{"id":86069,"date":"2021-03-05T14:00:15","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T19:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=86069"},"modified":"2021-03-05T12:30:08","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T17:30:08","slug":"preview-wwe-smackdown-3-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/03\/05\/preview-wwe-smackdown-3-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: WWE \u2013 Friday Night SmackDown (3\/4\/21)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday Night SmackDown<\/strong> on FOX<\/em> returns to our screens once more! Just last week, we had the official confirmation that Bianca Belair<\/strong> will be challenging Sasha Banks<\/strong> for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 What happens with these two between now and then remains to be seen, but it will no doubt remain one of the hottest feuds on this year’s Road to WrestleMania<\/em>.\u00a0 Additionally, Daniel Bryan<\/strong> has challenged The Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns<\/strong>, to a match for the WWE Universal Championship at Fastlane<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 Roman is, of course, claiming he beat Bryan fair and square at Elimination Chamber<\/strong><\/em> – ignoring the fact that Bryan had just competed in a grueling Elimination Chamber<\/em> match.\u00a0 The match will<\/em> happen at Fastlane<\/em> but expect to see Roman and co. inflict as much damage as possible on Bryan between now and then.\u00a0 If that’s not enough, Roman also has the small, looming matter of a WrestleMania<\/em> match against Edge<\/strong>, should he overcome Daniel Bryan.\u00a0 Tonight’s SmackDown will no doubt continue these feuds.\u00a0 What else is in store for the blue branded show? Let’s find out.<\/p>\n

Shayna Baszler vs Bianca Belair<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As mentioned in the opening, Bianca Belair is the number one contender for Sasha Banks’ SmackDown Women’s Championship.\u00a0 It was recently announced that the WrestleMania<\/em> opponents will be teaming at WWE Fastlane<\/em> for a shot at the Women’s Tag Team Championships.\u00a0 This has become something of a theme, with potential RAW WrestleMania<\/em> opponents Charlotte Flair<\/strong> and Asuka<\/strong> also teaming up in recent months.\u00a0 WWE likes to play the story of “can they work together?” for feuds where both participants are babyfaces.\u00a0 This will no doubt be the story between now and Fastlane<\/em>.\u00a0 On tonight’s SmackDown, Belair will face off against former NXT rival, Shayna Baszler<\/strong>.\u00a0 During Bianca’s time in NXT, Shayna was the dominant, near-unstoppable NXT Women’s Champion and Belair never managed to overcome her.\u00a0 Now, though, all of the momentum is with Belair and this could be her moment where she finally defeats her former tormentor.\u00a0 Expect some involvement from Shayna’s tag team partner, Nia Jax and Sasha Banks.<\/p>\n

[pickup_prop id=”4761″]<\/p>\n

Daniel Bryan vs Jey Uso in a Steel Cage Match Headlines SmackDown<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Friday<\/p>\n

On last week’s SmackDown, Daniel Bryan pleaded with Roman Reigns for a match for the WWE Universal Championship at Fastlane<\/em>.\u00a0 In order to achieve this match, he must defeat Jey Uso<\/strong> on tonight’s SmackDown.\u00a0 However, there is the added stipulation that should Bryan lose, he must acknowledge Roman Reigns as his Tribal Chief.\u00a0 This feud appears to be filler for Roman before his match with Edge at WrestleMania<\/em> but there could be something more to it.\u00a0 A potential upset at Fastlane is<\/em> possible, though very unlikely.\u00a0 SmackDown right now is the Roman Reigns show – it truly is his island.\u00a0 For Bryan to defeat him heading into WrestleMania would frankly make zero sense.\u00a0 As Bryan mentioned last week, he was involved in Roman’s first ever match on the WWE main roster, way back in 2012.\u00a0 At Fastlane<\/em> in 2015, the louder section of the WWE Universe – firmly behind Daniel Bryan – completely turned their backs on Roman and led to the years of hostile boos Roman was subjected to, prior to his heel turn last year.\u00a0 This is an opportunity for a perfect, ready-made story between two of WWE’s biggest stars and Jey Uso will have his work cut out for him tonight’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown.<\/p>\n

Not Announced But Expected for Friday Night SmackDown Card<\/strong><\/h2>\n

– We have seen a darker side to Otis<\/strong> in recent weeks, with Chad Gable<\/strong> leading something of a character u-turn.\u00a0 Will Rey<\/strong> and Dominik Mysterio\u00a0<\/strong>be looking for revenge?<\/p>\n

– Apollo Crews<\/strong> got himself a big win over Shinsuke Nakamura<\/strong> last week.\u00a0 Expect him to continue his hot run of form tonight.<\/p>\n

– Tamina<\/strong> and Natalya<\/strong> have become a winning team of veterans.\u00a0 Expect more of this new team.<\/p>\n

– Seth Rollins<\/strong> is embroiled in a feud with Cesaro<\/strong> and that should further escalate here.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned to the\u00a0Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.\u00a0WWE fan? You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the\u00a0WWE Network<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Looking to talk wrestling, pro football, or any number of sports? Head on over to the\u00a0LWOS Boards<\/a>\u00a0to engage in conversation with fellow fans!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday Night SmackDown on FOX returns to our screens once more! Just last week, we had the official confirmation that Bianca Belair will be challenging Sasha Banks for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania.\u00a0 What happens with these two between now and then remains to be seen, but it will no doubt remain one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2482,"featured_media":86113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,2192,26,3],"tags":[1445,56,77],"class_list":["post-86069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-wrestling","category-smackdown","category-wwe-universe","tag-bianca-belair","tag-daniel-bryan","tag-roman-reigns"],"modified_by":"Marilee Gallagher, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}