WWE SmackDown Review: Tama Tonga joins The Bloodline, #1 Contenders Match, Tiffany Stratton vs Naomi

This is WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre and you're listening to the WWE podcast show,
the one that everybody wants me tellt me sixteen. So God just us.
Your ass is my ard. You can acknowledge me. What's going on?
Everybody, Guys and girls, Welcome back to another edition of the SmackDown Review
right here on the WWE Podcast. As always, I am one of the
hosts of this show, Michael Ritter. You can find me on x at
Michael five Ritter on Instagram at Michael Ridder five and also one of the hosts
of the Football Function podcast, available on all of your podcasting platforms, including
on Patreon if you prefer an ad free listening experience. We are officially into
the new season, if you will, of WWE as soon as WrestleMania is
over. You guys already know how it works. There is no off season.
The very next night, Raw after Mania is typically a pretty good episode
of ww television for the most part, every single year. Usually you get
a couple of call ups, maybe a return something they saved just so Lety
did an empty their entire basket at WrestleMania, something to kind of get the
crowd excited that following night you usually see something in that regard. I thought
this episode of Monday Night Raw was pretty good. The opening segment with Cody
Rhodes and the Rock obviously was pretty long, took up a pretty good chunk
of the show. So I feel like, you know, this episode of
SmackDown was really that SmackDown after Mania feeling, you know, like compared to
Monday Night Raw. I think that Friday Night SmackDown just whenever you think about
obviously a new person showing up. We can talk about that here in a
little little bit, and then you know, next week on Monday Night Raw,
they're getting shamous from what I've seen. We'll see if you know,
they end up staying on those respective brands. Given that the ww Draft is
just a couple of weeks away, and that's another reason to get excited just
in of itself. I mean, the ww draft usually shakes things up.
Now back in the day, back in the Ruthless Aggression era, kind of
going into the PG era just whenever the brand split was still a thing,
the WWE draft meant a lot more because you know, those draft picks felt
more like holy crap, Like when John Cena was drafted from SmackDown over to
Monday Night Raw. That was absolutely insane whenever Randy Orton went over to SmackDown.
You know, like there's been times whenever these draft picks and you know,
people switch shows where it does kind of floor you. I feel like,
you know, we've kind of lost that, and that's something that is
underappreciated really, just wrestlers becoming synonymous with a specific brand. Seth Rollins,
for example, he's part of probably one of the rare ones in today's WWE
where it would feel weird if Seth Rawlins came over to SmackDown just because he's
been on Monday Night Raw pretty much since the brand split's been back. I
mean, we've seen him on SmackDown. I mean, he was at the
SmackDown that I went to in Dallas, Texas, back in March, so
it's not like we never see him there. But him actually being a SmackDown
superstar I feel like would be you know, pretty jaw dropping. Other than
that, you know, I mean, of course, Roman Rains, he
spent so much time on Monday Night Raw that if he were to show up,
it wouldn't necessarily feel any different. But you know, I mean back
in the Russo's Aggression era, which is, you know, an era I
like to reference a lot on this show, you had the wrestlers that really
felt synonymous with their specific brand, specifically on SmackDown. I mean, there
were the ones on Raw, you know, like the Dudley Boys. Whenever
you think about the Dudley Boys, you don't really ever think about them being
on SmackDown. Kind Of the same thing with Stone Cold Steve Austin, you
know, he was a Monday Night Raw superstar Triple H although he had his
run on SmackDown early before he had his huge World Tavyweight Championship run on Monday
Night Raw with Evolution. But wrestlers like you know, Kurt Angle, Undertaker,
Eddie Guerrero, There's so many that just felt like they belonged on SmackDown,
even the big show, you know, like there was a pretty talented
roster, even the announced team with Michael Colin Taz. The referees had their
blue shirts and obviously the ropes were blue, which is something that would be
such an easy, small addition that would make such a difference. And I'm
not going to get any further into that, but anyways, wrestle Mania has
come and gone. WrestleMania forty. I felt like the card itself was relatively
predictable. I will say I did not The one thing that happened on WrestleMania
weekend that I did not expect to happen that kind of swerved me was Austin
Theory and Grayson Waller winning the Tag Team Championships. So I kind of,
you know, I fully expected that our Truth in the Miz could do it.
I thought that that was, you know, a fairly likely outcome.
Now with the other belts, I thought that, you know, New Ketch
Republic had an opportunity to do it. I thought maybe they would want the
judgment data, you know, keep a little bit of their goal, not
both sets of tag Team Championships, but maybe instead of just losing one,
maybe just or instead of losing both, losing one. I do like the
decisions that they went with. We'll see what Grayson Waller and Austin Theory ended
up doing with these championships. That all they got was a video package on
SmackDown Tonight. It's not like they got any type of TV time in front
of the crowd. This was clearly like a pre taped video package that they
cut, and you know, we saw Nick Altis backstage with New Catch Republic
and the Street Profits and he said they you know, he's going to do
what he can to find challengers for those SmackDown Tag Team Championships, which does
kind of make me wonder what they're going to do with the belts, Like
are they going to just continue this color theme? Like are they going to
just leave the belts blue keep the belts red. That's pretty much the only
type of connection to the last few years or whenever the belts were theme to
their specific brand, you know, the Raw Women's Championship, the SmackDown Women's
Championship, and you know the tag team belts as well, which always led
to that confusion. You know, if a wrestler from a different show won
that belt, it kind of made no sense for it to be named after
a specific brand. So I feel like they should get away from those now
that they have an opportunity to do that. They could just I know they
don't like bringing back old belts, but I mean, you could easily just
bring back the World Tag Team Championships and the WWE Tag Team Championships. It's
exactly what they just did with the women's titles, right, Like now we
have the Women's World Championship and the WWE Women's Championship. They're you know,
spitting images of the men's belts, just with white straps. So I feel
like you could easily just bring back the belts that were in the Ruthless Aggression
era, you know, like have the World Tag Team Championships which were held
by Like I mentioned the Dudley Boys several times, when the Hardy Boys got
their hands on those championships. I remember whenever Caine and RVD had those belts.
We saw them make their way to evolution multiple times, Dave Batista and
Rick Flair, and then the WWE Tag Team Championships. Obviously, you can
think about the Guerreros having those. You can also think about the Basham Brothers.
Those belts were also passed around on that brand, and you know,
I would be fond if they just made a little bit of a callback.
You don't have to absolutely make them, you know, spitting images obviously because
you have to put that new WWE logo on them. But I think there
is a way where you can make it at least resemble it in a certain
you know, in a way kind of similar to the World Heavyweight Championship.
It looks a lot like the old school World Heavyweight Championship. It just you
know, a little bit different. So I would be a fan if that
happened. But as far as the rest of WrestleMania, I mean, you
know, the the second night was extremely predictable, I felt, which wasn't
a bad thing. Just as far as the winners and losers. Now,
did I expect Damian Priest to go out there and cash in, Absolutely not.
I did expect Drew McIntyre to win, which he did. You know,
I'm glad he got his moment. We'll see how that plays out going
forward. Obviously with him and them going to Scotland soon, it just made
sense for him to be the champion. Maybe they'll let him win it there.
I've seen that speculated on the internet, so you know, kind of
just let that play out. But as far as him going out there cashing
in, seeing Punk having a hand in it, it just it was beautiful.
It was great storytelling and I feel like everybody kind of you know,
they were able to satisfy multiple different fan bases throughout the entire Day universe.
Obviously, Seeampunk be an injured, he couldn't be involved in the match,
so they wanted to see him get some type of involvement in this storyline.
He did just that by pretty much costing Drew McIntire's championship. Now Drew McIntire's
to blame for the most part, but because Sampunk pretty much looked like he
got the better of Drew and it cost Drew his championship. Now, whenever
he's healthy, we're probably gonna see a grudge match between them two. And
you know, I wouldn't be surprised that this ended up running all the way
down to SummerSlam with one of these guys end up taking the championship away from
Damian Priest. But obviously it's a long way to go. We'll see who
ends up being the actual number one contender whenever that time comes. Because I
feel like, you know, they're gonna give Damian Priest still a little bit
of a run with this belt here. It'll make Judgment Day feel a little
bit more legit. Now they have both world championships, Ria's WWE Women's World
Title and now just the World Heavyweight Championship. So yeah, I feel like
that's a that's a great start for this new era, this quote unquote new
era over there on Monday Night Raw, which you know, we're hearing a
lot about that, right, We're hearing a lot about the new era in
WWE, the Paul Lovec era, and it does make sense, you know's
he's doing a lot of great things with the company. They're breaking a lot
of records, and I feel like that's only going to continue just because how
great the roster is. And whenever you actually have somebody as capable as Triple
H pulling the strings and kind of making it all happen. You know,
he knows how to produce a good product. And I've already mentioned it several
times. You guys already know the you know, the longtime listeners, which
shout out to the new listeners who have come. I know that WWE,
the WWE podcast has really shot up in the overall rankings. I think you
know, we cracked the top ten. I believe you know that's you know,
obviously shout out to Matt and everything he's built here. But I know
there's probably some new listeners, so shout out to you guys. But the
longtime listeners, I'm sure you guys are well aware that the Ruthless Aggression era,
in my opinion, is one of the best eras of all time.
And because Triple Hs was so involved in that, you know, specifically on
Monday Night Raw, and he was able to see how well WWE was ran
with a structured format, I think this WWE draft could be a little bit
more beneficial, and you know, I think that it could be more set
in stone once these you know, once these wrestlers really get cemented into their
new homes. Keep in mind, Nick Altis wasn't here the last time we
did a ww draft. You know. Now it's him and Adam Pierce pretty
much going head to head. They have their own little side rivalry going on.
Man, I just I think something just tells me, you know,
we're entering this new era. It seems like now is the time pull the
trigger on it. The roster has never been deeper. All the championships have
never meant more than they do right now with what Kunther's done. Logan Paul
having a United Champion or the United States Championship now, Cody Rhodes having the
WWE Championship. Obviously, the World Heavyweight Championship is just it's coveted now because
what Triple Ah said, he put it on South Rollins. He made that
championship mean so much, But now there's so much story tied into that,
Like now Drew McIntyre wants to get his hands back on it, seth Rawlins.
You know, he's gonna have his rematch at some point, and it's
gonna take some time off. That's pretty much well established at this point,
at least four weeks. But even then I think maybe, you know,
he's probably gonna take a little bit of a break from the championship picture and
maybe someone like seeing Punk who was just entrenched in that storyline, given that
he's the one that cost Drew. So the World Heavyweight Championship is juicy and
it has its own interest for other reasons, whereas the ww Championship, I
mean, you don't even have to say anything. I mean, it was
just taking off of Roman Rains. This is the first time that I'm recording
a podcast here on the WWE podcast that Roman Reigns isn't the champion, and
I've been doing this since twenty twenty, so, I mean, holy,
you know what, like it is a new era and there's reasons to be
excited. You know, obviously we don't have to get too much further into
the WrestleMania aspect of it, but you know, this is the first time
I've gotten a chance to hop on here and talk to you guys about what
I think was one of the most entertaining WrestleManias of all time. But you
guys are here to talk about SmackDown, specifically the SmackDown that aired on April
twelfth, twenty twenty four, from Detroit Rock City, Detroit, Michigan location
Breakdown brought to you, obviously by none other than DJ Cuzmo, and this
episode of SmackDown open with Cody Rhodes, the new undisputed WWE Champion. Now,
hey, are they dropping the universal tagline to this? I'm not one
hundred percent sure. I've just noticed Samantha Irvin has said it. We've seen,
you know, the commentary team, whether it's Michael Cole, whether it's
Krey Graves. I've heard it being called just strictly the WWEE Championship, the
undisputed ww Championship, and sign me up, like, if that's what they're
going to do, If that's what they're going to call it. I think
that would be awesome, just you know, it's a lot more simple.
Hayman likes to drag it out. A lot of people like to just make
it such a long the WWE undisputed Universal Heavyweight Champion, Like that's way too
damn Mini, Let's be honest undisputed ww champion right there. I think it's
perfect. But Cody mentions being interrupted by the Rock on Monday Night Raw and
then does a little bit of a callback to his wife's quote unquote open mic
night quote from AEW which was you know, a nice little, a nice
little Brandy Brandy Rhodes cameo. If you haven't seen it, go look it
up Brandy Rhodes open mic. I'm sure if you just type it in on
YouTube you'll be able to find it. You type it in on the X
bar or Twitter bar or whatever you call it. It was just pretty entertaining
from you know, one superstar to another who all are pretty much in ww
Now. I know Brandy Rhods isn't officially in WWE, but her her husband
is the guy, you know, so that I feel like pretty much catapults
her too well in the WWE circle. Now he talks about the Rock giving
him an item or should I say, returning an item that was actually gifted
to him by Cody Rhodes, and then of course walking into the sunset.
You know, if you didn't already see the Monday Night Raw that happened after
Mania, definitely go watch this segment. Like I said, it opened the
show was about forty five minutes. I'm sure Matt talked all about it on
the raw review, but that's pretty much what they were alluding to. But
just like the rest of us, Cody doesn't anticipate that his run ins with
the Rock are over, but that's down the line. There are very important
things to discuss happening right now, such as his next opponent for Backlash,
and then he lists off the six men battling for that opportunity in two triple
threat matches. The winners of those triple threat matches that are happening tonight face
off next week one on one, and the winner gets a trip to Backlash,
France to be exact, and an opportunity to face Cody Rhodes for the
WWB Championship. So I mean lots on the line here. This is very
quickly as we get into this new season, some of these superstars are getting
a very good opportunity to really catapult themselves to the very top, you know,
in the main event picture here on a pay per view that's going to
be probably massive. If you just look at how the other overseas WWE pay
per views have been, it's outstanding what they're able to do overseas, and
that's a testament to the overseas fans having the passion. They don't get a
chance to see it on a weekly basis, like like you know, like
we do here in the States, whether it's live events, shows that are
merely just a handful of hours away. You know, you look at people
that are overseas that are diehard WWE fans just like us. They don't get
the opportunities that we get. So you know, you definitely you always appreciate
that WWE starting to give them a big stage. I'm not just going there
for a Monday Night Raw or a tour where they're doing several Monday night raws
and some live events. They're going there for some of the biggest shows that
are featuring some of their biggest stars. So you have to appreciate that.
But Cody Rhoades does mention he has respect for some of these you know,
superstars that are in here, specifically Kevin Owens, Raymastereo, you know,
probably a couple others, but he does say to all of them that if
you're coming for the King, you best not miss and we hit his music,
and that kind of leads me right there. As soon as this scene
happened, or this segment happened in real life, I knew. I was
kind of like, Okay, who's the champion on SmackDown now? Like,
is it Cody rhads Did he come over from Raw? Does him winning this
championship automatically mean that he's going to be a SmackDown superstar? The draft coming
up is likely going to explain and answer all those questions. So it's like
whenever I'm watching a movie or specifically wrestling with my step son, he has
to He's always asking me, what's this, what's that? Like, what's
happening and what's going on? And I usually tell him, hey, like,
if you just watch it, every question you have will probably be answered,
and if it hasn't, then I'll explain it, you know, at
the end. But that's kind of what I'm trying to tell myself here,
like, yes, there's questions I have about where WWE is going to go
moving forward, specifically with how they're going to handle this brand split. But
I do think that because the people that are involved and making the decisions have
a really good track record so far, I think that, you know,
we should give them the benefit of the doubt at this point and just kind
of assume that they're going to do what's best for the company. And you
know, I think that at the very least they've earned that, given you
know, the success that they've had just in the last few months. But
moving on here, the Bloodline are shown approaching the champion's locker room, but
it no longer says the Bloodline. It says American Nightmare, and they look
shocked, and Kevin Owens walks by pretty much just approaches that same door,
except he walks in makes sure to tell them that they are not invited,
and Solo says he'll take care of it, And at this point that just
makes me laugh out loud. I'll get to that here just a little bit.
But Hayman tells him, Solo that is that he has to accept that
it's the chance locker room and the best way to get it back is to
get the championship back, and that's directly from the Tribal Chief. Now moving
on here, we get a triple threat match, one of the two triple
threat matches that are going to determine the number one contender, or at least
the wrestlers in the number one contenders match for Backlash, challenging Cody Rhodes.
This one is between Santos Escobar, Bobby Lashley, and La Night. Before
the match, they show a backstage interview where Santos makes it very clear that
it was not Legato del Fantasma that attack Dragon Lee. So I just wanted
to kind of make that a very important point. Who knows that they're telling
the truth or not. This is another thing that we kind of just have
to let develop. If this was just a little bit of a heel move
where they're trying to lie obviously it was them, then that wouldn't shock me.
But if there was somebody else involved, and they're about to bring somebody
else in, because like I said, it's that new season where call ups
happen, returns happen, new arrivals happen. You never know who's going to
show up is pretty much. While I'm trying to s but as far as
the actual match goes, l A. Knight is in control whenever Angel and
humberto interfere, and then obviously outcome the Street Profits because from Berto and Angel
Garza start to go after Bobby Lashley, and then the Street Profits come out
and take them out of the equation, and then of course Electro Lopez is
taken out by b Fab. Santos sends Bobby Lashley to the corner ring post,
and then La Knight hits blunt force trauma to get the win in advance
to the Number one Contenders match next week. I feel like that was the
right winner. Pretty good booking. I mean, there was an obvious,
clear distraction point in the match where the momentum shifted and you still thought that
maybe Santos was going to win, and luckily he did not. And you
know, La Knight gets the most important win so far obviously just be aj
styles, but you know going forward, this is going to get him closer.
So it's one of the most important wins on his path to the undisputed
WWE Championship. So up next, the Bloodline come out and Paul Hayman addresses
WrestleMania forty and clarifies that the blowline have no excuses for what happened. They
aren't blaming any of the people who came out, not John Cena, not
the Undertaker, not even main event Jay Usso they're taking responsibility for Roman getting
distracted by his lust for revenge. On seth rawlins. As Hayman is getting
ready to talk about Roman rising from the ashes like a phoenix, Solo interrupts
him, talking about how a losing and winning quote unquote matter and that losing
should have consequences. Now, before I go any further, what the hell
is Solo? Oh man, I don't even know, like kind of where
to start on this. This is the same guy that's lost like thirty five
matches in a row, the same guy that cannot get a win is not
really taking serious whatsoever, but yet he is getting upset and winning and losing
matters, and there should be consequences, Like, please tell me they're going
to call back to this at some point and someone is going to acknowledge that
Solo is on a massive losing streak. That's kind of what I was talking
about earlier, you know, whenever I said that, you know, whenever
he said, I'll take care of this, whenever Kevin Owens walked in where
I almost laughed out loud, like I'm curious, like who are they trying
to fool at this point, Like solo, he can frown all he wants,
he can kind of stand there, but all it really does is make
him look like a jackass whenever he loses on a weekly basis. I don't
know what it is about, like the don't it's not really a criticism of
him. It's more so of the booking and the people making the decisions,
because they're the ones that are, you know, booking him to lose these
matches, but they're also trying to come out here and book him as this
scary enforcer that we're supposed to all think is going to get a win whenever
in reality, this guy hasn't won a match since what like September. I
don't know when exactly the whole John Cena thing happened, but it's been such
a long time that it's like, like, what are you going to take
care of Are you going to give Kevin Owens the momentum he needs to,
you know, go be throwing Cody Rhoades. You say you're going to take
care of this. The only thing you're going to do, Like anytime you
touch another wrestler, they get a win. So it seems like you're probably
the last person that needs to quote unquote take care of anything as far as
the bloodline goes, because maybe the blood line grew in numbers, well I
don't know. Maybe they might have stayed the same, because if you count
Jimmy Uso leaving, then you know who knows because continuing on here, after
he says that there's consequences, he turns his attention to Jimmy Uso, gives
him a hug and says I love you, before turning away and allowing Jimmy
to be attacked from behind by none other than Tama Tonga. Now I'm most
familiar with this guy from his long running feud on the internet with enzoah Moore.
So this is someone that's been a professional wrestler for a very long time,
the son of Haku, So he is a legitimate bloodline member. But
I will say him and Jimmy Uso kind of feuding immediately out of the gate,
that seems like a great move. Jimmy USO definitely needs to get a
better taste in everybody's mouth because that match at WrestleMania with Jay was just absolutely
pathetic and people are just crapping all over it. A lot of people saw
it coming because Jimmy himself isn't a really good singles wrestler, and you knew
that the chemistry just wasn't going to be there. It was just a superkick
fest, and you know, I just I really wasn't a fan of that.
So we'll see if Tomatonga can give a better performance with Jimmy, if
that is the direction they decide to go. But Hayman clearly didn't want this
to happen. He tries to call Roman reigns both Solo grabs his phone and
stomps on it before Solo destroys Jimmy with a chair in the corner of the
ring, and Hayman has shown saying that this is not what the Tribal treef
wants. Now, I will say, Solo grabbing the phone and stomping it
did absolutely nothing. Like I'm sure I wasn't the only person that said,
I mean, come on, dude, like that wouldn't do anything at all.
If it were a flip phone and maybe you broke it like that,
then yeah, cool, I could understand that, or like a BlackBerry where
you could absolutely like damage the keyboard or something. But the fact that it
was like an iPhone and you stomped on it between the wrestling matt and your
wrestling boot, it's like, come on, like that didn't do anything if
you'd have thrown it towards the stage, which smaller stage. Triple H commented
that this is probably gonna be something they do going forward, just to allow
more fans to be in there. I'm all for it. I've always said,
I've been saying at least here lately that I feel like they're overdoing it
with the LED boards, like all the LED lights and all that stuff.
The ring post, the barricade, the ramp, the stage, everything at
this point can light up and do all types of different, you know,
different pictures and graphics, which is cool. It's nice to show off the
new technology, but at the same time, it does somewhat take away from
the beauty of just pro wrestling, you know, and I feel like they're
trying to drift away from sports entertainment. I know that the LED lighting is
pretty much nothing to do with sports entertainment. But I'm just saying, if
they're trying to go back to a more pro wrestling world, then maybe just
dial it back a little bit. You know, you can still do all
your pyro and you could still have led features, you know. I mean,
I don't think they're going to change their ring posts and their barricade and
things like that, but what they're doing with the stage, I feel like
could possibly be enough. That's just kind of you know what I've gathered just
from the few times I've seen the wrestlers come out. I think it adds
a lot to it. It makes the wrestlers feel bigger than you know,
when they're coming out of a massive stage, they kind of look like normal
people. But if they're walking out of this smaller entrance where it just makes
them look a little bit bigger and the fans are right there next to them,
it just seems like it's a win win all around. So, you
know, who knows how long they continue to do that. I do like
specific stages, you know, like specifically Backlash, Like back in the day,
Backlash used to have a very cool entrance theme, Like I don't even
know how to explain it. You're just gont have to go google some of
the Backlash stages over the years, and it always used to have a nice,
a nice theme to it. It would be cool to see them bring
that back or something in that nature. Just you don't have to bring the
Pyro and the Led, but you can bring just the specific themed stages.
You know. No Mercy used to have a nice specific entrance, same thing
with like Armageddon and Judgment Day. So all the pay per views that they
have gotten rid of, it's allowed them to just make all of their stages
not have any type of theme that go with it. And if they were
to just go back to that direction, like I said, Triple H is
more than familiar with that era, so you know, who knows what they
can end up doing, But it would just be something that I would advocate
for for sure. But anyways, continuing on here, bron Breaker versus Cameron
Grimes very decisive win for bron Breaker. He has a new entrance theme.
There really wasn't a whole lot more to take away from this other than I
hope you know he's one of the guys that stays on SmackDown during this draft.
He would definitely be towards the top of my list of, you know,
the guys that I would love to keep on this brand. Up next,
Bailey comes out to you Deserve It Chance and she talks about how damn
good it feels to be WWE Women's Champion again and this title reign feels different.
Of course, she credits the fans, but it really feels genuine,
not just your typical babyface agenda where they want to please the crowd and say
it's because of you guys. I feel like she does have a type of
following and you know, a massive fan base where that is genuine, and
there's always been Bailey signs and people that want to see Bailey on top,
and they feel like she has a lot of talent and you know, she's
not a spring chicken either. She's getting up there in terms of you know,
pro wrestling ages. She's been around for quite a while, and she
didn't get in this when she was like twenty two years old, you know,
so it's definitely been a long journey for Bailey and she's had a hell
of a career and you look at some of the fans that she's had over
the years, you know, especially in her Hugger era, which was I
don't even know how long ago, like well like five years ago, that
she's been that version of herself. And you know, you know, those
fans are damn near adults now, you know, and they have that connection
with Bailey, So I think that she means it whenever she says that the
fans are a big reason why she is where she is. But she says
that she's excited to start off this era the right way by giving an opportunity.
And as she's speaking, Tiffany Stratton interrupts her and assumes that the challenge
was for her, but Bailey says that she had somebody else in mind,
Naomi. Tiffany says that Naomi couldn't win a title if it glowed in the
dark, and on cue her music hits and Naomi comes out and tells Tiffany
that she tried her on the wrong night and before she could accept Bailey's challenge,
she has to take care of Stratton. And I will say this was
nice that they actually kind of played into the fact that she's married to Jimmy
Usso and he just got attacked by his brother and likely kicked out of the
bloodline and there was just you know, a wild opening segment that sent him
to the you know, the doctor's room, the training room. So you
know, I like that they didn't just make it seem like she was all
just you know, typical Naomi out there just feeling the glow. Like.
No, they made her allude to the fact that she's not having that great
of a night, and she does, you know, kind of pay off
what she says. A little bit later before that, Caleb Braxton has shown
backstage outside of the trainer's office waiting to get an update on Jimmy Uso.
As Hayman comes out, Tamatonga walks up and says, by orders of the
tribal chief, and he like gets up in Hayman's face, and you know,
Haymon obviously scared confused, which raises the question did Roman Reigns actually order
that hit on Jimmy Uso. Earlier Hayman said, it's not what the tribal
chief wants, but maybe the tribal chief is pushing out Hayman, I don't
know. You know, this leads those questions. That's why I'm glad that
they're not just leaving the blood line out saying, you know, we reached
the mountaintop. You know, the story was finished, the streak is over.
They're trying to give us a new version of the bloodline, it feels,
and we'll see where it leads. But nonetheless, I'm glad that this
is what they're doing up next, we do get that one on one match,
Naomi versus Tiffany Stratton, Naomi wins. Not necessarily sure, I agree
with the you know, the win lost decision. I do like Naomi.
I feel like she obviously is an asset to the company, and she's been
a former women's champion her own right. But I just feel like, if
you know, we're in this new era and this is the beginning of the
year here where you likely like to test out new stars, why not push
Tiffany Stratton to the moon. I feel like she has a decent following behind
her, She's good enough in the ring, she's got the character. I
doubt they're going to rush it with her, But I just I was a
little bit caught off guard that she didn't get the win here. But if
we do get Naomi versus Bailey, I'm all here for it. You know,
it's a babyface versus Babyface. So that's a little bit strange, but
who knows what actually does you know come out of this thing. But you
know, I was just a little bit surprised with Naomi getting the win here.
Up next we get Chelsea and Piper versus Jade and Bianca. Chelsea goes
up to Nick Altis before this match happens, kind of says that she hopes
to be drafted to SmackDown because she just likes Nick a little bit more Adam
Piers. You know, she's not really a fan of him. They set
her up with that one on one match with Jade on Monday Night Raw.
So Nick tells, you know, we're gonna try to find something for you
guys tonight in their tag team part or their tack team opponents are Jay Cargill
and Bianca. Obviously, during the match, Piper tags in and she actually
calls out Jaye like she's about to walk up to Bianca, who is the
legal, you know, partner for the other team, and she says,
no, no, no, I want Jade. She kind of waves Jade
on Jay doesn't come in, so she doesn't get her wish, but you
know, it just kind of leads you to you know, kind of put
Piper over in a sense like for me anyways, I like damn like she
wants a piece of Jay, Like okay, you know you like seeing that
from Piper, the fact that she's not scared of anybody. And you can
tell why Chelsea is just latched onto her because it just seems like, you
know, it's well, who wouldn't want to you know, it's pretty much
like having a bodyguard right there. But as far as this match goes,
the team that was supposed to win wins. Jade pins Chelsea relatively easily,
actually extremely easily. Just like one little choke slam that does her finishing move
Pinzer does that one two three thing where she licks her finger whatever. But
during this match, there was like a flicker on the TV and it you
know, if you pause the screen long enough, you could tell that it
said the words you forgot about us? And this just I mean it had
y Wyatt type of you know theme written all over it. Just whenever you
look at what his promos used to be like. And if you watch the
documentary Bray Wyatt Becoming Immortal, then you would almost get the impression that Bo
Dallas is gonna come back soon. It just seems like he isn't finished at
all. He made it seem like this almost ReLit his fire to want to
really pursue this pro wrestling world and make the most of it for his brother.
So if Bo Dallas was to come back and bring back this Uncle Howdie
gimmick and do something, who knows what he's actually going to do. But
if it is Bo, then you have to assume that a lot of eyeballs
are going to be on him. And you know this, especially if he's
doing the type of stuff that Bray used to do with this like riddle type
of vignettes before he makes his return. I don't know who else this could
be, but the fact that if you forgot about us meaning plural, that
almost makes me feel like it could be someone, you know, I mean,
you don't think maybe it likes a Bliss right when she's connected Eric Rowan
another person. So there's there's possibilities, but I do feel like it's got
to be centered around Bo Dallas And that's just my early anticipation on this whole
thing. Continuing on here in the show, we get a backstage interview with
Kevin Owens and he pretty much just takes the microphone from Byron Sacks and takes
the camera within me references those cool camera angles where the cameras has been coming
in from backstage going into the crowd. So he picks up a Detroit Tigers
Championship belt and knocks over a stack of seampunk shirts and then he makes his
way out to the ring. He talks about how him and Ray Mysterio both
have sons that are way taller than them, and you know, talks about
AJ Styles as well. But he says he's gonna kick both of their asses
tonight in order to advance to that Number one Contenders match next week. But
before that he has to win this triple threat and that's the main event,
Kevin Owens versus AJ Styles versus Ray Mysterio and for a triple threat match,
relatively quick, AJ Styles wins it. It was good, I mean,
just like I said, it was kind quick for a triple threat match.
But after it's over, La Night comes out and when we get a face
off, a little bit of words exchange between the two guys that are going
to be in that Number one Contenders match next week. La Knight versus AJ
Styles. The winner goes to backlash to take on Cody Rhoads, and my
early prediction is that it's got to be AJ Styles. He's the one that
has less time left, you know, he's kind of a little bit closer
to you know, kind of walking into the sunset himself. It would be
Babyface versus Babyface if it was La Knight. So I just I think AJ
Styles is the one. I mean, Cody Roads kind of referenced the history
of the NWA and WWE championship, the fact that Tody Roads and AJ Styles
are only two of four men that have done it. Seems like we could
get a pretty good, pretty good rivalry, a pretty good promo between these
two guys if AJ Styles were to win. But you know, I wouldn't
sell La Night short by any means. I think he could absolutely deliver one
of the best programs that we've seen this year so far too. If it
were him versus Cody Roads, it's giving them both those guys are red hot,
kind of both got hot around the same time, so there, I
guess their trajectories have almost been parallel if you think of it like that.
But that is how the show goes off the air, was those two face
to face, and you know, I'm really expecting a pretty good match between
those two. The part two Elle and I got the first or Elia and
I got the first win on WrestleMania, So who knows. I just I'm
telling you I think AJ Style is gonna get it done next week. But
we will talk about that whenever we get there. Thank you guys so much
for tuning into the SmackDown Review. I definitely appreciate you guys coming back.
If you are a new listener who just came on, you know, from
WrestleMania weekend, thank you welcome. Hopefully you will continue to come back,
and hopefully you will go over to the Football Function podcast, which is my
football podcast covers all things college football NFL. Right now, we're in the
NFL draft coverage, getting prepared for the draft coming up here in just a
couple of weeks. Another thing that is very much so on my radar,
and that's really when everything's kind of rev up. But unlike the NFL,
there's no off season in wa so things are just now kind of starting to
get juicy and I'm really looking forward to the coming week. So thank you
guys so much. Have a damn good rest of your weekend, Walk passionately
in the direction of your dreams, and I'll talk to you soon. Wow.
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