{"id":77051,"date":"2019-03-26T13:11:36","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T18:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=77051"},"modified":"2019-03-26T13:12:14","modified_gmt":"2019-03-26T18:12:14","slug":"wwe-smackdown-primer-3-26-the-olympian-vs-the-phenomenal-one-the-frustrations-of-xavier-and-big-e-asukas-wrestlemania-opponent-saga-of-the-man-and-the-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2019\/03\/26\/wwe-smackdown-primer-3-26-the-olympian-vs-the-phenomenal-one-the-frustrations-of-xavier-and-big-e-asukas-wrestlemania-opponent-saga-of-the-man-and-the-queen\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER 3\/26:\u00a0 The Olympian vs. The Phenomenal One, The Frustrations of Xavier and Big E, Asuka\u2019s WrestleMania opponent, Saga of The Man and The Queen"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-171954266\" 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><strong>WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>MARCH 26, 2019<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>UNCASVILLE, CONN. AT THE MOHEGAN SUN ARENA<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00 P.M. EST<br \/>\nBY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH SPECIALIST<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em>Announcers: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, and Byron Saxton<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Arena, and Items Advertised by WWE<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>WWE Smackdown returns to the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT. after a two-year hiatus.\u00a0 The arena opened for business in 2001 and has hosted many WWE events including defunct shows Heat and Velocity, the WWE incarnation of ECW, and a few episodes of the original version of NXT.\u00a0 Smackdown\u2019s last appearance was around the same time two years ago in the run-up to that year\u2019s WrestleMania.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what is advertised by <a href=\"http:\/\/wwe.com\/\">WWE.com<\/a> for tonight:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fatal Four-Way to determine Asuka\u2019s WrestleMania challenger<\/li>\n<li>Kurt Angle to wrestle his final Smackdown match against A.J. Styles<\/li>\n<li>What does the future hold for New Day<\/li>\n<li>What\u2019s next for Lynch and Flair after an eventful Raw?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Fatal Four-Way to Determine the Challenger for the Smackdown Women\u2019s Championship at WrestleMania: Carmella vs. Naomi vs. Mandy Rose vs. Sonya Deville<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>This past Thursday morning, WWE announced that a fatal four-way match will take place tonight to determine whom will face Asuka at WrestleMania for the Smackdown Women\u2019s Championship.\u00a0 Asuka has been champion since defeating Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair in a triple threat TLC match at TLC this past December.\u00a0 Sonya Deville, her Fire &amp; Desire partner Mandy Rose, Carmella, and Naomi are the four participants.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the announcement on their Twitter page:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Who will punch her ticket to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WrestleMania?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WrestleMania<\/a> after next week&#39;s <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Fatal4Way?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Fatal4Way<\/a> match on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SDLive?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SDLive<\/a>: @WWE_MandyRose <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SonyaDevilleWWE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SonyaDevilleWWE<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NaomiWWE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@NaomiWWE<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CarmellaWWE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CarmellaWWE<\/a>? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qniJrHiOkf\">pic.twitter.com\/qniJrHiOkf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; WWE (@WWE) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWE\/status\/1108715106278338560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 21, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Asuka has history with all women.\u00a0 Asuka\u2019s first title defense was against Naomi on the Smackdown following her championship victory.\u00a0 She lost a few PPV matches to Carmella last year following Carmella cashing in her Money in the Bank contract to win the title from Charlotte Flair.\u00a0 Mandy Rose holds a recent victory over Asuka, and she has also worked with Sonya recently.\u00a0 One of these four women will punch their ticket to WrestleMania.<\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis:\u00a0 When was the last time Asuka was on TV or even discussed for that matter.\u00a0 With Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair tied up with Ronda Rousey for the Raw women\u2019s title, it\u2019s left the cupboard bare as far as challengers for Asuka.\u00a0 I thought for sure Lacey Evans or Nikki Cross would have been elevated since their callup from NXT, but that has not happened.\u00a0 There can\u2019t be much interest in any of these women taking on Asuka, no offense to any of them.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Kurt Angle vs. A.J. Styles<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Kurt Angle farewell tour pays a visit to his old home of Smackdown tonight.\u00a0 Like Vickie Guerrero, John Laurinaitis, and Stephanie McMahon before him Kurt Angle served as not only the general manager of Raw but of Smackdown as well.<\/p>\n<p>Kurt not only had a Hall of Fame career in WWE, but in TNA\/Impact Wrestling as well.\u00a0 One individual with which he had history was former WWE Champion A.J. Styles.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a match from TNA from Slammiversary XI which took place in June of 2013:<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1707991811\" 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><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle: FULL MATCH (TNA Slammiversary XI) | IMPACT Wrestling Full Matches\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yA4jBk3WQho?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This is certainly the TNA-themed week as Kurt defeated U.S. Champion Samoa Joe last night on Raw.\u00a0 Tonight, he takes on A.J. Styles.<em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis:\u00a0 My initial thought when I saw this was that it could be on the WrestleMania card.\u00a0 If anybody can get a good match out of Kurt and carry the load it\u2019s A.J.\u00a0 Granted A.J. hasn\u2019t necessarily been at the top of his game in recent times, but he\u2019s still as good as any.\u00a0 That being said this is certainly a treat for the Smackdown crowd and the TV audience, especially for those that didn\u2019t follow Kurt\u2019s career in TNA.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Xavier Woods &amp; Big E of New Day Quitting WWE?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Last week, Kofi Kingston failed to punch his ticket to the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania.\u00a0 He won the gauntlet match in which he was ordered to participate by WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon.\u00a0 Upon winning and celebrating with his New Day partners Xavier Woods and Big E with eight minutes to go on Smackdown, Vince appeared and looked to be congratulating Kofi.\u00a0 He said he was going to WrestleMania, so long as he can defeat one more opponent which turned out to be WWE Champion Daniel Bryan.\u00a0 Kofi came up short, as we suspected he would<\/p>\n<p>This past week Xavier and Big E have been vocal, both during a <a href=\"http:\/\/wwe.com\/\">WWE.com<\/a> exclusive video and videos they posted on their personal Twitter accounts.\u00a0 Here is the video from <a href=\"http:\/\/wwe.com\/\">WWE.com<\/a> along with Big E and Xavier\u2019s tweets which include the videos of course:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Is The New Day thinking of quitting WWE?: SmackDown Exclusive, March 19, 2019\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/J3SwCs42l1M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ml7MhQwOGj\">pic.twitter.com\/ml7MhQwOGj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ettore \u201cBig E\u201d Ewen (@WWEBigE) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWEBigE\/status\/1108388035027263488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 20, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We have kept other skills on deck for a reason&#8230;. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3B2IrqKqrE\">pic.twitter.com\/3B2IrqKqrE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Austin Creed (@AustinCreedWins) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AustinCreedWins\/status\/1108441945490116608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 20, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>With two weeks to go until WrestleMania, it\u2019s anybody\u2019s guess if and how Kofi gets another opportunity to earn a championship match.\u00a0 It\u2019s also anyone\u2019s guess if Xavier and Big E are truly considering quitting WWE.\u00a0 They have been with the company for quite some time and certainly have other ventures into which they can invest their time.\u00a0 Seeing as WWE is advertising it, they will certainly address all of this tonight.<\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis:\u00a0 Considering they did a <a href=\"http:\/\/wwe.com\/\">WWE.com<\/a> exclusive video, I highly doubt they are quitting.\u00a0 Whatever the case may be, I think this is bigger than we ever could have imagined.\u00a0 WWE is basically admitting through New Day that they are racially biased.\u00a0 That they are racially biased is not an opinion, it\u2019s a fact.\u00a0 Just look at the history of the treatment of black wrestlers.\u00a0 Unless something crazy happens, Kofi is going to win in the end.\u00a0 The problem is that it looks like WWE wants to be patted on the back for changing their ways, instead of just doing what should have been done and let Kofi go into WrestleMania off his big gauntlet match win. \u00a0This does make Kofi an even bigger star, but it\u2019s for the wrong reasons.\u00a0 They\u2019ve backed themselves into a corner because not only will Kofi have to win the title, but his reign needs to last a while and be strong rather than just giving him a token win, which will come across as placating the audience and it will only make things worse.\u00a0 You also hope they haven\u2019t taken this story too far, and when Kofi gets his win the audience won\u2019t care as much.\u00a0 You can push people too far to the point of apathy.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Next for Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Last night on Raw it was announced rather close to showtime that Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and Raw Women\u2019s Champion Ronda Rousey would take part in a Beat the Clock challenge against all three women of the Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan).\u00a0 Ronda set the pace by defeating Logan in 1:25.\u00a0 Charlotte could not defeat Ruby in said time, but Becky pinned Liv in under 1:25 to win the challenge and \u2026 yeah, I don\u2019t know what the point of it was but yay Becky!<\/p>\n<p>It was announced later in the show that Ronda, Becky, and Charlotte but team together in a six-woman tag against the Riott Squad next week on Raw.\u00a0 If any woman betrays the team, they forfeit their WrestleMania opportunity.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1296723203\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>According to <a href=\"http:\/\/wwe.com\/\">WWE.com<\/a> there will be reaction from Becky and Charlotte tonight in regard to the upcoming match on Raw.\u00a0 This morning, all three women were on ESPN.\u00a0 Here\u2019s that clip:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch talk women\u2019s main event at WrestleMania 35 | SportsCenter\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SnQkfLgQm7U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>C\u2019mon, did you really think I\u2019d cut a primer without some Becky tweets?\u00a0 She even called her out at a Warriors game:<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/BeckyLynchWWE\/status\/1109140345776828416?s=20<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/BeckyLynchWWE\/status\/1109913339466010624?s=20<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/Mn2mRb2Hknw<\/p>\n<p>Finally, there\u2019s clip from ESPN where she talks about her journey to WWE:<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/Mn2mRb2Hknw<\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis:\u00a0 You can really appreciate Rebecca Quin talking about being determined to be in WWE.\u00a0 If Vince still doesn\u2019t understand why people like the Becky Lynch character, perhaps he should give the ESPN clip a watch.\u00a0 Every fiber of her being wants to be here and she is so appreciative of the opportunity to be in the main event of WrestleMania.\u00a0 The clip of the three women on ESPN was cool because they didn\u2019t act chummy, even though they spoke as real people.\u00a0 Ronda was a bit arrogant saying she expected to main event \u2018Mania, but that\u2019s fine as that\u2019s who she is.\u00a0 The truth is, this main event is not happening without her, and that\u2019s not an ounce of disrespect meant towards Becky or Charlotte.\u00a0 <\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>As far as the Beat the Clock as the six-women next week, and as far as potential reaction tonight it\u2019s too much.\u00a0 What was the point of last night and why are they teaming next week?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter as ultimately, it\u2019s about the match at WrestleMania.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Items to Anticipate Tonight:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>It was announced on Raw last night that Kurt Angle will face Smackdown\u2019s Rey Mysterio on Raw next week.\u00a0 Rey is challenging Samoa Joe for the U.S. Championship at WrestleMania.\u00a0 After Joe\u2019s loss to Angle last night, look for Joe to get his heat back in some way tonight.<\/li>\n<li>As I speculated previously, the IIconics (Peyton Royce &amp; Billie Kay) will challenge the Boss \u2018n Hug Connection (Sasha Banks &amp; Bayley) for the WWE Women\u2019s Tag Team Championship along with Natalya &amp; Beth Phoenix and Nia Jax &amp; Tamina in a fatal four-way.\u00a0 Look for build-up towards this tonight.\u00a0 WWE announced it on their WrestleMania Twitter account after Raw last night:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/PeytonRoyceWWE\/status\/1110388813854134272?s=20<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kevin Owens, Ali (the artist formerly known as Mustafa Ali), and Andrade still don\u2019t have WrestleMania matches.\u00a0 Perhaps that comes to fruition tonight, as well as what\u2019s going on with Smackdown Tag Team Champions the Usos and the Hardys.\u00a0 It\u2019s been speculated the Hardys will challenge the Usos for the belts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Start Time &amp; Matches Advertised on the Arena Website <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Mohegan Sun Arena\u2019s website shows a start time of 7:30 p.m.\u00a0 They advertise a double main event, but oddly show only one match:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kevin Owens vs. WWE Champion Daniel Bryan for the championship<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>They basically list the whole Smackdown roster appearing.\u00a0 Just in case you didn\u2019t know, the card is subject to change at any time.<\/p>\n<p>205Live will follow the main show.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Follow me on Twitter @FrankPeteani or e-mail me at <\/em><a href=\"mailto:fpeteani@gmail.com\"><em>fpeteani@gmail.com<\/em><\/a><em>.\u00a0 Questions and discussion are welcome.\u00a0 Thank you for reading!<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3409361318\"><div id=\"pwtor-1874823084\"><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>WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER MARCH 26, 2019 UNCASVILLE, CONN. AT THE MOHEGAN SUN ARENA AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00 P.M. EST BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH SPECIALIST Announcers: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, and Byron Saxton Arena, <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2019\/03\/26\/wwe-smackdown-primer-3-26-the-olympian-vs-the-phenomenal-one-the-frustrations-of-xavier-and-big-e-asukas-wrestlemania-opponent-saga-of-the-man-and-the-queen\/\" title=\"WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER 3\/26:\u00a0 The Olympian vs. The Phenomenal One, The Frustrations of Xavier and Big E, Asuka\u2019s WrestleMania opponent, Saga of The Man and The Queen\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72391,"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":[2,52,4403,27,5893,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-opnionandanalysis","category-smackdown-primer","category-specialists","category-tvprimers","category-news_wwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2018\/12\/NewDayBrian-Mathesen3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77051","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=77051"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77063,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77051\/revisions\/77063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}