WWE SmackDown Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction, Highlights from April 9 - Bleacher Report

WWE kicked off its biggest weekend of the year with a special WrestleMania edition of SmackDown, featuring the annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and a blockbuster Fatal 4-Way Match for the blue brand's tag team titles.

Also featuring comments from Roman Reigns, Edge and Daniel Bryan ahead of their main event Sunday night at the Showcase of the Immortals, the episode served as the perfect primer for the two-night extravaganza.

Who emerged victoriously from the advertised bouts, and what did the three competitors in the Triple Threat match for the Universal Championship have to say?

Daniel Bryan kicked off this week’s show, excited about being so close to WrestleMania.

He expressed his desire to hear the roar of the crowd at WrestleMania.

There is nothing like winning the world heavyweight championship at WrestleMania, he said.

They said he couldn’t tap out Roman Reigns.

Adam Pearce initially said no to a title shot, he said yes!

“This Sunday at WrestleMania, they’re getting the best damn Daniel Bryan they’ve ever seen!”!

A fired-up Bryan asked, “can Daniel Bryan walk out of the main event of WrestleMania as universal champion?” “YES.

This was a fantastic promo from Bryan, who undoubtedly understood the importance of putting the final touches on the hype for his championship opportunity.

It highlighted his motivations, showed the fiery passion that made him such a fan favorite in the first place, and set the stage for Bryan to be the beloved hero in this year’s main event.

On a night where hyping up WrestleMania is absolutely key, Bryan turned in his best promo performance in weeks and dared his opponents to tell him “no” one more time.

As The Street Profits chanted “YES!” along with Bryan backstage, SmackDown tag team champions Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode attacked from out of nowhere.

It was an action-packed match that highlighted the strengths of each team while positioning the champions as vulnerable late.

Without them, this could have been a hell of a match and certainly worthy of inclusion on the WrestleMania card.

A prerecorded promo from Big E put over the beating he has coming for Apollo Crews at WrestleMania, live from his hometown of Tampa.

From there, women’s tag team champion Nia Jax made her way to the ring with partner Shayna Baszler by her side for a match with Tamina, who was accompanied by Natalya.

Billie Kay interrupted, followed by Carmella who revealed the newly formed team will be a part of Tag Team Turmoil at WrestleMania.

This feels like a bigger deal than it would have been had it been thrown on the Kickoff Show and left to wallow in mediocrity, especially with the turmoil match and the tag title match being spread out like they are.

Edge made his way to the ring for a few words before Sunday’s main event.

He came back to main event WrestleMania.

He accused Bryan of weaseling his way into the main event, ruining a clash of two eras between him and Reigns.

He will be the universal champion after WrestleMania.

He touted his own passionate journey, took exception to Bryan being in the match at WrestleMania, took credit for Reigns’ entire shtick and talked about manifesting his dreams.

It was a great promo, with some strong facial expressions out of The Rated R Superstar and just enough content to set up post-Mania programs with either Bryan or Reigns, if WWE sees fit to take things in that direction.

Sasha Banks cut a promo ahead of her SmackDown Women’s Championship defense against Bianca Belair, laughing off the idea of the 2021 Royal Rumble winner dethroning her. .

In true Head of the Table fashion, Roman Reigns put Jey Uso in his place, interrupting his celebration and stalking toward the squared circle for the show-closing promo

He said Edge needs to stop whining about things being taken away from him because Reigns is the one who took it from him and everyone else in WWE

He is the best thing about WWE in 2021 and though it is unlikely, he should retain his title at WrestleMania