Smackdown Live was broadcasted live Tuesday night from Phoenix, Arizona on February 20, 2018 on the USA Network.
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WWE SmackDown Live main event: AJ Styles def. (pin) Baron Corbin in a non-title match
So even at 40, AJ Styles is still potentially the best wrestler in the world. Look at the smoothness of this:
Can't keep @AJStylesOrg down! #SDLive @BaronCorbinWWE pic.twitter.com/KtCyQF0x2L
— WWE (@WWE) February 21, 2018
The thing about that is they don't even show the perfect transition into a Phenomenal Forearm from Styles... would have been an incredible finish, but Corbin kicked out. It wasn't long though until Styles hit another Forearm to win the match.
Afterwards, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens interfered and attacked Styles. It looked like they were going to put Styles through the announce table when suddenly Corbin took out both Owens and Zayn with the End of Days in the middle of the ring. Corbin finally gets full retribution for getting attacked last week.
As for the rest of the show...
AJ Styles opens the show with Kevin Owens and Baron Corbin
Styles was out to open the show with an interview with Renee Young. Interview was immediately stopped by chants for Styles, who was incredibly popular in front of the Phoenix crowd.
Styles explained to Renee and the entire arena his trepidation for the upcoming Fatal 5-way championship match at Fastlane, where Styles can lose his WWE title without being pinned. He was interrupted by Baron Corbin, who said he would be happy to pin Styles — or anyone else in the match — to take the title.
Kevin Owens then came out to end their back-and-forth. It wasn't long before Shane McMahon, apparently sick of the whole thing, interrupted to sign a couple of matches for the night: AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin in the previously mentioned main event, and Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler for NEXT.
Kevin Owens def. (pin) Dolph Ziggler
Pretty good match, and the crowd was actually really into hit. Dolph hit a famouser late in the match — a move he never gets the pin with — but the crowd was totally into that being a finish was Owens kicked out at a late two. Made for an even bigger reaction when Ziggler hit the Zig Zag and Owens STILL kicked out.
Eventually Sami Zayn's music hit, and it looked like he was coming down to help out his buddy Kevin Owens. However, Zayn stopped just short of getting into the ring, distracting Ziggler long enough for Owens to hit a BRUTAL super kick to the side of the head for the victory. Take a look:
https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/966123352451674114
That one is gonna hurt for a couple of days.
The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan) def. (pin) Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and Naomi
Charlotte Flair's feud with the Riott Squad continues, but this time the Riott Squad was able to gain the upperhand via this tag team match. After a decently long match, Riott used a bit of a distraction to hit the Riott kick on Becky Lynch and get the pin.
Afterwards, Riott mocked Flair a bit, saying one down, two to go... the same thing Flair had down after knocking off Morgan and Logan in singles competition in the previous two weeks.
The New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods) def. (pin) Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin
"A miscarriage of justice", "dereliction of duty",and "Kofi Kingston should be suspended" were some of the phrases that Corey Graves used to describe this match.
After hitting Big E with the modified Doomsday Device, Shelton Benjamin went for the pin but Kingston distracted the referee. Benjamin and Gable's frustration at what should have been the winning pinfall got the best of them, as Woods was able to use the distraction to eventually get the pin on Benjamin.
The New Day win again via some underhanded tactics... sound familiar?
Best of the rest of WWE SmackDown Live:
- Jinder Mahal and Bobby Roode are apparently feuding over the SmackDown Top 10 list... this is so stupid, and thankfully Orton didn't even talk about it this week when he interrupted the two's dumb argument.
- Speaking of those three, Shane McMahon made it official that Roode would defend his U.S. Championship in a triple-threat against Mahal and Orton.
- The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper & Rowan) killed a couple of jobbers again... It was fun, but are they ever going to do anything else?
- Finally, Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan had another petty argument backstage about each one not trusting the other... is someone actually going to do something about that at this point, or are they just going to keep the bad marriage charade going?
WWE SmackDown Live results leading up to Fastlane:
WWE Smackdown Live results: (2/13/18)
WWE SmackDown Live results: (2/6/18)
WWE SmackDown Live results: (1/30/18)
WWE Royal Rumble 2018 results: Ronda Rousey debuts, WrestleMania main event set, historic returns and wins
