Good evening Fight Fans and welcome to our coverage of tonight's edition of WWE Smackdown on FOX!
-We open the show with a video package for the WWE Performance Center narrated by Triple H before we get a run down of tonight's show featuring the return of Jeff Hardy, John Cena, an exclusive interview with Roman Reigns and more before we go to the ring as Sasha Banks and Bayley come out to the ring. We go to the announce desk where we have Triple H joining on commentary as Sasha and Bayley say that they're the face of the women's division regardless of how many fans are there and that the PC is the house that they built. Bayley and Sasha ask Triple H where Paige is before Michael tells them that she had travel issues before they're interrupted by Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross who challenge them to a match right now which Bayley and Sasha accept.
Bayley & Sasha Banks vs Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross
Nikki and Bayley kick things off by locking up, Nikki backing Bayley into the corner before everyone ends up outside and Nikki hits a running cross body off of the steps before Alexa hits a baseball slide and they hug in the center of the ring as Sasha and Bayley regroup as we go to commercial.
We come back to Sasha and Bayley stomping Alexa in the corner before Alexa gets two off of a jack knife pin and hits a huricanrrana before Sasha sends her face first into the middle turnbuckle and hits running knees in the corner for two. Bayley comes in and mocks Nikki who gets stopped by the referee from coming in, allowing Bayley to choke Alexa in the ropes and Sasha hits a float over suplex for two before locking in straight jacket. Alexa gets to her feet and hits an arm drag before Sasha drops her and Bayley gets the tag and hits her in the midsection before locking in a rear headlock. Alexa tries to elbow her way free before Bayley drives her into the corner and Alexa fights her way out of the corner before Sasha misses a running knee in the corner and gets the tag to Nikki. Nikki hits a running splash in the corner into a bulldog before knocking Bayley off of the apron and Sasha slams her off of the top rope before dodging a meteora and they exchange pin attempts until Nikki hits a wrecking ball dropkick into a diving cross body for a near fall that Bayley breaks up.
Alexa then drops Bayley before Asuka comes out and attacks Alexa when the referee is busy with Bayley before Sasha submits Nikki with the Banks Statement for the tap and the win.
Winner: Sasha Banks and Bayley defeat Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss via submission.
-After the match Triple H leaves commentary before we get a graphic for the interview with Roman Reigns up next as we go to commercial.
-We come back from commercial to an in-ring sit-down interview with Roman Reigns in the center of the ring where he says that it has been a crazy, blessed year with highs and lows, but his health is what drives him and he's glad to be back at the top of the card. Roman says that he's dealt with critics his entire career and posits the question of why can he main event a small town every night of the year, why shouldn't he be able to capitalize on the work he puts in to be in the main event, saying that he came back from the disabled list as fast as he could. Roman says that he has a lot of respect for Goldberg and that he's been a great Superstar and he's an icon, but he's a part-timer and that they don't have time for that in the WWE and that he is there full time and that Goldberg has no idea what he's in for at Wrestlemania. Roman then says that he's going to whip Goldberg, take back the Universal championship and set things right in the company.
-We go backstage to Sami Zayn, Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura who have been informed that they've been bumped from an interview before they leave and go off to celebrate before we cut to Jeff Hardy who says that he's so glad to be back, healthy and hungry and that he did plenty of soul searching before saying that he has plenty left to do. Baron Corbin comes up and interrupts Jeff and mocks him while calling his sobriety into question before Jeff tells Corbin that he has a match against him tonight before Elias shows up and tells Corbin that he didn't forget what he said last week. Elias then starts to sing and play guitar before Corbin walks off as we get a graphic for the Smackdown Tag Team championship match at the Elimination Chamber this past weekend as we go to commercial.
-We come back to Triple H back on commentary before we get a recap of Daniel Bryan defeating Drew Gulak at Elimination Chamber before we go backstage to Daniel walking up to Drew and giving him credit for countering everything he gave him before telling Drew that he is willing to learn and asks if Drew is still willing to teach. Daniel and Drew are then interrupted by Sami and company who mock them and point out how they had previously asked Daniel to join them and he turned them down and that he's a shell of his former self before Daniel and Cesaro agree to a match that Triple H subsequently makes official.
-We get a recap of nearly the entire Smackdown Tag Team Title Elimination Chamber match in which The Miz and John Morrison retained before we go to the champs in the ring who call out anyone who thinks they're not the greatest tag champions in the twenty first century before saying that they're there for them and for the titles and that they don't pander to fans before they start singing and dancing as we go to commercial after a graphic for John Cena later tonight and rumors of Rob Gronkowski signing with WWE.
-We come back to Triple H holding a camera before sitting back down and Mojo Rawley joins the desk and says that the rumors are true and that Rob is interested and that he will be here next week alongside Mojo before Mojo leaves before we get this week's Progressive MatchFlo recapping Sami capturing the Intercontinental championship from Braun Strowman at Elimination Chamber.
Daniel Bryan w/Drew Gulak vs Cesaro w/Sami Zayn and Shinsuke Nakamura
They lock up before Daniel backs Cesaro into the corner and kicks him in the chest before Cesaro turns it around and hits him with a flurry of uppercuts and drops him with a running uppercut as we go to commercial.
We come back to Cesaro in control of Daniel, hitting a suplex from the apron and back into the ring for two before Daniel hits a flying clothesline and kicks Cesaro in the chest before dropping him with a roundhouse kick for two. Daniel kicks Cesaro in the corner before Cesaro comes back with a pop-up uppercut for two and immediately locks in a cross face before they exchange pin attempts until Daniel wins.
Winner: Daniel Bryan defeats Cesaro via pinfall.
-After the match Shinsuke rushes in and attacks Daniel before Drew tries to save Daniel and gets taken out by all three of them and Daniel hits Shinsuke with a suicide dive before Sami and company is made to leave by the referee as Daniel checks on Drew. We then get a graphic for the return of John Cena later tonight before we go to a graphic for Jeff Hardy versus Baron Corbin up next as we go to commercial.
Jeff Hardy vs Baron Corbin
Corbin attacks Jeff as he's coming out to the ring and sends him into the barricade and the apron before Jeff gets into the ring and they start the match before Corbin sends Jeff face first into the top turnbuckle and whips him across the ring into the opposite corner. Jeff comes back with right hands and a clothesline into an inverted atomic drop into a leg drop into a basement dropkick for two before Corbin counters the Twist of Fate and hits Jeff with the Deep Six for two before Corbin turns his attention to Elias at ringside. Elias then gets on the announce desk and plays guitar before hitting a Twist of Fate now called the Twist of Fury before hitting a Swanton Bomb for the pin and the win.
Winner: Jeff Hardy defeats Baron Corbin via pinfall.
-After the match we get a graphic for John Cena who is up next as we go to commercial.
-We come back to Triple H addressing the audience before John Cena comes out to the ring for a sit-down interview where John says that plenty of people have told him that he is the reason for their failure and that potential can be good or dangerous before saying that Bray got lazy and gave up and blamed him. John lists off several of his losses in his career and says that he can only blame himself when he fails and that there are plenty of WWE Superstars to get lazy and fail and blame others with only having themselves to blame before we get a recap of two weeks ago where John tried to bow out of Wrestlemania and The Fiend challenged him to a match which he accepted. John says that WWE needs to invest in the future and that Bray isn't the future before listing off names like Drew McIntyre and Velveteen Dream among others before saying that he intends to take The Fiend out of the equation and that the match will put an end to Bray like he should have six years ago. Bray comes out of the chairs at ringside and gets into the ring before congratulating John and saying that John has him all wrong and that he's not sick, John is. Bray says that John only cares about the spotlight and that he's addicted to it before saying that John took something from him and that he eventually stopped ignoring the voices in his head and began to listen to them and that John broke him and The Fiend put him back together.
Bray then says that it will be a slaughter at Wrestlemania before they face off and Bray tells John to let him in before we go to a graphic of The Fiend and Bray laughing as the screen goes black as we go off the air.
