We begin with a throwback of the history of SmackDown. Michael Cole is wearing his vintage jeans jacket and Pat McAfee is wearing Vince McMahon’s old suit.
We get a flashback of SmackDown’s first ever main event, Triple H vs. The Rock for the WWF Championship.
Roman Reigns, Jey Uso and Paul Heyman are out first as we get a recap of last week’s main event.
Paul Heyman takes the mic and says Roman has asked him to eulogize the career of Daniel Bryan. And they’re going to do it themselves, a 10 bell salute with Heyman saying “DING” 10 times. Roman reminds everyone he’s a man of his word. He put everything on his back and he carried it and he ended up being acknowledged. He gave SmackDown and FOX what he wanted and he gave Bryan what he wanted.
He smashed him, pinned him and go rid of him. If he wanted to be here, all he had to do was acknowledge him. And he didn’t, so we got rid of him. With his absence, comes a replacement with someone who will acknowledge him. And with that, we have the return of Jimmy Uso. Jimmy’s return is cut off by Cesaro.
Cesaro questions Roman saying Bryan was replaced. He speaks on behalf of everyone when he says he cannot replace Bryan. Roman is laughing in the ring. Unfortunately, he has a match with Seth Rollins to focus on so he has no time to deal with him before Seth himself jumps Cesaro from behind.
While security breaks everything up, Teddy Long returns and says Adam Pearce has given him the power to announce that if Cesaro defeats Seth Rollins, he gets a Universal Title shot against Roman at WrestleMania Backlash. He leaves and Roman shoves Cesaro from behind and Seth continues jumping Cesaro as we go to commercial.
Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins
After an argument between Rollins and The Usos, who were watching the match from ringside, Jimmy super kicks Rollins and Cesaro dives onto The Usos. Cesaro capitalizes with a Neutralizer on Rollins for the win. Roman isn’t pleased watching backstage.
Winner: Cesaro
Roman vs. Cesaro for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania Backlash is made official.
We get another SmackDown flashback, this time of Stone Cold and Booker T’s famous supermarket brawl.
Rollins and Reigns are arguing backstage. Seth berates Roman for having The Usos out there, who cost him the match. Roman says he understands he’s frustrated, but Roman says Rollins losing also screwed him. And as for Cesaro, he’ll take care of him. And when it comes to his family, he’ll handle that too. Rollins tells Reigns to handle Cesaro or he will.
Sonya Deville is backstage with Teddy Long and she thanks him for showing up on short notice, as she was afraid she’d have to handle SmackDown on her own when she found out Pearce was unavailable. Sami Zayn comes and says it’s a breath of fresh air to see someone not from the establishment running the show for once. Teddy Long thanks him before announcing that he’s going to be going one on one with The Undertaker.
They joke about it, remembering he’s retired, and instead says he’s going to be in a tag team match with Apollo Crews. And they will be taking on Big E, Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura and The Street Profits. Sami says that’s 5 on 2. Teddy then remembers he and Apollo’s partners will be Alpha Academy and King Booker. Oh, he meant King Corbin. Teddy teaches Sonya and Sami how to dance before Sami leaves.
The Usos approach Roman and Roman isn’t pleased with Jimmy making mistakes as soon as he comes back. He put the spotlight on him only to mess it up in the end. When Roman came back, he changed the whole game. He doesn’t appreciate cleaning up their messes. Jimmy tells Roman that he won’t be talked to any kind of way, and he also reminds Roman he’s no one’s bitch. Jimmy walks away and Roman tells Jey to take care of it.
Carmella vs. Ruby Riott
After a series of reversals, Carmella makes Ruby tap with the Code of Silence in a quick match.
Winner: Carmella
We get our third SmackDown flashback, this time of when Hulk Hogan and Edge won the tag team titles.
Out comes Bayley before we go to commercial.
Our fourth Smackdown flashback is of Brock Lesnar and The Big Show breaking the ring in 2003.
Bayley says you have to be a superstar to be in a WWE ring, but being a superstar doesn’t make you a good champion, and she’d know, considering she held the title for 380 days. But she’s here to pay homage to fellow women’s champions. And she pays tribute to Alundra Blayze, Jacqueline, Lita, Trish Strarus, Ivory, Beth Phoenix, Molly Holly and Bianca Belair. Look at Bianca’s smile. So happy and so blind and naive to the world around her.
If she’s not careful, she’ll wind up like all those other women, being not on Bayley’s level. But she’s only looking out for her. When she looks in Bianca’s eyes, she sees insecurity. She’s going to be Bianca’s last challenger, and she’ll prove to the WWE Universe that she always right about Bianca. Out comes Bianca.
Bianca is laughing that Bayley won’t let her have anything, but she’s living her best life and it’ll get better at WrestleMania Backlash. And she’s not insecure. What bothers Bayley is her confidence in herself, and that’s what everyone sees in her as well. But Bayley should be worried about herself, because she’s on her way to becoming the new longest reigning SmackDown Women’s Champion.
Bayley laughs before trying to take Bianca down and Bianca forces Bayley in the corner. She drags Bayley before dropping her with a dropkick. Bayley then gets the upper hand by manipulating her earring and then her ponytail. She finishes with her leg lock driver before leaving.
Jimmy’s backstage and Jey asked him if he meant everything that he said and if he really thought he was Roman’s bitch. He says he did mean it. They’re the best tag team in WWE and instead he’s been fighting all of Roman’s battles. He reminds Jimmy that everything he does benefits the family. Jimmy says that everything he does only benefits Roman. Jimmy says if we really wanna benefit the family, they’ll go back to doing what they do best. Being the tag team champions.
We get another SmackDown flashback, this time of Cena answering Kurt Angle’s challenge.
Rey Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler
Out next comes Ziggler to the ring, with Roode. Ziggler takes the mic and talks some trash to Dominik, saying he really doesn’t belong in the ring, the industry or the company, you’re nothing but Rey Mysterio’s little kid. Ziggler tells Dominik to get the hell out of his ring so the men can handle their business. Ziggler keeps taunting Dominik and laughing at him. Dominik wants to fight, challenging Ziggler to a match. Rey steps out of the ring and is going to let his son have this bout.
Dominik Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler
Dominik wins with a roll up.
Winner: Dominik Mysterio
We see what happened last week with Natalya, Tamina Snuka and the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler, plus Tamina’s passionate promo on Talking Smack. Kayla Braxton is backstage with Jax, Baszler and Reginald now. Reginald has requested a match with Tamina tonight. He says she left him with a bad taste in his mouth last week with her blatant disrespect. He says tonight he will break Tamina’s spirit, and next week Jax and Baszler will retain their titles over Tamina and Natalya. Jax continues to be infatuated with Reginald as they walk off to the ring.
Back from the break and we get a retro-style ice cream bars promo. We get a replay from the November 11, 1999 SmackDown show when WWE Hall of Famer Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared. Roman Reigns is backstage now. Paul Heyman walks up and Reigns tells him to bring him his cousin. Heyman asks which one. Reigns just looks at him. A shook Heyman nods and says he understands, then walks off. We go back to the ring and Reginald is waiting as Tamina Snuka makes her way out with Natalya. Baszler and Jax watch from ringside as Cole confirms the title match for next week.
Reginald vs. Tamina Snuka
Tamina wins by DQ after Baszler interferes.
Winner by DQ: Tamina Snuka
After the bell, Jax hits the ring as does Natalya. The champs take out Natalya and then double team Tamina. Baszler tries to break her arm as Jax holds her down. Jax grabs Tamina on the floor and drives her into the barrier with a big Samoan Drop. Jax puts a boot to Tamina’s face and yells at her for disrespecting Reginald as fans boo. Jax, Baszler and Reginald leave together.
– WWE Intercontinental Champion Apollo Crews is backstage with Commander Azeez and his tag team partners, talking about leading them into battle tonight. We go to Big E and his partners for the main event now. They all get way hyped up and declare that they want the smoke. We go to commercial.
After the match, Corbin’s music hits as we go to replays. The heels stand tall together in the ring, taunting the babyfaces.
Roman Reigns is backstage with Jey Uso and Paul Heyman. Reigns talks about the responsibility he’s given Jey, and how they do it for the family, and how they love each other. Reigns says he also loves Jimmy Uso and wants to give him the same opportunities to rise to the occasion but he needs to know where Jimmy stands. Reigns says we’re about to find out right now, let’s go. They get up and walk out of the room as we go back to commercial.
Big E, Kevin Owens, The Street Profits and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Apollo Crews, Sami Zayn, Alpha Academy and King Corbin
After a series of finishers, it ends with King Corbin getting a blind tag and hitting End of Days on Nakamura.
Winners: Apollo Crews, King Corbin, Alpha Academy and Sami Zayn
Back from the break and we see a replay from the July 22, 2004 SmackDown where WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon took a ride with WWE Hall of Famer Eddie Guerrero in his lowrider.
– We go back to the ring and WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns is out with Paul Heyman and Jey Uso. Fans are already booing as Heyman hands Reigns the mic.
Reigns says this is not how he envisioned the night. It was simple – Reigns tells Jey he thought he would bring “your brother” back in and… The Usos’ music hits and out comes Jimmy Uso. Jimmy takes the mic and asks Jey where he stands. Jimmy recalls the “I Quit” match Jey lost to Reigns, and how he wouldn’t quit until he saw Reigns about to hurt his brother. Jimmy shows us a video package on the big screen, with highlights from the Hell In a Cell match between Reigns and Jey.
Jimmy says he never would’ve said he quits to Reigns, no matter what, but he doesn’t want Jey to get mad at him for saying this. Reigns asks if that is what this is all about. Is Jimmy stuck on the past? Reigns says he and Jey were moving forward. Reigns says he’s not going to go back & forth with Jimmy, it’s simple – fall back in line, stand with us, and acknowledge me or you can take your ass home. And when you turn on the TV, you’re going to have to explain t your kids why you’re sitting there with them, watching The Tribal Chief and THE Uso.
Jimmy drops his mic and starts backing away, exiting the ring as some fans cheer him on. Jimmy stops on the ramp and thinks it over. Jey leaves the ring and walks over to him, saying this will be easy if Jimmy just acknowledges Reigns and then they can get back to doing their thing. Cesaro suddenly attacks Reigns from behind in the ring, unloading on him to a big pop.
Cesaro beats Reigns down in the corner. Jey runs in to make the save but Cesaro drops him with ease. Jimmy watches from the ramp but finally runs in and attacks Cesaro from behind to make the save. Cesaro levels Jimmy with the huge uppercut in mid-air. Cesaro goes back to Jey and nails The Neutralizer in the middle of the ring. Cesaro goes back to Reigns and drops him with a Neutralizer now. Fans go wild for Cesaro as his music hits and he leaves the ring. The Throwback SmackDown goes off the air with Cesaro smiling from the stage as Reigns and The Usos try to recover from the mat.
