WWE SMACKDOWN HITS & MISSES 2/28: Goldberg-Reigns opening segment, Strowman IC Title contract signing, John Cena hype and angle with Fiend, Roode vs. Kofi

Goldberg – Reigns – HIT: This was a hard segment to analyze. It was probably what it needed to be to get to the Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns Universal Title match at WrestleMania. It showed right away that Goldberg would not be facing The Fiend in a rematch. It introduced his next opponent. It showed the two big stars together in a way that felt important. But, I can’t get excited about a Goldberg match at this point. I did not like The Fiend as the Champion and was ok with taking the Title off of him. I’m not sure I would have put it on Goldberg. It is hard to get excited about Goldberg vs. Reigns as it won’t be any good. The boos that Goldberg got should be ok with WWE if they want Reigns to get cheered, but they can’t be happy with the “You Both Suck!” chant. The other thing that makes me question this is the fact that Apollo Crews should have come out and said “I’m next!” and he would have gotten the Title shot at WM.

Bayley & Banks Lose – MISS: WWE has to stop having their Champions lose so frequently in non-title situations. This tag match between Bayley and the returning Sasha Banks taking on Naomi and Lacey Evans was solid. It could have been a Hit. It wasn’t great, but could have been good with a different ending. The ending didn’t work because the entire angle was built around the return of Banks. But, WWE undercut that return by having her lose this match. Sure, Bayley took the pin, but she is the Women’s Champion so she shouldn’t be losing either. I guess they want to give Naomi one more Title shot before they give another to Evans.

John Cena Hype – HIT: WWE did a good job of building up to John Cena’s appearance at the end of the show. They talked about it a lot and had multiple videos of his career highlights throughout the show to make it feel like a big deal.

Roode vs. Kingston – HIT: This was a good 13 minute match between Robert Roode and Kofi Kingston. They are building up Roode and Dolph Ziggler, but to what end? A match against Heavy Machinery is clearly in the works, but if you want New Day to still be in the Tag Team Title picture, Kingston probably needed the win more.

Contract Signing – MISS: I have complained many times over the years about contract signings not being necessary as most matches don’t have contracts. Some readers have argued that just because we don’t see a contract signing doesn’t mean that the contract wasn’t signed off TV. That’s a fine point, but on a show with an impromptu tag team match that clearly didn’t have a contract, it is hard to argue that all matches have contracts. When the segment itself is enjoyable to watch, I can look past this inconsistency to praise a contract signing. This was not one of those situations. It dragged as it went on too long. WWE was being too clever with the over scripting of Braun Strowman to conveniently say that he might have to fight Shinsuke Nakamura, Cesaro and Sami Zayn. It was a good thing that Zayn told Nakamura to wait to sign until after Strowman had made that statement. It was almost like he knew what Strowman was going to say. Another issue is that there is no reason to think that Strowman is going to lose even in a 3-on-1 handicap match considering how ineffective this heel trio has been.

Miz & Morrison Lose – MISS: Having your brand new Tag Team Champions lose the day after winning the Title is incredibly short sighted. It seems like I’m repeating myself. This was a good match. The quality of the wrestling between Miz & Morrison and The Usos was Hit worthy. It was fun to watch. They had good chemistry in the ring against each other. But, how can I take the Champions seriously when they lose right away? WWE is doing very odd things with the Elimination Chamber. They seem to have a clear obvious challenger for Becky Lynch’s Raw Women’s Title, but they are going through the motions of having her win the EC to earn that shot. But, Roman Reigns just declares himself Goldberg’s WM challenger? Here they have an EC tag match to determine Miz & Morrison’s WM opponent which is fine. But, why jump the gun by making the winner seem obvious by having The Usos win here?

Cena – Fiend – MISS: Was John Cena even on WrestleMania last year? I honestly don’t remember. He was already out the door of WWE at that point. I looked it up and he was not in a match but came out to interrupt Elias’ concert and beat him up. If WWE hadn’t mentioned him at all, I don’t think a lot of fans would have been thinking about what he would do at WM. WWE did a lot to build to him coming out just to say that he wasn’t going to be on WM. He said that today’s stars deserve matches more than returning starts like him. Maybe he should tell that to Goldberg and Undertaker. It is very strange to me that WWE would have Cena on Smackdown just to say he wasn’t going to be on WM. And then you got the Fiend’s challenge which was cheesy. He is all about terror and attacking vulnerable people. Nothing about what he did here played into that aspect of his character. Nothing he did should make Cena want to wrestle him. That makes Cena look bad for going against his strong statement for no reason. Fiend should have done something much worse to Cena where he could then come out next week to talk about it and give a strong promo accepting the challenge in a way that doesn’t make him seem like he is going back on his word 60 seconds after he gave that word in the first place.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw and Smackdown each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com. Follow on Twitter @JonMezzera

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