Posted on 4/11/126 by Bob Magee
– Joe Tessitore welcomed us to tonight’s show as he set the
stage for WrestleMania 42 next week. We then got a recap of
last week’s series of events featuring Cody Rhodes, Randy
Orton, and Pat McAfee. Following that, we saw Rhodes walking
backstage and asking Nick Aldis where Pat McAfee is. Rhodes
was told by Aldis to not go after Pat McAfee, under strict
orders from above (i.e. TKO management). Jelly Roll showed
up and was looking for Orton and McAfee, and was told the
same thing by Aldis. Jelly then told Rhodes that this wasn’t
about McAfee or himself, but twenty years of friendship
between Orton and Rhodes being flushed down the toilet.
Jelly encouraged Rhodes to keep his focus.
Rhea Ripley opens SmackDown
Ripley got right down to business and said that Cargill made
things personal by attacking IYO SKY on Raw this past
Monday. Ripley challenged Cargill to come down and fight
her. Instead, IYO SKY made her way down to the ring to talk
to her friend. SKY wanted to face Cargill, and said that
she’d talk to Nick Aldis if she had to for this match to get
made.
Mr. Aldis showed up afterwards and decided to make it
official as our main event tonight.
Just a standard main event set-up segment, not really much
else to say. As for the opening bits with Cody Rhodes and
Jelly Roll… I get the feeling we’ll be in for a long night
and road to WrestleMania soon. Stay tuned…
**********
Bayley (w/ Lyra Valkyria) vs. Alexa Bliss (w/ Charlotte
Flair)
Hometown heroine Bayley got loud cheers from the San Jose
crowd as the match got underway. Bayley got ahead on Bliss
with a sliding elbow, as she reversed an early Sister
Abigail DDT attempt from Bliss. Nobody had the upper hand
early on. In the corner, Bayley missed with a running knee
attack as Bliss dodged at the last second. Bliss tepped on
Bayley and pounded on her head with her boot, much to the
disdain of the crowd. Bliss got a little cocky and ate a
clothesline from Bayley, followed by the sliding dropkick to
the outside. This took us into the commercial break.
We returned from break as Bliss leveled Bayley with a
dropkick, followed by the modified Natural Selection for a
near-fall. Bayley recovered and connected with the sunset
flip right into the middle turnbuckle on Bliss. One, two…
not yet. Bliss had Bayley trapped in the corner in a tree-
of-woe position, and made no mistake with the dropkick. As
Bliss headed to the top rope, Bayley tried to intercept her,
but to no avail. Bliss connected with the tornado DDT for
another near-fall.
Bayley countered another Sister Abigail DDT attempt from
Bliss with the Bayley-to-Belly. Both women recovered and hit
each other with furious strikes before it turned into an
exchange of pin attempts. Bliss tried to get a rope-assisted
pinfall, but the referee saw it. Another sunset flip into
the turnbuckle from Bayley to Bliss, as the hometown
favorite headed to the top rope and connected with the
diving elbow. One, two…. 2.99999999!!!!!!!!!
Bliss rolled out of the ring and tried to catch her breath
with Charlotte Flair, but Bayley went right after Bliss.
Lyra Valkyria got into Flair’s face and argued, this allowed
Bliss to get the sneaky roll-up pin and win.
Alexa Bliss def. Bayley via pinfall
Well, it just wouldn’t be WWE if they didn’t have the
hometown hero eat the pin, I suppose. Otherwise a good
enough match to start us off.
**********
– Carmelo Hayes was in the medical room as Trick Williams
and Li’l Yachty showed up to taunt him. Hayes promised to go
after Williams if he got past Sami Zayn at WrestleMania.
After Hayes left, Matt Cardona had some words for Williams,
and that led to a match between the two made.
– We got a video package from Drew McIntyre where he was
speaking behind bars, to talk trash about Jacob Fatu’s
checkered past. McIntyre insulted Fatu for “choosing” a life
of crime over providing for his family. He promised to be
Fatu’s judge, jury, and executioner at WrestleMania.
– Backstage, we saw Fatu watching McIntyre’s promo as he was
asked about it. Fatu said that McIntyre was going to find
out something, but he was interrupted by Solo Sikoa and the
M.F.T.s. Sikoa mocked Fatu for being in the same place that
he got his teeth knocked out all those months ago. Sikoa
said that Tama Tonga was going to step up to Fatu, though
Tama seemed to not be happy about it.
– We got a video package introducing us to Royce Keys, as he
talked about his own past before heading to WWE. Keys stated
that he wanted to be defined by where he was going rather
than where he started from. Keys’ debut was said to be
coming up next.
Royce Keys vs. Berto (w/ Angel)
Berto hit Keys in the back, but it wasn’t very effective.
Keys responded with a fierce clothesline that crushed Berto
before he lifted him from the ground with a powerslam. With
Berto stunned in the corner, Keys tried to run, but Berto
made a quick escape. Outside the ring, Angel provided a
distraction for Berto to push Keys into the ringpost. Back
in the ring, Berto landed a nice dropkick to Keys. Berto
attempted a diving crossbody, but he was caught by Keys for
the fallaway slam. Keys hoisted Berto on his shoulders for
the running powerslam. Angel tried to run at Keys, but got
hit with a clothesline. Straps were down and Keys hit his
spinebuster for the win on his SmackDown debut.
Royce Keys def. Berto via pinfall
How they’ve not really used Royce Keys (fka Powerhouse
Hobbs) since his Royal Rumble debut has been baffling, to
say the least. Hopefully with this official debut, they use
him more moving forward because Keys is too good of a talent
to be just left on the sidelines the way he’s been so far.
**********
– Pat McAfee arrived at the arena and was told by Nick Aldis
about the directives of not being touched. Jelly Roll
confronted McAfee and demanded to know if he told Randy
Orton to RKO him. Jelly got into McAfee’s face but was told
to back off by Aldis as McAfee was off to address the crowd.
– Backstage, Royce Keys was interviewed about his successful
debut. Keys said he was glad to do it in front of his
people. Before he could continue, Solo Sikoa confronted
Keys, and said that his door was always open.
Pat McAfee addresses his actions
McAfee headed to the ring as the crowd booed him. Once
McAfee entered the ring, he called San Jose a “shithole”, as
he stated that he was the “hero” in this entire thing.
McAfee called CM Punk a “spineless bum” that the crowd cheer
for. Did we like it when Punk called McAfee “Pat MAGAFee” on
Raw, he asked?
McAfee said that it was hard for him to get past that Punk
was wearing WWE-licensed merchandise under his shirt, and it
made him wonder that when the TKO cheque comes through, to
the needy wrestling families, or the bank account titled
“I’m sorry, Saudi Arabia”. McAfee called Punk a fraud,
someone who was all talk, no action. McAfee put himself over
as an agent of change, a man of action, someone who decided
to be everyone’s hero.
McAfee said that he decided to call Ram Trucks to help fans
get to WrestleMania, with 25% tickets off the Saturday show
tickets from now until Monday’s Raw. This was supposedly
because for us to see a once-in-a-lifetime event of Randy
Orton saving this business by winning his 15th World Title.
Before McAfee’s tirade could continue, the music of Cody
Rhodes interrupted him, and out came the Undisputed WWE
Champion.
Rhodes entered the ring and stood face-to-face with McAfee
as he took a microphone to address the situation. Rhodes
started by stating that he was going to go out on a limb and
say that McAfee doesn’t belong here. He knows that he
couldnt’ touch him, but they can get a Fanatics WWE Title
and live out his WWE experience before McAfee got sent back
to whoever put him here to say “thank yo, daddy.”
Rhodes pointed out that McAfee was a play wrestler because
of how he didn’t know Orton wasn’t part of the Attitude Era,
before talking about an old promoter by the name of Paul
Boesch, who said that wrestling fans were “customers”, not
marks. Rhodes talked about how the fans weren’t customers to
him, but they were family. Rhodes said that McAfee had a
gift, and that it was getting the entire wrestling fandom to
agree on one thing: they wanted to see Randy Orton, and not
Pat McAfee. “Go home, Pat,” said Rhodes.
McAfee said that he was home, as he was born to be in this
business, and that Rhodes was the fakest dude on Earth.
McAfee called Rhodes a cosplay champion, one that he was
going to get rid of at WrestleMania, alongside with Randy
Orton. He had a message for Rhodes: if Randy Orton didn’t
walk out of WrestleMania as champion, we’d never see Pat
McAfee ever again.
Rhodes called out McAfee for being too tired as he said that
maybe we should get Gunther to put McAfee’s ass to sleep
once again. As Rhodes tried to leave, McAfee talked trash to
him, but before Rhodes could come to him, Randy Orton
appeared on the TitanTron and said that Rhodes should come
get his “boy” (i.e. Jelly Roll).
Orton dragged out Jelly Roll to the stage, as McAfee
attempted a sneak attack. Rhodes turned to face McAfee, but
got hit by Orton attacked him from behind. McAfee and Rhodes
laid a two-on-one attack on Rhodes, but Jelly recovered and
had McAfee by the throat. Orton punched Jelly Roll, as
McAfee gave Orton the WWE Title. Orton struck Rhodes with
the title. McAfee stole Rhodes WWE Title and had it on his
shoulder.
I cannot list the many ways how much I hate this entire
thing. From McAfee yelling about ticket prices and the fact
that he doesn’t belong anywhere near this major main event
angle being incorporated into the story, and all the worked
shoot nonsense that I honestly despise. It’s getting
ridiculous, and dragging Jelly Roll into this mess has
turned what should’ve been a sure-fire angle with Orton and
Rhodes’ sharewd history into celebrity-filled nonsense led
by some schmuck on ESPN just because TKO executives are dead
set on making WrestleMania 42 a must-miss event.
Then there’s the rumored direction where this is all going
with a tag match with the featured players from this segment
we just saw presumably happening at Backlash. It’s just
leading into a ridiculous mess and I can’t think that this
is going to draw new viewers to WWE as TKO might hope. Just
nothing short of terrible and increasingly more embarrassing
with each passing week.
**********
– Nick Aldis was chatting with a referee before The Miz and
Kit Wilson showed up to complain about what happened with
Dan Engler last week. There needed to be consequences for
what happened with Engler. Aldis said that Kit Wilson will
face Dan…. hausen in action tonight.
Jacob Fatu vs. Tama Tonga
Tama and Fatu locked up in the middle of the ring before the
former was backed into a corner. Fatu withstood a shoulder
block from Tama before he hit him with a throat strike. Tama
tried to get ahead, but he was hit with more strikes from
Fatu, as a headbutt punctuated that barrage. Fatu connected
with a handstand moonsault on a downed Tama, before he
launched himself through the middle ropes for a suicide
dive, which took us to the commercial break.
Our match returned from commercial as Fatu and Tama traded
strikes. Tama struck Fatu with two pump-up punches, but that
only fired up Fatu. Tama was hit with the running splash in
the corner by Fatu, followed by 10 headbutts. With Tama
stunned, Fatu hit him with a running hip attack. A second
hip attack was intercepted by a forearm from Tama. Underhook
powerbomb by Tama got a near-fall. Pop-up Samoan Drop
attempt by Fatu was countered into a sort-of rolling cutter
by Tama for another near-fall.
Tama looked for the Cutthroat, but a kick from Fatu met him
instead. Pop-up Samoan Drop, followed by the moonsault from
the top, and Fatu got the win here.
After the match, Fatu got on the microphone until Drew
McIntyre attacked him from behind. Fatu recovered with a
superkick, but a Claymore Kick left him down and out.
McIntyre threw Fatu out of the ring, as he then sent him
head first into the steel steps. McIntyre grabbed a chair
from the timekeeper as he hit Fatu across the back with it.
McIntyre hoisted Fatu and planted him with the Future Shock
DDT. McIntyre had handcuffs as he put them on Fatu’s left
arm. He threw him into the ring post twice. McIntyre then
locked had Fatu cuffed against the ring post, as he hit him
with a boot against the post.
McIntyre again cuffed Fatu against the ringpost, as he
pummeled him some more. Back in the ring, one final Claymore
Kick from McIntyre was it.
Jacob Fatu def. Tama Tonga via pinfall
Pretty much a standard match, but the McIntyre beatdown
segment afterwards was a decent way to get heat on him
before next week, so there’s that.
**********
– We got another segment of R-Truth explaining how to work
with the ESPN App to watch WrestleMania next week. Truth was
telling this to Kit Wilson. Rhea Ripley threw B-Fab against
a cargo case while this was happening, stating that she only
had one more to take care of.
Sami Zayn addresses the crowd
The U.S. Champion made his way to the ring amidst a sea
boos, which he stated was an “interesting reaction”. He said
that maybe it was time to nip this in the bud. Zayn said
that he had talked to close friends like Cody Rhodes and
Randy Orton, who wanted to see some change from Zayn.
Zayn said that throughout his career, he had tried to give
himself something more than just a catchphrase or a viral
mment. Zayn said that the fans who cried for him, who bought
his stuff, or had his back since day one, that’s who he
cared about. Zayn declared that he’d never betray those
people. As far as the people booing him, Zayn didn’t know
why they were booing him, but he didn’t care. Zayn praised
the ride or die fans who have been with him since day one,
and that he’d walk out of WrestleMania as champion for them.
Trick Williams interrupted him to huge cheers from the San
Jose crowd, as he was accompanied by hypeman Li’l Yachty.
Once they got in the ring, Williams said that the people
were tired of hearing Sami Zayn talk. Someone who was
“whining like a donkey” and couldn’t get it done. Williams
said that the truth was, Zayn just hated him. Williams said
that whether Zayn liked it or hate it, he was going to whoop
Zayn’s ass at WrestleMania, because everyone loves Trick
Williams.
Zayn responded by saying that the crowd didn’t love
Williams, but they did like him and had a crush on him.
Here’s the thing, however, Williams could make all the jokes
he could want, but he was going to be in the ring with a
WrestleMania main eventer who would drag him in to deep
waters. Zayn said that we’d find out at WrestleMania if
Williams could walk the walk or just be nothing but talk.
Li’l Yachty hyped up Williams a bit more before Matt Cardona
interrupted, as he was set to face Williams in singles
action coming up next.
I think Zayn’s slow-burn heel turn is actually one of the
better things of an otherwise dire SmackDown scene as of
late, so his promo was good in that regard. On the other
hand, I think Trick Williams can stand on his own, and that
Li’l Yachty’s addition doesn’t really add to him.
**********
Trick Williams (w/ Li’l Yachty) vs. Matt Cardona
This match resumed from commercial as Williams avoided
Cardona’s strikes in the corner and taunted him. Cardona got
slammed on his back by Williams. With the ref’s back turned,
Li’l Yachty grabbed at Cardona’s head.
Cardona avoided Williams’s jumping kick, as he then hit him
with a clothesline. Cardona followed that with a missile
dropkick to the jaw of Williams. With his foe out of the
ring, Cardona hit the rope-assisted dropkick on Williams.
Back in the ring, Cardona got tripped up by Williams while
he was on the top rope, which took us to the break.
Our match continued from the break as Williams knocked
Cardona down with a kick. Cardona recovered with a
jawbreaker, followed by the back suplex. This gave Cardona
the opportunity to mount a comeback, at least until he was
floored by a punch from Williams. Cardona got back into it
with a running facebuster as he lined Williams up for the
Broski Boot. Cardona pulled from Chelsea Green’s playbook
with an Unprettier for the two-count. Williams responded by
sending Cardona’s face into the top turnbuckle, followed by
a neckbreaker for the two.
Williams missed with a running splash, but Cardona failed to
capitalize as he was sent over the top rope when he went for
a running attack. At ringside, after he clotheslined
Cardona, Zayn stared down Williams and got a shove for his
troubles. As Williams got back in the ring, he challenged
Zayn to fight him. When Zayn got on the apron, Li’l Yachty
tripped him up. This led to Yachty eating a Helluva Kick
from Zayn. In the ring, Williams avoided a roll-up pin from
Cardona, as he then finished him off with the Trick Shot.
Trick Williams def. Matt Cardona via pinfall
Another match that just felt like it just happened without
much purpose. I honestly couldn’t get into it much at all.
Also, it’s hard to take Matt Cardona as much of a serious
threat if he’s mostly just lost his matches since returning.
**********
Danhausen vs. Kit Wilson
Danhausen sized himself up to Wilson’s face, and got shoved.
In response, Danhausen hit a dropkick, followed by a
bridging suplex for a two-count. Wilson recovered with a
kick to the gut, followed by a kick. Miz was playing to the
crowd, as Danhausen slid out of the ring and posed beside
him. This left Danhausen open to the flying elbow attack
from Wilson. Back in the ring, Wilson battered Danhausen
with repeated running elbows to the corner.
As Wilson got bounced with a jawbreaker, he rebounded and
hit Danhausen with a lariat. Wilson headed up top for the
elbow drop. Danhausen perked up and did the “You Are Cursed”
poiint. This caused pyro to shoot out from the ringpost,
which sent Wilson crashing to the ground. Miz got punched
from the apron by Danhausen, who then finished Wilson off
with a running kick.
After the match, Miz tried to sneak attack Danhausen, but
the lights turned off. Once the lights turned back on,
Danhausen ran away to the stage to escape Miz.
Danhausen def. Kit Wilson via pinfall
Well, Danhausen is probably a gimmick that isn’t to
everyone’s tastes, but I kinda find him inoffensive and even
entertaining at times. In this match, we did get to see some
moves from Danhausen that showed that he’s more than just a
meme character, so that was nice to see(hausen).
**********
– Backstage, Jade Cargill was looking for Michin to back her
up against IYO SKY in her match coming up next. However,
Michin was found laid out with a broken kendo stick over
her. Rhea Ripley had gotten to Michin.
Next Week on SmackDown
Andre The Giant Battle Royal
Wyatt Sicks vs. M.F.T.s in a Street Fight
– IYO SKY requested that Rhea Ripley stay behind for her
match with Jade Cargill now that the odds have been made
even after B-Fab and Michin got taken out.
Jade Cargill vs. IYO SKY
SKY was hot to start with a dropkick to Cargill. She avoided
a running splash from Cargill and hit her with a forearm.
However, the WWE Women’s Champion quickly recovered with a
shoulder block, as she then slammed SKY down to the ground.
SKY answered with a pop-up dropkick on Cargill, but got hit
with a right hand from her foe as she headed for a dive, as
we took a commercial break with about seven minutes of show
left.
We returned to our main event as both women were down
following an armbreaker counter from SKY during the break.
The former Womens’ World Heavyweight Champion connected with
the dropkick from the top rope as Cargill suddenly found
herself on the backfoot. SKY struck with the Bullet Train
attack into the corner on Cargill. SKY tried to go up the
top rope, but was caught by Cargill in an overhead press
position. SKY reversed that into a sleeper that got broken
out of. SKY avoided the pump kick from Cargill and turned it
into a roll-up pin for the two. Blue Thunder Bomb by
Cargill, but taht wasn’t enough for the win. Cargill had SKY
in a chokeslam position, but that turned into a double
stomp.
As Cargill rolled out of the ring, she was hit with a
moonsault from the apron by SKY. With both women out of the
ring, Cargill dropped SKY onto the steel steps with a
wheelbarrow face slam. That was followed with the pump kick.
One Jaded later, and that’s it, over.
After the match, Cargill got a chair, but Rhea Ripley ran in
immediately before her WrestleMania opponent could do any
damage.
Jade Cargill def. IYO SKY via pinfall
**********
An okay main event that ended a really baffling SmackDown
overshadowed by the sad saga of Pat McAfee hijacking the
WrestleMania main event. If Ari Emanuel, Nick Khan, and/or
Paul Levesque’s idea of selling people to their biggest show
of the year is having Pat McAfee trash one of the nights for
being mediocre, other wrestler call McAfee’s involvement
terrible, and things of that nature, then God help this
company. It’s a lousy and pointless exercise and you don’t
even have to be a “hater” of WWE to admit that they kinda
screwed up here.
As far as the rest of the show is concerned outside of the
McAfee/Rhodes/Orton/Jelly Roll stuff, everything just felt
like they kinda happened. Nothing important, no big hook to
get us to tune into next week. And when next week is
literally the final go-home before WrestleMania 42, it’s
really kind of sad. By the time April 18th and 19th roll
around, it’ll be like that time The Simpsons took the
“shortcut” to get to Itchy and Scratchy Land. That’s an apt
descriptor for this Road to WrestleMania, at least from my
view of it over these last few months.