Posted on 3/28/126 by Bob Magee
Last week’s SmackDown ended on a chaotic note with Randy
Orton laying waste to Matt Cardona after an apology gone
wrong, as well as Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu’s all-night
brawl ending with the two taking a fall off a high ledge.
Tonight, the challenger to Cody Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE
Championship at WrestleMania 42 will be on the prowl for his
next target. Meanwhile, SmackDown GM Nick Aldis has promised
an update on McIntyre and Fatu’s conditions following the
end of last week’s show.
In the ring, Jelly Roll will face off against Kit Wilson
after their slam poetry battle last week ended with Wilson
attacking Jelly Roll and taking him out with a diving elbow
from the top.
Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair take on the Bella Twins as
the two teams finally get a chance to settle their scores
following two weeks of their respective Women’s Tag Team
Title matches against The Irresistible Forces being
disrupted by one another.
****************
– After the introduction to the stars competing tonight on
SmackDown, we went to a live shot of the arena before Joe
Tessitore tossed to a recap of last week, particularly as it
related to Randy Orton’s recent actions.
Randy Orton kicks off SmackDown
Speaking of Orton, he emerged from the back to kick off
tonight’s show, with the fans still cheering as loud as ever
for him despite what he’s done as of late.
Orton started by talking about how two weeks ago, Cody
Rhodes asked him to be the best version of Randy Orton that
he could be. Orton said that Rhodes told him he wanted him
to be The Viper again, to listen to the voices as he thought
about his legacy and his 15th World Title. And then, Rhodes
gave him his blessing out of nowhere. Now, that he’s
listening to the voices to his head, he can’t be held
responsible for what happens next. However, there is one
person outside of Orton’s head that he was supposedly
listening to. Before he could go on, Matt Cardona
interrupted, looking like he was ready for a fight.
Orton protested loudly at Cardona’s arrival, as he found
himself bopped with the microphone to the head. Orton was
left to stew in anger outside the ring after eating a hard
shot to the head.
An interesting start to the night, with the fans cheering
for Orton more than ever, and it’s only piquing how they’ll
be when Cody Rhodes returns for his part of the WrestleMania
match build.
***********
– As Nick Aldis was chatting with a referee, Trick Williams
wanted to talk business with him. Aldis said that Williams
has been on the upswing as of late, and it’s earned him a
spot at WrestleMania. Sami Zayn showed up and wondered what
his place at WrestleMania would be. Aldis spelled out the
reality for Zayn, stating that due to his recent struggles,
there was no spot for Zayn at WrestleMania. As Zayn walked
off sullenly, he seemed to have enough of Williams’
taunting, as he punched him out. “I’m going to have a match
at Wrestlemania, just you watch,” Zayn said as he left.
– Randy Orton angrily stormed backstage, looking for Nick
Aldis and wanting a piece of Matt Cardona for what he did to
him just now. Aldis made the match official.
The Bella Twins (Nikki & Brie Bella) vs. Alexa Bliss &
Charlotte Flair
The reigning WWE Women’s Tag Champions, The Irresistible
Forces, appeared before the match and talked about how they
were facing Lyra Valkyrie and Bayley for their titles on Raw
this Monday. Nia Jax and Lash Legend talked trash about the
Bellas and Charlexa as they made their way to ringside.
Flair and Nikki kicked off the match as the latter held her
own against both Bellas early. Nikki managed to take Flair
down with a knee to the face as Brie tagged in. Brie hit an
elbow to the arm of Flair from the top rope, but found
herself hit with a hard chop to the chest. Bliss tagged in
and hit an assisted dropkick on Brie as Flair lifted her up.
Brie’s sunset flip was turned into a dropkick by Bliss. As
she went for her baseball slide attack, Brie used the apron
to trap her to avoid the attack. The Bellas took advantage
as they attacked Bliss while she was trapped behind the
apron as we took a commercial break.
We returned from the break as Bliss fought out of the corner
briefly, before Brie took her back to her corner to tag
Nikki in. Bliss rolled out of the way to try and tag Flair,
but she got dropped by a spinebuster. After a struggle,
Flair entered the match on a hot tag and took down both
Bellas with a diving crossbody. She then hit both Nikki and
Brie with chops a-plenty before the walkover clothesline on
Nikki.
Flair took time to taunt Nia Jax and Lash Legend on the
apron before she tagged Bliss in. The Bellas regained
advantage as they isolated Bliss with a variation of the
Hart Attack. Flair broke up the count before Nikki threw her
out of the ring. In the ring, Lash Legend punched Bliss,
which allowed Brie to roll her up for the pin and win.
After the match, tensions intensified as The Irresistible
Forces proceeded to yet again lay waste to everyone in the
ring. That was before Bayley and Lyra Valkyria ran in to
fight their opponents for Raw this Monday at MSG. Bayley and
Valkyria threw the Irresistible Forces out of the ring, with
the help of the Bellas and Charlexa.
The Bella Twins def. Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair
This was rough, not going to lie. I’ve got no interest in
seeing the Bella Twins in the women’s tag title picture, and
this match just felt average to me as a result.
***********
– Damian Priest found R-Truth wearing a vest and talking
with a construction worker. Truth thought The Judgement Day
was back as Jelly Roll showed up and was immediately called
him “Dominik Mysterio”. Not helping Truth’s assumptions was
Rhea Ripley showing up, which led Truth to assume that Dom
and “Mami” were back. Jelly motivated Ripley about her
chances against Jade Cargill at WrestleMania. As Jelly and
Truth left, Ripley congratulated Priest on his WWE Tag Team
Title win before heading her way to take care of Jade
Cargill.
– Backstage, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss argued with the
Bella Twins after the furor in the opening match. The Bellas
stated that they’d do whatever they took to become Women’s
Tag Champs, much to the chagrin of Charlexa.
Rhea Ripley goes after Jade Cargill
The challenger to the WWE Women’s Championship made her way
to the ring, looking for a little payback after last week’s
run-in with Cargill and her new allies Michin and B-Fab.
Ripley said that she didn’t expect any integrity from Jade
Cargill, that she knew how Cargill would do anything to get
her hands dirty. However, Ripley wasn’t expecting B-Fab and
Michin to stoop down to Cargill’s level, but she didn’t care
because Ripley was ready to go through anyone she pleased on
her way to WrestleMania. Ripley threw out the challenge, as
Jade Cargill’s music hit.
The WWE Women’s Champion made her way to the stage, flanked
by her new allies in Michin and B-Fab. Cargill said that
Ripley sounded real slick for someone who got dropped last
week. Cargill talked about how Michin and B-Fab enjoyed
being in a position of power standing side-by-side with her.
As B-Fab talked trash about Ripley, the crowd booed very
loudly.
Michin talked about how she and B-Fab have been working as
hard and as long as Ripley has been, but never got any
recognition. Cargill said that B-Fab would step up to Ripley
tonight.
Ripley said that she was going to teach B-Fab that actions
have consequences, and that she was someone that Cargill
couldn’t protect as a referee went down to get this match
started after the break.
Gotta say, I’ve never been a fan of “wrestlers join hated
rival who’s been beating them up for months”, and this B-
Fab/Michin/Cargill alliance checks that box, unfortunately.
It’s making the build to Cargill vs. Ripley a bit shaky as a
result.
Rhea Ripley vs. B-Fab
This match began after the break with Ripley in firm
control, even with Michin and Cargill trying to get
involved. Ripley kicked Michin in the face, and headbutted
B-Fab. Cargill retaliated by throwing Ripley into the stairs
to force a DQ.
After the match, Ripley found herself falling victim to
another three-on-one beatdown from Cargill and company.
Rhea Ripley def. B-Fab via disqualification
I can’t even comment on this as a match, and the segment
ending with the same angle of the WWE version of Cargill’s
Baddies stable laying Ripley out didn’t help matters.
Copy+Paste booking continues to be a plague for WWE
Creative.
***********
– As the Miz continued to deny to Kit Wilson that he was
cursed by Danhausen, Wilson found himself met by Danhausen
himself. Wilson tried to call Danhausen “toxic”, but he was
instead cursed.
– We got a recap of the chaos that unfolded last week
between Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu. After the recap,
McIntyre walked backstage, with bandages on his arms and
wrist. He was asked about how he felt after last week.
McIntyre said he was in no condition to fight, but if Fatu
wanted to start something, he was here to finish something.
McIntyre noted how Fatu took everything from him, and when a
man has nothing to lose that’s when he was his most
dangerous.
Jelly Roll vs. Kit Wilson
Before the match, Wilson said that Jelly crossed a line last
week, so he had to defend his mother. Wilson then partook in
some more “slam poetry” before Jelly shouted that it was
time to go. Jelly took a cheapshot from Wilson before the
bell rang.
Wilson missed a dropkick, which allowed Jelly to drop a leg
between Wilson’s leg. He then attempted his own take on the
Dusty Rhodes bionic elbows, but Wilson stopped him. As
Wilson tried to skim the cat, Jelly clotheslined him out of
the ring, as Wilson threw a tantrum in the ring.
Wilson took advantage by using his poetry book as a
distraction, which allowed to hit his running uppercut to
Jelly in the corner. Wilson had control of the match as he
stomped away on Jelly and taunted him. Wilson threw Jelly
into the corner and looked like he was going for his runnng
uppercut again. Jelly dodged and got Wilson with a belly-to-
belly suplex. The two men recovered and began trading blows,
with Jelly finally hitting the Dusty elbow.
Jelly attempted the chokeslam, but was countered. Wilson
tried to jump from the top rope, but was caught into a
powerslam by Jelly. With the ref focused on Wilson, Jelly
tried to hit Wilson with the poetry book, but he missed.
Wilson got him with the Tourniquet for the near-fall.
Wilson went for another Tourniquet, but Jelly reversed it
with an Irish Whip, followed by the chokeslam for the win.
After the match, Jelly celebrated his win with his son in
the crowd.
Jelly Roll def. Kit Wilson via pinfall
To quote Good ‘Ol J.R.: this match was bowling shoe ugly,
but the crowd seemed to get into it regardless. As someone
who is very much not a Jelly Roll fan, the most generous
thing I can say that while he wasn’t the best here, he did
not look terrible. And at the very least, Wilson is the
perfect guy to be eating losses to celebrity non-wrestlers
like Jelly.
**********
– We got a recap of the latest in the saga between CM Punk
and Roman Reigns from Raw this past Monday.
– Solo Sikoa was giving a “pep talk” of sorts to the M.F.T.s
as he wanted to apologized for how he acted last week
towards them, as he talked about how Roman Reigns would
never apologize. Carmelo Hayes offered an opportunity to
Tama Tonga as he headed out for the U.S. Title Open
Challenge. Shinsuke Nakamura once again appeared next to
Tama, asking him if he was “good”.
U.S. Title Open Challenge: Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. Sami Zayn
A former U.S. Champion himself, Zayn was revealed as Hayes’
Open Challenge challenger.
As Zayn got into the ring, Trick Williams made his entrance
to a massive ovation from the crowd. He was here to have a
closer look at this U.S. Title match.
In the ring, things started out fast with Zayn on the attack
against Hayes, as he hit a hard clothesline on his foe. Zayn
maintained the attack in the corner with chops to Hayes’
chest, but the U.S. Champion fought back with some strikes
of his own. Hayes got the momentum back with his springboard
clothesline, followed by the springboard leg drop. This took
us to the break.
This U.S. Title match returned from commercial as Hayes
tried to keep control of the match, but Zayn clotheslined
him out of the ring. Zayn hit a dive over the top rope on
Hayes at ringside as he then stared down Williams briefly.
Zayn turned his focus back to the match and leapt from the
top rope. Hayes, intercepted Zayn’s dive with a dropkick
that hit him flush for a near-fall. Hayes connected with the
Dirty Diana as he had Zayn his sights for First 48. Zayn
caught Hayes and slammed him for the sitdown powerbomb for
another near-fall.
With Hayes in the corner, Zayn was looking for the Helluva
Kick, but the U.S. Champion avoided calamity. However, Hayes
found himself in a compromising situation on the top rope,
as Zayn hit an incredible superplex, which took us to the
second commercial break of this match.
We returned from commercial as Zayn hit a sunset flip
powerbomb on Hayes, but that wasn’t enough for the win just
yet. Hayes fought back with elbows to Zayn’s face, followed
by the superkick. As Hayes ran at Zayn in the corner, he was
caught for the patented exploder suplex in the corner. Zayn
had Hayes lined up for the Helluva Kick, but he got hit with
First 48 instead! One, two….. 2.999999999!!!!!!!!!!
Hayes headed up the top rope and looked for Nothin’ But Net,
but Zayn reversed it into a Blue Thunder Bomb! One, two….
Hayes kicked out once more! Outside the ring, Trick Williams
took a hold of the U.S. Title and gave it to Sami Zayn. With
the referee distracted, Williams knocked Hayes out cold,
which led to Zayn taking advantage with a Helluva Kick and
that’s it over. Sami Zayn is your new U.S. Champion.
Sami Zayn def. Carmelo Hayes via pinfall to win the United
States Championship
This was a solid match once again, and Zayn winning through
dubious means will likely continue his descent to darkness,
so to speak. I liked this one, and it’s probably the best
match of the night so far.
**********
– Sami Zayn was all smiles backstage as he approached Nick
Aldis about having earned that spot at WrestleMania, which
he has done so. However, he’s facing Trick Williams in Las
Vegas.
Jacob Fatu calls out Drew McIntyre
With a “Yaddiahmean” to start, Fatu said that even with
busted ribs and all that happened to him, he said something
was wrong with Drew McIntyre. Everything that McIntyre did
was not going to be enough to keep him down, whether it was
kicking his teeth down his throat or being thrown off a side
of the building. McIntyre did everything in his power, but
Fatu was still standing and he was going to stay standing
every week to dogwalk McIntyre’s ass.
And speaking of McIntyre, the surly Scotsman made his way
from the back, with mic in hand. McIntyre said that Fatu was
playing victim, as he declared himself to be the victim
instead. He was accused of a crime of he didn’t commit, but
in McIntyre’s eyes, Fatu was nothing but a criminal who
stole everything from him. McIntyre said that he meant it
from the bottom of the heart when he told Fatu to “screw
your damn kids”.
Before Fatu could go after McIntyre, Nick Aldis stopped him
before anything could happen. The two were not in any
condition tonight, but maybe they’d be ready for
WrestleMania. On April 18th, these two would face off in a
match that was officially “unsanctioned” by WWE.
The Fatu/McIntyre feud hitting its climax at WrestleMania
should make for a heck of a blowoff. The unsanctioned
stipulation should make for a very fun match with all the
plunder.
***********
– Matt Cardona was told by Jelly Roll that Cody Rhodes was
on his way, but Cardona wanted Rhodes to not get involved in
his match against Randy Orton.
Giulia (w/ Kiana James) vs. Tiffany Stratton
Stratton was caught in a standing headlock by Giulia, but
she reversed out of it. Chain wrestling action between
Stratton and Giulia to get us going here in the early stages
of the match. Giulia threw Stratton across opposite corners
before doing so across the ring. When Giulia tried it again,
Stratton did a somersault flip to get out of it, which
allowed her to hit Giulia with a dropkick to the corner.
Stratton returned the favor and slammed Giulia across the
four corners. She then connected with an unusual looking
springboard stunner-like maneuver, which took us to the
break.
We returned from break as Giulia had Stratton in a headlock,
but not for long, as the former WWE Women’s Champion
reversed with a spinebuster. As the two recovered, Stratton
had all the momentum with the gymnastic-style splash, then
the cartwheel Alabama Slam on Giulia. One, two… not quite!
Stratton put Giulia on her shoulders, but couldn’t
capitalized, as the Women’s U.S. Champion briefly escaped.
Giulia hit a nice back suplex on Stratton, followed by the
Arrivederci Knee for the near-fall.
Giulia kicked at Stratton’s head and put her on the top
rope, looking for some high-impact damage. Giulia had
Stratton in position for a superplex, but she was tossed
aside and fell victim to the Swanton Bomb. Somehow, Giulia
kicked out just in the nick of time. Giulia tried to lift
Stratton, but she was instead taken for a ride with the
rolling Senton. Kiana James got on the apron to stare down
Stratton, which caused a bit of a delay on the Prettiest
Moonsault Ever, as Giulia took advantage with the knees up
to the ribs, and the pinfall win.
Giulia def. Tiffany Stratton via pinfall
This was a great little match, as Giulia and Stratton had
some great chemistry here. I liked this more than i expected
to, and it was a nice surprise, for sure.
**********
– Bayley and Lyra Valkyria were interviewed just as they
were headed out of the arena. The two said that they put the
women’s tag division on notice and come Monday on Raw, they
were ready to show Nia Jax and Lash Legend who the dominant
women’s team was when they become the new WWE Women’s Tag
Team Champions.
– Randy Orton was shown talking on the phone with the
mysterious person on the other line, promising that he’d see
them soon.
– A recap of Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar’s encounter from this
past Monday’s Raw was shown.
Randy Orton vs. Matt Cardona
Cardona rushed the ring, but found himself stomped by Orton
early on, but he used his cast as a weapon to fight back.
Outside the ring, Orton cracked Cardona’s arm across the
commentary table before hitting his signature back suplex
onto the commentary table. Orton continued the assault on
Cardona’s wrist as he then dropped him across the top of the
barrier. Orton trapped Cardona’s wrist between the
commentary table cover and the table itself as he then
stomped on the wrist for maximum damage.
Cardona tried to create some separation against Orton, as he
connected with the Rough Ryder for a near-fall. Orton rolled
out of the ring and walked his way back to the ramp, as
Cardona tried to go after him. Bad mistake, however, as
Orton caught him and pushed him into the ringpost. Orton
smashed Cardona’s wrist across the steel steps, as he then
threw him shoulder-first into the ringpost. Orton ripped off
the protective cover on Cardona’s left wrist, leaving it
exposed to even more damage from an uncaring Orton.
Cardona’s wrist was pinned by Orton’s foot in the middle of
the ring, as it was stomped on repeatedly.
Orton threw Cardona into another ringpost shoulder-first and
stretched the wrist once more. This was followed by an RKO
from Orton. After a long wait, Orton eventually pinned
Cardona for the win.
Randy Orton def. Matt Cardona
Not really much of an actual match as it was to establish
this new heel Orton, so not really a lot for me to say about
it on a technical standpoint.
As Orton was celebrating, Cody Rhodes arrived on his bus, as
he stepped out ready to confront his former friend.
**********
Cody Rhodes confronts Randy Orton
The Undisputed WWE Champion arrived, all business as Nick
Aldis and a gaggle of security tried to stop Rhodes from
entering the ring. Despite Aldis’ best efforts, Rhodes said
that he just wanted to talk to Orton as he stormed forward
to the ring. Rhodes got on the apron and stared down Orton
and immediately got into it with his former friend.
Rhodes went after Orton as security tried and failed to
separate everyone. Rhodes blocked an attempted steel chair
strike from Orton and kept hammering away at him. Rhodes
gouged Orton’s eyes before the security seemed to keep him
at bay. Orton attempted to retreat, but found himself once
again on the receiving end of Rhodes’ assault. As this brawl
entered the ring, the security and referees finally managed
to separate Rhodes and Orton on opposite corners.
Rhodes broke free and got in some shots at Orton, who
returned that in kind with a leaping strike of his own.
Outside the ring, Orton took out some security personnel,
but found himself taken down by Rhodes yet again. This fight
yet again broke into the ring with the security trying their
best to keep the peace. Jelly Roll got into the ring and
attempted to calm Orton and Rhodes down while the two were
being separated. Meanwhile Orton broke free and punched
security before he hit an RKO on Jelly Roll! The fans were
once again chanting “Randy” at this latest move as the
Levesque & Fitting credits saw us off for tonight.
************
As far as pull-apart brawls are concerned — and given it’s a
very popular Triple H booking trope — that one seemed a bit
lifeless. Jelly Roll getting dropped with the RKO was the
only notable highlight of it all, mainly for the continuing
trend of Orton being cheered for doing heelish things
despite the WWE “narrative” being that he’s supposed to be a
scumbag we should hate for his betrayal of his best friend
Cody Rhodes. That recurring element of Orton seemingly being
heel heat-proof because of his status as a legend and
everyone wanting him to win his 15th title at WrestleMania
is making this feud with Rhodes an interesting one, just not
in the way WWE is intending.
As for the rest of the show, this was kind of a weak edition
of the show, with the U.S. Title Match and Giulia vs.
Stratton being the standouts. This Road to WrestleMania has
just been dull, and with the event in just three short
weeks, it’s unclear if the show as a whole will be enticing
for fans to tune in. The dull-as-dishwater booking for most
of the feuds isn’t helping matters either.