The week ends here with Friday Night SmackDown. I recently decided that I was done with the main roster recaps – atleast for weeklies – after NXT makes the move to Tuesdays. In other words, this is our final WWE SmackDown Recap, atleast for now. Watch this space.
(Storm warning is currently overriding Fox for me. They’re talking about it being canceled now but they’re still insisting themselves onto the screen anyway. Hope Roman Reigns opened the show with his long entrance, if so I’ve missed very little.)
Daniel Bryan is in the ring when the feed finally comes in and the WWE SmackDown Recap begins. He says Edge and Roman Reigns are dangerous but which Daniel Bryan are they going to face? Not the GM Daniel Bryan or family man Daniel Bryan. They will get the best and most dangerous version of him, with fire in his eyes and his heart and he is willing to do anything! One last question, can he walk out of the main event of WrestleMania as Universal Champion? “Yes” chant is piped in and he joins in.
Street Profits backstage celebrating their title opportunity.
They’re finally getting their title rematch now that they’re deep into a losing streak! Roode and Ziggler jump them.
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships: Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy vs. The Mysterios
Heels taking it to Dominik as we begin. Roode with a back elbow drops him for a 2 count. Gable tags himself in and takes over torturing Dominik’s arm. Dominik finally escapes, tag to Rey, tijeres takes him down. Elbow in the corner, Second Rope Moonsault but Gable catches him, only to eat an Around-The-World DDT! Roode and Ziggler break up the pin, Mysterios dropkick them out of the ring. Gable gets sent over the top rope but Otis catches him and sets him down amazingly, only for a tope suicida to take them out!
Commercial break, WWE SmackDown Recap will resume when we get back. We come back to see Ford avoid the heels in the corner, backflips into a dropkick to Roode! Cover for a 2 count. Pulls Roode up but Robert fights back with body shots. Wants a back suplex but Ford escapes, nails Roode and Ziggler with hard punches until Roode catches him with a Spinebuster!
Otis tags in, hits the ropes for a huuuge Discus Lariato!
Big body slam, elbow drop. Pulls Ford up, whips him, body shot. Gable tags in, Northern Lights Suplex to Montez for a 2 count! Dolph tags in, headlock, Ford escapes but eats a dropkick! Charges for a Fameasser but Ford catches him, Spinning Powerbomb! Dawkins tags in and goes wild, Flapjacks and Spinning Clotheslines. Rey Mysterio blind tags in, West Coast Pop to Roode, low bridges Dawkins! Dominik tags in, both Roode and Ziggler get taken to the ropes for the Double 619!
Dominik up top, Frog Splash! But Otis splashes onto him to break it up! Rey flies at him but gets caught and slammed! Street Profits with a double shot takes out Otis, Gable and Dawkins tag in and start exchanging cradles. Gable with the Chaos Theory! But Ford had tagged himself in! From The Heavens lands but Roode tags himself in at the last second, Dolph superkicks Ford and Roode makes the cover on Gable for the win.
Winners: Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler
Strong match, neat finish.
Bianca Belair with a promo backstage. Talks about how this is the opportunity of a lifetime and her whole family is watching. Says her being the EST of WWE means she’s the favorite and when she becomes SmackDown Women’s Champion, that’s going to be the greatest night of her life.
We see Big E at a barber shop talking about how unlike Apollo, he never forgets where he came from. Says this is where he comes when he needs to get his mind right. Shows us downtown Tampa where he grew up and became an amateur wrestler, where he learned the drive. Shows us Raymond James Stadium where he first became a champion. Says this is the same stadium where Crews’ Intercontinental dreams come to die.
WWE SmackDown Recap continues with, surprisingly, a Fiend/Orton vignette.
Kinda feel like you build the Raw Mania matches on the Raw go-home and the SmackDown Mania matches on the SmackDown go-home, but whatever.
Up next on the WWE SmackDown Recap, a match that I swear to God is happening a day from WrestleMania:
Nia Jax vs. Tamina
Lock-up, Nia shoves her away. Tamina overpowers her and takes it to her, Reginald gets involved, she grabs him but Nia runs through her. Jax grinds the boot into her in the corner. Pulls her up, whip to the adjacent corner. Charges, Tamina side-steps and Nia posts herself. Tamina goes up top, Shayna wants to interfere, Nattie stops her but gets sent into the steps! Nia pulls Tamina off the top but Tamina surprises her with a Superkick and a Samoan Drop! Cover, Shayna rushes into the ring to break it up for the DQ.
Winner: Tamina (by DQ)
Riott Squad backstage, Billie Kay and Carmella confront them. Ruby says Liv and her are laser focused on the tag team turmoil at Mania. Ruby says they’ve learned from their losses and are more in-sync than ever. Carmella says that’s real cute but the tag titles are theirs.
Mandy and Dana come in to ask “what about ask” and then Naomi and Lana do the exact same thing. Brawl breaks up, Nattie and Tamina get involved and wreck everyone because for some reason they’re the most protected tag team going.
As the WWE SmackDown Recap rolls on, there’s a smear campaign vignette against Cesaro, putting over Seth Rollins.
Edge makes his way out for our next segment, after the commercial break.
Zoom in on his crazy face as he talks about being at WrestleMania 6 and figuring out there what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Says when he dreams things he has to manifest them. And he did, he became a WWE Superstar who accomplished everything. Everything except ending his career on his terms.
If you have to ask, “Isn’t that enough?” then you don’t have the mentality it takes to fight for it for nine years. He didn’t want walk away, he had it ripped from him. And he didn’t forge another career on the back of this, this is all he wanted to do.
And he didn’t come back to be a shell of himself, he came back to main event WrestleMania.
Says Daniel Bryan talks about how this could be his last WrestleMania. Says a month of Bryan’s career is a year in his, what do you think this is for him? Bryan used sympathy to get into the match. Edge says now instead of a one-on-one clash of the titans of two eras, we have some indy bookstore clerk butting his way in their business.
Moves onto Roman, who acts like he owns the business and everyone owes him everything. Edge says Roman came in here with a three man group, coming down from the crowd and using a Spear as his finisher. Calls him a Samoan Edge, he owes him. Says their match has been ripped from them, same as it’s been ripped from the fans.
Mentions that this match takes place ten years to the day that he had to retire.
Not a mention of it, not a touching video package of it. If it were Bryan, they’d be running the narrative into the ground. Talks again about all he’s had to do, coming back from a triple fused neck and nobody has any idea the pain he’s gone through. Accuses Bryan of sullying his hard work by calling him a part-timer. Edge says again that he is the Rated R Superstar and he will become Universal Champion again because he dreamt it and he will now manifest it.
Sonya and Pearce backstage. She tells him that she doesn’t like the triple threat, should’ve been a singles match. And she just walks off.
Sasha Banks backstage says she doesn’t care what Bianca has to say, everyone only cares what she has to say. Says after she taps out, she’ll know her place and it’s beneath her. Sasha has an evil laugh now.
Bobby Lashley/Drew McIntyre vignette plays.
We see Logan and Jake Paul kicking Sami Zayn out of their gym.
Sami yells at commentary about how misleading the footage was until Kevin Owens jumps him.
Now, up next on the WWE SmackDown Recap….
Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
A battle royal breaks out, you probably know what that looks like. Shelton and Cedric double team Tozawa to take him out of the ring. Akira Tozawa has been eliminated. Tucker is their next target and they do the same, Tucker has been eliminated. Everybody stares down with the two of them and the madlads try to fight the whole field at once. This doesn’t go so well for them. Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander have been eliminated. Commercial break, WWE SmackDown Recap will resume when we come back.
We return to see a battle royal is still happening.
Elias and Ryker are the team now, ganging up on Erik. Erik has been eliminated. Slapjack and Mace double team Gulak and throw him to the floor. Drew Gulak has been eliminated. Double goozle, they toss somebody onto him, commentary did not name them and I didn’t get a good look, sorry. UPDATE: It was Humberto Carrillo! That’s an elimination. Elias with a high knee takes Slapjack to the floor. Slapjack has been eliminated. T-Bar and Mace fight with Ryker and Elias, Mace, Ryker and Elias end up eliminated. Now T-Bar squares up with Ali, tries to take him to the floor but Ali reverses. T-Bar has been eliminated.
Kalisto tries to reunite with Lucha House Party but they turn that down, Kalisto wants a Tornado DDT out of the corner but Dorado with an enziguri takes him to the floor! Gran Metalik then dumps Dorado. Kalisto and Lince Dorado have been eliminated. King Corbin attacks from behind, back body drop sends Metalik to the floor. Gran Metalik has been eliminated. Commercial break, WWE SmackDown Recap will resume when we come back.
We return to see Buddy Murphy and Angel Garza fighting on the apron.
Garza hangs on as Murphy tries to yank on him but just gets pants, Corbin knocks Murphy to the floor. Buddy Murphy has been eliminated. Shinsuke Nakamura attacks Garza, charging knee sends him to the floor. Angel Garza has been eliminated. Ricochet and Ali fight on the apron, Ricochet with a rana sends him flying onto Garza! Mustafa Ali has been eliminated. Corbin and Jey both make it tough for Ric to get back in, Superkick sends him to the floor. Ricochet has been eliminated.
Heels gang on Shinsuke until Corbin annoys Jey, he attacks him, Shinsuke makes his comeback and sends Corbin to the floor. King Corbin has been eliminated. Nakamura and Jey fight it out now, Nak wins out on strikes, plants him with an STO. Charges for Kinshasa but Jey with a Superkick – Nak comes back with the Kinshasa anyway! Wants to toss him but Jey reverses and dumps him for the win.
Winner: Jey Uso
Guess Jey needed to get something so this works.
Roman Reigns comes out, not at all happy to see Jey win. We’ll see the closing segment before WrestleMania when we return for the conclusion of the final (for now) WWE SmackDown Recap.
Roman says he’s appalled that he even has to be here.
He’s not a politician, running for president. He doesn’t have to sell himself to you. Roman says he’s got more important things to worry about, he has a match where he doesn’t have to get beat to lose the title. But while he’s here, may as well state the obvious that he is going to retain.
Reigns says that show day is the easy day, because when you prep at a 12, the 10 comes easy. Show up and win means that when Roman Reigns shows up, WWE is winning. He could be like Edge or Bryan, have one good week. Says since August 23rd he’s been doing this on a consistent basis for over 30 weeks in a row. Says the numbers don’t lie, he changed the ratings for this show and made his title the one everyone wants.
Which brings him to the dreamers.
Says Daniel Bryan is running around claiming he made Roman tap. “You Tapped Out” chant is piped in loudly. Reigns says if that were true, then he’d be champion but he’s not and he will never be. Says the dream for them is not to be champ but to be in the main event with him, that’s where it ends. If you think what he did this year was special, wait ’til you see what happens next. He’s not a dreamer, dreamers are selfish. But he’s the man with a golden hand and everything he touches has purpose. He saves careers.
Asks Jey who gave him the best year of his career? Hilariously cites the Andre the Giant Memorial Trophy as evidence. Roman says this Sunday he will wreck everybody and leave. Says he will bring them down, and they will hear millions of dollars worth of pyro going off and they will hear the whole world… acknowledge him.
And that’s the show!