WWE SmackDown Live Results, Highlights, and Grades for March 26, 2019

The New Day competes in a Tag Team Gauntlet

In the main event of SmackDown Live, we got to see one final chance for Kofi Kingston to make it to WrestleMania and bring KofiMania to fruition. However, Kingston was forced to watch from backstage. He was actually shown backstage during the match watching a monitor along with Becky Lynch, The Hardy Boys, and others.

The New Day was all business from the start, taking on first the team of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. The former Raw Tag Team Champions seemed like they’d be stiff competition to get things rolling, but The New Day made quick work of them and nailed an Up Up, Down Down to vanquish Gallows and Anderson and advance to stage two of the gauntlet.

The second team in their way was Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev, and things didn’t go the same. Nakamura and Rusev quickly took control and began to wear down Big E and Xavier Woods, utilizing their time and slowly inflicting as much damage as possible.

While it took them longer, The New Day was eventually able to repeat their early success and put away the second team with another Up Up, Down Down. The third stage of the gauntlet saw former champions The Bar make their way to the ring, and it was clear they were going to be the toughest challenge yet.

Back from commercial, The Bar was firmly in control and wearing down Big E. Big E managed to fight out of a cloverleaf and looked to tag in Xavier Woods, but Cesaro stopped it from happening. He slipped into the ring just before, dragging E away from his corner and tagging in Sheamus.

Sheamus continued to wear down Big E, but the former NXT Champion fought out of it and finally made the very important tag to Xavier Woods. Backstage, Kofi Kingston and all his fellow watchers were jumping in excitement as Woods went to work. Xavier hit a huge dropkick to the back of Cesaro before hitting Sheamus with a DDT.

The Bar retreated to the outside, and Xavier Woods suddenly came flying out of the ring with a dive that took them both out. Woods threw Cesaro back in the ring and hit a leg drop off the top rope, but his pin attempt was broken up by Sheamus. Back from commercial, The New Day was looking for momentum as Big E hit a huge powerbomb on Sheamus.

Big E and Sheamus both tagged in their respective partners, and things heated up once more. Cesaro took advantage, wearing down Woods and tagging in Sheamus to finish things off with the Double White Noise. Cesaro climbed to the top, but was knocked to the outside by Big E. Woods took advantage of the moment and rolled up Sheamus for a quick pin to advance The New Day to stage four.

Before we saw the fourth team, The Bar took out the frustration of their loss on Woods and Big E. They beat both men down before retrieving a table from under the ring and sending Big E crashing through it. As they left the ring, things looked bleak when The Usos made their way to the ring as the fourth opponents for New Day.

The Usos entered the ring and looked ready to fight, but Big E was barely moving. Woods kneeled beside him to protect his partner, and The Usos grabbed a microphone. In a shocking turn of events, they explained that Kingston deserved a title shot at WrestleMania and had already earned their respect. The Usos then announced they would forfeit, and The New Day won and advanced yet again.

Backstage, we were shown Daniel Bryan and Rowan going absolutely berserk in their locker room, throwing chairs and destroying the television they were watching on. Back from commercial, we found out that the gauntlet had only one team left, which turned out to be WWE Champion Daniel Bryan and his partner Rowan.