WWE SmackDown results, grades: Edge labels Roman Reigns a ‘Samoan copycat’ during intense promo

The final SmackDown before WrestleMania 37 was light on the usual top level in-ring action but WWE superstars Roman Reigns, Edge and Daniel Bryan delivered some last-minute hype for their upcoming match.

The three stars will meet in Sunday’s main event for the Tribal Chief’s Universal Title, and so the stage was set on Friday night for the champion and his two challengers to have their say.

Daniel Bryan kicked off proceedings with a fiery promo touching on his desire to have fans back this weekend, and how he’s had a career of hearing people say ‘no’ and proving them wrong.

He promised ‘the best damn Daniel Bryan’ on Sunday, and insisted he will walk out of Raymond James Stadium with the gold in what could be his final WrestleMania appearance as a full-time wrestler.

Later in the show, it was Edge’s turn to address the fans ahead of a very special main event for him which will come exactly 10 years after he relinquished the World Heavyweight Championship due to what was seen as a career-ending injury.

He pointed out that his career was ripped away from him at his peak, and all he wanted to do was get back in the ring again.

‘I didn’t come back for a greatest hits tour,’ the Rated R Superstar told the SmackDown audience, noting he wanted to main event WrestleMania. ‘I missed nine of them, so I won’t apologise for that.’

He insisted Bryan ruined a dream match of two eras colliding by sneaking his way into making it a triple threat, and he even had a pop at Roman Reigns and branded the Head of the Table ‘Samoan Edge’, pointing to similarities like coming into WWE in a three-man group and using a Spear as a finisher.

The veteran was as passionate and convincing as ever here as he really leaned into the kind of heel persona that made him a star in the first place.

The main event of the night was the Andre The Giant Battle Royal, which simply was what it was, with Jey Uso being a deserving winner but little else of note outside of Mustafa Ali eliminating RETRIBUTION, and everyone ganging up on former Hurt Business stars Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin.

After the bell, Roman interrupted his cousin’s moment of glory to have his say after his WrestleMania opponents had their earlier in the night.

He tore down both men, insisting that ‘when you train at a 12, the 10 comes easy’, and issued a warning for the rest of the roster for the SmackDown landscape after WrestleMania.

He ominously said: ‘You think what I did this year was special? Wait ‘til you see what I do next.’

Logan and Jake Paul appeared, tag team titles defended and more

Besides the Andre The Giant Battle Royal, the only other match of the night saw Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode successfully defend their SmackDown Tag Team Titles.

It was a fantastic match – as you’d expect with Street Profits, American Alpha and the Mysterios involved – and the latter father-son duo of Rey and Dominik probably would have won if WWE had found space for this on the WrestleMania card.

Elsewhere, Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks both had their own promos to really hype up their Women’s Title Match on Saturday – which will deservedly main event the first night of WrestleMania.

Similarly, Big E cut a passionate figure as he delivered a promo against Apollo Crews days before their Nigerian Drum Match for the Intercontinental Championship.

As expected, Reginald got involved in Nia Jax’s decent but unremarkable match against Tamina, which ended when Shayna Baszler broke up a pinfall attempt.

Backstage, Billie Kay and Carmella interrupted an interview with Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan, revealing they’ll be part of Tag Team Turmoil on Saturday night.

A brawl broke out with Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke getting involved, but Tamina and Natalya appeared and took out the competition.

Finally, a video recorded earlier this week saw Sami Zayn turn up to see Logan and Jake Paul training at their boxing facility, but his attempts to buddy up saw him denied entry back in.

Back in the ThunderDome, Zayn insisted all was well with him and Logan before WrestleMania, and Kevin Owens arrived to take the fight to him days before the latest chapter in their epic rivalry.

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