The final WWE show before this weekend’s two-night WrestleMania 42 drops tonight as SmackDown takes over the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and it is set to be a stacked show.
Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes will have a “message” for his opponent Randy Orton on tonight’s show. Rhodes is set to defend his title against Orton in tomorrow night’s main event while also having to deal with the intrusion of one Pat McAfee in all of this.
The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal makes its return tonight, with various superstars set to stake their claim to win the prestigious battle royal.
It’ll be an eight-man street fight when the Wyatt Sicks and the M.F.T.s look to finallly settle their score once and for all. The growing tensions between M.F.T. leader Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga could make defeating the Wyatts a tall task for the group, however.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern.
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– Our show opened with a flyover of downtown Las Vegas as Joe Tessitore set the stage for tonight’s show. We then went to a video highlighting the history of WrestleMania.
– Shots of the various superstars arriving to the arena greeted us, followed by Pat McAfee and Randy Orton arriving in their Ram. Nick Aldis approached them and handed McAfee a contract to sign as Orton made his way to the ring to kick things off.
Randy Orton kicks off SmackDown
Even with everything that’s gone down in recent weeks, Orton still got a huge ovation from the Las Vegas crowd, who sang his theme song loudly as he walked to the ring. Once Orton was in the ring, he took the mic and began to address the crowd.
Orton said that he’d be the first to admit that he didn’t need Pat McAfee. The truth was that he wanted him, because he viewed McAfee as the only straight shooter. Orton claimed that McAfee told him what he needed to hear, which was to let him be himself. Orton recounted how he won the Elimination Chamber and was all set to face Drew McIntyre, but Cody Rhodes defeating McIntyre threw everything in a mess. That’s when Orton got upset about Rhodes giving him “permission” to be himself. Orton talked about how he gave everything to Rhodes, but all Rhodes did was take, take, take.
Orton took offense to how two years ago, Rhodes didn’t call him to help with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40. He pointed out he helped Rhodes out against Solo Sikoa and got put through a table for his troubles, as well as Kevin Owens hitting a Package Piledriver to him. Orton said that helping Rhodes these past few years have hurt his legacy. He was ready to fix it tomorrow night at WrestleMania, to right all those wrong. He was going to do it with the most dangerous letters in sports entertainment: R… K… O.
Bless Orton for trying to salvage what has been a ridiculous mess of a main event feud, because this was honestly a really good promo from him. His justifications for betraying Cody Rhodes actually made sense, even putting into account the ridiiculous antics of DIet Dan Lambert at his side.
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– Backstage, McAfee and Orton made their exit from the building in their Ram truck, promising that “life” would change for the better.
Eight-Man Street Fight: The M.F.T.s (Solo Sikoa, J.C. Mateo, Tama Tonga, and Talla Tonga) (w/ Tanga Loa)vs. The Wyatt Sicks (Uncle Howdy, Erick Rowan, and Joe Gacy) (w/ Nikki Cross)
As the Wyatts made their entrance, they didn’t waste time and ran into the ring to start this fight. In the ring, Talla Tonga was being shelled by Dexter Lumis, Erick Rowan, and Joe Gacy. A big boot by Rowan sent Talla out of the ring. Gacy and Lumis hit J.C. Mateo and Tama Tonga with stereo suicide dives to the outside. Talla recovered and held the steel steps in his massive hands as he took out Rowan, Gacy, and Lumis with it. This took us to the break.
Our match continued from commercial as the battle raged on in the ring. Gacy and Lumis cleaned house with double team moves on the M.F.T.s Lumis monkey flipped Tama into a powerbomb from Gacy for the pin, but Mateo broke it up. With a barrage of suplexes and throws from Mateo, the M.F.T.s suddenly had the advantage. Uncle Howdy attacked Mateo from behind, but Talla emerged and entered the ring to hit a large Samoan Drop on Howdy. Gacy and Lumis also fell victim to Talla’s Samoan Drop. Talla tried to hit one on Rowan, but got sent out with a big boot. A suicide dive by Rowan took out Talla at ringside. Rowan brought out the goodies from underneath the ring to take this match to the extreme.
Howdy and Rowan bashed Sikoa with trashcans, as the M.F.T. leader soon found himself crushed by a splash with the trashcan right on top of him. This took us to another commercial break.
The match returned from break as Howdy dodged Sikoa’s running hip attack in the corner before he teed off on the M.F.T.s with steel chair shots. Howdy dropped Sikoa with the uranage on top of the chair. Nikki Cross hit a diving crossbody on Tanga Loa. In the ring, Howdy’s Sister Abigail was foiled by a big boot from Talla Tonga. Sikoa then hit a splash on Howdy, as he used Talla as a launch pad. Gacy and Lumis tried their hand on taking out Talla, but got taken out with a choke slam. Rowan took out Talla with a massive clothesline.
In the ring, Tama Tonga had Howdy set up for the Cuttthroat, but before he could be so elevated, Sikoa stole the win with a Samoan Spike on the fallen Howdy.
The M.F.T.s def. The Wyatt Sicks via pinfall
That was a decent street fight to presumably end a rather whatever feud that’s been ongoing for a good long while. So much so, i’ve lost count on how long it’s run for. You all probably know how much I don’t like this particular feud, so it pretty much colored how I felt about the street fight. While it was decent, it didn’t hit as hard as I had hoped. Hopefully, it’s done now, but i wouldn’t put it past WWE to have this feud inexplicably continue on even long past its expiry date.
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– We got a segment with Maryse, The Miz, and Kit Wilson having some sort of a wedding, but Danhausen showed up to make things wacky, as he cursed the happy couple. Maryse ended up getting a face full of cake.
– A video focused on Royce Keys was shown next. This video focused on how Keys’ mother died of a fatal overdose, as Keys stated that he had to try to push on for her memory.
– Outside the arena, a Las Vegas police car drove in as it then enterered the arena. As it arrived in the arena, out stepped a police officer, who opened the back seat to reveal Jacob Fatu.
Jacob Fatu addresses Drew McIntyre
Fatu stood on top of the police car and had a mic in hand. He began by talking about how Drew McIntyre wanted to tell the whole world that he was a criminal, but Fatu wasn’t afraid of it, especially as he didn’t live that life anymore. McIntyre putting Fatu in cuffs last week didn’t embarrass him, as even the police knew he wasn’t the same guy anymore. Fatu turned the attention to tomorrow night’s Unsanctioned Match, an environment where McIntyre won’t be saved by anyone. Fatu said that McIntyre tried to put him back into the jail cell, but the truth was, he already put that in the rear view.
When Fatu was done with McIntyre tomorrow night, he was going to put Drew in his rear view. Tomorrow night at WrestleMania, Fatu was going to dogwalk McIntyre’s ass.
This was, I felt, an actually good promo from Fatu. This feud between him and McIntyre has been one of the better ones that’s been built for WrestleMania 42, so the Unsanctioned Match should be entertaining tomorrow. It’s a match that’s just built on simple hatred between Fatu and McIntyre and it’s not bogged down by any sort of nonsense.
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WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Damian Priest & R-Truth (c) vs. Grayson Waller & Kofi Kingston
Waller tried to size up Priest to start off as he used his boxing prowess to strike his foe. Priest put a stop to that with a big boot as he then threw Waller into the corner to strike him with a big uppercut. Truth tagged in and hit Waller with his spinning body splash. Truth punched away at Waller but got sent face-first into the turnbuckle. Kingston tagged in as Priest was taken out of the apron by Waller. Truth tried to get ahead of the disadvantage, but was thrown astray out of the ring as Waller pulled down the rope.
Outside the ring, Kingston saved Waller from a South of Heaven chokeslam as he took out Priest. This took us to the commercial break.
We returned from break as a one-shoe Truth was being attacked by Kingston with a running kick to the chest. Kingston stomped on Truth as Waller blind tagged himself into the match, much to Kingston’s dismay. A miscommunication between Waller and Kingston allowed Truth to get the hot tag on Priest. The big man was a house of fire against Waller and Kingston. Priest hit the Old School Crossbody on Waller, followed by the fierce lariat. Kingston came in to break up the subsequent count. Trutth stood in the New Day corner and assumed he was ‘tagged in’ by Kingston. He then did the John Cena Five Moves of Doom. With both Kingston and Waller down, they fell victim to stereo Five Knuckle Shuffles from Truth and Priest. This match came to an end after Priest and Truth hit Waller with a double-team finish.
Damian Priest & R-Truth def. Grayson Waller & Kofi Kingston via pinfall
I have to admit that this Truth/Priest team has been really entertaining. It seems like these two are having a blast doing all this, so there’s that. Match itself was fine.
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– A recap of last week’s tomfoolery with Cody Rhodes, Pat McAfee, Randy Orton, and Jelly Roll was shown.
Jade Cargill prepares for WrestleMania 42
The WWE Women’s Champion made her way to the ring, accompanied by her allies B-Fab and Michin, as she got ready to talk about her WrestleMania 42 challenger, Rhea Ripley.
Before Cargill could even utter a word, Rhea Ripley herself interrupted proceedings to a huge ovation from the Las Vegas crowd. Ripley stood on the apron and said that there’s nothing more that she’d like to do than to knock Cargill out, but she didn’t want to give her an excuse when Cargill lost at WrestleMania. Ripley said Cargill was scared and that when it came to WrestleMania, she couldn’t wait to embarrass Cargill.
B-Fab said that the only one who should be embarrassed was Ripley, because she kept coming after Cargill, but kept on failing. Ripley said that ever since she won at Elimination Chamber, she’s done nothing but hide behind social media and her new buddies. Ripley said if Cargill had anything to say now, she could say it now to her face.
Cargill told B-Fab and Michin to stand down as she faced Ripley. Cargill said that she was going to put belt to ass on Sunday and she was going to make it quick. Ripley said she didn’t want to be like Cargill, in fact she was fighting people like her forever. Ripley declared that her insecurities made her who she was and she was proud to keep fighting. Ripley then called Cargill a “narcissistic, selfish fake-ass bitch” to end this segment.
This feud has been “mid”, to say the least, but this segment was fine enough, and credit has to go to Ripley for a good promo here. Rhea talking about how her insecurities helped defined who she was and that she was proud of them certainly helped.
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– The M.F.T.s discussed their victory over the Wyatt Sicks, as Solo Sikoa claimed they did it as a team, much to Tama Tonga’s chagrin. Sikoa said that Talla Tonga was going to enter the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal to win it for the M.F.T.s while he was going to talk to Nick Aldis about getting WWE Tag Team Title shots for himself and Tama Tonga.
WWE Women’s U.S. Championship No.1 Contender’s Match: Tiffany Stratton vs. Jordynne Grace
Women’s U.S. Champion Giulia & Kiana James were at ringside for this match.
Grace had Stratton in a headlock as she tried to lift her on her shoulders. Stratton escaped and went for a couple of early pinfall attempts. Stratton and Grace engaged in a chain wrestling battle as Stratton connected with a modified jawbreaker. Grace got back momentum with repeated clotheslines, followed by an electric chair drop throat-first to the top rope to Stratton as we took a commercial timeout.
Our match returned from the break as Grace had Stratton set up for the superplex. On the follow-through, Stratton countered with a spike DDT. As both women got up, they traded strikes until Grace tried for a piledriver. Stratton reversed with a back-elbow, followed by the dropkick to the chest. Near-fall. From the apron, Grace hit Stratton with a unique set of headbutts. Grace followed it up with the package powerbomb for the near-fall. Grace had Stratton set up for the Vertebreaker, but Stratton escaped and roared back with the stunner. The rolling senton followed by the Prettiest Moonsault Over, and that’s it, over.
Tiffany Stratton def. Jordynne Grace via pinfall to become No. 1 Contender for the Women’s U.S. Championship
This match was okay. I get the story is Stratton versus Giulia (and in fact, it was the match scheduled for tonight originally until the last-minute change), but I think Grace could’ve won here and given us an interesting match up between her and Giulia.
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Trick Williams gets ready for WrestleMania
Williams made his way down by his lonesome, with no Li’l Yachty at his side. The crowd was electric for his arrival.
Amidst “Whoop That Trick” chants from the fans, Williams began to talk, stating that he’s usually out here all smiles with games and jokes. Tonight, however, he had something to get off his chest, and he wanted to talk about it. Last week, Sami Zayn crossed the line by attacking his friend Li’l Yachty with a Helluva Kick.
After clips of Zayn’s deed was shown, Williams said that Zayn hurt his friend with the Helluva Kick. He said that he didn’t know when Yachty would be back, and that he hurt his entrance for WrestleMania tomorrow. Williams challenged Zayn to fight him right now.
Zayn’s theme hit, but instead of Sami, it was a guy in a Gingerbread Man costume who showed up. Once “Sami” entered the ring, Williams introduced Las Vegas to “Sami Zayn, The Gingerbread Man”. Williams said that maybe there’s die hard Sami Zayn fans here in Las Vegas, but there didn’t seem to be any present.
As the Gingerbread Man danced, the real Sami Zayn showed up and said that he wished he could be having as much fun as Williams was, but he hadn’t been having fun for quite a long time. Zayn said that he didn’t know what he did wrong, but he didn’t care. Zayn pointed out that he was doing this for the ride or die Sami Zayn fans watching, who would be in his corner and beyond.
Zayn didn’t like the Gingerbread Man invading his personal space as he tried to talk to Williams. The Gingerbread Man stood aside as Zayn said that Williams hasn’t shown anything where it counts in the ring and when it mattered. Zayn told Williams when he looked at him, he didn’t see the future of the business. All he saw was a little punk rookie. Zayn said that Williams was walking into WrestleMania against one of the best to do it without a plan.
Williams responded by saying that Zayn was crashing out because he didn’t know how to find Sami Zayn anymore. Williams pointed out that Zayn threw it all away because of a rookie like him, and that he was the one who would get the job done.
Zayn denied that William’s plan was working against him. Williams said that he was standing in the ring with “two gingerbread men”. The two brawled it out as Zayn got the better of Williams with a clothesline over the top rope. With Williams disposed, Zayn turned his attention to the Gingerbread Man and hit him with a Helluva Kick, which twisted the head completely. However, this opened Zayn up to a Trick Shot knee from Williams, who held the U.S. Title high above Zayn.
I thought this was a good back and forth between Williams and Zayn, Gingerbread Man silliness aside. This match on Sunday should be a good one.
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– We got a video package from the competitors of the women’s tag team fatal-four way match ahead of their match tomorrow night at WrestleMania 42.
Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs. Lyra Valkyria & Bayley
The two teams were arguing before all four women began brawling with one another as the bell rang. Valkyria and Flair fought it out in the ring as Nia Jax attacked in the ring. Lash Legend took out Bliss at ringside and it seemed that this match was thrown out as a result.
The Irresistable Forces looked dominant as they laid waste to Charlexa and Valkyria and Bayley.
Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley & Lyra Valkyria went to a No Contest
Absolute waste of time. Complete pointlessness for a beatdown segment that we’ve probably seen more than once in the last few months or so. Either way, not good at all.
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Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal
The ring was already filled up with several superstars as Royce Keys got his own entrance. Joe Hendry also got his own entrance.
As everyone was fighting, Johnny Gargano was lying down. This led to Kit Wilson being eliminated because he tripped over Gargano. on the apron, Nathan Frazer and Chris Sabin were brawling until Gargano sprang to life and eliminated Frazer and Sabin. Meanwhile, Talla Tonga took out both El Grande Americanos. Ilja Dragunov eliminated Shiloh Hill with a hard kick. Los Garza used some nice teamwork to eliminate La Parka. Rey Fenix kicked Berto out, as Keyes eliminated Psycho Clown after removing his mask. Elsewhere, Gargano took out Axiom with a DDT. Alex Shelley was the next to go, as was Apollo Crews, courtesy of Shinsuke Nakamura. Hendry hit a fallaway slam on Gargano, but Aleister Black eliminated Hendry in the process. Talla Tonga took out LWO members. Talla eliminated Rey Fenix with a chokeslam to the outside. After Nakamura took down Talla with a Kinshasa, he was eliminated by Black afterwards. Black then took out Dragunov and Akira Tozawa. Otis went on a rampage as he ran over everyone before throwing out Angel.
With Gargano down, he got crushed by the Caterpillar of Otis. Gargano and Cardona were both eliminated by Otis. Our final four: Otis, Royce keys, Aleister Black, and Talla Tonga. Keys withstood a knee strike from black before eliminating Black with a clothesline. Otis ran over Keys and Talla with running splashes, but Talla got him with a big boot. Talla then eliminated Otis with a throw over the ring. Keys hit Talla with an impressive spinebuster before last eliminating Talla with a clothesline.
Royce Keys wins the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
These kind of battle royals have never been my cup of tea, but good for Royce Keys, who seems to finally have the rocket strapped to his back. That spinebuster from Keys on Talla Tonga was honestly a thing of beauty.
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Cody Rhodes’ last word on WrestleMania 42
The Undisputed WWE Champion finally arrived to the arena as he had quite a bit to get off his chest regarding his match against Randy Orton tomorrow night at WrestleMania 42.
“So, Las Vegas, Nevada…. what do we want to talk about?” started Rhodes. He said that we’re not going to talk about the last three WrestleManias and the conspiracy theories of whether someone was needling him. Whether it was The Rock two years ago, Travis Scott last year, or someone he wouldn’t name, but someone he thinks should go home (i.e. Pat McAfee).
Rhodes said that tomorrow night was simple, it was two men fighting for the richest, oldest prize in sports entertainment. He didn’t believe in the conspiracy theories as he said that Randy Orton doesn’t take responsibility. Rhodes talked about “2009 Randy Orton”, because he was there on the ground floor, as he burned it all down. Before Rhodes could continue, he was unexpectedly interrupted by the World Heavyweight Champion, CM Punk.
Punk entered the ring and took a microphone. Rhodes said that between friends, he had to ask Punk if they hugged, would he kick him in the balls and turn on him too? Punk responded by saying there’s a lot of people who deserved to be kicked in the balls, but Rhodes wasn’t one of them. Punk said he was here to maybe warn Rhodes of something as they don’t speak the name of a “tourist” running around here.
Punk said that he wanted to relish the moment that he and Rhodes were both Champions, and to be honest, they were past Punk giving Rhodes advice because Cody has done things he hasn’t. Punk said that he doesn’t know what happens tomorrow or Sunday, but win, lose, or draw… he and Rhodes will be here. Punk then invited everyone to be here with him and Rhodes on the next part of the journey, as he told him to have some fun.
Rhodes stopped Punk leaving as he talked about how Punk was going up against the most dominant main eventer in the game, “The O.T.C.”. Rhodes talked about how Punk was looked at by WWE, how he had captured the imaginations of fans 10 years even after he “went away”, as they chanted his name loudly. Rhodes discussed how Punk came back to WWE better than ever, comparing him to how Shawn Michaels returned in 2002. Rhodes pointed out that Punk was going to make the argument on Sunday that the new “Mr. WrestleMania” was CM Punk.
Rhodes thanked Punk for everything he taught him, for sharing the ring with the audience, and if it meant anything…. his dad would be proud of what Punk did.
Punk said he and Rhodes were going to celebrate with the people as the show faded to black.
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An… interesting promo that could very well set up the “next chapter” of whatever strange story is being told with this McAfee intrusion that’s also somehow stretched itself into the Punk/Reigns title match.
For a final send-off before WrestleMania 42, this felt very dull. Nothing really stood out to me, and it’s oddly fitting given the bumpy, bumpy road to this weekend we’ve taken.
Two years ago, WWE’s “hot period” culminated with WrestleMania 40, a show widely beloved for its main event title match. Two years onward, that magic seems to have disappeared, lost in a sea of worked shoots, poor ticket sales for Mania, and Triple H openly admitting that there’s no “backup stars”. And that’s just this week alone.
I’ve said my piece about how a simple mentor vs. student feud with Orton vs. Rhodes got turned into a cacaphony of Pat McAfee in the role of “Diet Dan Lambert” whining about ticket sales and the IWC like it’s 2005. That this stuff is what everyone’s talking about (and no, it doesn’t mean it was worth it, Triple H) means it’ll overshadow the good matches we’re likely getting tomorrow and Sunday.
Stars in the making like Trick Williams and Oba Femi will be making a name for themselves in a huge way. We’re gonna brutal battles between Jacob Fatu and Drew McIntyre, as well as Seth Rollins and GUNTHER. Yes, it’s all gonna happen this weekend, but thanks a mistake of WWE’s own doing, a lot of that will fly under the radar as we get set to enter a bizarre era of WCW 2000-esque worked shoot nonsense led by an obnoxious ESPN pundit and maybe some friends of his. It’s been a trainwreck in the making, and this weekend, we just might see it unfold in terrible, terrible fashion.
