The KO Show (Featuring Randy Orton), The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
WrestleMania SmackDown kicked off this year with The KO Show as Kevin Owens welcomed out his guest Randy Orton. Kevin and Randy “joked” about their disdain for Logan Paul before Logan Paul showed up on the screen to cut a promo from Lincoln Financial Field. This resulted in Owens and Orton leaving the arena and hopping onto a golf cart over to the home of the Philadelphia Eagles whilst A-Town Down Under just randomly chased after them! This was so odd, like seriously, odd!
Grade: C+
The first match of the night saw the return of the annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Instantly, Omos eliminated Kit Wilson before Elton Prince eliminated himself, and after that, plenty of guys were eliminated with relative ease, including Cameron Grimes which does suck a bit. Elsewhere, Omos accidentally eliminated himself whilst also getting rid of The Creed Brothers whilst JD McDonagh was able to sneakily eliminate Ricochet. The final 4 came down to Bronson Reed, Ivar, and Alpha Academy’s Otis and Akira Tozawa. Otis was the first man to go before Ivar dumped Tozawa out (who landed horribly) which meant it was down to Reed VS Ivar. They had some fun moments here, including a very bizarre roll from The Big Aussie, but in the end, it was Bronson Reed who was able to eliminate Ivar to secure the win, and yeah, this was okay for what it was, and I’m glad that Bronson got his well-deserved victory!
Grade: C+
Logan Paul Promo, Elektra Lopez VS Zelina Vega, Bianca Belair and Naomi Welcome Jade Cargill
Karrion Kross cut a very fiery video promo on Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits before Logan Paul showed up at the arena. Logan laughed about “tricking” Kevin Owens and Randy Orton before Austin Theory and Grayson Waller appeared on the screen to say they couldn’t find Kevin and/or Randy anyway. That’s because the Babyfaces were back hiding under the ring, and they just beat the United States Champion up for a couple of minutes. This was another very short and utterly bizarre segment.
Grade: C+
Dragon Lee was seen laid out in the back before it was time for Zelina Vega to go one-on-one with Elektra Lopez. Interestingly, before the match even started, Andrade walked out with Dominik Mysterio to support Elektra, and I thought this match was fine. It was more of an NXT match than a Main Roster match, but I didn’t hate it and I liked the ending. After Dominik jumped onto the ring apron, Rey Mysterio took care of him, but this allowed Lopez to hit the Elektra Shock to score the surprise 3 count. After the match, Andrade revealed his “true colours” by dropping the Heels and aligning himself with The LWO. It’s worth mentioning that Rey is now going to be teaming up with Andrade at WrestleMania to take on Dominik Mysterio and Santos Escobar, and I’ll be honest, none of this feels right.
Grade: C
Bianca Belair and Naomi were out next to cut a rather irritating promo on Damage CTRL before they welcomed out Jade Cargill. Cargill talked about how she’s ready to run through Damage Control and show them that “The Storm has Arrived”. I’ll be honest, I didn’t like this segment, it just didn’t feel very good.
Grade: C-
A-Town Down Under VS New Catch Republic, Iyo Sky VS Bayley Hype Package, LA Knight Promo
Jey Uso was well fired up backstage before A-Town Down Under had made it back to the Wells Fargo Center just in time to face the New Catch Republic in Tag Team action. This was probably the best in-ring action of the night, but it still felt like things were being held back a bit. However, that’s not at all a problem given it’s WrestleMania Weekend. In the end, a double Birminghammer was enough for Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate to get the victory before The Judgment Day arrived and absolutely destroyed these four men! Once again, The Judgement Day look way more dominant than anyone else, but I don’t think that will help them too much in a Ladder Match (which should be great by the way)!
Grade: B- (Because of the Post-Match Beatdown)
We got an Iyo Sky-Bayley hype package next which was really good and proved why Damage CTRL has been such a great faction. However, this feud hasn’t been booked well at all, Bayley especially has been an afterthought which is really unfair to be honest. However, it doesn’t change the fact that Iyo VS Bayley is a literally dream match of mine so I’m still really pumped for it! LA Knight then came out to cut a promo on AJ Styles, and all I have to say about this is the crowd. The crowd absolutely loved LA Knight here, he was so over, and it got to the point where it didn’t really matter what The Megastar was saying. You know you’re in a good place when that happens.
Grade: C+ for Iyo-Bayley, B- for LA Knight (YEAH!)
Jey Uso VS Solo Sikoa
After B-Fab cut a promo on The Final Testament, it was Main Event time as Jey Uso clashed with his young Brother Solo Sikoa. The action here was decent, I bet it was amazing for both Jey and Solo, but like nearly every SmackDown Main Event, the aftermath mattered more than the actual match. After Jey dropped Sikoa with a Spear and followed it up with an Uso Splash, Jimmy Uso arrived to cause the Disqualification before Cody Rhodes and the World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins ran down to make the save. In the end, the Babyfaces destroyed Jimmy with a weight belt before the show went off the air with Cody vowing that he will “Finish the Story”. Cool! Whilst this wasn’t the greatest show, I’m still so pumped for Mania Weekend, starting with NXT Stand and Deliver later today!