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WWE SmackDown Results: Review, Grades, Card For March 21

By Matt Black

Our WWE SmackDown results for tonight include Seth Rollins confronting Roman Reigns and CM Punk, a rematch between Jacob Fatu and Braun Strowman, and Jade Cargill going one-on-one with Liv Morgan.

WWE SmackDown Card

The announced card is as follows:

  • Jacob Fatu vs. Braun Strowman
  • Jade Cargill vs. Liv Morgan
  • Zelina Vega vs. Piper Niven
  • Seth Rollins to confront Roman Reigns and CM Punk

WWE SmackDown Results:

This week’s episode of WWE SmackDown kicks off with Randy Orton coming to the ring to speak. Before Orton can speak, he’s interrupted by Kevin Owens. KO says he wants Randy to hear him out and that he has something important to tell him. Owens says he was wrong for attacking him and hitting him with a piledriver, he didn’t deserve that, but Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn did.

Owens said Orton picked Cody’s side over his and that made him angry and he did something he regrets. KO says Orton knows about doing things in his past that he regrets and he says he’s just human. Owens wants Orton to forgive him and they can both move on. Kevin says he pulled Carmelo out of the ring last week to save Orton from himself. Owens says Orton doesn’t want to turn back into the guy punting people in the head because he’s grown and moved on from that.

KO believes they should focus on WrestleMania and become Tag Team Champions. The crowd isn’t thrilled about this proposal and Owens tells them to shut up. Orton says he should roll out of the ring and beat his ass all over the arena.

Randy says Owens can take his half-hearted apology and shove it directly up his ass. Orton says Owens used to be fight Owens fight, but now he’s just bitch Owens bitch. Orton says he’s glad Owens dropped him on his head because he hears the voices again and at WrestleMania, he’s going to kick Owens’ head clean off his shoulders.

The rivalry between Damian Priest and Drew McIntyre continues…

A video plays recapping the ongoing rivalry between Damian Priest and Drew McIntyre.

Damian Priest and Jimmy Uso vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Drew McIntyre

  • The finish of the match saw Damian Priest hit Shinsuke Nakamura with South of Heaven to score the pinfall victory for his team.

Winners: Damian Priest and Jimmy Uso

After the match, Drew McIntyre attacks Damian Priest again and lays him out with a Claymore.

Grade: B+

This was a fun tag match to kick off the show. Priest getting the win for his team wasn’t surprising. McIntyre attacking him after the match was also to be expected. The WWE creative team is doing everything they can to heat this rivalry heading into WrestleMania next month. Hopefully, they can succeed in doing so.

Who will be the number one contender for LA Knight’s United States Title?

LA Knight runs into Braun Strowman in the back. Knight says he hopes he knocks Jacob Fatu back to factory settings tonight. Knight says there’s always a numbers game when dealing with them so he’ll be keeping an eye on things. Strowman informs Knight that Nick Aldis told him the winner of this match gets a shot at the United States Championship next week and that would punch Strowman’s ticket to WrestleMania as a champion.

Does the WWE Universe now run on Tiffy Time?

We get a split-screen sit-down interview between Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair. Stratton tries to answer a question but Charlotte cuts her off. Flair says Stratton finally looked like a star last week. Flair says she picked Tiffany at WrestleMania because she felt sorry for her. Stratton talks about being a deserving champion and Flair tries to undermine her for winning via a cash-in.

Tiffany Stratton says Flair used to be one of her biggest supporters when she started out but now she knows the real her. Stratton says Flair finds the hottest things in WWE and just throws water on it. Tiffany says the WWE Universe doesn’t bow to Charlotte anymore, they run on Tiffy time.

Jacob Fatu vs. Braun Strowman

  • The finish of the match saw Toma Tonga and Solo Sikoa get involved and attack Braun Strowman leading to a disqualification.

Winner: Braun Strowman via disqualification

After the match, Jacob Fatu didn’t look pleased with Sikoa and Tonga’s involvement but eventually joined in on the beatdown of Strowman. This brings out LA Knight and he and Strowman clear the ring. These two men will face each other for the United States Championship next week.

Grade: B+

This was a fun hard-hitting affair. I was really enjoying it until the finish. I would have preferred to get a clear winner from this match but it’s clear they want to continue to build the tension between Fatu and Sikoa. I’ll be shocked if those two men aren’t on a collision course for WrestleMania next month.

Will Liv Morgan survive Jade Cargill?

Cathy Kelley is backstage with Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. Liv Morgan says she still has an issue with Jade Cargill because she let everyone believe the two of them attacked her and kept quiet and didn’t say anything. Morgan says this match is personal to her. Morgan admits she was impressed with what Naomi tried to do, but she couldn’t finish the job so tonight she’ll finish it for her.

Backstage Jacob Fatu is angrily throwing things as Solo Sikoa tries to calm him down. Sikoa implies they got involved because it looked like he was about to lose but Fatu didn’t want to hear it and said it was his business and to let him handle things. Sikoa didn’t look happy after Fatu stormed out on them.

Piper Niven (w/ Chelsea Green and Alba Fyre) vs. Zelina Vega

  • The finish of the match saw interference from Chelsea Green and Alba Fyre which led to a running crossbody from Piper Niven on Zelina Vega to score the pinfall victory.

Winner: Piper Niven

Grade: B

The match started slow but got better as it went along. They gave Vega multiple good hope spots which led the fans to believe she had a chance of winning. The numbers game ultimately was her undoing which lends to question if Vega will be seeking an alliance of her own to take on Green and her faction in the weeks ahead.

A video plays recapping John Cena’s promo from WWE RAW and Cody Rhodes’ response.

Cathy Kelley is backstage with Jade Cargill. Cargill says Liv Morgan disrespected her last week and she’s going to teach her a lesson. Cargill says when she’s done with Morgan she’s coming after Naomi and tonight will just be a taste of what she’s going to do to her.

Another mysterious “4” vignette airs. Many believe these are for the impending return of Aleister Black, but that has yet to be confirmed.

Liv Morgan (w/ Raquel Rodriguez) vs. Jade Cargill

  • The finish of the match saw interference from Naomi hitting Jade Cargill with one of the Women’s Tag Titles. This led to Liv Morgan hitting Cargill with obLIVion to score the pinfall victory.

Winner: Liv Morgan

After the match, Naomi continued her attack on Cargill and tossed her off the ring apron onto the commentator’s table.

Grade: B+

This was probably Cargill’s best singles match in WWE to this point. Cargill and Morgan worked well together and Naomi interfering in the finish makes sense given their feud that is likely taking both women to WrestleMania.

Drew McIntyre was backstage gloating about what he did to Damian Priest earlier in the evening and teased that their paths would cross again next week. Speaking of paths, McIntyre and Seth Rollins crossed each other’s paths. Rollins smirked and walked away, neither man said a word.

The Street Profits speak…

The newly crowned WWE Tag Team Champions the Street Profits make their way to the ring to speak. The crowd chants they deserve it. Angelo Dawkins says it’s been a long road back to those titles and points they were questioning each other but them holding the titles again made it all worth it.

Montez Ford says they are celebrating tonight but he wants to be serious for a second and says he knows everything they went through the last few years they could always count on each other. This brings out Legado del Fantasma. Santos Escobar says the Street Profits finally captured gold again but too bad it’s going to end abruptly.

Pretty Deadly make their way out and remind Legado that they are the number one contenders and they need to step aside. Escobar says they won’t step aside and tell them to stay out of it. Ford says Pretty Deadly already have their title shot but Legado looks like they want to get into a fight tonight. Ford challenges Legado to what I assume to be a non-title matchup. It’s happening next after the commercial break.

A vignette airs for Rey Fenix who is reportedly on his way to the SmackDown brand.

The Street Profits vs. Los Garza (w/ Santos Escobar)

  • The finish of the match saw Montez Ford hit the Frog Splash on Angel Garza to score the pinfall victory for his team.

Winners: The Street Profits

Grade: B+

Fun match. I guess it was done to officially dismiss Legado out of the running for the WWE Tag Team Titles heading into WrestleMania. It will be interesting to see what match WWE lands on for these belts at WrestleMania next month.

We see Paul Heyman arriving at the venue incredibly late backstage. He appears to be alone.

DIY kiss up to Pretty Deadly backstage. Pretty Deadly reveals they get their title shot next week at SmackDown. DIY offer to help Pretty Deadly win next week on WWE SmackDown if they are given the first title shot. Pretty Deadly say no and walk away. Motor City Machine Guns appear and mock DIY and inform them they have to deal with them now at the back of the line.

What will happen when Seth Rollins confronts CM Punk and Roman Reigns?

Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman come out and make their way to the ring. Roman Reigns asks everyone to acknowledge him and says he loves them. Reigns says at the Royal Rumble, CM Punk screwed me so at Madison Square Garden he screwed Punk. But Seth Rollins tried to kill him at the Royal Rumble, so at MSG he tried to kill Rollins. Reigns says he came a long way to get here so he’s gonna take his time.

Roman says if anyone wants to come out and confront him, let him know. This brings out Seth Rollins who makes his way to the ring. Rollins says Reigns messed up and he doesn’t understand how dangerous CM Punk is the future of WWE. Rollins says Reigns should have let him finish Punk off when he had the chance. Seth says he gets it because it’s not about Punk, it’s about them, it’s always been about them and they can’t co-exist in the same space at the same time.

Rollins says their story has a lot of pages written and he thinks it’s about time they write another chapter. Before either man can get physical, CM Punk comes out and meets them in the ring. Punk says neither of them has ever beaten him without the other one’s help. Punk reminds Roman that the Royal Rumble is every man for himself. CM Punk says Reigns wouldn’t have made it to the Rumble if he didn’t save his ass at Survivor Series.

All hell breaks loose on WWE SmackDown

Punk thanks Heyman for delivering Roman to him on a silver platter tonight. Reigns turns to look at Heyman and Punk attacks him from behind with the microphone. Rollins gets involved and starts beating down Punk and eventually, all three men start to brawl as a lone referee tries to separate them.

Finally more referees and security come out to separate the three men. Punk escapes to ringside and stands on the commentary table before pointing at the WrestleMania sign. All three men eventually take their brawl to ringside. Reigns takes both Punk and Rollins out with the steel steps and points at the WrestleMania sign. Another brawl begins as WWE SmackDown goes off the air.

WWE SmackDown Review:

This was a fun show overall and the closing segment sealed the deal as a must-see moment on the road to WrestleMania this year. I’ll be shocked if this triple threat match doesn’t main event night one of WrestleMania 41. Title or no title, beyond John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes there isn’t a bigger match currently set for this show. It just makes sense.

Grade: B+

READ MORE: Report: Rey Fenix Signs With WWE, Update On Which Brand He’ll Be On

What did you think of WWE SmackDown this week? What was your favorite match or segment? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.

Matt Black
Matt Black

Matt Black has been covering wrestling video games since WWE Warzone from Acclaim. Coverage of wrestling video games eventually lead him into the world of wrestling news. Matt is a fan of every wrestling company and enjoys the current state of the industry in 2024.

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