Randy Orton, the challenger to Cody Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania 42 returns home tonight when SmackDown emanates from St. Louis, MO. Orton comes back to his hometown the clear favorite for many despite his recent actions towards Rhodes, as well as Matt Cardona and Jelly Roll.
We may also find out the identity of the mysterious person who Orton has been talking to on the phone in recent weeks since his betrayal of Rhodes, as he promised to meet with them tonight.
Announced the afternoon of the show was a singles match with Rhea Ripley against Michin, and a segment with the new United States Champion, Sami Zayn, who defeated Carmelo Hayes for the belt last week.
The full lineup for tonight’s WWE SmackDown:
- Cody Rhodes looks to spoil Randy Orton’s homecoming
- Rhea Ripley vs. Michin
- We’ll hear from Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu
- We’ll hear from new United States Champion Sami Zayn
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– As tonight’s show kicked off, the voice of Joe Tessitore welcomed us to the night, where we’ll see Rhea Ripley take on Michin, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss versus Bayley and Lyra Valkyria in tonight’s matchups.
– At the commentary desk, Tessitore and Wade Barrett tossed to a recap of Cody Rhodes’ confrontation with Stephanie McMahon on Raw this past Monday.
Randy Orton’s St. Louis Homecoming
As expected, Orton got a huge ovation from this hometown crowd, as they sang his theme song as loud as they could. Orton soaked in all the cheers before finally getting down to business with what he had to say.
Orton started by mocking Cody Rhodes’ “what do you want to talk about” intro when addressing the St. Louis fans. He said that it’s no secret that St. Louis is his hometown, where he was raised here as a young man, and that the next time he’d return here, he’d return as a champion. Orton pointed out that he wasn’t doing it for the fans, for his family. He wasn’t winning the Undisputed WWE Championship for St. Louis, but for the people sitting in the front row.
Orton said that it didn’t matter if Rhodes was going home on a stretcher by the time WrestleMania wrapped, but he was going home empty-handed. Orton again pointed out that Rhodes gave him “the green light” to listen to the voices in his head. However, Orton saw Rhodes on Monday may have been listening to the voices in his own head. Orton pointed out that Rhodes wasn’t a killer and what was awoken inside of him, there was no putting that back to bed.
Cody Rhodes made his way out to a very mixed reception from the St. Louis crowd. As he got to the ring,. he removed his suit and immediately fought with Orton. When Rhodes gained the upper hand, the St. Louis crowd audibly booed loudly. In the ring, Pat McAfee appeared and kicked Rhodes in the groin. Dressed in an Orton shirt, McAfee continued to attack Rhodes as Orton got a mic and handed it to him.
Orton knocked Rhodes down with the chair. McAfee got in some cheap St. Louis sports heat as he spoke. Nick Aldis and company walked down the ramp while McAfee explained himself. A month ago, McAfee said that the business passed him by and it was absolute shit. Orton supposedly called McAfee and told him that the business was just going in a direction nobody liked. McAfee asked why he has to watch 45-minute iron man matches if Randy Orton is around. McAfee brought up SmackDown’s worst-rated episode of all time as he called Rhodes a puppet. McAfee revealed himself as Orton’s mystery caller as he claimed that Orton was going to “save the f*cking business”.
Throughout this, the crowd still cheered as Orton and McAfee laid out Rhodes.
This angle took a rather ridiculous left turn with the Pat McAfee reveal, and a lot of it feels like a retread of what happened with John Cena pre-WM42 last year, especially the whole vibe of “ruining WWE” that this McAfee/Orton thing is taking. Plus, as you can probably tell, the crowd, even with McAfee and Orton doing cheap heat, failed to get the desired reaction as Rhodes getting destroyed was thoroughly cheered. Suffice to say, this angle, like a lot of the WrestleMania 42 build, is kind of a damn mess and it’s getting worse as WWE stumbles along to Las Vegas in two weeks.
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– Randy Orton and Pat McAfee took pride in what they did as they drove off, stating that they were going to “save the business”.
Rhea Ripley vs. Michin (w/ B-Fab)
Ripley hit Michin with a big boot to start as she pummeled her foe in the corner with clubbing strikes. Michin found herself thrown into the opposite corner and hit with a shoulder thrust from Ripley. A nice fallaway slam from Ripley kept Michin on her toes. At this moment, Jade Cargill made her way to the ramp as Ripley took notice and again threw Michin with a fallaway slam. As Ripley turned her attention to Cargill on the ramp, this allowed Michin to take advantage with a German suplex as we took a break.
The match returned from commercial as Michin continued to have control over Ripley with kicks to the chest, followed by a sleeper submission. However, Ripley used her strength to muscle out of the hold into a suplex. As both women got back to their feet, they traded strikes before Ripley got Michin with consecutive clotheslines followed by a standing flapjack. Michin escaped out of Ripley’s fallaway slam, but she couldn’t get out of the way of the headbutt. This left Michin wide open for a Razor’s Edge, followed by the running knee for the near-fall.
Ripley got Michin in position for Riptide, but she couldn’t connect as she got slammed down face-first. Michin went for a running cannonball in the corner, but struck out as Ripley dodged it. Michin hit a poisonrana on Ripley, followed by Eat Defeat. However, Ripley just managed to kick out at the nick of time. Michin’s piledriver was countered by Ripley, as she found herself trapped in the Prism Trap submission. Michin had no choice but to tap out.
After the match, B-Fab and Michin once again used the numbers game to get the advantage. Just at it looked like we’d see a repeat of the last two weeks, IYO SKY ran in to make the save. Ripley recovered as she and SKY hit stereo dropkicks on B-Fab and Michin to send them retreating.
Rhea Ripley def. Michin via submission
As much as I grouse about the Ripley/Cargill feud being disappointing, this match between Rhea and Michin was at least solid enough. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one match, even independent of the lousy booking that surrounds it.
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– Matt Cardona was getting looked at as Aleister Black and Zelina confronted him. Black said Randy Orton didn’t change, he just simply embraced who he is, something that Cardona refused to do. This led to Cardona stating that he’d speak to Nick Aldis to make a match between him and Black for later tonight.
– Elsewhere, Solo Sikoa wanted someone to fight Uncle Howdy, as he told Tama Tonga to do it, asking that he not mess this up. Tama requested that he do this alone.
– Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY were interviewed backstage. Ripley said that while Cargill had followers, she had friends, which was why she was going to walk out of WrestleMania as the WWE Women’s Champion.
Tama Tonga vs. Uncle Howdy
Howdy attempted the Mandible Claw in the corner to start, but Tama blocked the attempt. Howdy responded by stomping away on Tama, but he found himself getting attacked along the ropes by repeated headbutts from Tama. Howdy was sent neck-first into the rope by Tama, as we took a commercial break.
We returned from break as Tama had Howdy in a resthold before that was broken by a jawbreaker from the brother of Bray Wyatt. Howdy then began to recover, but a strike with the right hand brought him to pain after Tama slammed it against the stairs earlier. This allowed Tama to regain the advantage with an attack in the corner. However, as Tama went for a running splash, he was caught in the Mandible Claw by Howdy. Solo Sikoa entered with the lantern and mocked Howdy with it. He tried to hit Howdy with it, but the referee stopped him. Tama argued with Sikoa about coming down to help him when he didn’t need it, but this opened him up to a Sister Abigal from Howdy for the pin and win.
After the match, Tama and Sikoa argued back and forth. Tama took the lantern from Sikoa and gave it to Howdy.
Uncle Howdy def. Tama Tonga via pinfall
This match was just kinda there, and the saga of the Lantern ending as anticlimactically as it did here was surprisingly not the worst thing about this first hour of SmackDown (that honor going to the Orton/McAfee/Rhodes tomfoolery that kicked us off tonight).
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– The Miz and Kit Wilson discussed whether or not there was a curse, as the two confronted R-Truth. This led to an apparent WWE Tag Title Match made between Wilson and Miz versus Truth and Damian Priest.
– We got remarks from Jacob Fatu about his unsanctioned match against Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 42.
– Elsewhere, Sami Zayn met with Nick Aldis and got confirmation about having pyro. Aldis said that he didn’t give Zayn anything, and that he earned the opportunity last week. However, before Zayn could make his entrance, he got beat to the punch by Trick Williams, who was accompanied in his entrance by Li’l Yachty.
Trick Williams and Li’l Yachty steal the scene
The crowd chanted “whoop that Trick” as the man himself entered the ring with Yachty in tow. Once the two entered, Williams said he was here tonight to celebrate his first WrestleMania match. But, he couldn’t but notice with all the stars coming out, it was only right that Williams brought his pal, Li’l Yachty.
Williams said that he and Yachty went way back. He talked about that he wasn’t going to take “no lip off no gingerbread man”, referencing current U.S. Champion Sami Zayn. Williams asked for Sami Zayn’s pyro to be hit, because he ran SmackDown. The pyro did go off at Williams’ request, which brought Zayn out to respond.
Zayn said that Williams was planning too far ahead with the presentation and the pageantry, which wasn’t his thing. Zayn pointed out that his thing was what he did when he stepped inside the ring. Zayn said that at WrestleMania, Williams was going to go up against one of the best to ever do it, and that he’d be humbled.
Williams didn’t seem fazed by Zayn, as he pointed out that the only reason why Zayn was the U.S. Champion was because of him. This brought out the former U.S. Champion Carmelo Hayes.
Hayes said that he couldn’t sit down and watch this go down any longer. He talked about how he owed Williams a receipt for what he did last week, and he knew a place where he’d cash it. Hayes was upset at how Zayn won the U.S. Title in such a cheap manner after carrying the division for months. Hayes pointed out that the crowd wanted him as he asked Zayn to give him a rematch.
Zayn responded by saying that he thought the world of Hayes, but he lost because of an open challenge. Zayn pointed out that Hayes would have to wait until after WrestleMania for the rematch. Williams tried to egg Zayn on to defend the title. Zayn discussed how taking a shortcut felt good, but it didn’t sit well with him.
Eventually the match was made for tonight, with the winner to face Trick Williams at WrestleMania. As Hayes left, Williams mocked Zayn and ate a clothesline for his troubles.
This U.S. Title rematch will likely be the main event tonight and we’ll probably see a Trick Williams interference spot to set up the triple threat match for WrestleMania.
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– Tama Tonga was being questioned by Solo Sikoa for giving the Wyatt Lantern back, as he said that he was doing it so they could get back to taking over SmackDown. Sikoa said that they needed to finish the Wyatt Sicks first.
Aleister Black vs. Matt Cardona
Black and Cardona started off with some chain wrestling in this match with neither man getting the clear advantage. Black went after the injured wrist of Cardona with to eventually take the advantage with an arm submission. Cardona fought back and clotheslined Black out of the ring, then hitting his rope-assisted dropkick to the outside. As Cardona got on the apron, Zelina provided a momentary distraction, which allowed Black to trip up Cardona to cause him to crash into the apron as we took a break in the action.
We returned to the match as Cardona hit a spinebuster on Black, but it caused a good deal of pain on that injured wrist of his. Cardona attempted a fightback with essentially one hand as he tried to hit a powerbomb. Black hit him with the knee, but his suplex was countered into a neckbreaker. With Black stunned in the corner, Cardona hit him with the Broski Boot for the near-fall. The attempt at the Rough Ryder from Cardona ended with him being sent face-first into the turnbuckle by Black. After a duel on the top ropes, Cardona won out and hit a dropkick, followed by the double-underhook powerbomb for the close two.
Cardona missed with a second Broski Boot and found himself dropped with a brainbuster from Black. The two exchanged strikes until a Black Mass kick dropped Cardona out cold and that’s it, over.
Aleister Black def. Matt Cardona via pinfall
A fun match for sure. Not really much to complain about at all here. Black’s strikes remain as impressive as ever.
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– A recap of the latest in the Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi saga from this Monday’s Raw was aired.
– Backstage, R-Truth was with Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae. The two said that tomorrow night at NXT Stand & Deliver, Johnny Wrestling was back. As Gargano and LeRae left, Damian Priest asked Truth what was up with Truth giving Kit Wilson and Miz a WWE Tag Title shot. Truth said it was because Wilson and Miz were cursed by Asuka, mistaking them for Danhausen.
– Drew McIntyre spoke about the unsanctioned match against Jacob Fatu at WrestleMania 42. He promised that next week, he’d show the whole world who Fatu really was.
Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley & Lyra Valkyria
The two teams immediately went at it as the bell rang. Valkyria and Flair were the legal women in the ring, with the two fighting it out early. Valkyria leapt above Flair with a backflip from the middle turnbuckle as she hit as spinning wheel kick on her. Bliss tagged in blindly, which allowed Flair to gain a momentary advantage to send Valkyria crashing into the corner. Spinning DDT from Bliss to Valkyria took us to the commercial break.
We returned from break with Valkyria still left isolated in the Charlexa corner as she tried to reach to make the tag to Bayley. Bliss managed to slam Valkyria down to stop that attempt. After a missed leg drop from Bliss, Valkyria again tried to go for the tag, but Flair held her in place after entering the match. Valkyria finally created some separation with a diving crossbody from the middle turnbuckle on Flair, which allowed Bayley to finally enter.
Bayley hit a nice running sunset flip powerbomb that sent Flair into the turnbuckle. The subsequent cover was broken up by Flair holding the bottom rope. Both Bayley and Flair ended up on the top rope and jockeyed for the advantage. Valkyria provided a needed assist to Bayley, which allowed Flair to be pushed off. Flying elbow drop by Bayley to Flair wasn’t enough to get the three. Valkyria tagged in and headed to the top rope as they hit a double team Samoan Drop/Blockbuster combination for another near-fall. Valkyria again headed up top and went for a dive. However, Flair caught her and locked in the Figure-Eight. Bayley broke up the submission in the nick of time. Bliss dropkicked Bayley and tagged into the match.
Things broke down with all four women in the ring asBliss and Flair hit the stereo Natural Selections on Bayley and Valkyria to pick up the win.
Almost immediately after the match,. Nia Jax and Lash Legend attacked both teams and left everyone laying.
Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair def. Bayley & Lyra Valkyria via pinfall
This match was really, really good and I liked it. The post-match, on the other hand. Ever get a feeling of a sense of deja vu?
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– As Kit Wilson and The Miz got ready for their match and wondered about being cursed, Danhausen appeared and wanted to be in their corner. Wilson and Miz refused the kind offer from Danhausen.
WWE Tag Team Championships: R-Truth & Damian Priest (c) vs. The Miz & Kit Wilson
Wilson got a cheap shot in on Truth to start the match. Truth avoided a kick and did a little dance to mock Wilson. Truth found himself in the corner and got hit with stomps from Miz, who tagged in. Truth fought back and tried to hit Cena’s five moves of doom, but Miz blocked it with a boot to the face. Truth was sent out of the ring and hit with a running shoulder attack from Wilson, which led to the break.
We returned from commercial as Miz attempted a Skull-Crushing Finale on Truth, but to no avail. Truth got in the tag to Priest, who cleaned house on Miz and Wilson. Priest then went for an Old School crossbody on Miz and got it flush. Priest crushed Miz with a clothesline, but Wilson interrupted the pin. Truth tagged in and went for an AA, but couldn’t connect. Double down in the ring between Truth and Wilson. This led to Danhausen running into the match.
Danhausen got on the apron and wanted to be tagged in despite not even being in the match officially. Miz realized it and told him to get out as he argued with the referee. Danhausen held the tag rope as Truth now tagged Danhausen into the match. Miz again yelled at Danhausen to leave, but was about to be cursed. The referee ended up being “cursed” by Danhausen as Miz was about to hit him with a Skull-Crushing Finale. The lights went out and Danhausen escaped.
Meanwhile, Truth got hit with the SCF from Miz. However, just as the ref was making the pin, his arm was hurt, apparently the effects of Danhausen’s curse. Priest secured the pin with South of Heaven on Miz.
Damian Priest & R-Truth def. The Miz & Kit Wilson via pinfall
This was a whatever match, where the Danhausen curse antics seemed to be what it was building towards, and I kinda didn’t mind it.
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Cody Rhodes goes off on Pat McAfee and Randy Orton
After the match, Cody Rhodes stormed into the ring and hit Wilson with Cross Rhodes. Rhodes talked about he was surprised that Randy Orton’s phone friend was Pat McAfee, stating that it’s like if the nWo’s third man was Disco Inferno instead of Hulk Hogan. Rhodes promised to give McAfee his receipt and that he could kiss his ass.
“What are you going to do? Fire me? That worked out for you last time,” Rhodes continued.
Rhodes said that everyone up to and including Stephanie McMahon wanted him to be a bad guy, but he said that he might not know how anymore. At the end of it all, Rhodes pointed out that even with all the surrounding factors, the match between him and Orton is still between two of the best to ever do it. He concluded that he was hearing those voices inside his head finally, but you don’t want to hear what they have to say.
This Rhodes/Orton feud has kind of gone off the rails after tonight’s developments, and this Cody promo didn’t help matters either. I’ll have more about my feelings on it on the wrapup. I will say that Cody dissing the Disco Inferno (referencing an old tweet of his where he took Disco to task) was kinda funny.
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United States Championship: Sami Zayn (c) vs. Carmelo Hayes
Trick Williams and Li’l Yachty made his entrance during the commercial break to get a closer look of this match.
Hayes and Zayn locked up in the middle of the ring to start off this match as it turned into a chain wrestling battle. Hayes connected with a dropkick on Zayn and continued to work in the corner with chops to his foe. Zayn turned it around and hit Hayes with chops, followed by bunches of punches. Hayes escaped that and hit his own barrage of punches on Zayn. Irish whip by Hayes led to Zayn flattening him with a flying forearm, which gave the U.S. Champion the advantage here.
Hays roared back with his springboard clothesline as he trapped Zayn across the middle rope to hit the no-look springboard leg drop. Zayn rolled out of the ring and got cracked with a Fosbury Flop from Hayes. On the landing, Hayes appeared to tweak his left leg as we took one final commercial break.
Our main event returned as Hayes was down on the mat favoring his left leg following the apparent injury he sustained before the break. Hayes, however, managed to recover long enough to hit the Dirty Diana for a near-fall. Hayes targeted Zayn for First 48, but it was blocked. Exploder suplex attempt by Zayn was turned into a pin for another near-fall by Hayes. The hurt knee finally allowed Zayn to take advantage with an exploder suplex. Zayn’s attempt at a Helluva Kick was met with a Hayes superkick.
On the top rope, Hayes connected with the frog splash, but the pin wasn’t enough to get the win. Zayn attempted to stack Hayes up for a pin immediately afterwards, but that wasn’t enough. Zayn tried the Blue Thunder Bomb, but the First 48 from Hayes made no mistake. Hayes headed to the top rope and looked for Nothin’ But Net, but Zayn dodged it, which caused Hayes to land on the bad leg. As the referee was checking on Hayes, Zayn took advantage with a Helluva Kick to retain the U.S. Championship.
After the match, Li’l Yachty asked for the music to cut off as he introduced Trick Williams as Zayn’s WrestleMania opponent. As Zayn took exception to Yachty calling him “gingerbread man”, Williams hit him from behind before hitting the Trick Shot knee to end the show.
Sami Zayn def. Carmelo Hayes via pinfall to retain the U.S. Championship
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I mentioned it earlier, but I have a lot to get off my chest regarding what happened with the Undisputed WWE Title angle tonight and the addition of Pat McAfee. This worked shoot element of McAfee being upset about the state of “current” WWE being the reason why he aligned with Orton does no favors and it reeks of adding way too much to things that it ends up making the entire angle a convoluted nightmare of a build.
The thing is, Orton vs. Rhodes had an initially solid start with Orton’s turn (fans cheering for it aside), but what we’re left with now is a weird copy-paste of last year’s Cena vs. Rhodes story from WrestleMania 41 all to build up Pat McAfee as an angry Redditor siding with Randy Orton for some reason. I don’t think I have to look far in saying what we got tonight was a mess, and Rhodes’ promo later on in the night where he seemed to reject the added “bullshittery”, if you will, just makes it even more confusing. Needless to say, tonight was the biggest speedbump for WWE on the road to WrestleMania 42 and makes it clear that any idea of Triple H being a brilliant booker was nothing more but a mirage.
As for the rest of the show, the matches we got ranged from okay to really good, but I found it hard to get into completely given what led off the show, because that was not a strong start to the night. WrestleMania’s in two weeks, folks, and goodness gracious, it’s gonna be a rough ride to get there. Buckle up.
