SmackDown airs tonight (Mar. 14) with a taped show emanating from Olimpic Arena in Barcelona, Spain. This is the second episode of SmackDown during the seven week build towards WrestleMania 41, which takes place on the weekend of April 19 and 20.
WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton was ambushed by Charlotte Flair last week after a hard-fought victory against Piper Niven. When Flair was later asked why she resorted to a sneak attack on her WrestleMania opponent, she dismissed the idea that there was anything underhanded about it.
Flair said Tiffany should have been prepared because she warned her that The Queen will be a constant threat around her between now and WrestleMania. Charlotte said it’s a sign of WWE’s soft women’s division that Tiffany didn’t anticipate the attack:
“It seems like the division has gone a little soft for a threat like Charlotte Flair. Here’s the thing. Every time I come back, I have to remind people that there are levels to what we do…clearly the division has been lacking a little talent since The Queen has been gone. No one compares to me.”
B-Fab decided to be the representative of the women’s locker room in standing up to Charlotte’s comment, so now they’ll fight about it in a singles match tonight. This is Flair’s first non-Royal Rumble match since December 2023. B-Fab is essentially a jobber, so there’s no doubt how this match will go. Flair warned B-Fab that “everyone eventually bows down to The Queen.”
The most interesting thing to keep an eye on here is how Stratton responds to Flair’s attack from last week. Will she be a pushover and let Charlotte get away with it, or will the champ return fire with an attack of her own? If Flair isn’t as soft as everyone else in the division, then she should be ready to handle whatever Tiffany throws her way after this match is over.
Tune into SmackDown tonight to watch The Queen shake off her ring rust and show why she isn’t soft like the rest of the women’s division in WWE.
The rest of tonight’s card
Randy Orton will also be shaking off his ring rust tonight when he gets back in the ring for his first match since October. It’s Orton vs. Carmelo Hayes in a match that came about after Carmelo wrongfully accused Randy of playing Fortnite on his couch for the last few months, when in reality The Viper is obsessed with Elden Ring. Will Kevin Owens try to attack Randy after the match is over and put him back on the injured list with another piledriver?
WWE Tag Team Champions Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano put the belts on the line tonight against the Street Profits. Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins have been ruining everyone else’s tag title matches lately, so it will be interesting to see if another team returns the favor. Regardless of which team wins, Pretty Deadly awaits the champions as the number one contenders.
Miz TV is back tonight with WWE Champion Cody Rhodes as the special guest. The Miz will likely grill Cody about why he dropped the ball and didn’t sell his soul to the Final Boss. It’s not a good idea to piss off Cody right now as he gets ready to be under one roof with heel John Cena on Monday, so I don’t think this segment is going to end well for the A-Lister.
Other stuff to keep an eye on
– Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest couldn’t keep their hands off each other last week, and I don’t mean that in a sexy way. Damian now says he will attack Drew on sight. Can McIntyre work his magic and turn this story into a fucking awesome match at WrestleMania 41?
– LA Knight is the new United States Champion after beating Shinsuke Nakamura with a BFT last week. Will Nakamura get a rematch for the gold, or is he being brushed to the side while WWE figures out what the megastar is doing with this belt at WrestleMania 41?
– Women’s United States Champion Chelsea Green retained her belt against Michin last week in a Street Fight thanks to an assist from Alba Fyre, who is the newest member of Chelsea’s Secret Hervice. Zelina Vega says she wants the next shot at the gold, but does Vega realize she’s completely outnumbered?
– Jacob Fatu refused to stay down last week no matter how much destruction Braun Strowman unleashed upon him. Is this story leading to another Last Man Standing match for The Monster?
– Naomi finally said the words “I did it!” last week when she confessed to being the mystery person who attacked Jade Cargill back in November. Jade made her pay for it with another vicious attack that was capped off with her Jaded finishing move. Will Naomi have to find a way to attack Jade backstage again in order to regain the advantage? Is this match being saved for WrestleMania 41, or will it take place on SmackDown television?
– Santos Escobar is frustrated with Los Garza and demanded that they stop sucking so much. Andrade took Humberto Carrillo to the side afterwards and said he deserves better than to be berated like that. Will we find out tonight if Andrade’s words had any impact?
– Could Aleister Black or Rusev make a surprise return to WWE tonight, or will that wait until after WrestleMania?
– Will the WWE fans in Barcelona make this a better episode of SmackDown by going over the top with their reactions to all the wrestlers?
– Where the f*** are the Wyatt Sicks? Is Alexa Bliss in creative limbo until this faction finally shows up on SmackDown?
What will you be looking for on SmackDown?
