The Bloodline Start the Show, Angel and Humberto VS The LWO
Despite the fact that Cameron Grimes VS Grayson Waller was meant to start the show, The Bloodline’s Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa dropped Cameron during his entrance meaning SmackDown actually started with Paul Heyman calling Nick Aldis the bad guy when it comes to the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Aldis didn’t like this so he told Paul that the Main Event of SmackDown would see AJ Styles, Randy Orton, and LA Knight team up to take on The Bloodline and a person of their choice seeing as Roman Reigns wasn’t at the building. This was pretty simple stuff, but I would like to know what Cameron Grimes did wrong!
Grade: C+
After a Santos Escobar, Angel Garza, and Humberto Carrillo video promo, Paul Heyman told Jimmy Uso not to worry and that he’d find them a Tag Team partner for tonight’s Main Event. It was then time for the first match of the night as Angel and Humberto took on The LWO’s Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde. This was a pretty fun match between 4 very talented individuals. Some of the dives/high-flying moves were particularly cool to watch, but the ending was slightly silly as Carlito just decided to attack Santos Escobar for no real reason and this sort of cost his own team as Angel was able to score the victory whilst holding onto the ropes. Cool.
Grade: C+ (the finish hurt it a bit)
Bayley VS Bianca Belair, Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits Promo, Austin Theory VS Carmelo Hayes
Carmelo Hayes was about to ask Nick Aldis about a spot in the 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble match before Austin Theory and Grayson Waller walked in to talk trash. This ultimately led to a match being made between Melo and Theory because Waller “had already wrestled”. Paul Heyman then failed when trying to recruit Carlito to team up with The Bloodline before Logan Paul rightly said that Kevin Owens shouldn’t be allowed to use his cast during their United States Championship match. Finally, I’ve been going on about this for ages! We then got a tease that Pete Dunne might be coming back after Butch and Tyler Bate drank coffee (or something like that) before it was time for another match between Bayley and Bianca Belair. I thought this was actually a good match which was very much helped by the fact that it got plenty of time. Bayley and Bianca are two top stars in WWE (let alone the Women’s Division), but their matches in the past haven’t always clicked. However, I enjoyed this one, and ultimately, Belair was able to pick up the victory with the K.O.D. after Damage CTRL “refused” to help The Role Model when she clearly wanted and needed it.
Grade: B-
Kevin Owens invited Logan Paul to be his guest on The Kevin Owens Show next week before Bayley questioned Dakota Kai as to why Damage CTRL didn’t help her. Dakota told Bayley that she doesn’t need help and she won’t get help when it comes to winning the Women’s Royal Rumble. It was then time for Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits to call out Karrion Kross and A.O.P. Bobby told Karrion and The Authors of Pain to meet him in the ring, but this was instead met by Paul Ellering before a really well-done video package/promo appeared on the titantron which revealed that Kross’ new faction is called “The Final Testament”. I really like Karrion Kross so it’s always cool to see him featured on TV, and I thought overall that this looked really cool!
Grade: B
Pretty Deadly approached Paul Heyman about joining The Bloodline for tonight’s Main Event, but they then quickly changed their minds when The Wiseman told them that he only needs one of them and also they’d be facing AJ Styles, Randy Orton, and LA Knight. I certainly didn’t go into this week’s SmackDown expecting a segment between Heyman and Pretty Deadly, but I’ll certainly take it! We then got a Carmelo Hayes hype package which is always cool to see before Paul Heyman approached Bobby Lashley over the idea of teaming up with Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa. However, Lashley had no interest in this before he fired a warning shot in regards to “The Tribal Chief” Roman Reigns. It was then time for Austin Theory to go one-on-one with Carmelo Hayes. Theory and Melo are two of the brightest young Superstars in Wrestling today so they were having a pretty decent match until it was unfortunately called off due to Austin suffering a pretty horrific-looking landing. It was a big shame and I hope everyone’s okay!
Grade: No Grade
AJ Styles, Randy Orton, and LA Knight VS The Bloodline
After Paul Heyman gave up looking for a third Bloodline member, Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso attacked Randy Orton during his entrance which meant the Main Event “became” a standard Tag Team match. The weird thing about this is AJ Styles and LA Knight certainly don’t like each other, but I’m not at all convinced that Solo likes Jimmy either. The match itself was pretty decent, but like basically every SmackDown Main Event, the ending/aftermath was the most important. After Jimmy and Solo looked to be taking over, Randy Orton returned and hit all of his big moves before he delivered an RKO and pinned Uso for the 3 count before the three challengers to Roman Reigns’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship destroyed The Bloodline before the show ended with Styles, Orton, and Knight sending Solo Sikoa through the announce table with a Shield-like Triple Powerbomb. I now look forward to the return of The Head of The Table next week!
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