SmackDown In A Nutshell: Cowboy Brock Seeks Revenge On Reigns

Welcome to another SmackDown in a Nutshell. This week, Cowboy Brock seeks revenge on Roman Reigns, following their MSG encounter.

If you haven’t seen that, it’s worth a watch. The clip did quite well across social media, so it’s a safe bet some of you have seen it.

Since then, the two Superstars haven’t been in the same building. That all changes tonight…so things could get interesting.

Of course, if you didn’t see that…why would Cowboy Brock seek revenge on Reigns?

Well, Reigns busted Brock open and laid him out, for the world to see. Not just busted open, but it was the hard way.

So, it’s no shock that Cowboy Brock seeks revenge.

Beyond that? Oh, it’s just two weeks shy of WrestleMania.

Meaning there isn’t a whole lot of time left to set things up…or deliver final hype.

That last minute scramble is on, as WWE works to fill out it’s latest two night WrestleMania.

So, let’s see what happens this week…it’s time for…

SmackDown In A Nutshell: Cowboy Brock Seeks Revenge On Reigns

Let’s crack open this Nutshell and see what happens!

Best Match of the night:

There wasn’t one.

Instead, this had three good-to-great non-wrestling segments.

We opened with Brock and Roman. Reigns talked big when he understood Lesnar got stuck in Canada.

He wet his pants and ran when Paul told him he was coming.

And then, Brock had his fun. But…Roman never seemed to wonder or ask who was giving Heyman such up to the minute Lesnar statuses…

That was followed by (and I think in a way, topped by) the Pat McAfee promo.

One of the best in a while, and sadly we just don’t see that kind of bravado from enough current Superstars…but we got it from McAfee.

And then we closed with Rousey and Flair.

If you had any wonder which are the top three SmackDown WrestleMania matches…wonder no more.

Worst match of the night:

While no matches were great…none really stunk either.

I was somewhat hoping that the Kofi-Ridge Holland bout would have led to Kofi getting some backup, but no luck yet.

Star of the Night

You expect great stuff from those who opened and closed the show.

But from Pat McAfee, delivering his (I believe?) first promo on SmackDown?

Yes, I know the man is a media megastar. But it is still a bit different standing in front of thousands, live on TV, with a hot mic.

And…he nailed it.

Spot of the Night:

Cowboy Brock is living his best life, is he not? After so much angry, evil, Beast Brock…it’s fun.

And, Cowboy Brock knows how to work some heavy machinery.

Of course, we closed with this…so WWE is certainly aiming to make this match be a big deal.

.@MsCharlotteWWE puts the Baddest Woman on the Planet through a table!!!#SmackDown @RondaRousey pic.twitter.com/rHzXEhd83q

— WWE (@WWE) March 19, 2022

Jobber of the Night:

I don’t know that we had one tonight.

Upset of the Night:

Nothing of note.

Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:

It’s been a while (I think) since we’ve had some over the top vehicular spots.

Like, I feel like that used to be Braun Strowman’s thing.

Now, in what was surely at least partially pre-recorded, we saw Brock drive a super-duper-forklift through the Bloodline’s Suburban.

Then he ripped the door off their backup Silverado.

I wonder if Chevy paid WWE promotional considerations?

Botch of the night:

If there was one, I missed it.

Commentary of the night:

When Cole told McAfee that he was summoned to the boss’s office…and Cole said that he told Pat he should have apologized.

I’m sorry…McAfee and Austin Theory have a WrestleMania match. Why on Earth would one apologize to the other?!

Storyline wise, such a move would make like…no sense.

And indeed…he was told to apologize.

But…man when he apologized to Theory, and what he apologized for? Maybe it’s me, but it was one of the better promos we’ve had.

LOL Moment of the night:

OK, was it just me, or was an Uso in the driver’s seat laughing?

Like, when we came back from commercial, they showed the forklift blades through the windows.

I could not tell which Uso it was in the driver spot…but to me at least, it seemed like he was laughing.

Noteworthy Moment:

I have to say it, because I did not last week. I feel like Pete “Butch” Dunne is like…the 2022 version of Spike Dudley.

Also, now we know the Women’s Tag Team title match is now a fatal fourway, with the team of Natalya and Shayna Baszler being added to the mix.

If you didn’t think Carmella and Queen Zelina were losing…it’s a lock now.

Overall lowlights:

I suppose my only complaint would be that the wrestling matches did not blow me away. Good, not great.

Overall highlights:

The three segments I called out at the beginning.

More McAfee like that. If he delivers against Theory as he did against Adam Cole, then who knows what happens next.

Honorable mention to Sami Zayn and Johnny Knoxville. I suspect that the match will be an entertaining, stunt-filled train wreck (In a good way).

After the final bell:

Well…there’s only a couple shows left before WrestleMania, but this one certainly felt like it was getting towards the go-home show.

Next week should be huge, being that WWE is running SmackDown in Brooklyn.

As in, kind of WWE’s pseudo-home-field, as NYC is a stone’s throw from Stamford.

All told, a pretty solid show. Normally I would complain about a lack of wrestling action, but those segments more than made up for it.