Posted on 4/04/126 by Bob Magee
– As tonight’s show kicked off, the voice of Joe Tessitore
welcomed us to the night, where we’ll see Rhea Ripley take
on Michin, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss versus Bayley and
Lyra Valkyria in tonight’s matchups.
– At the commentary desk, Tessitore and Wade Barrett tossed
to a recap of Cody Rhodes’ confrontation with Stephanie
McMahon on Raw this past Monday.
Randy Orton’s St. Louis Homecoming
As expected, Orton got a huge ovation from this hometown
crowd, as they sang his theme song as loud as they could.
Orton soaked in all the cheers before finally getting down
to business with what he had to say.
Orton started by mocking Cody Rhodes’ “what do you want to
talk about” intro when addressing the St. Louis fans. He
said that it’s no secret that St. Louis is his hometown,
where he was raised here as a young man, and that the next
time he’d return here, he’d return as a champion. Orton
pointed out that he wasn’t doing it for the fans, for his
family. He wasn’t winning the Undisputed WWE Championship
for St. Louis, but for the people sitting in the front row.
Orton said that it didn’t matter if Rhodes was going home on
a stretcher by the time WrestleMania wrapped, but he was
going home empty-handed. Orton again pointed out that Rhodes
gave him “the green light” to listen to the voices in his
head. However, Orton saw Rhodes on Monday may have been
listening to the voices in his own head. Orton pointed out
that Rhodes wasn’t a killer and what was awoken inside of
him, there was no putting that back to bed.
Cody Rhodes made his way out to a very mixed reception from
the St. Louis crowd. As he got to the ring,. he removed his
suit and immediately fought with Orton. When Rhodes gained
the upper hand, the St. Louis crowd audibly booed loudly. In
the ring, Pat McAfee appeared and kicked Rhodes in the
groin. Dressed in an Orton shirt, McAfee continued to attack
Rhodes as Orton got a mic and handed it to him.
Orton knocked Rhodes down with the chair. McAfee got in some
cheap St. Louis sports heat as he spoke. Nick Aldis and
company walked down the ramp while McAfee explained himself.
A month ago, McAfee said that the business passed him by and
it was absolute shit. Orton supposedly called McAfee and
told him that the business was just going in a direction
nobody liked. McAfee asked why he has to watch 45-minute
iron man matches if Randy Orton is around. McAfee brought up
SmackDown’s worst-rated episode of all time as he called
Rhodes a puppet. McAfee revealed himself as Orton’s mystery
caller as he claimed that Orton was going to “save the
f*cking business”.
Throughout this, the crowd still cheered as Orton and McAfee
laid out Rhodes.
This angle took a rather ridiculous left turn with the Pat
McAfee reveal, and a lot of it feels like a retread of what
happened with John Cena pre-WM42 last year, especially the
whole vibe of “ruining WWE” that this McAfee/Orton thing is
taking. Plus, as you can probably tell, the crowd, even with
McAfee and Orton doing cheap heat, failed to get the desired
reaction as Rhodes getting destroyed was thoroughly cheered.
Suffice to say, this angle, like a lot of the WrestleMania
42 build, is kind of a damn mess and it’s getting worse as
WWE stumbles along to Las Vegas in two weeks.
******************************************
– Randy Orton and Pat McAfee took pride in what they did as
they drove off, stating that they were going to “save the
business”.
Rhea Ripley vs. Michin (w/ B-Fab)
Ripley hit Michin with a big boot to start as she pummeled
her foe in the corner with clubbing strikes. Michin found
herself thrown into the opposite corner and hit with a
shoulder thrust from Ripley. A nice fallaway slam from
Ripley kept Michin on her toes. At this moment, Jade Cargill
made her way to the ramp as Ripley took notice and again
threw Michin with a fallaway slam. As Ripley turned her
attention to Cargill on the ramp, this allowed Michin to
take advantage with a German suplex as we took a break.
The match returned from commercial as Michin continued to
have control over Ripley with kicks to the chest, followed
by a sleeper submission. However, Ripley used her strength
to muscle out of the hold into a suplex. As both women got
back to their feet, they traded strikes before Ripley got
Michin with consecutive clotheslines followed by a standing
flapjack. Michin escaped out of Ripley’s fallaway slam, but
she couldn’t get out of the way of the headbutt. This left
Michin wide open for a Razor’s Edge, followed by the running
knee for the near-fall.
Ripley got Michin in position for Riptide, but she couldn’t
connect as she got slammed down face-first. Michin went for
a running cannonball in the corner, but struck out as Ripley
dodged it. Michin hit a poisonrana on Ripley, followed by
Eat Defeat. However, Ripley just managed to kick out at the
nick of time. Michin’s piledriver was countered by Ripley,
as she found herself trapped in the Prism Trap submission.
Michin had no choice but to tap out.
After the match, B-Fab and Michin once again used the
numbers game to get the advantage. Just at it looked like
we’d see a repeat of the last two weeks, IYO SKY ran in to
make the save. Ripley recovered as she and SKY hit stereo
dropkicks on B-Fab and Michin to send them retreating.
Rhea Ripley def. Michin via submission
As much as I grouse about the Ripley/Cargill feud being
disappointing, this match between Rhea and Michin was at
least solid enough. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed
this one match, even independent of the lousy booking that
surrounds it.
******************************************
– Matt Cardona was getting looked at as Aleister Black and
Zelina confronted him. Black said Randy Orton didn’t change,
he just simply embraced who he is, something that Cardona
refused to do. This led to Cardona stating that he’d speak
to Nick Aldis to make a match between him and Black for
later tonight.
– Elsewhere, Solo Sikoa wanted someone to fight Uncle Howdy,
as he told Tama Tonga to do it, asking that he not mess this
up. Tama requested that he do this alone.
– Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY were interviewed backstage. Ripley
said that while Cargill had followers, she had friends,
which was why she was going to walk out of WrestleMania as
the WWE Women’s Champion.
Tama Tonga vs. Uncle Howdy
Howdy attempted the Mandible Claw in the corner to start,
but Tama blocked the attempt. Howdy responded by stomping
away on Tama, but he found himself getting attacked along
the ropes by repeated headbutts from Tama. Howdy was sent
neck-first into the rope by Tama, as we took a commercial
break.
We returned from break as Tama had Howdy in a resthold
before that was broken by a jawbreaker from the brother of
Bray Wyatt. Howdy then began to recover, but a strike with
the right hand brought him to pain after Tama slammed it
against the stairs earlier. This allowed Tama to regain the
advantage with an attack in the corner. However, as Tama
went for a running splash, he was caught in the Mandible
Claw by Howdy. Solo Sikoa entered with the lantern and
mocked Howdy with it. He tried to hit Howdy with it, but the
referee stopped him. Tama argued with Sikoa about coming
down to help him when he didn’t need it, but this opened him
up to a Sister Abigal from Howdy for the pin and win.
After the match, Tama and Sikoa argued back and forth. Tama
took the lantern from Sikoa and gave it to Howdy.
Uncle Howdy def. Tama Tonga via pinfall
This match was just kinda there, and the saga of the Lantern
ending as anticlimactically as it did here was surprisingly
not the worst thing about this first hour of SmackDown (that
honor going to the Orton/McAfee/Rhodes tomfoolery that
kicked us off tonight).
******************************************
– The Miz and Kit Wilson discussed whether or not there was
a curse, as the two confronted R-Truth. This led to an
apparent WWE Tag Title Match made between Wilson and Miz
versus Truth and Damian Priest.
– We got remarks from Jacob Fatu about his unsanctioned
match against Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 42.
– Elsewhere, Sami Zayn met with Nick Aldis and got
confirmation about having pyro. Aldis said that he didn’t
give Zayn anything, and that he earned the opportunity last
week. However, before Zayn could make his entrance, he got
beat to the punch by Trick Williams, who was accompanied in
his entrance by Li’l Yachty.
Trick Williams and Li’l Yachty steal the scene
The crowd chanted “whoop that Trick” as the man himself
entered the ring with Yachty in tow. Once the two entered,
Williams said he was here tonight to celebrate his first
WrestleMania match. But, he couldn’t but notice with all the
stars coming out, it was only right that Williams brought
his pal, Li’l Yachty.
Williams said that he and Yachty went way back. He talked
about that he wasn’t going to take “no lip off no
gingerbread man”, referencing current U.S. Champion Sami
Zayn. Williams asked for Sami Zayn’s pyro to be hit, because
he ran SmackDown. The pyro did go off at Williams’ request,
which brought Zayn out to respond.
Zayn said that Williams was planning too far ahead with the
presentation and the pageantry, which wasn’t his thing. Zayn
pointed out that his thing was what he did when he stepped
inside the ring. Zayn said that at WrestleMania, Williams
was going to go up against one of the best to ever do it,
and that he’d be humbled.
Williams didn’t seem fazed by Zayn, as he pointed out that
the only reason why Zayn was the U.S. Champion was because
of him. This brought out the former U.S. Champion Carmelo
Hayes.
Hayes said that he couldn’t sit down and watch this go down
any longer. He talked about how he owed Williams a receipt
for what he did last week, and he knew a place where he’d
cash it. Hayes was upset at how Zayn won the U.S. Title in
such a cheap manner after carrying the division for months.
Hayes pointed out that the crowd wanted him as he asked Zayn
to give him a rematch.
Zayn responded by saying that he thought the world of Hayes,
but he lost because of an open challenge. Zayn pointed out
that Hayes would have to wait until after WrestleMania for
the rematch. Williams tried to egg Zayn on to defend the
title. Zayn discussed how taking a shortcut felt good, but
it didn’t sit well with him.
Eventually the match was made for tonight, with the winner
to face Trick Williams at WrestleMania. As Hayes left,
Williams mocked Zayn and ate a clothesline for his troubles.
This U.S. Title rematch will likely be the main event
tonight and we’ll probably see a Trick Williams interference
spot to set up the triple threat match for WrestleMania.
******************************************
– Tama Tonga was being questioned by Solo Sikoa for giving
the Wyatt Lantern back, as he said that he was doing it so
they could get back to taking over SmackDown. Sikoa said
that they needed to finish the Wyatt Sicks first.
Aleister Black vs. Matt Cardona
Black and Cardona started off with some chain wrestling in
this match with neither man getting the clear advantage.
Black went after the injured wrist of Cardona with to
eventually take the advantage with an arm submission.
Cardona fought back and clotheslined Black out of the ring,
then hitting his rope-assisted dropkick to the outside. As
Cardona got on the apron, Zelina provided a momentary
distraction, which allowed Black to trip up Cardona to cause
him to crash into the apron as we took a break in the
action.
We returned to the match as Cardona hit a spinebuster on
Black, but it caused a good deal of pain on that injured
wrist of his. Cardona attempted a fightback with essentially
one hand as he tried to hit a powerbomb. Black hit him with
the knee, but his suplex was countered into a neckbreaker.
With Black stunned in the corner, Cardona hit him with the
Broski Boot for the near-fall. The attempt at the Rough
Ryder from Cardona ended with him being sent face-first into
the turnbuckle by Black. After a duel on the top ropes,
Cardona won out and hit a dropkick, followed by the double-
underhook powerbomb for the close two.
Cardona missed with a second Broski Boot and found himself
dropped with a brainbuster from Black. The two exchanged
strikes until a Black Mass kick dropped Cardona out cold and
that’s it, over.
Aleister Black def. Matt Cardona via pinfall
A fun match for sure. Not really much to complain about at
all here. Black’s strikes remain as impressive as ever.
******************************************
– A recap of the latest in the Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi
saga from this Monday’s Raw was aired.
– Backstage, R-Truth was with Johnny Gargano and Candice
LeRae. The two said that tomorrow night at NXT Stand &
Deliver, Johnny Wrestling was back. As Gargano and LeRae
left, Damian Priest asked Truth what was up with Truth
giving Kit Wilson and Miz a WWE Tag Title shot. Truth said
it was because Wilson and Miz were cursed by Asuka,
mistaking them for Danhausen.
– Drew McIntyre spoke about the unsanctioned match against
Jacob Fatu at WrestleMania 42. He promised that next week,
he’d show the whole world who Fatu really was.
Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley & Lyra Valkyria
The two teams immediately went at it as the bell rang.
Valkyria and Flair were the legal women in the ring, with
the two fighting it out early. Valkyria leapt above Flair
with a backflip from the middle turnbuckle as she hit as
spinning wheel kick on her. Bliss tagged in blindly, which
allowed Flair to gain a momentary advantage to send Valkyria
crashing into the corner. Spinning DDT from Bliss to
Valkyria took us to the commercial break.
We returned from break with Valkyria still left isolated in
the Charlexa corner as she tried to reach to make the tag to
Bayley. Bliss managed to slam Valkyria down to stop that
attempt. After a missed leg drop from Bliss, Valkyria again
tried to go for the tag, but Flair held her in place after
entering the match. Valkyria finally created some separation
with a diving crossbody from the middle turnbuckle on Flair,
which allowed Bayley to finally enter.
Bayley hit a nice running sunset flip powerbomb that sent
Flair into the turnbuckle. The subsequent cover was broken
up by Flair holding the bottom rope. Both Bayley and Flair
ended up on the top rope and jockeyed for the advantage.
Valkyria provided a needed assist to Bayley, which allowed
Flair to be pushed off. Flying elbow drop by Bayley to Flair
wasn’t enough to get the three. Valkyria tagged in and
headed to the top rope as they hit a double team Samoan
Drop/Blockbuster combination for another near-fall. Valkyria
again headed up top and went for a dive. However, Flair
caught her and locked in the Figure-Eight. Bayley broke up
the submission in the nick of time. Bliss dropkicked Bayley
and tagged into the match.
Things broke down with all four women in the ring asBliss
and Flair hit the stereo Natural Selections on Bayley and
Valkyria to pick up the win.
Almost immediately after the match,. Nia Jax and Lash Legend
attacked both teams and left everyone laying.
Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair def. Bayley & Lyra Valkyria
via pinfall
This match was really, really good and I liked it. The post-
match, on the other hand. Ever get a feeling of a sense of
deja vu?
******************************************
– As Kit Wilson and The Miz got ready for their match and
wondered about being cursed, Danhausen appeared and wanted
to be in their corner. Wilson and Miz refused the kind offer
from Danhausen.
WWE Tag Team Championships: R-Truth & Damian Priest (c) vs.
The Miz & Kit Wilson
Wilson got a cheap shot in on Truth to start the match.
Truth avoided a kick and did a little dance to mock Wilson.
Truth found himself in the corner and got hit with stomps
from Miz, who tagged in. Truth fought back and tried to hit
Cena’s five moves of doom, but Miz blocked it with a boot to
the face. Truth was sent out of the ring and hit with a
running shoulder attack from Wilson, which led to the break.
We returned from commercial as Miz attempted a Skull-
Crushing Finale on Truth, but to no avail. Truth got in the
tag to Priest, who cleaned house on Miz and Wilson. Priest
then went for an Old School crossbody on Miz and got it
flush. Priest crushed Miz with a clothesline, but Wilson
interrupted the pin. Truth tagged in and went for an AA, but
couldn’t connect. Double down in the ring between Truth and
Wilson. This led to Danhausen running into the match.
Danhausen got on the apron and wanted to be tagged in
despite not even being in the match officially. Miz realized
it and told him to get out as he argued with the referee.
Danhausen held the tag rope as Truth now tagged Danhausen
into the match. Miz again yelled at Danhausen to leave, but
was about to be cursed. The referee ended up being “cursed”
by Danhausen as Miz was about to hit him with a Skull-
Crushing Finale. The lights went out and Danhausen escaped.
Meanwhile, Truth got hit with the SCF from Miz. However,
just as the ref was making the pin, his arm was hurt,
apparently the effects of Danhausen’s curse. Priest secured
the pin with South of Heaven on Miz.
Damian Priest & R-Truth def. The Miz & Kit Wilson via
pinfall
This was a whatever match, where the Danhausen curse antics
seemed to be what it was building towards, and I kinda
didn’t mind it.
******************************************
Cody Rhodes goes off on Pat McAfee and Randy Orton
After the match, Cody Rhodes stormed into the ring and hit
Wilson with Cross Rhodes. Rhodes talked about he was
surprised that Randy Orton’s phone friend was Pat McAfee,
stating that it’s like if the nWo’s third man was Disco
Inferno instead of Hulk Hogan. Rhodes promised to give
McAfee his receipt and that he could kiss his ass.
“What are you going to do? Fire me? That worked out for you
last time,” Rhodes continued.
Rhodes said that everyone up to and including Stephanie
McMahon wanted him to be a bad guy, but he said that he
might not know how anymore. At the end of it all, Rhodes
pointed out that even with all the surrounding factors, the
match between him and Orton is still between two of the best
to ever do it. He concluded that he was hearing those voices
inside his head finally, but you don’t want to hear what
they have to say.
This Rhodes/Orton feud has kind of gone off the rails after
tonight’s developments, and this Cody promo didn’t help
matters either. I’ll have more about my feelings on it on
the wrapup. I will say that Cody dissing the Disco Inferno
(referencing an old tweet of his where he took Disco to
task) was kinda funny.
******************************************
United States Championship: Sami Zayn (c) vs. Carmelo Hayes
Trick Williams and Li’l Yachty made his entrance during the
commercial break to get a closer look of this match.
Hayes and Zayn locked up in the middle of the ring to start
off this match as it turned into a chain wrestling battle.
Hayes connected with a dropkick on Zayn and continued to
work in the corner with chops to his foe. Zayn turned it
around and hit Hayes with chops, followed by bunches of
punches. Hayes escaped that and hit his own barrage of
punches on Zayn. Irish whip by Hayes led to Zayn flattening
him with a flying forearm, which gave the U.S. Champion the
advantage here.
Hays roared back with his springboard clothesline as he
trapped Zayn across the middle rope to hit the no-look
springboard leg drop. Zayn rolled out of the ring and got
cracked with a Fosbury Flop from Hayes. On the landing,
Hayes appeared to tweak his left leg as we took one final
commercial break.
Our main event returned as Hayes was down on the mat
favoring his left leg following the apparent injury he
sustained before the break. Hayes, however, managed to
recover long enough to hit the Dirty Diana for a near-fall.
Hayes targeted Zayn for First 48, but it was blocked.
Exploder suplex attempt by Zayn was turned into a pin for
another near-fall by Hayes. The hurt knee finally allowed
Zayn to take advantage with an exploder suplex. Zayn’s
attempt at a Helluva Kick was met with a Hayes superkick.
On the top rope, Hayes connected with the frog splash, but
the pin wasn’t enough to get the win. Zayn attempted to
stack Hayes up for a pin immediately afterwards, but that
wasn’t enough. Zayn tried the Blue Thunder Bomb, but the
First 48 from Hayes made no mistake. Hayes headed to the top
rope and looked for Nothin’ But Net, but Zayn dodged it,
which caused Hayes to land on the bad leg. As the referee
was checking on Hayes, Zayn took advantage with a Helluva
Kick to retain the U.S. Championship.
After the match, Li’l Yachty asked for the music to cut off
as he introduced Trick Williams as Zayn’s WrestleMania
opponent. As Zayn took exception to Yachty calling him
“gingerbread man”, Williams hit him from behind before
hitting the Trick Shot knee to end the show.
Sami Zayn def. Carmelo Hayes via pinfall to retain the U.S.
Championship
******************************************
I mentioned it earlier, but I have a lot to get off my chest
regarding what happened with the Undisputed WWE Title angle
tonight and the addition of Pat McAfee. This worked shoot
element of McAfee being upset about the state of “current”
WWE being the reason why he aligned with Orton does no
favors and it reeks of adding way too much to things that it
ends up making the entire angle a build.
The thing is, Orton vs. Rhodes had an initially solid start
with Orton’s turn (fans cheering for it aside), but what
we’re left with now is a weird copy-paste of last year’s
Cena vs. Rhodes story from WrestleMania 41 all to build up
Pat McAfee as an angry Redditor siding with Randy Orton for
some reason. I don’t think I have to look far in saying what
we got tonight was a mess, and Rhodes’ promo later on in the
night where he seemed to reject the added “bullshittery”, if
you will, just makes it even more confusing. Needless to
say, tonight was the biggest speedbump for WWE on the road
to WrestleMania 42 and makes it clear that any idea of
Triple H being a brilliant booker was nothing more but a
mirage.
As for the rest of the show, the matches we got ranged from
okay to really good, but I found it hard to get into
completely given what led off the show, because that was not
a strong start to the night. WrestleMania’s in two weeks,
folks, and goodness gracious, it’s gonna be a rough ride to
get there. Buckle up.