SmackDown In A Nutshell: Big St. Patty’s Day For Sheamus?

It’s time for another SmackDown In A Nutshell, and are we looking at a big St. Patty’s day for Sheamus?

After all, it is St. Patty’s day, and Sheamus faces Drew McIntyre in one of the top matches on the evening.

The winner of that clash gets GUNTHER and a shot at his belt at WrestleMania.

On top of that, we can expect more from Cody as he chases Roman Reigns.

Then, of course, the latest in the saga of Sami versus the Bloodline.

Will LA Knight finally get himself a WrestleMania match?

But, the big item is will it be a big St. Patty’s day for Sheamus? Or, for that matter, for Drew?

So with that…it is time to find out, so let us dive into…

SmackDown In A Nutshell: Big St. Patty’s Day For Sheamus?

Let’s crack open this Nutshell and find out!

Best Match of the night:

Sheamus and Drew McIntyre was a banger, but got interrupted.

source: YouTubeTV, app, screenshot

However, the interruption by Imperium backfired.

GUNTHER had clearly expected (not really, right?) to have no one to face him if both Drew and Sheamus were counted out or the match ended as a DQ.

Except, Adam Pearce used that to make the Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania official, and it’s officially a triple threat.

Makes me expect that Sheamus or Drew will win, pinning the other. It’s a way to get the title off GUNTHER, without him actually losing.

Worst match of the night:

Nothing worth complaining about. I mean, not a huge fan of the mixed tag stuff, but it was fine I guess?

Crowd Chants of the Night:

Hug it out

source: YouTubeTV, app, screenshot

Star of the Night

Could we go with Cody, for having set up “the conversation”?

source: YouTubeTV, app, screenshot

Or, do we go with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, for reuniting finally.

Spot of the Night:

The pop for when fans thought we saw Jimmy and Jey split was big.

But, this pop was bigger.

Yes…a hug is the spot of the night.

THAT POP FOR SAMI & KO FINALLY HUGGING ??? pic.twitter.com/zibU7CcCsp

— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) March 18, 2023

Jobber of the Night:

Wasn’t a great night for LA Knight, was it?

Lost to Xavier Woods in a bit of a stunner, and then got knocked on his butt by Rey, too.

source: YouTubeTV, app, screenshot

Upset of the Night:

Did not see Xavier Woods beating LA Knight coming, did you?

Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:

Briefly I thought LA Knight might just make a friendly offer to take on Dom on Rey’s behalf. You know, easy way to a WrestleMania match.

Did not expect Rey to sock him good.

Also, how about that opening segment? Lots of talking about Cody and his departure to set things up, and he tried his best to get KO and Sami to reunite.

Didn’t happen, not then anyways.

Botch of the night:

If there was one, I missed it

LOL Moment of the night:

I chuckled a bit when LA Knight was trying to get Rey on board with him being LA Mysterio, fellow dead beat dad.

Though, yes, he earned the punch.

Noteworthy Moment:

In a move to fill out some of the WrestleMania card, we are getting a men’s and women’s fatal four-way match.

Qualifiers for those (yes, we needed them?) started tonight.

Looking at some of the talent not in a match yet, like LA Knight, I can’t help but wish this was way back when, when we could see a Money In The Bank match at ‘Mania.

I don’t hate the PPV of that name, but I think as the show has grown to two nights, having the men’s ladder match kick off one night and the women kick off the other could really work.

Overall lowlights:

Honestly not feeling it tonight.

Overall highlights:

Rey and Dom with a strong segment…no match though, still.

source: YouTubeTV, app, screenshot

The payoffs for the Bloodline storylines have been…amazing.

Jimmy, Jey and Sami just about blew the roof off the arena, but that was topped by tonight.

We all knew Kevin and Sami would eventually get things back on track, but even early on this week, it didn’t look great.

source: YouTubeTV, app, screenshot

After all, Kevin left the arena after that opening segment. Of course, he surely came right back once the cameras weren’t rolling, but that’s not the point.

It was time to find out where this one was going, and Kevin making the save to close the show, capping it with the hug, was huge.

All that is left there is to announce the tag title match.

Charlotte and Rhea were going off too. Maybe lost in all of the things, but as the dust settles, that one has to be acknowledged too.

After the final bell:

Here’s a huge pickle for Triple H.

The whole world knows Cody and Roman is the Sunday WrestleMania main event.

We’ve heard Rhea and Charlotte will be Saturday (Rhea’s vignettes with Cena even allude to her being in the main event).

But now, you are staring at a tag title match…TAG TITLES!!…where the feud, and the players involved…might just be hotter than either of your likely main event options.

You really should have a women’s main event…but tell me the tag title match shouldn’t be there.

And…I am not going to check history, but I don’t know that we’ve ever, in the history of WrestleMania, had a tag title bout as the main event, have we?

And, to tie it all together? It could have been a big St. Patty’s day for Sheamus. It kind of was, but instead of a singles match for that elusive gold…he’s getting a triple threat.