It was back to PPG Paints Arena — a regular WWE stomping ground — for this week’s “WWE SmackDown”, as the Road to WrestleMania 42 continued with a stop in Pittsburgh. With several big names set to appear, expectations were high that we might see some more Mania matches confirmed. But would WWE deliver the goods in Pennsylvania?
Revenge of the nerd(s)
Tonight’s show kicked off with another Randy Orton segment, as “The Viper” stressed the importance of picking up title number 15 in Las Vegas. The future Hall of Famer didn’t get to cover much ground before Matt Cardona arrived delivering a fine-looking punch as revenge for Orton calling him an “indie nerd” last week.
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Orton didn’t take the disrespect lying down, instead going backstage to demand that Nick Aldis pit him against Cardona in tonight’s main event, which the besuited general manager duly did. In the end, the bout would end with a clean victory for Randy Orton, rather than the violent beatdown for Cardona that I had been anticipating.
As Orton celebrated his win, a vengeful-looking Cody Rhodes made his entrance, racing down the ramp to get even with the man who pummeled him to a bloody mess two weeks ago. The ensuing pull-apart led to Orton hitting Jelly Roll (this week’s special guest) with an opportunistic RKO, thus concluding what turned out to be a pretty uninspired finale to the night.
“It’s going to be a long three weeks until WrestleMania,” said Wade Barrett on commentary, capturing my sentiments perfectly.
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McIntyre and Fatu survived their fall….
WWE paid tribute to a certain Sherlock Holmes story last week, as “SmackDown” ended with sworn enemies Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu falling from a raised platform to an unseen fate in front of gobsmacked looking bystanders.
Fear not, though, there were no fatalities, as Nick Aldis delivered his promised update, confirming that the duo will go one-on-one at this year’s WrestleMania. That has to be a solid Mania match by anyone’s metrics.
That said, there was bad news for those who had been hoping it might be a Hell in a Cell match, with the WWE authorities opting for an unsanctioned match (a la Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn from last year) instead. Obviously that could change in the weeks to come, but right now it looks like the 20-foot steel cell will be staying in WWE’s lock-up for now.
Jelly Roll racks up another milestone
Out of all the celebrities who get cameo appearances in the modern WWE product, I confess to having a soft spot for Jelly Roll. Not only did he take one hell of a bump at last year’s SummerSlam, but he also puts in more effort with his in-ring character, rather than just relying on name recognition alone.
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Prior to his appearance in the closing segment, the Grammy superstar appeared earlier on “SmackDown,” picking up a neat victory over Kit Wilson in his first ever singles match.
As you’d expect, the match felt more like a practice run ahead of Jelly Roll’s likely WrestleMania appearance rather than anything of substance. Though, it was nice to see the newly svelte superstar celebrating with his son afterwards.
Trick and Sami step up a gear
It’s going to be Trick Williams vs. Sami Zayn at WrestleMania, after a neat run of events led to Zayn winning the U.S. title on tonight’s “SmackDown” after some botched interference from Trick Williams during the US Championship open challenge.
Given the way that Williams has been received since arriving on the main roster in January, no one will begrudge him his Mania moment. But surely there has to be a way to involve Carmelo Hayes, whose superb title run was brought to a premature end by the Williams-Zayn shenanigans tonight. Do I sense a triple threat on the horizon?
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While we’re at it, isn’t it a bit weird to have zero acknowledgement that Williams and Hayes know each other? I know NXT call-ups tend to function as a clean slate, but these guys have more history than most.
The obligatory women’s tag match
Obviously there had to be another women’s tag match tonight, as WWE continues to build towards some kind of multi-woman showdown at this year’s WrestleMania. How many teams have we got in this feud by now? More than I can count on one hand, that’s for sure.
This time around it was the Bella Twins vs. CharLexa, with the twins picking up a win off the back of a distraction from Lash Legend (who was sitting at ringside with her fellow tag champ Nia Jax). After the disputed finish led to continued brawling between the various teams, we saw Bayley and Lyra run to the ring to get their piece of the action.
No doubt there will be another iteration of this extended tag feud next week. Any guesses which two teams will get their turn in the ring next time? At this point, we might as well put their names in the sorting hat and have ourselves a sweepstake.
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Ripley and Cargill tread water again
Ripley’s recent work with Jade Cargill hasn’t exactly been setting the internet alight. But maybe tonight would finally inject some chemistry into this world title feud ahead of WrestleMania?
After another superstar entrance by “The Eradicator”, Cargill appeared on the ramp with her new allies of convenience, Michin and B-Fab. The latter then delivered a quick promo, explaining why she and Michin took the decision to side with the woman who previously beat the paste out of her for kicks (spoiler: they didn’t really give a reason).
The segment led to a hastily-booked match between Rhea Ripley and B-Fab, though predictably the whole thing turned out to be a ruse for Cargill’s team to launch a group assault on Ripley. That would trigger a near-instant no contest and the equivalent of a big yawn from the live crowd.
Geeky question of the night
What’s with the two designs of the WrestleMania match graphics that we saw before the main event, with some matches having the electric blue backdrop and others having that Mad Max junkyard vibe?
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Is WWE breaking with recent precedent and letting us know in advance which matches will be on Saturday and Sunday? Who knows, perhaps they’ve figured that’s a good way to shift a few more seats, given that you can now buy tickets for the night of your choice (rather than having to buy the two-night combo).
👑 Uncrowned Gem(s) of the Night 👑
Blame my contrarian streak, but I came into tonight’s show keen not to follow the recent pattern of hailing the U.S. Title open challenge as the match of the night. Though for much of the first two hours, it looked like I’d have no option but to follow the trend…
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Thank goodness for Tiffany Stratton and Giulia, then, who delivered a satisfying showcase match that felt clean-as-a-whistle from start to finish. Despite both women having massively contrasting backgrounds (Giulia being a stalwart of the indie-tastic Japanese wrestling scene; Stratton being a gymnastic prodigy who was fast-tracked for a WWE tryout), they both had evident in-ring chemistry from the get-go.
We also saw a rare Tiffy “L”, after Giulia executed an opportunistic counter to Stratton’s “Prettiest Moonsault Ever” to score the pin-fall. Not that the defeat did her any damage on this occasion.
I give this show a crown score of: 👑 5/10 👑
WWE SmackDown (March 27) full card results and grades:
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Randy Orton def. Matt Cardona: 👑 3/5 👑
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Giulia def. Tiffany Stratton: 👑 3.5/5 👑
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WWE US Championship – Sami Zayn def. Carmelo Hayes: 👑 3/5 👑
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Jelly Roll def. Kit Wilson: 👑 2.5/5 👑
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Rhea Ripley vs. B-Fab ends in a no-contest: 👑 1/5 👑
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The Bella Twins (Nikki Bella and Brie Bella) def. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss: 👑1.5/5 👑