{"id":87116,"date":"2021-03-19T15:41:31","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T19:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=87116"},"modified":"2021-03-19T16:06:37","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T20:06:37","slug":"wwe-friday-night-smackdown-03-19-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/03\/19\/wwe-friday-night-smackdown-03-19-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: WWE \u2013 Friday Night SmackDown (3\/19\/21)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Another week, another edition of <strong>WWE<\/strong>&#8216;s <strong>Friday Night SmackDown<\/strong>. This week promises to be an interesting episode of the blue brand grappling extraordinaire and features a certain superstar&#8217;s first match on the brand in a decade.\u00a0 No, it is not<strong> Vladimir Kozlov<\/strong>. With <strong><em>WWE Fastlane<\/em><\/strong> just two days away, this is SmackDown&#8217;s final opportunity to set the scene for the pay-per-view. What does tonight have in-store? Let&#8217;s take a look!<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Big E Meets With Apollo Crews For An &#8220;Exclusive&#8221; Interview<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-87117 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/03\/Big-E-and-Apollo-Crews.jpg\" alt=\"Big E Apollo Crews\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/03\/Big-E-and-Apollo-Crews.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/03\/Big-E-and-Apollo-Crews-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>First up, we have a sit-down, face-to-face interview featuring <strong>Apollo Crews<\/strong> and<strong> Big E<\/strong>. Both men have become embroiled in a feud over the WWE Intercontinental Championship in recent months and it now appears as though this feud could potentially be the title feud at <em><strong>WrestleMania<\/strong><\/em>. Big E has been on a roll since <strong>The New Day<\/strong>&#8216;s unofficial disbandment last year and finds himself enjoying the best solo run of his career so far. This was always an opportunity for E to cement his place as a top guy on SmackDown. Apollo Crews is also enjoying the most prominent run of his WWE career so far. Now running as the &#8220;Nigerian Prince,&#8221; he is showing a meaner side of himself and acts as an interesting antagonist to Big E. Tonight&#8217;s interview will set the scene for <em>Fastlane<\/em>, where they are to face off and potentially end the feud for good. Otherwise, buckle in for a <em>WrestleMania<\/em> rematch.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>SmackDown Women&#8217;s Championship: Sasha Banks (c) vs Nia Jax<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-87118 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/03\/Sasha-Banks-vs-Nia-Jax.jpg\" alt=\"Sasha Banks Nia Jax\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/03\/Sasha-Banks-vs-Nia-Jax.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/03\/Sasha-Banks-vs-Nia-Jax-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2020\/07\/20\/before-they-were-famous-shayna-baszler\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>Shayna Baszler<\/strong><\/a> having been defeated by Women&#8217;s<em><strong> Royal Rumble<\/strong><\/em> winner, <strong>Bianca Belair<\/strong>, just two weeks ago, it is now <strong>Sasha Banks<\/strong>&#8216; turn to defeat one-half of the WWE Women&#8217;s Tag Team Champions. Why? Who knows. It has become a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/03\/17\/wwe-womens-division-misbooking-to-fail\/\" target=\"_self\">disappointment that with all the potential there is in the Banks\/Belair feud and <em>WrestleMania<\/em> match, the WWE has been focusing on<strong> Nia Jax<\/strong> and<strong> Reginald<\/strong>&#8216;s sudden and bizarre on-screen romance<\/a>. There is still plenty of time to make this feud feel as big and as great as it should and hopefully they do that. Tonight is a good place to start, though don&#8217;t expect it until after <em>Fastlane<\/em>. Expect some Reginald and Jax shenanigans.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Edge vs Jey Uso to Main Event Friday Night SmackDown<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-87119 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/03\/Edge-vs-Jey-Uso.jpg\" alt=\"Friday Night SmackDown\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/03\/Edge-vs-Jey-Uso.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/03\/Edge-vs-Jey-Uso-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Told you it wasn&#8217;t Vladimir Kozlov. Yes, <strong>Edge<\/strong> is scheduled to face &#8220;Main Event&#8221; <strong>Jey Uso<\/strong> in what is being billed as his first SmackDown bout in a decade. His last official SmackDown match came on March 22, 2011, and was a squash victory over <strong>Drew McIntyre<\/strong>. The winner of tonight&#8217;s contest gets to become the &#8220;Special Enforcer&#8221; of the WWE Universal Championship match at <em>WWE Fastlane<\/em>, which sees <strong>Daniel Bryan<\/strong> facing champion <strong>Roman Reigns<\/strong>. Of course, Jey Uso wants to win so that he can ensure Reigns wins the title match at <em>Fastlane<\/em>.\u00a0 Edge hopes to win to ensure fairness and order is maintained &#8211; though he is the &#8220;Ultimate Opportunist&#8221; for a reason.\u00a0 Regardless, tonight&#8217;s match is a fresh one and should make for an interesting main event. Tune into Friday Night SmackDown on FOX at 8\/7c to catch it!<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Not Announced But Expected for Friday Night SmackDown<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>Montez Ford<\/strong> pinned<strong> Bobby Roode<\/strong> last week. Does this earn <strong>Street Profits<\/strong> a future title shot?<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>Seth Rollins<\/strong> attacked<strong> Cesaro<\/strong> in his match with <strong>Murphy<\/strong> last week. The &#8220;Swiss Cyborg&#8221; will be looking to even the score.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>Kevin Owens<\/strong> and <strong>Sami Zayn<\/strong> are teasing the return of their friendship.\u00a0 Expect more of that.<\/p>\n<p><em>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last 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\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/watch.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WWE Network<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Looking to talk wrestling, pro football, or any number of sports? Head on over to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/boards\/index.php\" target=\"_self\">LWOS Boards<\/a>\u00a0to engage in conversation with fellow fans!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Another week, another edition of WWE&#8216;s Friday Night SmackDown. This week promises to be an interesting episode of the blue brand grappling extraordinaire and features a certain superstar&#8217;s first match on the brand in a decade.\u00a0 No, it is not Vladimir Kozlov. With WWE Fastlane just two days away, this is SmackDown&#8217;s final opportunity to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2482,"featured_media":87119,"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":[509,1445,552,56,328,77,159],"class_list":["post-87116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-wrestling","category-smackdown","category-wwe-universe","tag-apollo-crews","tag-bianca-belair","tag-big-e","tag-daniel-bryan","tag-edge","tag-roman-reigns","tag-sasha-banks"],"modified_by":"Marilee Gallagher, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87116","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=87116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}