Smackdown Synopsis for 2/21/20 (Goldberg confronts The Fiend)

By
Ian Abugov

We are live in Glendale, Arizona for Smackdown. We are a mere 6 days away from WWE’s trip to the Middle East and 38 away from Wrestlemania. The stakes are getting higher, the WWE Universe in for quite a night. We are told that the main event will feature Carmella squaring off against Naomi. On the line, a championship match vs Bayley in Saudi Arabia. Also, we will experience a Moment of Bliss and Alexa s guests will be none other than the hometown heroines, the Bella twins. Goldberg is set to confront the Fiend Bray Wyatt on this evening.

We are also informed that on the slate for tonight is a Sympĥony of Destruction match featuring Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro vs. Elias and Braun Strowman. The stipulations are as follows. Instruments are set up outside the ring and of course, can be used as weapons. Talk about possibly ending the confrontation on a sour note. Falls count anywhere and there are no disqualifications.

We kick the action off though with an 8 man tag team affair. The Usos will join forces with the purveyors of positivity, the New Day. That foursome will square off against Robert Roode, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, and John Morrison.

The Usos and The New Day vs. The Miz, John Morrison, Dolph Ziggler, and Robert Roode

The Usos enter the ring first with mics in hand. They invite us all to a superkick party. We hope you guys are hungry because next up was the New Day with a heaping portion of pancakes.

The teams exchanged pleasantries. The Usos saying to the champions that they hope they kept the belts warm for them stressing that they ve held the title 6 times. Big E retorted, well, we’ve held the championship 7 times so that makes us better than you.

As the tension began to rise, the Miz and Jim Morrison came out and told the crowd that the only thing standing in their way of being as popular as the New Day or The Usos was a popular catchphrase. The Miz emplored the crowd to chant Miz and Morrison, hey, hey, ho , ho. To no one’s surprise, that request fell on deaf ears. Their vow to take the championship in Riyad was most likely taken more seriously.

Bobby Roode and Dolph Ziggler enter next. The heel team scatters around the four corners of the ring and are in no rush to start the contest. With any luck, they will find a smidge of courage and concoct a game plan during the commercial break.

The match begins at a 78 rpm pace. The Usos and the New Day frequently tagging and grabbing the early edge. That would change when the Friday Night Delight, John Morrison kicked Kofi in the head sending him flying outside the ring. Kingston was being pummelled by the 4 members of the opposition and desperately sought to make a tag.

Kingston lay prone outside the ring as we headed to a commercial break

Alas, Big E. entered via the tag and quickly planted the Miz thrice and followed up with a Big E. Splash. When John Morrison re-entered the match, he administered a shooting star press but could only muster a count of two.

After a lengthy spell outside the ring, the Usos were back in action. The promise of the superkick party came to be. Robert Roode was put away via the superkick. The New Day celebrated with the Usos and there was no sign of the pre-match tension we had witnessed earlier. Nothing like a victory to put a smile on your face.

Winners: The Usos and The New Day

One man who has NOT been smiling lately is Heath Slater. We go backstage and see Daniel Bryan being lectured to by Drew Gulak of all people. Gulak tells Bryan that he has holes in his game as exposed by his recent match with Heath Slater. While the leader of the YES! movement politely declines, the aforementioned Heath Slater enlists Drew Gulak s complicity to challenge Daniel Bryan to a rematch following their squash affair of 2 weeks ago.

After the commercial break, another Goldberg promo. We then revisit Otis and his calamitous near the date of last Friday. Sadly, shattered dreams go beyond the scope of Goldust.

Mandy Rose is confronted by Tucker and seems to be pensive and repentant.

Lacey Evans is interviewed by Renée Young and admits to having entered WWE as a bully but has changed her ways after seeing and feeling the effects of Bayley s bullying tactics. The ex-Marine mentioned how upset she was losing her championship match with Bailey but that she knows she has a chance to redeem herself by winning the Elimination Chamber.

We go from backstage to the Symphony of Destruction. Cesaro and Shinsuke head to the ring with Sami Zayn, the latter armed with a menacing ukelele.

Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Elias and Braun Strowman

We head to a break and come back just in time to walk with Elias. The one-time drifter performs a song written for the occasion, Sweet Sweet Symphony. The audience claps in rhythm to the well-crafted tune.

Braun Strowman enters the ring area with a stand-up bass. When Michael Cole contrasted Strowman s bass to Zayn s ukelele, Corey Graves had the line of the night. It s not how big it is but how you use it.

Let the music play. Nakamura faces Elias as we get underway. After a brief tambourine exchange. After Braun Strowman is hit with a kick drum, he promptly breaks it over Cesaro s head.

This prompts Sami Zayn to threaten retaliation with his ukelele but he is chased by the Monster Among Men. Shinsuke cuts Stroman off with a guitar shot to the gut. We go to another commercial break.

Highlighting the pause, promo for John Cena’s appearance next Friday when Smackdown will head to Boston.

The action, fast, furious and melodious as we return. Cesaro uses a cowbell on Elias who is then thrown through a table. Strowman becomes extremely fired up. He hurls Cesaro on to the announce table and reaches out for the stand-up bass. Zayn temporarily saves the day by whacking Stroman in the back with a keyboard.

After Nakamura attempted to kick Stroman, he missed and kicked a gong. Elias layed Cesaro on a table and executed a beautiful top rope flying elbow drop shattering the table and not doing much good to the Swiss Cyborg. Strowman power bombed Nakamura into a piano. Shinsuke finding out the hard way that those ivories do not tickle at all. Strowman pinned Nakamura easily. The Symphony of Destruction, rhapsodic for the winning pair.

Winners: Braun Strowman and Elias

After the break, King Corbin is briefly interviewed. He vows to beat Roman Reigns in their Super Showdown cage match stating that the Big Dog will have to go it alone without the help of his hoodlum cousins.

Our Moment of Bliss is next. The Bella Twins are Alexa’s guests and she gladly announces that the Bellas will be part of the 2020 Hall of Fame class along with the NWO and Batista.

Daniel Bryan appears with his daughter and the Phoenix crowd enjoys a Hallmark moment.

Daniel Bryan vs. Heath Slater

Next up, the highly anticipated Daniel Bryan -Heath Slater rematch. Drew Gulak sits at the announce table to share his expertise and offer well needed advice to Slater. After Heath’s early advantage and even a two count rather late in the proceedings, Slater took to the top rope contrary to Gulak s pleading. A running knee after Slater s miss would be the latter s Waterloo. Another easy win for Bryan.

Winner: Daniel Bryan

Mandy Rose is backstage and is waiting for her lift. Who else but Dolph Ziggler shows up. He gallantly offers Mandy a ride. She accepts, Otis, of course, arrives on the scene. He sees Rose and Ziggler leave together. The big man cannot hide his chagrin.

We though feel the opposite. No, not a question of being mean spirited. It is just that we are feeling the glow of Naomi in the ring.

After another word from our sponsors, we see Sheamus telling us he is yearning for bigger prey, better competition. Suffice it to say he must be in collusion with Aleister Black. We then see Shorty G and Apollo Crews rehashing their beatdown of last week. After Shorty G. tries to bolster Crews spirits, the latter answers curtly that he ll handle things HIS way. This opens the door for a likely heel turn and a nice mid-card feud.

Naomi vs. Carmella

No matter how many flaws Naomi may have impatience isn’t one of them. Carmella finally appears. The two shake hands and the match is underway. Bayley is at ringside soaking it all in. You don t hold on to the belt for 273 days and counting by not scouting the competition.

The match sees both participants being very cautious at the outset. The pace would quickly pick up. Carmella administered a Mella -Go-Round but could not put Naomi away.

While Naomi is outside the ring, Bayley is in her face and trash-talking. She is summarily ejected from the ringside area. Naomi is hit with a suicide dive and we are summarily thrown into our next commercial break.

While Carmella is said to have dominated the entire time we were away, Naomi had not stated her last word. She made it to the ropes hence escaping Carmella s Code of Silence submission hold. Then Naomi got a two count with her Rear View move. Naomi procured herself the victory with a top rope spine buster followed by a top rope split leg moonsault. Naomi goes for gold in Saudi Arabia.

Winner: Naomi

The show-stopping moment is saved for the last segment. We see Goldberg leaving the backstage area and heading towards the ring. Thankfully this time he did not bang his head against a wall or a door, just saying.

Goldberg The Fiend
Photo / WWE

The crowd erupts chanting Goldberg, Goldberg in unison preparing to confront The Fiend. He addresses the hyped crowd mentioning that he is ready for the Middle East. We cut away to the Firefly Funhouse. Bray tells the Goldberg that he knows nothing about Bray nor the Fiend. Wyatt introduces Goldberg to all his special friends stating..there’s one you haven’t met yet. Someone who is right next to you. We have all the lighting special effects and we see the Fiend in the ring just a few feet away from Goldberg. Without a millisecond of hesitation, the Fiend is speared out of his Arthur Fleck like pants by Goldberg. The seemingly unshakeable champion seems staggered at the very least. The lights go out again. When they come back on, the Fiend is nowhere to be found.

Goldberg stands proudly and confidently as his music plays. We also hear the echoed laughter of the Fiend as Goldberg looks on. We leave the air greatly anticipating the upcoming Saudia Arabian show and wondering, will the Fiend really be next for Goldberg.

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