Smackdown opened this week with a promo from Dolph Ziggler. He put over his desire to be in the WrestleMania IC Title ladder match, and started talking about Daniel Bryan, before Luke Harper and Bad News Barrett ran in and attacked. Eventually, Dean Ambrose came in for the save. During the exchanges, R Truth appeared and stole the intercontinental title belt. In the first match of the evening, Tyson Kidd and Cesaro defeated Los Matadores. Ryback defeated Kane with a meathook clothesline. This was quick and the story was that Kane was distracted. As such, Kane booked Ryback into a match with Big Show. This ended with Show winning via the knockout punch, after Kane interfered. AJ Lee beat Brie Bella with the black widow. Nikki tried to interfere, but Paige stopped her. Daniel Bryan did a backstage promo putting over the ladder match at WrestleMania. Big E and Kofi Kingston (The New Day) defeated Miz and Mizdow. This was all about the tensions between Miz and Mizdow being played up. Perhaps this could lead to a one on one match at WrestleMania, but it seems more likely that the pair will be in the Andre battle royal. That's where the implosion should fully take place. Rusev beat Jack Swagger with the Accolade for what feels like the hundredth time. Afterwards, Curtis Axel came out and cut another Axelmania promo. He put down the challenge for Rusev's US Title. It looks like Rusev vs Axel will happen on Raw, possibly with John Cena causing the distraction to give Rusev his first loss and Axel the US title. This would then set the angle for Rusev agreeing to face Cena at WrestleMania. In the main event, Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose defeated Luke Harper and Bad News Barrett. The finish saw Daniel Bryan stealing the IC Title and posing with it, before Stardust came in and also stole the belt. It appears that Stardust is being added to the mix, which could mean a spot for Goldust as well. At this point, the ladder match is in danger of being overbooked with too many participants.
