owens and Zayn could put A.J. through the announce table, however, they were taken out by Baron Corbin.

Evaluation: The crowd reaction to A.J. was great in the opening segment, but he killed his momentum when he attempted a lame joke. This has happened before; it would be best at this point if A.J. were to just avoid the attempts at clever humor altogether.

It was at least somewhat interesting to see Sami Zayn come out to assist Kevin Owens. Their relationship is very much in flux, which should create at least some suspense during the Fatal Five Way.

Forecast: This storyline has gone on way too long. I’m having trouble remembering a time where Smackdown didn’t revolve around Bryan-Shane-Kevin-Sami. The addition of Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler hasn’t revived the angle, as fans generally don’t care about either of them. A.J. obviously is on track to win at Fastlane and move on to a program with Shinsuke Nakamura, which should hopefully mercifully put this angle to bed.

Mirror Booking for the US Title…

Recap: Jinder Mahal came to the ring claiming to be revealing a secret about Bobby Roode. He displayed a Top 10 List, claiming that it represented Bobby Roode’s vote. If the list is accurate, Roode broke the rules by voting himself Number 1. Jinder emphasized that Roode lied when he said he respected Randy Orton, as Orton was not in his Top 10. Jinder stated that the list was evidence of Roode being an egomaniac and liar.

Roode came to the ring, disputing that the list was his. Roode was exasperated at Jinder’s attempts to sow division between him and Orton. Orton then came to the ring and attacked Roode and Jinder. The melee seemed to end with Roode hitting a DDT on Orton, but Jinder then reappeared to take out Roode with the Khalas.

Backstage, Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan disagreed regarding who should be Roode’s next opponent for the US Title. Shane ultimately set the Fastlane title match as Roode vs Orton, claiming his decision was final.

Evaluation: In my column last week I was fairly positive on this angle, but I’ve soured slightly after this week. While using the Top 10 list to create divisions among competitors isn’t a bad angle per se, Jinder’s unsupported claim to have Roode’s Top 10 ballot was just silly. Both Roode and Orton would have to be total buffoons to conceivably see Jinder’s actions as anything but a very poorly disguised attempt to get an edge over both of them.

I also don’t like that the U.S. Title storyline is now becoming a mirror of the WWE Title storyline, revolving around Shane and Bryan disagreeing on how to book defenses of the title. Like the WWE Title storyline, Bryan seems to be backing a heel (Jinder) while Shane is getting behind a face (Orton). This mirror booking makes the WWE Title storyline feel even more overplayed.

Forecast: The mirror booking will likely continue, with the U.S. Title defense eventually becoming a multi-man match just like the WWE Title match. As we’ve seen with the two women’s divisions, when WWE creative has an idea, they’re not adverse to running with it more than once at the same time.

A New Day for the New Day?

Recap: The New Day defeated Benjamin & Gable by distracting the referee, causing him to miss a pin. As a result, the New Day will face the Usos for the tag titles at Fastlane.

Evaluation: This isn’t the first time that New Day has defeated Gable & Benjamin under suspicious circumstances. This victory set up the New Day to face the popular Usos. Between the nefarious tactics and the upcoming matchup with the face Usos, could this be hinting at a turn for the New Day?

Forecast: While I find the New Day’s act horribly stale, and the events of the past few weeks could be interpreted as foreshadowing a heel turn; it’s probably all wishful thinking on my part. The New Day are unfortunately still getting positive crowd reactions, so WWE would likely be loathe to turn them.

Random Thoughts…

Watching tonight’s show the night after an awesome Raw last night made Smackdown seem even worse than normal by comparison…