The Rock Starts the Show
The Rock started this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown to a big ovation as The Great One had finally returned home! The Rock decided it would be a good idea to sing a song and this was genuinely quite funny, especially his lines on Seth “Freakin” Rollins. After this, Rocky warned Cody Rhodes’ Mom of what he’s going to do to The American Nightmare before he recited the main line from the hit song “Your Welcome”. This might have been my favourite Rock segment yet. Mainly because I love it when people take the mick out of Seth Rollins!
Grade: B+
The LWO VS Legado Del Fantasma, Grayson Waller VS Randy Orton, Dragon Lee VS Santos Escobar, No Catch Republic VS Pretty Deadly
We then went straight into the first match of the night as The LWO and Legado Del Fantasma collided for the opportunity to qualify for a Number 1 Contender’s Match. This was decent fun, even if it was a bit short. I talk all the time about how enjoyable Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde are, but the same can be said for Angel and Humberto. In the end, Garza and Carrillo were able to score the clean victory with their really good Tag Team finisher.
Grade: C+
Kayla Braxton welcomed LA Knight out to the stage as The Megastar called out AJ Styles for repeatedly ducking him. LA then challenged AJ to a match at WrestleMania before Styles arrived and smashed Knight in the back with a Steel Chair. The Phenomenal One then accepted LA Knight’s challenge so that should be a fun one! Logan Paul then told Nick Aldis that he should deal with Randy Orton before Jimmy Uso accepted Jey Uso’s challenge for a WrestleMania showdown! Randy Orton then made his way down to the ring as he looked to deal with Grayson Waller. This was exactly what you would expect, Orton kept dropping Grayson and Austin Theory, and in the end, an RKO was enough for The Viper to get the win. After the match, Logan Paul attacked Orton from behind, but he was dealt with by Kevin Owens before Theory brilliantly sold a Stunner/RKO combo. Nick Aldis then arrived to announce that Logan Paul will defend his United States Championship in a Triple-Threat Match against KO and Randy Orton at WrestleMania! That should also be a lot of fun.
Grade: C+
Dakota Kai told Bayley she was going to make her pay in tonight’s Main Event before it was time for Dragon Lee to go one-on-one with Santos Escobar. This match was surprisingly short which was a shame, and it resulted in Santos hitting the Phantom Driver to get the relatively straightforward win. After the match, Carlito attempted and failed to make the save, but Rey Mysterio was a bit more successful before Mysterio challenged Escobar to a match for next week. That’s definitely not ending clean!
Grade: C+
We then went straight into another Tag Team match as No Catch Republic took on Pretty Deadly for the opportunity to take on Legado Del Fantasma in a couple of weeks time. I personally wanted to see both of these teams at WrestleMania so I am a little bit disappointed about that. Anyway, this was fine, but we have seen Pretty Deadly do battle with Pete Dunne for about 8 months now. In the end, it was Dunne and Tyler Bate who got the win with their finisher, and I’ve now got my fingers crossed that Kit Wilson and Elton Prince host WrestleMania 40 (like they did at NXT Stand and Deliver last year).
Grade: C+
Bayley VS Dakota Kai
And in the Main Event, Dakota Kai made her long-awaited return to in-ring action to take on her former Tag Team partner Bayley. I enjoyed this, simply because it was really nice to see King Kota back in the ring. It must have also been quite a nice moment for Bayley, despite all the constant interference from the rest of Damage CTRL. In the end, Bayley won by Disqualification before Naomi ran down (and ultimately failed) to make the save. The show then went off the air with Iyo Sky hitting a nasty-looking Moonsault on The Role Model.
The Rock is the greatest of all time. Enough said