WWE SmackDown Live: Analysing and grading each segment (6 March, 2018)
The final episode of WWE SmackDown Live before Fastlane took place in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Tuesday night.
The show featured four matches, including an action-packed Fatal 5-Way main event, and mostly centered around the WWE title, United States title and SmackDown Women’s title ahead of Fastlane.
The upcoming SmackDown Tag Team title match between The Usos and The New Day was only highlighted in a video package, while it was confirmed in a backstage segment that Royal Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura will face Rusev on Sunday.
In this article, we take a look at all five major segments and analyse what was good and bad about this week’s episode of the blue brand’s show.
#1 Charlotte Flair and Ruby Riott open the show
Storyline: Charlotte Flair will defend her SmackDown Women’s title against Ruby Riott on Sunday at Fastlane. Ruby has defeated two of Charlotte’s allies, Becky Lynch and Naomi, in recent weeks, while “The Queen” has won matches against Riott Squad members Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan.
Segment: The show began with an in-ring promo between Charlotte and Ruby. Most of the talking came from Ruby, who said she created the Riott Squad with the sole purpose of “destroying the myth that Charlotte is the personification of the Women’s Revolution”. Liv and Sarah were about to get involved but a 3-on-1 attack was prevented when Bobby Roode, Charlotte's Mixed Match Challenge partner, appeared ahead of the next segment.
Verdict: This storyline has been okay, if a little predictable, ever since it began, so credit to WWE for giving us something different this week. Ruby definitely delivered on the mic here but the sudden end to the segment felt somewhat underwhelming.
Grade: C+