12 Ups & 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Mar 5)

4. Bryan & Owens Cut Each Other Down

With the Kofi Kingston acknowledgements out of the way, Daniel Bryan re-aligned his show-opening crosshairs to focus on Kevin Owens, his Fastlane opponent.

What followed was a textbook promo from the WWE Champion, which is to say it was excellent. Having shot on Kofi and the fans who support him, Bryan claimed the only reason they rooted for KO was that he looked like them, "which is self-explanatory." From there, he called Owens a nobody, which is dangerous, as "a nobody is someone with nothing to lose." Bryan then claimed that as 'The Planet's Champion,' he had everything to lose, claiming that while he didn't want the fans to turn him into a martyr, the weight on his shoulders was crushing.

This provoked Owens' arrival. A back-and-forth followed, before KO started taking the heels down with trademark wit, asking Bryan if he only thought he was better than him because he eats organic carrots, and calling Rowan his "seven-foot back-up dancer."

The ensuing brawl didn't last long, with Rowan disrupting KO's attempted Stunner by hitting his new finisher: a weird forehead palm-clutch slam... thing. Bryan was left standing tall, WWE Championship hoisted high, having successfully raised the hype levels for Sunday's big match.