Randy Orton Starts the Show, Damian Priest and Jimmy Uso VS Drew McIntyre and Shinsuke Nakamura
Friday Night SmackDown, Live from Bologna, Italy started with Randy Orton making an appearance as The Viper was serenaded to the ring! Before Randy could say much, Kevin Owens interrupted as KO wanted to apologise to Orton for his actions, saying he didn’t deserve it, and if they can learn to forgive each other, they would have a great chance of leaving WrestleMania as the WWE Tag Team Champions! Unfortunately for Owens, Orton rejected this request rather quickly, and instead decided to challenge Kevin to a match for Mania which I guess has been authorised! This wasn’t a bad way to start the show, it furthered the story between Randy and KO nicely, and the crowd was into it!
Grade: C+
We then headed straight into the first match of the night as Damian Priest and Jimmy Uso teamed up to take on the duo of Shinsuke Nakamura and Drew McIntyre! This was a very random match, at least with Jimmy Uso being involved, but this was very much centered around the ongoing feud between Damian and Drew! McIntyre was actually pretty dominant for the large majority of this match, but Priest was able to fight back with the hot tag before The Punisher dropped Shinsuke with a South of Heaven to get the win! However, after the match, Drew McIntyre attacked Damian Priest from behind before he delivered a Claymore to send a clear message!
Grade: C+
Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair’s Sit-Down Interview, Braun Strowman VS Jacob Fatu, Piper Niven VS Zelina Vega
Braun Strowman made it clear to LA Knight backstage that he’s coming for the United States Championship once he finishes off Jacob Fatu before Joe Tessitore conducted a sit-down interview between Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair! There was a lot of talking over each other here, but the basics of this segment was Charlotte was basically saying that Tiffany isn’t special, and no one can compare to Charlotte Flair, even if they try! I will say that I thought Charlotte’s delivery here was very good, this was Flair at her best, but it also hurts Tiffany a bit. Stratton is amazing, I’ve been raving about her since NXT 2.0, but she just comes off second best every time here!
Grade: B-
The next match actually had some pretty important stakes as Braun Strowman and Jacob Fatu collided in a match where the winner would earn a shot at LA Knight and the United States Championship! Braun and Jacob have fought quite a lot by now, but I thought this was probably their best contest to date. Strowman looked better here than he’s been in a while, and Fatu is always so good! Interestingly, the rest of The Bloodline showed up to attack Strowman, meaning the referee called for a disqualification which means Braun is the one moving on to fight for the US Championship next week! Jacob Fatu was rightly pissed off by this, and his anger in a backstage segment later on proves that this is definitely leading somewhere!
Grade: B-
Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez made it clear that they have an issue with Jade Cargill because she didn’t come out and prove their innocence before it was time for Piper Niven to go one-on-one with Zelina Vega! This match got a lot of time, which was nice for the performers, and the contest did get better as it progressed! However, it wasn’t the most entertaining of the bouts, and the Italian crowd was completely flat which says a lot! Zelina was also in a bit of a handicap position with both Chelsea Green and Alba Fyre getting involved on the outside, and in the end, Niven was able to get the win after squashing Vega with a crossbody!
Grade: C
Liv Morgan VS Jade Cargill, The Street Profits VS Los Garza
After Jade Cargill cut a promo saying she’s coming back to take out multiple people, Cargill made her way down to the ring to take on Liv Morgan! This was a fine match, I thought Liv did really well of guiding Jade through the contest, it’s actually amazing to consider just how far Morgan has come! Raquel Rodriguez was also on the outside trying to get involved, and that distraction allowed Naomi to arrive and hit Cargill with Liv’s WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship, opening the door for Morgan to nail ObLIVion and shocking pin Jade Cargill! That I did not see coming, but it says an awful lot about Liv!
Grade: C+
Drew McIntyre left the arena saying he was going to drop Damian Priest every time he sees him before The Street Profits arrived for a Championship Celebration! However, that was quickly interrupted by Legado Del Fantasma who had no interest in seeing this before Pretty Deadly showed up to remind everyone that they’re next in the line for the WWE Tag Team Championships! Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins had had enough of this so they got themselves a match with Los Garza, and I thought this was pretty decent stuff! However, the absolute highlight was Santos Escobar as The Emperor of Lucha Libre continued to get more and more annoyed as the match went on, like he was genuinely hilarious! Santos would also leave the arena pretty angry too as Montez Ford was able to hit a Frog Splash to get the win in non-Title action!
Grade: B-
Roman Reigns, CM Punk, and Seth “Freakin” Rollins Collide
After Pretty Deadly rejected DIY’s request of a little partnership, Roman Reigns arrived to the biggest reaction of the night as The Tribal Chief demanded acknowledgement from the crowd in Bologna! Roman said that CM Punk screwed him at the Royal Rumble whilst Seth “Freakin” Rollins tried to kill him, and that he’s waiting for anyone to come and interrupt him! Indeed, that’s exactly what Seth Rollins did as the crowd serenaded The Visionary down to the ring as Rollins made it clear to Reigns that he made a big mistake not letting him finish CM Punk for good! Speaking of CM Punk, he was out next to remind Paul Heyman of the favour he still has, and then he just attacked Reigns from behind with a microphone! A 3-man brawl then broke out with everyone wailing on each other before the show ended with Reigns, Rollins, and Punk all pointing to the WrestleMania sign! This was such a good segment, a Triple Threat at Mania could be special!
Comments