10 Ups & 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Feb 19)
2. Trademark Tag Team Action
You come to SmackDown if you want to see top-level WWE main roster tag team action. That's the rule, and it was proved true again last night, as the hot-shotted Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa were slotted into the show's workrate-centric format, yielding an awesome battle with The Bar.
This bout was of a similar quality to those The Bar having been working with the likes of The Usos and New Day since coming to SmackDown, boosted by the appeal of seeing them going two-on-two with DIY for the first time. No more than two great teams doing what they do best, it was worked with a textbook back-and-forth momentum seesaw formula, flattering both units en route to Gargano and Ciampa's victory, which came with Tommaso rolled Cesaro up for a leveraged pinfall following a smart blind tag.
Beating The Bar isn't a problem here, as Sheamus and Cesaro are very much out of title contention at the moment. They don't need to be protected, but their scalps are big enough to ensure a nice rub for the NXT guys, who rose to the occasion.