By Kyle Combs
Well here we are, the last Smackdown Live of April 2020. This has been an interesting month after the most unique WrestleMania ever. For the most part, April 2020 has been a busy month for the blue brand, it’s had more positive than negative moments, did that continue tonight? One of the highlights has been the Otis-Mandy-Dolph-Sonya storyline. If you missed last week, you have to check it out, Sonya is fire!
The New Day - Show Opener
In case you didn’t know, the new day is now 8-time WWE world tag team champions. Lucha house party broke up the fun and celebration by Kofi and Big E. Lucha house party is not happy that team after team is getting shot after shot for the tag team titles, and before the challenge could be thrown down, Miz and Morrison came out, interrupted and walked right by them.
Miz had a great point, they lost the titles in a singles triple-threat for the tag team titles. Their title reign was filled with very difficult defenses. Lucha house party showed back up in the ring and called Miz something very inappropriate things in Spanish. Just when I thought we were going to get a Teddy Long special and an impromptu triple threat match for the tag team titles, the Forgotten Sons filled the ring. The Forgotten Sons had a lot to say and they want those titles, bad. All hell broke loose as The Forgotten Sons started throwing hands at every person in the ring. Suddenly, the tag team division is a lot more crowded and exciting.
Backstage Promo
Miz and Morrison are backstage and encounter Renee Young. They blamed the Lucha House Party for the melee in the ring and wanted them in a match, to them, The Forgotten Sons aren’t on the radar.
Drew Gulak vs. King Corbin - MITB Qualifier
Gulak had a great opportunity tonight and he was focused. Corbin has experience with MITB matches and knows what it takes to win also. These two started in the middle of the ring, wrestling before Gulak was tossed over the top rope. Corbin bullied Gulak all over the ring and made sure he knew he didn’t belong. Gulak had to get creative, he struck low with a dropkick and rushed Corbin out of the ring, a baseball slide knocked him silly, Gulak blasted him with a dropkick to the chest over the announce table.
King Corbin took control during the commercial break and maintained that for most of the second half, even with glimpses of hope from Gulak, Corbin’s power was fierce and did a lot of damage. Corbin spent time jawing at the ref, allowing Gulak to get momentum. Corbin caught Gulak at speed and almost landed a chokeslam, Gulak rolled through for a two count, Gulak went back on the offense.
When things went outside the ring it got violent real quick. Corbin was introduced to the steel steps by Gulak which allowed him to feed off that and keep on it. He landed a high risk move from the top rope but Corbin kicked out. Nakamura and Cesaro come out of nowhere and take Daniel Bryan behind the barrier, Cesaro tried to sneak up on Gulak but he was caught. The distraction was enough though, Corbin landed a deep six and it was game over for Gulak after the three count. Nakamura and Cesaro held Gulak in the middle of the ring and Corbin blasted him with his sceptre. Gulak has awesome moves and Corbin is pretty entertaining, he’s a great bad guy, this was a classic good vs. bad match.
Sheamus vs. Daviel Vidot
Who? Exactly, a performance center athlete was fed to Sheamus. Sheamus beat the tar out of Daniel Vidot, a former rugby player I might add. It was after a vicious beatdown that he landed a brogue kick to the face of Vidot and this one was over. These matches are getting quicker and I honestly have no idea what the angle is here, Sheamus is a former world champion. A Hardy and Sheamus rivalry is in the cards, it has to be.
Jeff Hardy
The Jeff Hardy story continued with chapter three: Redemption.
Miz and Morrison vs. Lucha House Party
Before this match began, somehow Cole and Graves didn’t see the hulking Sheamus standing right behind them, sweating and breathing heavily. He grabbed Cole by the dome and ripped his headset off. The match began.
Miz and Morrison have double team wrestling down to a science and used it early. Lucha House Party turned the tables and used double team strategies of their own after getting Morrison in their corner. Morrison, the bigger wrestler regained himself pretty quick and got the Miz back in the fray. Miz kept control, did a little taunting and rapidly tagged Morrison back in who picked up right where Miz left off but not before doing some more double team work.
Morrison ate a few chops, his quickness got him back in the drivers seat, Lucha House Party was in trouble most of this match, Daraddo hit a springboard stunner on Morrison but during the Irish whip, Miz tagged himself back in, the celebration on the stunner was short lived. Darrado was able to tag his partner in and this was a huge momentum shift in favor of Lucha House Party. Right before a moonsault could land on Miz he got his knees up, Miz regained control and had it up until the very end. Lucha House Party rolled through a skull crushing finale and got the three count in a stunning upset. I really enjoyed the tag team action here, you can see team Miz and Morrison allowing every tag team on Smackdown to live rent free in their minds, they are unravelling.
Lacey Evans vs. Sasha Banks - MITB Qualifying Match
Sasha and Bayley came out with a picture of Lacey’s daughter on a stick and taunted her with it. Lacey wasn’t too happy about that, the match started quick. Sasha and Lacey have been going at it for quite a while now and they hit a fever pitch in this match, the physicality was great with each of them taking turns beating the crap out of each other. Sasha had a strategy, isolate and remove the right arm of Lacey.
Sasha landed an epic meteora from the top rope for a two count, Sasha stayed on top, continued to wear her down. Lacey dug deep and reversed Sasha into the turn buckle. Lacey lost it soon after this, she slammed Sasha’s face against the ring post a few times, almost put her out, the two ended up on the top rope. Sasha blocked a suplex attempt, Sasha threw right hands, Sasha sunk threw and went back to work on Lacey’s arm, pinning it against the turn buckle and kicked it several times. Sasha went for the pin and got a two count.
Sasha rolled into a banks statement, Lacey got her on her shoulders after rolling through the submission attempt, two count. Both women get back on their feet and Lacey rocked Sasha with a woman’s right. Bayley grabbed Sasha’s foot and put it on the rope for a rope break. Bayley actually hindered Sasha after this, distracted the ref, Sasha had Lacey down for a good six seconds, when the ref noticed Sasha only got a two count. Sasha was livid about this! She told Bayley to stay out of it, as she should have. She kept the ref distracted, Lacey got to her feet, landed another woman’s right and that was the end of it. Bayley and Sasha are deteriorating right in front of our eyes, it’s going to be spectacular when the turn happens.
Tamina’s music popped after the match, she blasted Bayley with a super kick, Sashs didn’t intervene.
Video package showing the history between Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt
The Fiend doesn’t need the title, he needs to be more active, in my opinion. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this because by putting the Fiend in the title mix so soon was a huge mistake. Getting smashed by Goldberg was asinine and having Braun steamroll Goldberg was just ridiculous. It’s hard to stay positive about what should be one of the coolest things in wrestling, not just WWE but wrestling, period. I love the character, and Braun has grown on me, but now the Fiend has to demolish him or have a classic back and forth, long drawn out match at MITB. No matter what happens, the Fiend has to win at MITB or the character has lost a lot of credibility.I could be way off the mark here, again let me know what you think, I’d love to talk about this. I am holding onto hope though. What I would really like to know is what happens if the Fiend loses?
Carmella and Dana Brooke vs. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross - Women’s tag team championship
All of the potential turmoil between Carmella and Dana has left. Carmella congratulated Dana after she teased her about her upcoming MITB qualifying match next week on Smackdown. Last week, Carmella was upset about Dana’s excursions and choice to not focus on the tag team championship match.
Right off the rip the best way to describe this match is chaos. All four ended up outside with Dana standing tall. After the commercial break, Carmella and Alexa were legal with Carmella in control. Carmella and Dana had a strategy to come out fast and hot, the longer you are in the ring with Bliss and Cross the lower your chances of winning are. Dana took care of Nikki after she broke up a three count attempt, Carmella tried to roll her up, but Alexa is too scrappy, the two battle on the top rope in the corner of Alexa and Nikki which allowed Nikki to tag herself in.
Nikkki rolled Carmella up for a two count, she rapidly tagged Alexa back in, they hit a really cool 3D soon after this and put Carmella away with a three count. I was surprised with how quick this one ended, Dana and Carmella’s strategy blew up in their face, Bliss and Cross are just too good, it’s going to take a special team to dethrone them.
Triple H twenty five year celebration
What can be said about Triple H that hasn’t been said yet? The man is amazing in the ring, out of the ring, he’s got it all. One of the best to ever do it and it’s a joy to be able to witness his career as much as I have. Thank you Triple H, now let’s talk about what happened.
Shawn Michaels came out right away to celebrate the moment. Shawn was a little upset that he didn’t have a twenty five year anniversary and set up Triple H with this, “What was your favorite moment?” and “If you had to pick just one moment”. Shawn never had one, so therefore he can’t pick one.
DX was money, Shawn played a video package of DX “not so” greatest moments, this was a hilarious segment overall. Shawn then played a video segment of every Triple H WrestleMania loss, 13 in total. The tension began to build between the two. Shawn said it was good until Triple H...met the girl, Stephanie “No fun”.
Stephanie called Triple H, did a video call, Shawn mocked her as she was watching the segment live and she called him out. Ric Flair called also, right after his name was dropped by Shawn, this thing was going off the rails, Ric said “Don’t let Shawn superkick you after the segment.”
The phone continued to ring, Flair was crying, this thing was going nuts as the phone calls continued to roll in. Vince McMahon himself came out to his infamous song. Vince looked like a man who just lost a professional football league twice in a lifetime, I wonder why. I have no more words for this segment, very strange.
I loved this episode of Smackdown. The matches carried the show as the promos were fairly weak. The matches were quick, fast paced and well booked, the promos were very strange especially the 25 year celebration promo, I don’t have any more words.