Ronda Rousey gets arrested
The 1200th episode of SmackDown kicked off when Ronda Rousey, who is still suspended, came out and said that she has paid the fine meaning that Adam Pearce should lift the suspension. Pearce came out and said that he can’t just get rid of the suspension because she asked him too and pleaded that Rousey leaves the arena calmly. Rousey being Rousey didn’t do this and ended up beating a bunch of security guards up. This ended up with her being arrested by “Police officers”. Ronda was then escorted out of the arena in a police car and whilst the car excited the arena, another pulled up with the Head of the Table Roman Reigns in it. A solid start to the show
Grade: C
Sonya Deville and Natalya VS Toxic Attraction, Sami and Roman Reigns
The final first round matchup of the Women’s Tag Team Championship tournament saw Sonya Deville and Natalya take on former 2-time NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Toxic Attraction, who replaced Zoey Stark and Nikkita Lyons due to an injury. This match wasn’t the best in ring action, but it was still fine and Toxic Attraction are definitely getting the better. The fact that the Montreal crowd knew who Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne where is a big positive. The best part of all of this though was the fact that Bayley, Dakota Kai and IHO SKY where sitting in the front. Bayley taking the mick out of Michael Cole is always entertaining. Jacy Jayne won with a rollup which was the right move as they are a proper tag team and it sets up a semi-final match against Aliyah and Raquel Rodriguez, someone they know very well from previous encounters.
Grade: C+
Sami Zayn was seen walking backstage and then a random person told him that Roman Reigns wanted to see him. Sami went into the Undisputed WWE Universal Champions’ office, and this was brilliant. Sami was so funny whilst Roman’s facial expression is top tier acting. Sami saying that Jey is always angry and shouting and then Roman saying you should have talked to Jimmy is funny as Reigns has always preferred Jey Uso. Roman’s phone went off and Reigns told Sami to answer the call. The best part of this is that it was from Jey and the picture of the caller was literally a massive PNG of Jey that I used to use for my PowerPoints. When Roman asked what Jey had said, Sami said he couldn’t understand him as he was shouting too much. The one thing that he did hear was that The Usos wouldn’t be there tonight due to travel issues and Roman’s faced turned from confident to very worried. This was all superb
Grade: A-
Maximum Male Models, Hit Row and Karrion Kross
Maximum Male Models where in the ring for their scheduled timeslot but before they could really say anything, Hit Row interrupted and pretty quickly chucked the Models out of the ring. They then decided to do a rap for a few minutes. I don’t particularly enjoy rap music, but I didn’t find this to be offensive/bad because I only understood about three words. The best part of this was Maxxine Dupri dancing on the entrance ramp to Max’s disgust. Expect a lot more of this in the following weeks and months.
Grade: C
Karrion Kross and Scarlett had a cool vignette that was very similar to how they were presented in NXT. Karrion Kross calling Drew “Mr. McIntyre” is always going to get a pop out of me. My Dad came out with the line “Kross is an angry man” which perfectly describes his entire character in 5 words. This was short and effective.
Grade: B
Intercontinental Championship Fatal 5-Way Number 1 Contenders match
Sheamus, Madcap Moss, Happy Corbin, Ricochet and Montreal’s own Sami Zayn had a fun match that detriment Gunther’s next challenger for the Intercontinental Championship. Sheamus hit 37 beats of the baldron which has to be a record. Corbin dominated early on and is still a very underrated performer. Madcap is getting better each week and will be a major player in a few years' time and Ricochet, in my opinion, is the greatest highflyer of all time. The best part of this is cowardly heel Sami Zayn, who is booed everywhere he goes, blew the house down with a standing ovation. If you had never seen wrestling before and watched his entrance, you’d think he’s a hero. Sami being taken out of the match due to injury and then coming back to the ring at the end of the match was the opposite of being a coward. He even hit his finishing move and was going to get the three, but mega heel Happy Corbin grabbed his leg and pulled him out of the ring. The match ended when Sheamus hit the brogue kick onto Corbin to get the win. This was fun, the fact that the Intercontinental Championship is finally being defended on a Premium Live Event is nice and Sheamus getting to wrestle on the UK show is the right decision.
Grade: B+
Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns Promo, New Day Funeral
A quick promo was shown hyping up Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre’s match for both Clash at the Castle and their face-to-face encounter which happened later on in the night. There Video Package for the Clash at the Castle Main Event is going to be incredible.
In a well filmed segment, The Viking Raiders where having a funeral for the New Day. The isn’t much to talk about with this other than the fact that they put both a New Day shirt and a box of Booty O’s on fire. The more exciting part came when a mysterious figure was seen putting on their Viking War paint. Hopefully, this is Sarah Logan as that would be a really cool way to bring her back to the company given the fact that she is married to Erik of the Viking Raiders.
Grade: B-
Liv Morgan VS Shotzi
Liv Morgan was interviewed backstage by Kayla Braxton who said that her injured arm is as much of a target as the one on her back. This was fine. Shotzi was also interviewed before there match and said she’ll injure Liv’s arm so bad that she would have to get a robot arm, that was a really cool line. The match wasn’t too long, it was more done to give Liv a win, but Shotzi did some good stuff and hopefully at some point she will get a massive push as she is a genuinely good character. After the match, Shayna Baszler beat her up for a bit and as much as she wanted to break Liv’s arm, she knew that it would be better to wait till Cardiff. I so hope Shayna wins.
Grade: B-
Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre come face to face
The Undisputed WWE Universal Champion had his normal long entrance and his usual acknowledge me opening line. The interesting part was the fact he had no one around him like he usually would. Roman then said that a lot of people say stupid stuff and that if you think you are the main event and your name is Roman Reigns, you're lying. If you think you carry this company and you're not called Roman Reigns, you're lying. Reigns saying that he isn’t a Main Eventer, he is the Main Event was a really cool line. Drew then came out and told Roman that he doesn’t represent the Championship’s well, and he is only the Champ because he has people around to help him, something he doesn’t have tonight. The Tribal Chief and the Scottish Warrior then had a brawl and as Drew was going to hit a Claymore Kick onto the Champ, the honorary UCE Sami Zayn took the bullet for the Tribal Chief meaning Reigns was able to deliver a Superman punch onto the number 1 contender. Roman then attempted to hit a Spear but was met by the Claymore Kick meaning that SmackDown went off the air with Drew McIntyre standing over the Head of the Table. If they keep this good booking up, this could be one of the biggest and best Main Event feuds in a long time.
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