WWE SmackDown Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from February 5

Every week on Bleacher Report, I take an in-depth look at WWE SmackDown to recap the action, offer analysis and grade the matches, segments and anything else that takes place on the show. I also provide some predictions on the direction of storylines.

Since WWE moved SmackDown to Thursday nights, the show has improved. We all knew this wouldn't last forever, and the most recent edition was when it all came crashing down.

It's not as if the show was unwatchable, but the majority of the matches and segments that took place were anything but exciting and original.

As usual, Daniel Bryan overcame a seemingly unwinnable situation. The Miz treated Damien Mizdow like garbage, and Curtis Axel ranted some more about how he was screwed at the Royal Rumble. It all felt like ground that had been covered on Raw, but there were a few things to like.

Let's take a look at what happened on this week's SmackDown.

MizTV

Before the Miz could even introduce his guests for the evening, the crowd started a "We want Mizdow" chant, which he easily quelled by telling them that he was sitting at ringside where he belonged.

Miz brought out Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns for a face-to-face interview, but it didn't go down the way the host had hoped.

Reigns made his entrance and hit Miz with a Superman Punch before his music had even stopped playing. The crowd popped for this, but then some of them turned on Reigns when he told Bryan he would defeat him at Fast Lane.

Reigns proposed the match take place right then and there, and Bryan seemed more than willing to oblige, but Seth Rollins came out before they could do anything to each other.

Rollins told Bryan that he would be in a handicap match against Joey Mercury, Jamie Noble and Rollins himself later.

The best part about this segment was that it didn't go on longer than it was supposed to. The opening of Raw seemed to drag on forever, but SmackDown kept things nice and short.

Nobody did anything spectacular, but the crowd was invested in what was happening, and that's the most you can hope for in a non-wrestling segment.

Grade: B

Gold and Stardust vs. Dolph Ziggler and Ryback

Apparently, WWE had nothing special for Ryback and Dolph Ziggler this week, so they were thrown into a tag team match against Gold and Stardust.

Fortunately, Ryback and Ziggler actually looked pretty good as a team. They played to the crowd and hit a few nice double-team moves throughout the match.

The Rhodes brothers continued to have communication issues, which are obviously going to lead to their eventual split.

Stardust actually ditched his brother after being called Cody, leaving Goldust to take Shell Shocked from Ryback and lose the match for his team.

The brothers are definitely working toward a big meltdown, and hopefully they get the grand stage of WrestleMania to finally have the showdown we have all been waiting for.

Grade: B

Notes and Highlights:

• Why was Ziggler wearing Ryback's weight belt?
• Stardust's face paint always rubs off so easily. Do you think other wrestlers get pissed when they see their attire stained with his signature color for the night?
• Power and finesse make a good combo, so it's no surprise that Ryback and Ziggler looked good together, but they should not become a tag team. It would be a step backward for both men.

Curtis Axel vs. Dean Ambrose

Curtis Axel came out to complain some more about how he was treated unfairly during the Royal Rumble. He tried to get the crowd to chant AxelMania, but most of them didn't bother.

Dean Ambrose came out and made short work of Axel, beating him with Dirty Deeds. Bad News Barrett came on the big screen and introduced us to his new venture, BNZ—or Bad News Zone.

Based on what we saw, it looks like these two will have a title match at Fast Lane, and that should be something everyone is happy about.

Barrett and Ambrose are two of the more physical competitors in WWE today, and they should put together an entertaining match at the pay-per-view.

The bout between Axel and Ambrose was too short to be much of anything, but the whole segment worked well, with Axel expressing his frustration and Barrett mocking him from backstage.

Grade: B-

Notes and Highlights:

• Axel is falling into the trap a lot of Superstars fall into where they think talking louder makes people listen.
• The crawler at the bottom of the screen during the BNZ segment was pretty funny (Naples, Italy... Local man accepts lot in life).

Adam Rose vs. Fandango

WWE's resident dancing weirdos faced each other in a short match that ended with Fandango defeating Adam Rose with a flying leg drop.

The match was filler, but the story that was told seemed to indicate that Rose could soon find himself dancing solo.

After his crew dropped him during the trust-fall portion of his entrance, Rose proceeded to attack all the male members of his group.

With the Bunny nowhere in sight and presumably being a dropped gimmick, there was nobody to protect the hotdog and his friends.

Grade: C-

Notes and Highlights:

• The Rosebuds dropping Rose during the trust fall looked good. It almost looked unplanned, but you know it was planned from the start.
• The way Fandango pinned Rose was interesting with the way he had his knee on Rose's throat while hooking the leg and holding his arm down.
• Was Fandango trying to turn babyface here? He wasn't acting like a heel and seemed to get a little pop when he won.

The Miz vs. Roman Reigns

The Miz challenged Reigns to a match in a backstage interview with Renee Young following the earlier segment in which Reigns lay him out with a Superman Punch.

Miz got a small measure of revenge by attacking Reigns and running his shoulder into the steel steps before the bell, but he wasn't able to keep the big Samoan down for long.

Reigns won the match with a Spear in less than five minutes. This bout was about as average as it gets. Miz made Reigns look good, but they didn't have enough time to do anything special.

Grade: C

Notes and Highlights:

• It's weird watching Miz wrestle without Mizdow copying his movements outside the ring.
• I have never seen someone counter a DDT the way Reigns did in this match.
• It seems like most of the crowd is back cheering for Reigns again following all the hatred he received after winning the Royal Rumble.

Rusev vs. Erick Rowan

After Rusev put Erick Rowan in the Accolade on Raw, the bearded brawler was out for blood in this match.

The first few moments saw Rowan dominate the United States champion, but Rusev was able to turn things around relatively quickly.

Rusev picked up the victory by making Rowan tap out to the Accolade in what ended up being kind of a hard-fought match. These two were probably better off not having 15 minutes to work with because it would have exposed some of their shortcomings.

Short matches aren't always a bad thing. In this instance, it worked better than a longer bout would have.

Grade: C+

Notes and Highlights:

• WWE has dropped the ball with Rowan. He never should have turned babyface and shouldn't be used as the world's largest enhancement talent.
• Who else thought Rowan's back elbow off the middle rope was really impressive?
• Rusev needs to add more to his arsenal. He basically has a big kick and a submission hold. More variety will make him look like a better wrestler.

Paige vs. Alicia Fox

Alicia Fox is much more talented than anyone likes to give her credit for. Unfortunately, she constantly bounces between being a heel and a babyface with virtually no explanation as to why she is acting a certain way.

A match with someone as talented as Paige allowed Foxy to show off some of the better aspects of her game. It's just too bad the Bellas and Paige are the main focus of the division right now.

Fox was aggressive in the opening moments of the match, but she ended up tapping out to the PTO. Judging from how much time they had, nobody was listening when Triple H said that he wanted the Divas to have more time in the ring.

Grade: C

Daniel Bryan vs. Seth Rollins, Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury

The main event of the evening saw Daniel Bryan fight Seth Rollins, Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble in a handicap match.

Bryan controlled the first few minutes, but the momentum shifted once Rollins tagged in and sent Bryan into the barricade surrounding the ring.

Bryan was ultimately able to overcome the odds by countering a Triple Powerbomb in the corner and then taking out each of his three opponents. It was a fun way to end the show, but it speaks to a potentially larger problem down the road.

The more times Bryan overcomes ridiculous odds, the more likely it is that fans will begin to turn on him. You might think it's impossible, but history tells us that being booked this way will lead to backlash.

John Cena went through the same thing. He was always able to overcome adversity at every turn, and fans eventually became sick of it. Reigns is going through the same thing right now.

Having an underdog who always wins defeats the purpose of his being the underdog in the first place. You can only go to the well so many times before it dries up.

At least Bryan was taken out after the match was over thanks to a little help from Kane, so he was still made to look vulnerable after defeating three opponents by himself.

Grade: B-

Notes and Highlights:

• Mercury and Noble must not own any wrestling gear anymore.
• Bryan is no longer called a goat, so why is he still wearing furry boots?
• The biggest takeaway from this match is that Mercury and Noble can still wrestle pretty well.

Final Thoughts and Predictions

We all knew it was only a matter of time before SmackDown let us down. After a few weeks of solid shows on Thursday night, we were presented with an episode that most people would not be sorry to miss.

All but two of the matches were short and completely predictable, and even the two that had a decent amount of time had decisions that could have been foreseen by the most casual of fans.

The one positive thing that can be said about this week's show is that we saw some storyline progression in the programs that will make up the card at Fast Lane.

We're just a few weeks away from the next pay-per-view, but only three matches have been set for Fast Lane. This week's predictions will focus on filling up the rest of the card.

Predictions:

• Bad News Barrett will defend the Intercontinental Championship against Dean Ambrose.
• Tyson Kidd and Cesaro will challenge the Usos for the Tag Team Championships.
• The Miz will have a match, and Damien Mizdow will accidentally cost him the win, facilitating their separation and beginning a feud that will lead to a showdown at WrestleMania.
• Ryback and Dolph Ziggler will team up to face Gold and Stardust again, but this time Stardust will turn on Goldust.

What did you think of this week's SmackDown?

Thanks for reading, and follow me on Twitter @BR_Doctor.