WWE SmackDown Spoilers: Complete Results and Analysis for February 26

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Credit: WWE.com

Seth Rollins, Big Show and Kane picked up a win for The Authority when they defeated Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan in a huge six-man tag team match at WWE Fastlane.

This Thursday night on SmackDown, the babyfaces will have an opportunity to avenge their pay-per-view loss when they meet the hired guns of WWE's resident power couple in a return match.

But those six Superstars were not the only competitors slated for action on this week's episode.

Fresh off a disappointing Sunday night, Daniel Bryan returns to the squared circle, battling WWE intercontinental champion Bad News Barrett in a match set up via opening promo. And wherever Barrett is, No. 1 contender to his title, Dean Ambrose, is sure to be.

The Lunatic Fringe was also in action, squaring off against former WWE champion The Miz in singles competition. Would he be able to maintain possession of the IC title, which he stole from Barrett at Fastlane? Or would the champion be able to regain control of the title, much to the chagrin of his rival?

Fresh off his victory over Stardust, Jack Swagger would again attempt to do what even the mighty John Cena was incapable of accomplishing: Defeat United States champion Rusev.

Would he succeed?

And what about Roman Reigns? What would the No. 1 contender be up to?

Find out now with a look at this week's SmackDown spoilers, courtesy of our friends at Wrestling Inc.

Venue

Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia

Broadcast Team

Michael Cole, Byron Saxton and Jerry "the King" Lawler

Results

• Bryan kicked off the show, discussing WrestleMania 31, but was interrupted by Bad News Barrett. This brought out Ambrose. The babyfaces double-teamed Barrett, sending him scurrying.
• Ambrose pinned The Miz. During the match, Barrett came through the crowd to get his Intercontinental Championship back.
• Renee Young interviewed Ambrose.
• Natalya defeated Naomi. Tyson Kidd, Cesaro and The Usos were at ringside and ended up fighting during the contest.
• Lana and Rusev cut a promo in which they mocked Cena.
• Rusev defeated Swagger.
• Bryan pinned Bad News Barrett in a non-title match. R-Truth was on commentary again and wound up stealing the title away.
• Saxton interviewed Reigns backstage.
• R-Truth gave Ambrose the IC title backstage.
• Fandango pinned Curtis Axel.
• Bray Wyatt cut another promo on Undertaker.
• Goldust pinned Adam Rose.
• Ryback, Erick Rowan and Ziggler defeated Rollins, Kane and Big Show when Ryback pinned Rollins.

Analysis

Despite some truly awful booking, which continues with another non-title loss against Bryan, Bad News Barrett and his Intercontinental Championship appear to play a big role on this week's broadcast.

With Bryan, Barrett, Dean Ambrose and R-Truth involved, the first half of the show figures to be fun—if nothing else. The drama surrounding Ambrose's theft of the title could lead to some sort of gimmick match come WrestleMania.

The most interesting element of the entire ordeal is R-Truth, who scored a non-title win over Barrett last week but has done nothing else to really earn a shot at the championship.

Will that stop WWE from adding him to some sort of Triple Threat or Fatal 4-Way match? Or is this the start of a renewed push for Truth, who was last relevant as a heel way back in 2011?

Fandango's continued face push remains one of the more curious occurrences on WWE television in that he was never officially turned. Instead he was simply the lesser of two evils during his brief feud with Rose.

On Thursday night, he will again fill the role of de facto babyface as he squares off with Axel, who will again complain about his status as Royal Rumble "winner."

The main event result is interesting in that Ryback pins Rollins cleanly.

Yes, Rollins loses cleanly.

One would think WWE would want to protect Rollins as much as possible heading into WrestleMania, especially since he figures to have a high-profile match against Randy Orton on tap.

Instead, WWE Creative chose to sacrifice him to Ryback, who is competing in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

It is a decision that could help The Big Guy in the long run, but in the immediate future, Rollins is the top full-time heel and sacrificing him—even in a forgettable six-man tag team bout—is the exact opposite of what WWE Creative should be doing at this point.