WWE Smackdown results: Brock Lesnar returns

– Air Date: February 18, 2016 (Feb 17 in Canada)
– Location: Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, CA

– The Big News:

Brock Lesnar stood tall over both Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, who may not be on the same page anymore.

– Show Recap:

Kevin Owens joined Michael Cole, Byron Saxton and Jerry Lawler on commentary for the opening match. Cole explained that Mauro Ranallo was attacked with a crowbar ill but would return next week. Owens accused Cole of firing Ranallo because he realized Ranallo was better. After Cole repeated that Ranallo was sick, Owens said he’s sick because he heard Cole’s commentary on Raw.

League of Nations (w/King Barrett) beat Dolph Ziggler & Lucha Dragons via pinfall

Cole confirmed that Kalisto would be defending the U.S. Title on the Fastlane kickoff show in a 2 out of 3 falls match against Alberto Del Rio. Kalisto and Sin Cara did suicide dives to Del Rio and Sheamus. Ziggler followed by doing Dean Ambrose’s flying elbow to Rusev. LON worked over Sin Cara and his shoulder after a break.

Ziggler made the hot tag, ran wild, and did the air guitar thing. Owens accused him of stealing that from Eva Marie, which is amazing. Del Rio and Rusev laid out the Dragons outside the ring, while Ziggler got a near fall on Sheamus after a fameasser. Owens jumped off commentary to distract Ziggler. It worked, and Sheamus killed Ziggler with a Brogue kick for the win. Dumb finish. Owens was great on commentary.

They plugged Brock Lesnar for tonight as well as the main event.

Sasha Banks beat Tamina (w/Naomi) via submission

Tamina came out to the Team BAD theme, unlike on Raw last week. After 2 minutes, Naomi jumped on the apron but Banks knocked her off and hit Tamina with a wheelbarrow bulldog into a crossface for the tapout win. Naomi and Tamina attacked Banks afterwards, but Becky Lynch made the save. As Lynch helped Banks to her feet, she pushed Lynch away and left.

Backstage, Lynch confronted Banks. She said they need to get along at Fastlane, otherwise they’ll lose to Team BAD who will carry that momentum into WrestleMania. Lynch has dreamed about getting her WrestleMania moment, but has had enough of Banks’ ego. Lynch was about to leave, but Banks pulled her back and said they’d never be friends, but she hates to lose. They shook hands. This was not great and it felt overwritten.

Chris Jericho came out and got some “Y2J” chants. He called out AJ Styles to give him an answer, but got The Miz instead. Miz said everyone was tired of Jericho and Styles playing footsie and said he had an announcement. Jericho hoped the announcement was that Miz would take two weeks off and quit.

He asked the crowd if Miz should quit and they chanted “Yes!” Miz said he wasn’t quitting and mentioned something about being at a Grammy party at the Playboy Mansion. His announcement was that Jericho had to face him right now. Jericho punched him with the mic and Miz bailed, leading to a commercial break. Good thing Jericho was in his gear.

Chris Jericho beat The Miz via submission

Jericho won with a Walls of Jericho after a good 12-13 minute match. Afterwards, Jericho grabbed a mic, gave Miz a hand and called him a great performer, but said Y2J came out on top again. He called out Styles again and this time he came out.

Jericho said Styles wants a rematch because he wants to make a name for himself, but it’ll have to come at the expense of someone else. Jericho respects Styles more than anyone in the locker room, calling him one of the best in the business, but Jericho doesn’t like him, so the answer was no.

Styles wasn’t happy and attacked Jericho with strikes, knocking him out of the ring. Jericho jumped back on the apron and Styles tossed the mic back at him, asking if he changed his mind. Jericho said Styles made a stupid mistake. He accepted the match but said Styles would regret it.

Backstage, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose stood in a hallway (waiting for the camera to start rolling, I guess). Reigns chose this exact moment to ask Ambrose if he was alright after losing on Raw. Ambrose said he was fine, it was just a rough week. They bumped fists and Reigns was about to leave to get ready for their match, but stopped to tell Ambrose not to try Dirty Deeds again. Ambrose said it was a joke and thought it was funny.

They parted, and the camera followed Ambrose who immediately ran into Paul Heyman, conveniently standing around the corner. Ambrose was being his usual self, which made Heyman uncomfortable. Heyman told Ambrose that Lesnar was here looking for him. Ambrose feigned concern and asked for advice. Heyman didn’t have any, so Ambrose smiled and said he’d have to figure it out on his own. He told Heyman to make sure Lesnar doesn’t keep him waiting. This might sound fine on paper, but like the Banks-Lynch segment earlier, it felt phony and overwritten.

Elsewhere, Jo-Jo asked New Day about Edge and Christian. In a promo where New Day mocked Edge and Christian for being out of date, Xavier Woods mimicked Allen Iverson’s famous “practice” speech, and Kofi Kingston made a Chappelle’s Show reference. They said it wasn’t the ‘90s, it’s 2016 – the year of the GIF, and they debated the proper pronunciation of “GIF” (both are correct). They sent Jo-Jo away and so they could play the trombone and dance. I didn’t like this.

Non-title: WWE Divas Champion Charlotte (w/Ric Flair) beat Natalya via submission

Charlotte won with the Figure Eight. Afterwards, Charlotte did the Yes chant so Brie Bella ran out. She hit Yes kicks and went for a running knee, but Flair pulled Charlotte out of the ring. Brie held up the title and did more Yes chants and Charlotte yelled “No! No! No!” This was fine.

Another Goldust and R-Truth segment backstage. Truth did a rap informing Goldust he didn’t want to be partners.

The Wyatt Family vs. Big Show, Kane and Ryback was made official for Fastlane. Bray will be in his clan’s corner, not in the actual match.

Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose beat The Dudley Boyz via DQ

Reigns came out last. The Dudleys worked over Ambrose forever until he made the hot tag to Reigns. Reigns sized up D-Von for the superman or spear or whatever when Brock Lesnar’s music hit. Lesnar and Heyman came out, so Ambrose and Reigns faced the stage. The distraction allowed the Dudleys to attack them from behind, but Reigns hit D-Von with a superman punch and Ambrose caught Bubba with a flying elbow. Ambrose hit a suicide dive on D-Von but was attacked by Lesnar for a DQ (I guess).

Reigns and Ambrose ganged up on Lesnar, but Lesnar hit both men with suplexes. Reigns punched Lesnar and went for a spear, but Lesnar moved and Reigns collided with Ambrose. Reigns was about to go back after Lesnar but Ambrose attempted a Dirty Deeds, so Reigns countered with a Samoan drop. Lesnar then picked up Reigns and nailed an F5.

Triple H came out with the title to pose on the stage and Lesnar stood tall at the bottom of the aisle.

Final Thoughts:

Having Brock Lesnar on Smackdown is nice and it appears they really are taking a greater interest in the show. The final angle was fine, but the show overall was just ok.