{"id":135636,"date":"2022-03-19T21:15:04","date_gmt":"2022-03-20T02:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=135636"},"modified":"2022-03-19T21:19:46","modified_gmt":"2022-03-20T02:19:46","slug":"wwe-smackdown-hits-misses-3-18-lesnar-attacks-bloodline-with-forklift-sasha-naomi-ripley-morgan-charlotte-rousey-angle-mcafee-theory-angle-sami-and-knoxville-promos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2022\/03\/19\/wwe-smackdown-hits-misses-3-18-lesnar-attacks-bloodline-with-forklift-sasha-naomi-ripley-morgan-charlotte-rousey-angle-mcafee-theory-angle-sami-and-knoxville-promos\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE SMACKDOWN HITS &#038; MISSES 3\/18: Lesnar attacks Bloodline with Forklift, Sasha &#038; Naomi &#038; Ripley &#038; Morgan, Charlotte-Rousey angle, McAfee-Theory angle, Sami and Knoxville promos"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2942881889\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><h3>HITS<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns:<\/strong> Part of this felt a bit silly and \u201ctoo cinematic\u201d because there\u2019s no chance that The Bloodline were in that SUV that got destroyed by Lesnar with the forklift. Having said that, Paul Heyman was good in his role to kick off the show and it led into some good character work from Roman. The rest of it was mostly fine but there was a bit of a disconnect on how The Bloodline got out of the damaged SUV and into the other truck that they got away in considering that it seemed like they would\u2019ve had to cross Lesnar\u2019s vision to get to said truck. Maybe I\u2019m just thinking about it too hard. Lesnar\u2019s short promo was good for what it was even if I\u2019m not buying that he ripped the door off that truck considering how easily it just popped off.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Shinsuke Nakamura &amp; Rick Boogs vs. Los Letharios:<\/strong> A short match but the action was pretty solid. Part of me was thinking that maybe Los Letharios would win this match thus forcing them to be added to the Smackdown Tag Titles match at WrestleMania but it looks like they\u2019re keeping this feud simple and it\u2019ll be a straight tag match. That\u2019s probably the wiser move considering this is basically what keeps happening with the WWE Women\u2019s Tag Titles.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sami Zayn and Johnny Knoxville promos<\/strong>: Like I said last month, I\u2019m not into the whole \u201cJackass\u201d stuff. Having said that, I don\u2019t entirely dislike Knoxville when I\u2019ve seen him do other projects. Combine that with working with a character like Sami Zayn and this just seems to click. Making this an \u201canything goes\u201d match will work to Knoxville\u2019s strengths I\u2019m sure since he\u2019s not trained. I\u2019m not expecting a Tokyo Dome five-star classic, but something tells me this\u2019ll still entertain the masses in Dallas in a few weeks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sasha Banks &amp; Naomi vs. Rhea Ripley &amp; Liv Morgan:<\/strong> This match was actually very good until the lame finish. I guess the fact that the match was good and the finish was lame should come as no surprise. All four of these women are good workers and it showed here. As for the finish, it helps get Nattie Neidhart and Shayna Baszler on the card at Mania. I\u2019m definitely for that because I think they also deserve better. The tough part of of this is that there\u2019s a lot of talent challenging for the tag titles in this match that largely goes unitized. Hopefully post-Mania the women\u2019s division in WWE can get a reboot as a whole because there\u2019s still enough depth there to get some quality feuds on both shows. Sadly, I don\u2019t know if the depth is there to have a quality tag division though since WWE has let so many talented women go in the past 18 months.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ridge Holland vs. Kofi Kingston:<\/strong> This match was just kinda there but there was nothing wrong with it. I\u2019m glad they addressed the Big E broken neck since we\u2019ve seen WWE in the past just kind of ignore these things and move on. As for the post-match, is Butch now WWE\u2019s new version of Spike Dudley? He just seems like the runt now that\u2019s gonna have to be held back\u2026or as I stated last week, like the little brother that wants to impress his older brothers. I\u2019m still in \u201cwait and see\u201d mode with the Butch character but I\u2019m not optimistic with the start.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey:<\/strong> This was a solid main event segment. I love that the intensity of this feud has picked up the past few shows. It\u2019s also getting Charlotte over in a way that will be helpful once this feud culminates at Mania. Everyone knows Rousey\u2019s legit background so having Charlotte showing this side of her going into their match is a great idea. I might keep this heat on Charlotte going all the way through Mania since I\u2019m assuming Rousey will be leaving with the title. It should make that moment a lot more exciting.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Overall Show:<\/strong> This was mostly a strong show from start to finish. There wasn\u2019t a lot of fluff or wasted segments when you\u2019re talking about the build to Mania\u2026 as it should be this time of the year. At this point it should mostly be about continuing momentum on the stories that are working and tying up any loose ends that remain. I imagine that\u2019s what we\u2019ll see the next few shows.<\/p>\n<h3>MISSES<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Drew McIntyre &amp; The Viking Raiders vs. Happy Corbin &amp; Jinder Mahal &amp; Shanky:<\/strong> I know I said this last week, but I\u2019ll say it again &#8211; when are they gonna get some proper heat on Corbin? There\u2019s nothing in me right now that thinks he will be winning at Mania considering how this feud has been booked with McIntyre standing tall each week. I suppose that\u2019s the idea and Corbin could actually be the one going over at Mania (which I think would be an awful idea considering Roman will need a strong babyface to work with post-Mania and Drew fits that bill). We\u2019ll see how this plays out but I just want it to end at this point. Worth noting though, was Corbin finally didn\u2019t laugh at one of Madcap Moss\u2019s jokes pre-match. Perhaps a seed has been planted to split these guys up? I\u2019m not for putting guys together only to split them up so quickly (it\u2019s been less than a year) but the \u201cHappy\u201d and \u201cMadcap\u201d gimmicks are not doing either of these guys any favors and whatever shakes those two up I\u2019m all for.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3698208048\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><strong>Pat McAfee and Austin Theory:<\/strong> I have a tough time giving this a miss but it\u2019s more about its placement on the show and how it was treated that puts it in this spot. First of all, it took them 80 minutes to address this? I know you have to kick off the show with a a main event storyline. But, after that, this should\u2019ve been addressed fairly quickly. If you look at last week, Michael Cole made it seem like McAfee could be fined and suspended. That wasn\u2019t brought up at all for the first 80 minutes. Then, after McAfee leaves Vince McMahon\u2019s office, Cole has the temerity to speculate that McAfee might\u2019ve been fired. Really?! He just was on the show for the first 80 minutes! If this was going to be the route you wanted to go then the show should\u2019ve kicked off without McAfee on commentary. As for McAfee\u2019s promo, I have zero complaints when it came to his delivery and passion. McAfee is a great talker and we\u2019ve seen that in NXT. But, speaking of NXT, I suppose we all had a fever dream where he worked a series of matches there because that wasn\u2019t brought up at all in McAfee\u2019s promo and he just left that all out. He also crapped on WWE\u2019s other broadcast partner, USA Network. Was part of this promo written by someone employed by Fox? I still don\u2019t agree with the idea that McAfee can\u2019t get physically involved with Theory because we\u2019ve seen broadcasters get involved in feuds before. The apology itself was fine but also a bit silly and if you didn\u2019t see that type of apology coming then you haven\u2019t watched pro wrestling before. Theory comes off as a bit flat also. I\u2019d still love a deeper explanation as to why Theory was chosen as McAfee\u2019s opponent for the biggest show of the year. We still have a few shows left so maybe we\u2019ll still get there. I\u2019m still optimistic that the match at Mania will be fine but I hate how we\u2019re getting there at this point.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3212873886\"><div id=\"pwtor-3802610468\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>HITS Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns: Part of this felt a bit silly and \u201ctoo cinematic\u201d because there\u2019s no chance that The Bloodline were in that SUV that got destroyed by Lesnar with the forklift. <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2022\/03\/19\/wwe-smackdown-hits-misses-3-18-lesnar-attacks-bloodline-with-forklift-sasha-naomi-ripley-morgan-charlotte-rousey-angle-mcafee-theory-angle-sami-and-knoxville-promos\/\" title=\"WWE SMACKDOWN HITS &#038; MISSES 3\/18: Lesnar attacks Bloodline with Forklift, Sasha &#038; Naomi &#038; Ripley &#038; Morgan, Charlotte-Rousey angle, McAfee-Theory angle, Sami and Knoxville promos\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,28,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists_hitsandmisses","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/12\/NakamuraShinsukeBeaven3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135636"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135644,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135636\/revisions\/135644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}