Smackdown Live Recap w/ "Killer" Kyle Combs
What? A question often shouted from the WWE Universe when anyone is trying to cut a promo. But “What?” has become the question to ask as we watch WWE programming, why do we do this to ourselves? Anyway, let’s get to the review!
Promo
Bill Goldberg, who’s the new universal champion by the way, started the show. The crowd reaction was filled with boos and like eight people chanting “GOLD-BERG!”. Roman Reigns interrupted him and the crowd was a huge fan of that. Before we continue, I don’t think it would’ve been possible for Reigns to beat the fiend at Wrestlemania as a babyface, thus Goldberg had to beat the fiend in order for Reigns to be the champ again and maintain his babyface status. The fiend doesn’t need the belt, I said it before, throwing him in the title picture the way they did was just asinine. Let’s just hope the fiend isn’t ruined by oh, say, losing to Cena at Mania, let us know what you think about that theory!
Back to the review - Goldberg continued his twitch while staring down Reigns. Roman simply said, “I’m next” in the center of the ring. Goldberg twitched and sweated all over the place while Reigns walked away. Easy to see where this one’s going, Reigns and Goldberg at Wrestlemania 2020, Reigns walks out as the title holder.
Bayley vs. Naomi
A rematch of the Smackdown women’s championship match from Super Showdown. Naomi went for Bayley but she asked for a mic and got one. Bayley was shocked that she had to wrestle tonight especially in front of the “idiots” in the crowd. Sasha Banks made her incredible return in her hometown of Boston. Sasha’s return caused Naomi to lose focus on who she was sharing the ring with, Bayley attacked her and put in some work, the bell rang earlier when Bayley asked for the mic, so this thing was official.
Naomi reversed and got control early. Sasha’s interference to break up the pinfall attempt caused Naomi to win by DQ as the bell rang. Bayley and Sasha beat the crap out of Naomi in the middle of the ring causing Lacey Evans to come out to a good crowd pop, ya nasties! This thing got completely out of control as the four women pummeled each other and zebras from all around came out to get this thing under control, and Jessica Carr called this match to be a tag team match. Who called Teddy Long? Anyone? Come on, that’s funny!
Lacey Evans and Naomi vs. Bayley and Sasha Banks
Lacey and Naomi, in the driver’s seat at the restart. After the break, Sasha and Bayley were in control and laying the smackdown with great double team action. Sasha and Bayley were in control for most of the match and they isolated Naomi, keeping her in the ring as long as possible, their double teaming was on point. Naomi finally gained momentum and landed a jawbreaker but Lacey was still off the ring apron but was able to recover in time to get tagged in.
Chaos erupts as Sasha broke up the pinfall attempt Naomi had on Bayley. Lacey wasn’t having any of it and tossed Sasha out of the ring, welcome back! The two kept fighting outside and Naomi was able to get a hold of Bayley, land the sunset flip and get the three count over Bayley. As stellar as Naomi was last night and as stellar as Lacey has been lately, it’s hard not to believe that at some point, Sasha turns on Bayley and sets up their match at Wrestlemania.
The new day promo backstage
The New Day encountered Roode and Ziggler and had a face off.
Kofi Kingston vs. Robert Roode
Roode came out with Ziggler and Kofi came out with Big E, that couldn’t have been more obvious, my bad. Roode goes for the power strats early, but come on! This is Kofi! Kofi came back with some power of his own, both men with a 1 count so far. Roode took control with the power and it seemed to work until Kofi had a slick reversal landing on his feet after being tossed by Roode and took control, but that was short lived.
Roode used heel tactics to get back in control and continued wearing Kofi down with a headlock in the middle of the ring. Roode ended up outside the ring after Kofi got control with an Irish whip. Again, amazing heel tactics at play here. Ziggler distracted the ref, Roode pounded on the steel steps, held the back of his head. When the ref came over, Roode was on the ground and Big E was banished from ringside. It’s hard not to appreciate masterful heel work, Ziggler does it just about as good as anyone.
As Kofi and Roode keep throwing down, backstage cameras show Mandy Rose watching her squeeze (should be Otis) intently. As the camera returns back to the ring, Kofi reverses with a great dropkick but again, short lived, Roode making use of the ropes to choke Kofi and take control again. Roode got Kofi down and went to the top rope, after mocking the new day he went for a flying knee only to whiff as Kofi rolled out of the way. Kofi showed Roode how to actually land a move off the top rope and proceeded to do work on Roode. Kofi missed a trouble in paradise, Irish whipped into the corner and got to the top rope, landed a cross body and almost got the three count.
Roode reversed and went for an SOS but was countered into a full nelson slam, giving Roode his closest pinfall attempt of the match. Kofi got back in control, went to the top rope again but missed, Roode landed a vicious spine buster and got as close as you can to a three count, Kofi still alive. Kofi hit an SOS after getting back to his feet. He had it, but Ziggler put Roode’s foot on the bottom rope, keeping him alive. Kofi went to tell Ziggler how he felt about that, allowing Roode to roll him up for the three count.
Backstage showed Mandy and Sonya and Sonya said something about “your man” which should be Otis but I’ll leave it be, no I won’t. Anyway, Roode got a win using masterful heel work from start to finish.
Promo with Otis and Tucker backstage
This is a sad state of affairs for heavy machinery, nothing a tag team title match can’t fix. Tucky made a good point, Otis needs the WWE Universe, the real people who love him, so it looks like Heavy Machinery will be in action next week, maybe Otis in singles action but either way, it should be a complete and utter disaster and it will be beautiful.
Contract signing for the IC championship
Shinsuke Nakamura and Braun Strowman were in the ring with Renee Young to sign a contract for the IC title at Elimination Chamber. Shinsuke was to sign first as he is the challenger but Sami had to get his 1000 words in. He instructed Braun to grab a seat who literally grabbed a seat and threw it out of the ring. Braun told him to shut up and the look on his face was priceless. Braun stated that he would end up fighting “all three of you clowns anyway” so Sami ran with that and made the IC championship match a 1 vs. 3 affair. Braun picked up the table and moved it, Sami was made uneasy due to this. Shinsuke and Cesaro double team the monster among men but the three were too much as Sami and friends traded shots on Braun eventually slamming him through that very table.
Promo
Goldberg and Roman has been made official for Wrestlemania.
Daniel Bryan vs. Curtis Axel
Drew Gulak was ringside again to continue his critiquing of Daniel Bryan, he really wants to share his PowerPoint presentation. Curtis Axel was all over Bryan early on in this match which was filled with Gulak commentary. Bryan was able to take control since Axel took time to mock Bryan with his yes movement, but Axel reversed an Irish whip and dumped Bryan outside.
Bryan reversed after taking some shots to the face and fed off the crowd, the yes movement was in full swing at this point, fueling the former five time champ. Bryan landed a plethora of yes kicks in the middle of the ring, missed on his last which allowed Axel to reverse and get a few pin attempts. Gulak has taught Axel a lot via PowerPoint, maybe the power of the PowerPoint is real? No, that’ll be a big fat no because Bryan won with a submission in the middle of the ring. This was a peculiar match, kind of felt out of place but hey it’s WWE, I’m just surprised it didn’t turn into a tag team match somehow.
The Miz and John Morrison vs. The Usos
Miz and Morrison are the new Smackdown tag team champions and the Friday night delight and the most must see superstar are now must see, according to Miz. They do their best impression mocking the new day and it was incredibly awkward. The two celebrate their new found championship status but some shenanigans happen outside the ring. Their first title defense will be against, The new day, Lucha house party, heavy machinery, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, and the Usos in an elimination chamber match. That took them off guard and shut down the celebration rather quickly.
Jay Uso starts the match against Miz, and Smackdown had their random broadcast interruption, who could it be? (Killer Kross or Ali) anyway, the elimination chamber match will be ten dudes! Ten dudes at one time for this tag team match. Back to the match. Miz and Morrison slow the momentum down and work Jimmy Uso on their side of the ring, isolating him from his partner. Morrison becomes the legal man, Miz was tossed out in a double team attempt. Morrison got taken down and allowed Miz to take Jay down from the ring apron so Jimmy still can’t get the tag. Morrison landed a head kick from the middle rope and almost got the three count.
During the commercial break Jay and Miz became the legal men. Morrison tagged himself in and went for a three count after a Miz neck breaker. Jay was down for the count but Jimmy interrupted the two count. Jimmy tagged himself back in and Morrison was double teamed by the Usos from the ring apron. Jay tagged himself back in and Jimmy and Miz end up outside the ring. Jay went for a splash but was met with Morrison’s knees to the chest. The tags in this match were all over the place, hard to keep up with.
Morrison went for the top rope and got caught with a shoe to the face, Jimmy tagged himself back in. Jimmy as the legal man has Morrison on the top rope and slammed him allowing Jay to splash, Jay tagged himself back in prior to the splash and got the three count on Morrison. I know I missed a few things, damn this match was fast, the last two minutes was tag after tag after tag! Fun match that helped shift the tide of a weird night. It looked like Miz and Morrison were going to win but those tags by the Uso’s were masterful.
John Cena
The crowd went absolutely bananas as the hometown hero made his way to the ring. What is John Cena doing at Wrestlemania? John stated that Wrestlemania should go on without John Cena because of how hard WWE superstars work each and every day. It is goodbye for now and it’s the right thing to do he said, he is betting on the future. This is goodbye for now as this meant more than we will ever know he stated. But, what we all knew was coming, the arena got dark and the fiend was there to say hello, he stood behind John at the ramp. The fiend pointed at the Wrestlemania sign, the crowd lost their minds, John tipped his hat to the fiend. We got a match folks.
Strange episode of Smackdown, the fiend didn’t attack Cena. So maybe WWE isn’t going to completely ruin that character, one can only hope. The fiend must win at Wrestlemania but I don’t see that happening. I could also be a Debbie downer, let me know what you think!