WWE Superstar Murphy returned to the ring this week on Friday Night Smackdown, losing a short match to Cesaro, who is in the early stages of a program with Seth Rollins.

Murphy had not previously wrestled since the first week of December. There was no mention of his on-screen relationship with Aalyah Mysterio or the rest of the Mysterio family, so it looks like WWE may have completely dropped the angle.

Prior to their split, Murphy and Seth Rollins worked a program with the Mysterio family for nearly the entire second half of 2020. Things escalated when it was revealed that Murphy had begun dating lucha legend Rey Mysterio’s daughter, Aalyah.

In the end after months and months of singles and tag team matches on television and pay-per-view, Murphy became a full-fledged babyface and earned the respect of the family, separating himself from Rollins in the process.

There has been a major change to the main event at WWE Fastlane.

It was originally announced that Daniel Bryan would team up with the 2021 Royal Rumble winner, Edge, for a tag team match against Universal Champion Roman Reigns and his cousin Jey Uso. Instead, Reigns will now defend his title against Daniel Bryan in a singles match.

Bryan emerged victorious from a grueling Elimination Chamber match at WWE’s most recent pay-per-view, but Reigns once again skirted a legitimate title defense by demanding Bryan’s earned championship match take place immediately afterwards. Reigns nearly got caught with the Yes Lock, but was able to put down his opponent with relative ease.

This evening on Friday Night Smackdown, Bryan defeated Jey Uso in a Steel Cage Match to earn one more opportunity at the so-called “Tribal Chief” before Reigns moves on to Edge and the main event of WrestleMania 37.

WWE Fastlane takes place on Sunday, March 21 streaming live on both WWE Network and, for the first time, NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service.

Welcome to our live coverage of WWE Friday Night Smackdown on FOX!

WWE Smackdown Results
March 5, 2021

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Michael Cole welcomed Daniel Bryan to the ring to kick off the show. Bryan acknowledged that Edge vs Roman Reigns is the dream match everyone wants to see in the main event at WrestleMania 37. He talked about rolling out of the ring at the Elimination Chamber feeling like a failure, watching Edge spear the champion and point to the WrestleMania sign. Bryan admitted that he’s been putting his own career on the backburner for the sake of giving back to the younger stars who are ready and deserve his spot. But he’s wrestled more in the last three weeks than Reigns or Edge have in the last three months, and promises to be the one who ruins everyone’s WrestleMania dream match.

Roman Reigns came out with his entourage and mocked Bryan for finally finding his ambition again. He claimed that Bryan doesn’t really love wrestling anymore, so much as he needs it. Reigns said that Bryan needs him at the Head of the Table just like everyone else in WWE. Jey Uso took the mic and told Bryan that he wasn’t walking out of the Steel Cage tonight. He didn’t lock Roman out of the cage, he locked himself inside with a pitbull. Uso took a shot at him, but Bryan easily sent him over the top rope like a chump and stared down the champion.

King Corbin def. Montez Ford

This was supposed to be a tag team match but Corbin refused because he’s a singles star, and demanded a singles match against either member of the Street Profits. Corbin won a short but solid match with the End of Days after Sami Zayn caused a distraction outside the ring. Zayn demanded that he return the favor in his match, but Corbin refused and stormed off.

Angelo Dawkins def. Sami Zayn

Another short but solid match with a distraction finish. Zayn had it won after an Exploder Suplex into the corner and lined up for the Helluva Kick, but noticed Montez Ford yelling at the documentary crew outside the ring. Dawkins rolled him up for the win. Zayn screamed at the doc crew and lost his mind after the match, choking out one of the camera guys and demanding to know who hired him and if he was with “the company”.

Reginald tried to give Carmella a bottle of champaign backstage, but she called him a snake and knocked the bottle out of his hands. Carmella called Reginald out for his obsession with Sasha Banks and fired him!

Dominik Mysterio def. Chad Gable

Dominik once again looked really good working through the basics here, and Gable being Gable was able to handle more of the technical stuff and make it look good. Commentary played up that Dominik was going to be a big star in the future but he was still just starting out and Gable was at the peak of his ability. Then Dom dodged a moonsault and rolled him up to win. Rey Mysterio immediately took to the apron and dove onto Otis, taking him over the announce table.

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