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WWE SmackDown Results: Review, Grades, Card For March 14

By Colin Tessier

Our WWE SmackDown results for tonight include Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes appearing on Miz TV, Randy Orton facing Carmelo Hayes, B-Fab taking on Charlotte Flair, and DIY defending the WWE Tag Team Championship against The Street Profits. Here’s our review and grades for tonight’s show, live from the Olympic Arena in Barcelona, Spain.

WWE SmackDown Card

  • WWE Tag Team Championship: DIY (Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano) (c) vs. The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins)
  • Charlotte Flair vs. B-Fab
  • Randy Orton vs. Carmelo Hayes
  • Miz TV with Cody Rhodes

WWE SmackDown Results:

The broadcast team welcomes viewers and previews the card. World Heavyweight Champion Gunther and Paul Heyman, among others, are shown walking backstage.

LA Knight Celebrates

WWE United States Champion LA Knight comes to the ring. He addresses the crowd and says they’re making history with the first SmackDown in Barcelona. Knight says he’s the US Champ, but he’s worldwide. He says the title is back in the hands that it should be. Jimmy Uso interrupts. He says he’s out there to say that he’s desperate, as his road to WrestleMania has been filled with speedbumps. Uso challenges Knight to a title match, but Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, and Tama Tonga interrupt.

Sikoa says that if anybody deserves a title shot, it’s Jacob Fatu, as Knight stole a title shot from The Bloodline. He tells Uso to step aside because he’s going to be the failure of the family. Uso says his biggest failure was trusting Sikoa, and he says that Sikoa failed when he lost the Ula Fala to Roman Reigns. Tonga attacks Uso, and Sikoa and Fatu gang up on Knight. Braun Strowman makes the save. Strowman, Knight, and Uso fight Sikoa, Fatu, and Tonga off. Nick Aldis comes out and books a six-man tag match.

Grade: B+

This was a good way to have all these guys interrupt. It looks like Knight might potentially defend the title against Sikoa or some combination of everyone that was here at WWE WrestleMania 41. The rematch between Strowman and Fatu has been built up as well, and that seems like a likely addition to the WrestleMania card.

LA Knight Teams Up With Jimmy Fatu And Braun Strowman

LA Knight, Braun Strowman & Jimmy Uso vs. Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu & Tama Tonga

Uso and Sikoa battle back and forth on. Sikoa slams Uso. Tonga hits Uso when the referee isn’t looking. Fatu overpowers Uso and keeps him grounded. Tonga maintains the advantage. Sikoa hits Uso with a running hip attack. Uso rallies and tags Knight, who takes the fight to Fatu. He drops Fatu with a neckbreaker. He catches Fatu with a DDT.

Fatu kicks Knight and takes control. Knight dodges a splash in the corner and hits a diving elbow drop. Tonga hits Knight when the referee isn’t looking, and Fatu trucks over him. Tonga continues to control the match. Knight fires up, but Sikoa sends him into the corner.

The trio keeps Knight isolated and remains in control. Knight rallies with a back suplex. He tags Strowman, who clears house with a flurry of offense. He trucks ober Sikoa and Fatu at ringside. Uso dives onto Fatu. Strowman hits Tonga with a running powerslam for the win.

Winner: LA Knight, Braun Strowman & Jimmy Uso

Sikoa attacks Strowman from behind. Knight fights him off. Fatu superkicks Uso. He attacks Strowman. Fatu hits Strowman with three of his signature moonsaults and stands tall. He leaves but runs back to ringside and sends Strowman with a running shoulder tackle. Fatu gets back up and walks away.

Grade: B+

Fun match here, and everyone involved had a good showing. It dragged a bit, so some time could have been trimmed from it, as it felt like Knight was getting worked over for a while. The post-match angle kept the feud between Strowmana and Fatu going. Side note, it seems like The New Bloodline as a group has lost a lot of steam since Sikoa lost to Roman Reigns.

A video package highlights Jade Cargill’s return and Naomi’s confession that she attacked Jade.

Jade Cargill Speaks

Cathy Kelley interviews Jade Cargill, who says she’s ready to go physically. She says that seeing Naomi cry as if she was the victim was pathetic. Cargill says that she didn’t need to use anyone to get where she was going. She recalls being hit in the back and being thrown onto a car, and she says that she saw Naomi running away. Cargill says that Naomi attacked her integrity and her heart. She emotionally says that when she saw Bianca Belair teaming up with Naomi, she knew she had to take actions into her own hands.

Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez interrupt and point out how they were blamed for the attack. Cargill says they wouldn’t have won the titles if she was there. She challenges Morgan to a match next week. Morgan tells her not to fall onto any cars until then.

Grade: B+

This was a good follow-up to the promo with Belair and Naomi last week. Hearing Cargill’s perspective was needed, and the tease of her having a problem with Belair teaming with Naomi planted seeds there as well. Cargill’s return match being Morgan, rather than a squash match, is a pleasant surprise.

Charlotte Flair Returns To Singles Action

Charlotte Flair vs. B-Fab

Flair gains the upper hand early on. She and B-Fab feel each other out. Flair chops B-Fab. B-Fab kicks Flair and slams her. She sends Flair to the outside. Back in the ring, she stomps B-Fab. B-Fab goes for a pin, and Flair counters. Flair hits B-Fab with a neckbreaker. “The Queen” grounds B-Fab. B-Fab hits a crossbody. Flair grounds B-Fab and maintains the advantage. B-Fab rallies with a kick. She and Flair trade blows. B-Fab keeps fighting and suplexes Flair. B-Fab drops Flair with a big boot.

Flair superkicks B-Fab and hits Natural Selection. Flair makes B-Fab tap out to the Figure Eight.

Winner: Charlotte Flair

Flair keeps the Figure Eight locked in after the bell. WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton runs in and brawls with Flair. Officials come out to separate them. Flair breaks free, and the brawl resumes. Officials struggle to separate Flair and Stratton. They dive onto each other, and eventually the officials break them up. Stratton dives onto Flair and a team of security guards. Finally, the officials manage to break them up.

Grade: B

The match was fine; the outcome was never in doubt, but Flair had a good showing, as it didn’t seem like she had missed a step, and B-Fab got some offense in. The brawl with Stratton was drawn out, and WWE creative relies on these pull-aparts too much to build up feuds.

Drew McIntyre’s Message

In a taped message, Drew McIntyre notes that he was always focused on the people who were in front of him, but he realized that someone always benefitted every time that he got screwed over. He recalls how Priest took the title from him once, and he prevented him from winning the title multiple times since then. McIntyre says this isn’t about the world title, as Priest took that from him. He says he’s going to put Priest down for good.

Grade: B+

This was a very needed way to add real weight to the feud with McIntyre and Priest. McIntyre’s promo made a lot of sense, as Priest has been involved with him getting “screwed over” one way or another. In the span of about two weeks, this feud has heated up nicely.

Miz TV with Cody Rhodes

Stratton and Flair are shown brawling on the stage while The Miz tries to start speaking. They keep fighting, and again officials struggle to separate them. Stratton dives off the video tron with a Swanton Bomb onto Flair and a group of security guards.

The Miz says that Cody Rhodes should have taken The Rock’s offer, and instead he got beaten up by two great rappers, Tavis Scott and John Cena. He says that Rhodes will not beat Cena at WrestleMania. Rhodes comes to the ring.

The Miz demands the fans to stop singing Rhodes’ theme song, as he’s going to ask the tough questions. Rhodes attacks him and drops him with a Cross Rhodes. Rhodes says the only person he wants to talk to is John Cena, and if Cena can find it worth his time to join them on RAW, he’ll be there too.

Grade: B

This was a miss. The brawl with Stratton and Flair had already been drawn out, so we didn’t need more of it here. The Miz’s line about Rhodes getting beat up by two rappers was good. But advertising Cody for this show and only having him briefly attack The Miz and saying that he wanted to talk to Cena, when it was already announced that they’ll be on RAW, didn’t hit. granted, Rhodes has had two promos about Cena, but a stronger build for RAW would have helped here.

Backstage, Nick Aldis talks to Shinsuke Nakamura. Damian Priest interrupts and asks Aldis where McIntyre is. Aldis says McIntyre has left the building. Nakamura says something in Japanese, and Priest responds in Spanish. Priest challenges Nakamura to a match, and Aldis books the match.

A mysterious teaser airs.

Damian Priest Faces Shinsuke Nakamura

Damian Priest vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Priest and Nakamura battle back and forth early on. They trade blows. Priest takes control, but Nakamura catches him in the corner, hangs him up, and hits him with a running knee. He hits a diving knee. Nakamura grounds Priest with more knees. Priest rallies with a series of strikes. He keeps rolling, and he signals for the South of Heaven, but Drew McIntyre appears at ringside and distracts him. Nakamura gets a two-count on a pin attempt. Priest perseveres and hits the South of Heaven. McIntyre attacks Priest, and the referee calls for the bell.

Winner via disqualification: Damian Priest

Priest and McIntyre brawl after the bell. McIntyre gouges Priest’s eyes, and Nakamura hits Priest with the Kinshasa. McIntyre continues to attack Priest when he’s down. He slams Priest into the barricade. McIntyre hits Priest with the steel steps. He walks away but runs back to the ring to hit Priest with a Claymore. He tells Priest that he screwed him, and he’s going to make his life a living hell.

Grade: B

The match was solid, and it was one of the better ones Nakamura has had lately. McIntyre getting involved was predictable, but it helped add more fuel to their rivalry. The brief tease of an alliance of some sort between McIntyre and Nakamura was interesting, though it probably won’t go anywhere.

Backstage, WWE Tag Team Champions DIY look forward to their title match with The Street Profits. The Motor City Machine Guns interrupt and say that the whole division is coming after them. They say that they have unfinished business to take care of.

FC Barcelona star Lamine Yamal is shown in the crowd.

WWE Women’s United States Champion Chelsea Green, Piper Niven, and Alba Fyre are backstage, and Green is asked about her win against Michin last week. Green says that she brought out her secret weapon, and now the Green Administration was in full force. Zelina Vega interrupts and makes it clear that she wants a title shot. Niven says Vega will have to go through them first. Vega says she will face Niven next week.

Randy Orton Makes His In-Ring Return

Randy Orton vs. Carmelo Hayes

Hayes offers a handshake but poses instead. Orton takes the fight to him and punches him in the corner. He sends Hayes into the ring post and suplexes him onto the broadcast table. Orton slams Hayes onto the desk again. Hayes takes control and grounds Orton. Hayes takes out Orton’s leg and keeps him grounded. Orton rallies with a flurry of offense. “The Viper” catches Hayes and powerslams him. He drops Hayes with a spike DDT. Orton evades Nothing But Net.

Hayes gets a two-count with a DDT off the ropes. Orton fires up and hits Hayes with a superplex. Orton hits the RKO out of nowhere for the win.

Winner: Randy Orton

Orton offers a handshake, and Hayes rejects it. Orton hits Hayes with an RKO. He goes for the punt, but Kevin Owens pulls him out of the ring. Orton takes the fight to Owens. Owens shoves Orto into the ring post and runs away.

Grade: B+

Much like Charlotte Flair’s match, the outcome wasn’t in doubt here. Hayes had a good showing, and Orton was excellent as always. Owens preventing the punt, briefly fighting off Orton, and running away was a good mixture of Owens being a cowardly heel and showing that he wants to fight Orton. All signs point to the two facing each other at WrestleMania, and that should be a good one.

Backstage, Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga hype up Jacob Fatu, as Tonga tells him to run the play. Fatu challenges Braun Strowman to a match next week and says he’s going to “dog-walk” him.

A mysterious “4” vignette airs.

Gunther In Action

World Heavyweight Champion Gunther addresses the crowd. He says that he wants to prove a point, as he says there is no substance to Jey Uso. Gunther says there is “a kid,”, and he’s one of the most promising wrestlers in Spain. He says that everyone loves him, but it doesn’t matter. Gunther introduces NXT Tag Team Champion Axiom as his opponent.

Gunther vs. Axiom

“The Ring General” and Axiom go back and forth. Axiom uses his quickness to counter Gunther’s power. He catches Gunther with a kick. Gunther takes control. Axiom keeps fighting, but Gunther overpowers him and grounds him. Axiom rallies, and Gunther chops him. Gunther kicks Axiom, who responds with some strikes. Gunther locks in the Boston crab and transitions to an STF. He continues to ground Axiom. Axiom rallies with a Dragon Screw and kicks Gunther’s leg. He hits a diving dropkick. Axiom counters a powerbomb and hits Gunther with some strikes. He gets a two-count with a pin attempt. Gunther dropkicks Axiom and hits a powerbomb for a near fall.

Axiom hits a hurricanrana and the Golden Ratio for a near fall. He hits Gunther with a few more strikes. Gunther powerbombs him again and hits a lariat. Gunther powerbombs Axiom for the win.

Winner: Gunther

After the bell, Gunther locks Axiom in a sleeper hold. Officials try to break it up, and Gunther releases the gold. Gunther stands tall and walks to the back.

Grade: B+

It’s good to see Gunther wrestling more than he had been. Axiom getting this spot in Barcelona was fun, and he had a very good showing. There were a few near falls that, while not convincing, still added to the match. Gunther continues to gain momentum heading into WrestleMania, and he is being booked strongly.

Paul Heyman Speaks

Paul Heyman comes to the ring and addresses Roman Reigns’ return. He says it’s Roman Reigns Day, as WWE 2K25 is available now. He says that some people have a problem with that, including “The Best in the World” CM Punk. Heyman says that Seth Rollins may have a problem with it as well, but it will never be Seth Rollins Day. He announces that Roman Reigns will be live on WWE SmackDown next week, and anyone who has a problem with him can say so to his face.

Grade: B

This felt like it was mostly a spot to promote WWE 2K25 while setting up a much more substantial confrontation, likely between Reigns and Punk, for next week. It would have benefitted from Heyman hyping up Reigns’ return and what it meant for WrestleMania.

The Street Profits get ready for their title match, and Legado del Fantasma confront them. They make it clear that they want to face the duo.

Backstage, Jimmy Uso is confronted by Gunther. Gunther says they have some things in common, as he has a younger brother as well. He compares Axiom to Jey Uso and says that if Jey doesn’t step back, he will choke him out as well. Gunther asks Jimmy to have a word with Jey. Jimmy says he has the whole thing backwards, as Jey is going to beat him at WWE WrestleMania 41. Gunther says he was mistaken about Jimmy’s maturity.

Grade: B+

This was a natural way to add some depth to the story with Gunther and Jey Uso, which has mostly been using the same formula on RAW in recent weeks. Ideally, this will lead to Jimmy becoming more of a part of the story to give it emotional weight ahead of WrestleMania.

DIY Defends The Gold

WWE Tag Team Championship: DIY vs. The Street Profits

Tommaso Ciampa and Angelo Dawkins start the bout and feel each other out. Dawkins drills Ciampa with some strikes. The Street Profits double-team Ciampa. He rocks Gargano with a right hand. Ciampa grounds Dawkins. Gargano and Ciampa try to double-team Dawkins. Dawkins overpowers Gargano. Ford tags in and levels Gargano with a clothesline. Gargano knocks Ford off the apron and sends him into the barricade. Ciampa suplexes Ford onto the ropes and drills him with a running knee.

Gargano and Ciampa continue to isolate Ford. Ciampa slams Ford off the second rope. Ford tags Dawkins, who clears house with a flurry of offense. Ford goes for a 450 splash, but Ciampa blocks it. Gargano and Ciampa double-team Ford. At ringside, Dawkins sends Ciampa into the timekeeper’s area. The Street Profits go for a doomsday Blockbuster, but Ciampa breaks it up. Ford dives onto Ciampa. The Street Profits hit a doomsday blockbuster. Ciampa gets a near fall with the Fairytale Ending. Gargano accidentally hits Ciampa on a Meet in the Middle attempt. Ford scores the win with a frog splash.

Winners and new WWE Tag Team Champions: The Street Profits

The Street Profits celebrate as the show ends.

Grade: A+

Excellent tag team match here, one of the best WWE has had recently. Both teams looked great. This felt like it was right off of an NXT Black and Gold card. Near falls for both teams made it hard to predict the finish, but The Street Profits’ win was long overdue. It’s hard to believe it’d been so long since they won the titles. Needless to say, it was time for them to win the gold.

WWE SmackDown Grade: B+

This score is mostly propped up by the main event, which was a very strong way to end the show. Gunther vs. Axiom was good, and Orton vs. Hayes was fairly solid as well. Otherwise, there wasn’t much on this show to write home about, aside from the mystery vignettes. McIntyre’s promo helped build his feud with Priest, which was needed. Cody Rhodes’ brief segment was a miss, as was Heyman’s. Still, the main event capped it off and sent fans into next week with a smile.

Colin Tessier
Colin Tessier

Colin Tessier is a lifelong fan of all things Marvel and DC, and he has used this passion to write about them for several years. Likewise, having been a fan of wrestling since he was a kid, he also covers professional wrestling. You can find him on Twitter at @ct_2110.

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