The final stop before Fastlane on Sunday was at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, Calif., Thursday night, where the Beast Incarnate, Brock Lesnar, made his first appearance on SmackDown in 12 years. But that wasn’t the only surprise in store for the night. We got our answer for Styles-Jericho III, some interesting developments in the Divas division and a fantastic main event. We haven’t had many of those on SmackDown in recent memory.
I was supposed to attend the NXT show at the Tower Theater last night, but I was unable to make it. In fact, writing this is proving to be tough as I’ve been dealing with flu-like symptoms this entire week. Two years in a row NXT comes to Philly, and two years in a row an illness knocks me down for the count. I can’t win.
But, hey, I still was able to catch SmackDown and thought it was a pretty good show. Here are the main stories coming out of the go-home show to Fastlane:
Two-thirds of the main event at Fastlane was featured in the main event Thursday night, as Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose took on the newly turned heel Dudley Boyz. It was a good, physical match, but this was the point where Lesnar decided to make his presence felt and he, Reigns and Ambrose fought all around the ringside area and then back in the ring. Ambrose teased giving Reigns the Dirty Deeds again, but Reigns countered that into a Samoan drop (why couldn’t he have done that on Monday!?).
Lesnar got his by suplexing Ambrose and Reigns various times. He hit Reigns with an F5 before making his exit, but Triple H came out and stood at the top of the ramp to stare him down with a sly grin on his face. I guess it doesn’t matter who wins on Sunday to him.
Chris Jericho was about to call out AJ Styles to give him his answer about a rematch at Fastlane before The Miz interrupted. Unfortunately for Jericho, Miz wasn’t announcing he’s quitting the business. This evolved into a match between the two in what happened to be a pretty good contest. Jericho would eventually win by submission via the Walls of Jericho.
Styles came out after the match and Jericho said that he doesn’t like him, so the answer for a rematch Sunday was no. Styles punched and kicked Jericho, who fell out of the ring. Y2J then grabbed a mic and accepted the match and warned Styles that he’d regret it.
Brie Bella confronted Charlotte after her non-title match win against Natalya and got the better of the Divas Champion, even getting a huge pop to holding the title high above her head in the ring. I wonder if the reaction Brie got is any indication if WWE really plans on putting the belt on her.
We’ve already seen a tease of this Sasha Banks-Becky Lynch tandem not exactly working out, but that’s exactly how it should be. These two have been bitter rivals and deserve the great storytelling that goes along with their uneasiness to team up with each other this Sunday against Tamina Snuka and Naomi. Banks defeated Tamina on Thursday night, but wasn’t a fan of having Becky come out to help her when Tamina and Naomi attacked her after the match. Backstage, the two sort of made up, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw this duo win on Sunday and continue their rivalry afterwards.
The New Day is getting hyped for their appearance on The Cutting Edge Peep Show Sunday at Fastlane.
Match rundown
• Sheamus/Rusev/Alberto Del Rio d. the Lucha Dragons/Dolph Ziggler by pinfall after Sheamus hit a Brogue Kick on Ziggler as he was distracted by Kevin Owens, who was on commentary.
• Sasha Banks d. Tamina Snuka by submission via the Bank Statement. Naomi and Tamina attacked Sasha after the match and Becky Lynch came out for the save.
• Chris Jericho d. The Miz by submission via the Walls of Jericho.
• Non-Title: Charlotte (c) d. Natalya by submission via the Figure Eight.
• Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose d. the Dudley Boyz by disqualification after Brock Lesnar attacked Dean Ambrose outside of the ring.
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