Segment 1: After the opening pyros and theme song and such, we're in the ring where The Miz has already set things up for Miz TV to a totally dead crowd. He gives a recap of Sami Zayn's return (and promotion for that matter), and introduces Zayn as his guest today. Gotta admit, his music is pretty infectous.

Miz gets Zayn to chat about his rivalry and friendship with Kevin Owens, taking us back to Owens's first season on NXT, when he attacked Zayn and caused a bunch of injuries. Though, Zayn admits that he doesn't know why Owens attacked him and has been such a jerk since then.

Miz wants to find out, so he calls down Owens to the ring as well. Owens pops out of gorilla but stays on the stage as he explains that he attacked Zayn because it was the best thing for his career; it was always business, not personal. To prove it, he points to the fact that Zayn was signed by WWE two years before Owens, but Owens made his RAW debut a year before Zayn. And speaking of personal, Zayn eliminated Owens at the Royal Rumble, and Zayn attacked Owens for no reason on RAW, so it's Owens who's totally the victim.

Zayn dismisses that and declares he's going to beat Owens for the Intercontinental Title at WrestleMania, a challenge that Owens summarily rejects as he hops on the apron since Zayn hasn't earned jackshit. Zayn challenges Owens to fight right then to prove it, and Owens once more declines, this time tossing the mic as he starts to leave.

But Owens stops short before the ramp as Neville pops out of the back. He and Owens have unfinished business after all, and the IC Title would look pretty good around his waist. Hm.

Miz then finds a mic and says Neville isn't a guest on his show, so he needs to go. And besides, Miz is a five-time IC champion, and he's main evented WrestleMania, so he should be getting the shot! Zayn says his days of main eventing WrestleMania are long over, which Miz physically takes exception too. No one speaks another word as Zayn forearms Miz a few times, and as Miz bails from the ring and stumbles to where Owens is standing, I think we all know where this is heading.

Segment 2 [Tag Match]: Sami Zayn & Neville defeat The Miz & Kevin Owens by pin. Decent match, nothing special. This one was about giving the non-NXT viewers a taste of Zayn while fueling the feud between him and Owens.

Zayn and Miz to start, with Miz winning the first technical exchange, though Zayn wins the second and tags in Neville. Neville can't maintain momentum and Miz tags out, with Neville having better luck with Owens. At the end of the sequence, Neville takes Owens with a side headlock and drags him over to the faces' corner. Zayn tags himself in, but Owens immediately tags out, wanting nothing to do with him.

So now it's Zayn and Miz once more, but this time it's Zayn in control with arm-targeted offense, including a few stiff arm drags and shoulder locks. Neville tags in then, and there's a unique double-team move as Zayn gets on his hands and knees, and Neville uses Zayn's back as launching point to hit a corkscrew moonsault. Pretty impressive, but only gets a two.

From there, Miz quickly flings Neville out of the ring, giving him a moment to tag out. Owens is able to use the delay to attack a few times, but when Neville tries to defend himself and set up a running move, Miz pulls down the bottom rope from on the apron, and Neville throws himself out of the ring to take us to ads.

Back, and Owens is all punchy-kicky on Neville, concluding his first sequence with a senton. Pin for only two, but quick tags and dirty offense behind the ref's back keep Neville on the defensive. Neville eventually breaks out and hits a hot tag, making Zayn go house of fire against Miz; he tries going house of fire on Owens too, but Owens hops off the apron to avoid engaging.

Zayn is all about the momentum and concludes with a tornado DDT, but doesn't go for the pin. Miz crawls toward the heels' corner, and Zayn doesn't stop him. But Owens still wants nothing to do with his former buddy, so he just hops off the apron for good and starts to head back to the ramp. Miz shouts for Owens to come back, which is ignored, and Zayn finishes Miz off with the Helluva Kick (a running big boot to the corner). Neville, uh, didn't do much. [Ed. Note: Nah, but this was about 2 things... (1) re-introduce Zayn, who hasn't been seen by WWE fans since last May, and (2) put the wheels in motion for a big multi-way IC Ladder Match at WM32. It accomplished both. My biggest wish: instead of Jericho/Styles, one-on-one, add them to these four, along with whichever LoN guy isn't gonna face the New Day and -- oh let's say -- surprise returnee Cesaro. Styles, Zayn, Owens, and Cesaro, all in an IC Match at WM together? Holy ROH, Batman!]

Segment 3: After ads, we see Goldust desperate in one of the bathroom stalls because he needs some toilet paper. R-Truth appears for no reason, and... you know what? This isn't worth trying to transcribe. They make a poop joke, Truth gives Goldust the toilet paper, Goldust still doesn't want to form a tag team. Also, it's implied that Goldust's dong was just flapping in the breeze while he and Truth were conversing, so enjoy that mental image.

Segment 4: RAW recap concerning Dean Ambrose's activities. For one of the usual recaps that we don't recap, this one lasted a pretty long time.

Pre-Segment 5: Lana is out on commentary for the next match. Literally, actually, since she's sitting on the commentary table. Apparently she got involved with a Brie Bella / Summer Rae match on Monday, which had been chopped from the Hulu cut. Luckily, a replay showed me what I missed; does this mean Lana is going to be a wrestler now, not just a valet? [Ed. Note: I dunno. One week, WWE is high on Lana as a wrestler, to the point of booking her into a match at WM. The next week, she's in the doghouse for backstage drama, and so who knows? She does increasingly seem like she's willing to Stacey Keibler her career, and isn't taking the WWE politics too seriously, because she suspects she'll be fine without them.]

Segment 5 [Singles Match]: Brie Bella defeats Summer Rae by submission. Not an entertaining match, but it served as Chapter 1 (or 2, I guess) of the Brie / Lana feud. Lana did well on commentary relative to her character: She was fairly quiet, but spoke only her key points without giving much information away, nor did she try playing with Jerry Lawler and his heel bullshit.

Summer is all offense by flinging Brie out of the ring, then into the barricade, then back in the ring for a neck lock. Summer then continued the offense with strikes until Brie slips one and hits a huge dropkick off the top rope. Yes Kicks from there, then a missed running knee (with a somewhat ridiculous oversell). An exchange, Brie locks in the Yes Lock, and Summer taps.

After the match, Brie did her Yes Taunts to Lana. Summer tried to take advantage of the distraction, but Brie defended herself. However, Lana slid in the ring during that distraction, and nailed Bella with her own finisher. Well, Brie's alternate finisher, anyway, the sit-out facebuster or Bella Buster or whatever it's called. Either way, it leaves Brie down and out as Lana Yes's her way out of the ring.

Segment 6: Same montage of Shane McMahon we saw on RAW.

Segment 7: Chris Jericho hits the ring to address why he turned heel on Monday. He also brought props, as he's got a trash can and one of the Y2AJ shirts on a hanger. He gets pissed at the crowd for booing him, but isn't surprised, since the crowd has apparently chosen AJ Styles over him, and that dog don't hunt, whatever the shit that phrase means.

Anyway, Jericho gets straight to it: he beat the shit out of Styles because the fans booed him, or at least disrespected him by cheering Styles over him. Jericho is the best in the world at what he does! He's never been hurt, invented the Money in the Bank match, and is equally as good whether he's a main eventer or opener. So we can go to hell if we chant for Styles over him.

Jericho's also heard the line before: “So-and-so is the next big thing!,” but then the so-and-so disappears after three months because he can't excel to Jericho's level. Of note, Jericho purses his lips in a Zoolander expression every few sentences; I'm not sure whether Jericho is doing it on purpose, but it's pretty infuriating, and therefore hilarious. [Ed. Note: simply putting a Douche Tracker on Jericho's wardrobe choices since his return, and it becomes VERY obvious that everything he's doing, he's doing on purpose. Vaguely douchey, sorta douchey, uh oh getting douchier, ahhh sigh of relief he's gonna be nice to AJ and even starts wearing a normal t-shirt for a few weeks... and BOOM, mega-douchey, and he's setting that t-shirt on fire!]

Regardless, Jericho is sure that Styles will follow suit, and symbolizes it by pouring some lighter fluid in the trash can and setting the shirt on fire. Y2AJ is officially over, and it's all Styles's fault, and the fans' too. Boo!

Segment 8: Replay of Big Boss Man being announced as the newest inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Pre-Segment 9: So it seems the League of Nations have changed their “I'm excited and part of the team!” gesture from a finger-twirly to a fisty-do. I'm basically ambivalent, but I always found the finger-twirly hilarious since, being a former high school sports official, the finger-twirly either means “home run” or “untimed down” depending on whether it's baseball or football, and I couldn't get that out of my head.

Segment 9 [Tag Match]: The League of Nations (w/ Rusev) defeat the Lucha Dragons by pin. Solid match but nothing special.

Kalisto and Sheamus to open, and it's Sheamus in control with power offense. Kalisto gets in a couple shots as he tags out to Sin Cara, who endears himself to me by wearing Steelers colors. Quick hits and quick tags keep Sheamus off-balance to the point where he just up and leaves the ring on his own. The heels huddle and plot, giving us a chance to see a smash-cut to the back, where we see Ryback intently watching the match. Hm.

No ads as Sheamus reenters the ring but only gets in an attack when Barrett runs distraction: Sheamus knocks Kalisto off the top rope and out of the ring to take us to ads finally.

Back, and it's Barrett beating the shit out of Kalisto with strikes. A couple tags allow the heels to continue the power offense, but it's Sheamus who makes the mistake when he attempts a corner charge. Kalisto slips it, so Sheamus goes shoulder-first into the ring post so hard that he falls through the ropes entirely. Double hot tags to Sin Cara and Barrett, with the former going house of fire. Cara goes for a pin but Sheamus stops it, bringing us to a Pier Four Brawl. Cara is able to put Barrett down and teases the Senton Bomb, but Rusev shoves him off the top rope behind the ref's back. Barrett follows up with the Bull Hammer Elbow, and that's all she wrote.

After the match, we smash-cut to the back, where Ryback is still watching the match. He says that the two little guys put up a fight against the two big guys, but you know: bigger is better and will always win. Nothing more, but the implication as to who he wants a piece of is obvious.

Segment 10: RAW recap concerning Shane McMahon and Vince McMahon's activities.

Segment 11: Renee Young interviews the Usos, Dean Ambrose, and Dolph Ziggler in the back. None of them say anything of consequence, but it kills sixty seconds.

Segment 12 [Eight-Man Tag Match]: Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, & The Usos defeat The Wyatt Family by pin. Good match with a lot of action, but nothing you need to go out of your way for.

Ambrose and Harper to start, with Ambrose winning the exchange by out-wrestling Harper. Harper breaks out of a simple arm lock and floors Ambrose with a shoulder block, but Ambrose gets revenge with an arm drag and shoulder lock. Tag to Ziggler for more arm-targeted offense, then a tag to Jimmy for more, then a tag to Jey for even more. But Jey makes a mistake as he eats a forearm out of nowhere, and Harper bails into Bray's waiting arms as we go to ads.

Back, and Harper is beating the shit out of Jey with strikes. Jey manages a desperate tag to Ziggler, who delivers a few shots to Harper before Rowan flattens him behind the ref's back from the apron. Harper tags to Bray, and Ziggler becomes the face in peril.

It's all power offense from the Wyatts as Ziggler does what he does best. Ziggler gets a breath when he counters a back body drop into a big DDT, and Ziggler makes a hot tag to Jey, who rallies against Harper. Rowan tries to interfere, but Jimmy is there to help out. Jey ties a big splash to Harper, but Harper blocks it with his knees.

Jey hot tags to Ambrose, who goes house of fire to Rowan as the latter gets his first minutes as the legal man. Ambrose takes him down with a spinning neckbreaker and shoots the half, but Rowan kicks out clean at two. Ambrose follows up with a top rope elbow and tries again, but Harper breaks it up. Pier Eight Brawl from there, concluding with a Dirty Deeds to Rowan. Bray almost reacts in time to make the save, but doesn't quite get there in time.

Final Thoughts: Ambrose gets momentum as he heads into Road Block tomorrow night, but that's pretty much the only thing to come out of tonight. This episode was incredibly heavy on filler for some reason, and that really killed my excitement. By the time the main event rolled around, I was bored as hell. Nothing in a vacuum bored me, but the matches were pointless, no stories really advanced (aside from Jericho's promo and the Zayn / Owens situation), and there were entirely too many replays and recaps and montage. Blech. [Ed. Note: yeah, I hit "stop and erase" on my DVR, and I was thinking, "Man, that was a pretty strong show. Some solid wrestling, and two really good promos." Then I looked at the clock, and realized I had watched it in 56 minutes, flat, which means I FF'd a LOT. When SD was delivering content, itw as quite good. But there sure was a lot of filler on this night.]

Can't really say more; they can't all be winners. I'd advise to skip this episode, but definitely check out Road Block, since a bunch of questions will be answered there. Rick has the recap for that one, which is good, because I'll start writing my yearly WrestleMania Preview Column afterward as all the WrestleMania pieces fall into place.

Episode Grade: D+