WWE FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN PRIMER 3/26: Continued Fastlane Fallout, Sami on KO Show

WWE FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN PRIMER
MARCH 26, 2021
TAMPA, FL. IN THE THUNDERDOME AT TROPICANA FIELD
AIRS ON FOX NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EST
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH.COM CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Michael Cole and Corey Graves

Match Results and Exclusives from Last Week

• Sasha Banks defeated Nia Jax to retain the Smackdown Women’s Championship.
• Rey & Dominik Mysterio defeated The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins). The Mysterios proceeded to lose to Otis & Chad Gable.

• King Corbin defeated Sami Zayn. Kevin Owens was on commentary.

• Bianca Belair and Shayna Baszler wrestled to a no-contest.
• Edge defeated Jey Uso to earn the right to be the enforcer in the Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan for the Universal Championship at Fastlane.

Fastlane Results Pertinent to Smackdown

• Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax defeated Smackdown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair to retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.
• Big E defeated Apollo Crews in a questionable finish to retain the Intercontinental Championship.
• Seth Rollins defeated Shinsuke Nakamura.

• Roman Reigns defeated Daniel Bryan to retain the Universal Championship. Edge was at ringside at the special enforcer and attacked both Bryan and Roman near the conclusion of the match.

Items Advertised by WWE

We put Fastlane behind us now and turn our attention towards WrestleMania. Those of us here in the U.S. enjoyed our last chance to watch a live PPV on the standalone WWE Network as the next event, which will be night two of NXT Takeover: Stand and Deliver, will air on Peacock. Both nights of WrestleMania will be on Peacock as well.

As of this writing, a little less than five hours to showtime, WWE has not posted their preview. They’ve had a hype video for tonight’s show talking about what’s next for Roman Reigns and Edge following the happenings at Fastlane. While not officially announced, it appears Daniel Bryan will be added to the Universal Championship match between Roman and Edge at WrestleMania according to multiple wrestling media outlets. I stop short of saying that WILL happen, as there could be other ways of involving Bryan in the Universal title picture, but the triple threat seems to be the way they’re going. We’ll find out for sure most likely tonight or sometime soon. That said, here’s the hype video and the one item officially advertised for tonight’s show:

• Kevin Owens welcomes Sami Zayn to “The KO Show.”

Sami Zayn on the KO Show

Tonight, Sami Zayn joins his long-time friend & rival Kevin Owens on the KO Show. In addition to losing to King Corbin as I mentioned earlier, Sami had multiple interactions with Kevin.

Sami has been filming a documentary in an attempt to prove there’s a conspiracy against him. He’s wanted Kevin to be a part of it, but he’s resisted. Last week when Sami asked again, Kevin suggested that maybe the problem isn’t everyone else but him. Sami then asked Kevin to be at ringside for his match with Corbin, to which he agreed. Sami lost clean to Corbin via End of Days in minutes and pleaded with Kevin to see the conspiracy. When he didn’t agree, Sami accused him of being part of the conspiracy, and gave him a Helluva kick.

Sami and Kevin have had a long history going all the way back to their days in NXT. On the main roster, they feuded back in 2016 culminating with Sami defeating Kevin at Battleground of that year. One year later, they became aligned and were part of Daniel Bryan’s comeback when they wrestled him and Shane McMahon at WrestleMania. Injuries sidelined Sami, and they unofficially went their separate ways. Pop star Logan Paul is involved in this now. Check it out on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/LoganPaul/status/1375202251153702917?s=20

.@WWE Retweet this right now you corporate scumbags https://t.co/Ymkgy1l0LY

— Sami Zayn (@SamiZayn) March 25, 2021

Frank’s Analysis: Last week I wondered what was up with Kevin and Sami, and I can’t believe I forgot about the potential of them going at it at WrestleMania. I think it’s perfectly fine, given that it’s been a few years since they’ve interacted either as opponents or partners. Their matches were good back then and should be good now.

Other Expectations and Additional Thoughts

I’ve mentioned the situation with Daniel Bryan. Jey Uso is involved in this as well. I don’t see him being involved in the Universal Championship picture at WrestleMania, but I can’t totally rule it out. I don’t know if they’re going to make Bryan jump through hoops to get into the match at ‘Mania, perhaps wrestling Jey again, but I expect some method of adding him to match.

Sasha Banks slapped Bianca Belair after their failed attempt to win the Women’s Tag Team Championship. That clearly puts Sasha in the heel role, at least for this match. Whether they officially turn her heel remains to be seen. Expect interaction with them as they get ready for their Smackdown Women’s Championship match at WrestleMania.

They made a point of putting out a video with the Street Profits, the Mysterios, and Otis & Chad Gable arguing over who should get a chance at the Smackdown Tag Team Championship. For all intents and purposes, I can see that being a fatal four-way at WrestleMania.

Look for Big E and Apollo Crews to interact after a botched finish at Fastlane and set up another Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania.

Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Thank you for reading!