At last! The final SmackDown Live before Wrestlemania comes to us tonight from inside the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, MD! Tonight is WWE’s last chance to get everything finalized before the festivities of Wrestlemania week begin and Wrestlemania is finally upon us.
The Kevin Owens Show
Kevin Owens kicked off tonight’s go home episode of SmackDown Live with the Kevin Owens Show. His guests, Randy Orton and AJ Styles.
Owens asks Orton if he was proud of what he did to Styles last week. Orton says he is and saved everyone from seeing a horrible match. AJ counters by telling him that in nearly 20 years, he’s only learned one move.
While Styles was making towns, trying to make a name for himself on the indies, Orton has been in Wrestlemania after Wrestlemania. AJ agreed with Orton but came back by telling him that while Styles was in the indies, Orton was getting suspended for failing drug tests (oh snap).
If AJ was as good as he thinks he is, he would’ve been in the WWE a long, long time ago. Orton calls Styles a ‘corporate bitch’ now that John Cena is off to Hollywood. This brought the two to blows. Styles got the upper hand and almost hit a Phenomenal Forearm but Orton countered it into a RKO.
These two have been off the chains on the mic the past month and it kept up here. Kevin Owens barely did anything, but made it work anyway. This match is my sleeper to steal the show on Sunday.
SmackDown Tag Team Title Match Added to ‘Mania
After Aliester Black & Ricochet and the Usos defeated The Bar and Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura in an 8-man tag team match, Alexa Bliss came out to announce that the Usos will defend their SmackDown tag team championships at Wrestlemania against every team listed before.
I was a little worried the SmackDown tag titles were going to be featured at Wrestlemania. This should be a good one!
Miz Destroys Sanity
Before taking on Shane McMahon this Sunday at Wrestlemania, the Miz is here on SmackDown Live.
He said that Wrestlemania means something different to everyone. Miz is better than he’s ever been right now. And now, Miz is going to fight for his father.
Sanity cuts Miz off and march towards the ring. This is a 3 on 1 handicap match. Dane, Wolfe, and Young are all up against the Miz. Shane is out to see the match in person as well.
Miz held his own against the trio at first but Shane McMahon then changed the match to a falls count anywhere match. Sanity soon ganged up on him and took him to the outside. Miz came back and beat down Young, taking him backstage and outside the arena. Miz crushed Young’s head with a mobile trashcan of sorts and took the win. Shane drove away, laughing at Miz while he did so.
As someone who grew up as a huge fan of Eric Young in TNA and who’s followed Killian Dane’s career for a few years now, this wasn’t believable at all. Sanity looks like a joke and the Miz walked all over them.
I agree that Miz should look strong before ‘Mania but this wasn’t how it should’ve gone down. RIP Sanity.
Becky Lynch
The Man pulled up in a police car to SmackDown Live tonight after what happened last night. Corey Graves is in the ring and announces Lynch to a standing ovation. She doesn’t go to the ring but stands atop the announce table.
What a difference a year makes. Last year, Flair & Lynch were best friends and Rousey was about to make her debut at Wrestlemania 34. It was supposed to be Flair vs. Rousey, Lynch wasn’t supposed to be here. But she is.
This Sunday, the women will main event Wrestlemania going head to head to head. The winner takes all and Lynch is going to become the champion she always knew she could be, a double champion!
Strong words from The Man! She has to win on Sunday. Right?
18-Man/Woman Tag Team Match
It’s Wrestlemania season, you know what that means! Cluster**** time! Except this isn’t Joey Janela’s Spring Break yet?
Tonight, the largest mixed tag team match in WWE took place between Heavy Machinery, R Truth, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Asuka, Naomi, Carmella, and Nikki Cross vs. EC3, Andrade, Shelton Benjamin, the Good Brothers, Zelina Vega, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, and Lana. Sure.
Lacey Evans came out at one point, but didn’t alter the match in anyway (clean run in?). Corey Graves also said Michael Che has 11 counters to Matt Hardy’s Side Effect.
This was a mess but it was fun. The match was called off after everyone starting fighting in the ring. They started throwing each other over the top rope like they were in a battle royal.
This segment was used just to hype up the men’s and woman’s battle royal respectively. Asuka was the lone competitor in the ring after throwing out Jeff Hardy. Does this mean she’s going to win both? Obviously not.
WWE Championship Contract Signing
Daniel Bryan and Rowan take to the ring before Michael Cole brings the New Day out.
The crowd chants for Kofi and Bryan signs the contract. Bryan isn’t here to stop Kofi from signing the contract, he’s here, as usual, to educate the masses. The crowds still chanting for Kofi at this point.
Bryan told the fans to not be complacent. He also said don’t be a bystander in your life like Kofi, while Woods & Big E are pushing him to the top and now he’s taking all the credit. Bryan told Kofi to not to mistake a fad for reality.
He’s been in the same spot as Kofi. The way the fans chanted ‘Yes!’ are the same way the chant ‘Kofi”. Bryan called the fans parasites and once they’re done with him, they’ll forget about him. He tells Kofi that this is as far as he’s going to get.
Kofi gets up and tells Bryan to shut his mouth an listen. Bryan doesn’t know anything about Kofi. Bryan became champion in less than two years in WWE and Kofi had to watch it. He’s never had a title match before and now it’s time. Him and Bryan both know that Kofi’s ready for ‘Mania. Bryan should be scared because at Wrestlemania, Kofi is going to become the WWE champion.
Kofi was on fire here and the crowd was behind him like crazy! Bryan played his role perfectly and this story couldn’t have wrapped up any better. This is one of the most hyped match on Sunday because of segments like this!
Overall, another strong show this week by WWE! SmackDown flowed smoothly as always and WWE wrapped up everything they needed to do before Sunday’s big show.
There is so much wrestling over Wrestlemania week as always. There’s no doubt, this is going to be a great week of wrestling!
