Speaker 1: This is WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre, and you're listening to
Speaker 1: the WWE podcast.
Speaker 2: Before the one that everybody wants me.
Speaker 3: Sixteens of God Just with your ass is my arn.
Speaker 2: We're gonna acknowledge me.
Speaker 4: Hey, guys, Ryan spread here with my final SmackDown review
Speaker 4: before Amanda returns. It has been such an honor and
Speaker 4: pleasure sharing these three weeks of SmackDown with you, guys.
Speaker 4: And what the three weeks it's been the road to
Speaker 4: and aftermath of WrestleMania forty one. So many title changes,
Speaker 4: some debuts, some returns. It's some really interesting storylines Furthered
Speaker 4: as we now move towards Backlash in May. So let's
Speaker 4: not waste any more time. Let's get to the SmackDown review.
Speaker 4: And this one took place in Fort Worth, Texas, on
Speaker 4: April twenty fifth. John Sena opened the show to a
Speaker 4: very loud and almost fifty to fifty split Chad of
Speaker 4: Let's go Sena. Sena sucks. They're torn, man. Do we
Speaker 4: love him or do we hate him?
Speaker 3: So?
Speaker 4: Sena continued to pronounce his ruining of wrestling when he's
Speaker 4: interrupted by Randy Orton. This entire opening was almost identical
Speaker 4: to Monday Night Raw, where Sena corrected the ring announcer
Speaker 4: and made him call him the last real champion. But
Speaker 4: before Sena could say anything, Randy Orton's music hit and
Speaker 4: he came out to tell Sena that there's no way
Speaker 4: in hell he's ruining wrestling since wrestling has given or
Speaker 4: in everything in his family's lives. He then told Sena
Speaker 4: that maybe he should have some kids, but Sena responded
Speaker 4: saying he spent twenty five years raising everyone else's kids.
Speaker 4: He then went on to make fun of a kid
Speaker 4: at ringside who flipped him off to prove his point.
Speaker 4: Orton then challenged him right then in there for the title,
Speaker 4: but Sina said no, it should happen at Backlash, he said.
Speaker 4: Sina then tossed the title up at Orton and tried
Speaker 4: to attack him, but or encountered and hit him with
Speaker 4: an RKO. Again. This was sort of a repeat of Raw,
Speaker 4: but with more words spoken. Obviously, no matter the case,
Speaker 4: I am super excited for this match at Backlash. Our
Speaker 4: first match of the night was Los Garzas versus Nathan
Speaker 4: Fraser and Axium better known as Phraxium. Phraxium was looking
Speaker 4: to rebound after dropping the NXT titles at Stanton Deliver
Speaker 4: this past week, and in this match, Phraxium took control
Speaker 4: right away, but Los Garzas turned the tables when Angel
Speaker 4: hit a super kick when Fraser was attempting a moon salt.
Speaker 4: This is awesome chance were heard throughout this entire match.
Speaker 4: The match ended with a combo Spanish fly in four
Speaker 4: to fifty splash with Phraxiam get in the win. I
Speaker 4: just have to say this was a fantastic debut by
Speaker 4: both men as a tag team and they could really
Speaker 4: enhance the tag division moving forward. Next up, we had
Speaker 4: Tiffany Stratton coming out to the rank to celebrate or
Speaker 4: win over Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania, but this was cut
Speaker 4: short by Jade Cargill, who finally got some mic time.
Speaker 4: She was a little nervous on the mic in front
Speaker 4: of the crowd, but she's slowly getting better. So she
Speaker 4: told Tiffy that beaten Charlotte only put a bigger target
Speaker 4: on Tiffany's back and now that she's done with Naomi,
Speaker 4: Cargill wants a shot at the WWE Women's title. A
Speaker 4: match was announced right then and there and they squared
Speaker 4: up Cargo had a slight size and power advantage, but
Speaker 4: Tiffany refused to be pushed around and held her own
Speaker 4: as she did at WrestleMania. There is a beast behind
Speaker 4: that Barbie. The match itself was a little messy, you know,
Speaker 4: they've never really worked together before, and Jade is still
Speaker 4: finding her way through singles matches. But again we're seeing
Speaker 4: slivers of improvement all around. There was one point where
Speaker 4: Stratton almost tripped when hitting the prettiest Moonsalt ever, but
Speaker 4: she ended up saving it. But Cargill avoided the moon Salt,
Speaker 4: but before she could take advantage of it, Naomi came
Speaker 4: down and attacked Jade and cost her the match via DQ.
Speaker 4: Then out of nowhere, we finally got the return of
Speaker 4: Nya Jacks. I know some of you are groaning, but look,
Speaker 4: she's really really evolved. I'm happy to see her back.
Speaker 4: So Nya ended up attacking Tiffany. So maybe we're finally
Speaker 4: gonna see another rematch between Nya Jax and Tiffany at Backlash,
Speaker 4: or this could be setting up a fatal four way
Speaker 4: Nya Jax, Tiffany, Jake Cargill and Naomi. We shall see.
Speaker 4: We then got a Jacob Fatu promo. He came out
Speaker 4: with Solo Socoa to celebrate his US Championship win over
Speaker 4: La Night at WrestleMania. Sikkoa said nobody and his family
Speaker 4: wanted Fatu in the WWE except for him, and he
Speaker 4: took credit for Fatu not only being in the WWE,
Speaker 4: but for his title win. Two. Fatu wasn't really feeling
Speaker 4: that though. He ripped the mic away from Solo Sokoa
Speaker 4: and said he did exactly what he said he was
Speaker 4: going to do, and that was to win the title himself.
Speaker 4: La Knight came out and gave him credit for beating
Speaker 4: him Farrence Square, but this all ended when Drew McIntyre,
Speaker 4: of all people, came out and bragged about beating Damian
Speaker 4: Priest and complained that Randy Orton jumped the line ahead
Speaker 4: of him for the WWE title shot. Nick Aldis in
Speaker 4: Fashion came out and offered to book a match between
Speaker 4: Knight and McIntyre, with the winner getting a US title shot.
Speaker 4: This set up a match for later that night and
Speaker 4: potential feuds for Jacob Fatu moving forward. We then got
Speaker 4: Chelsea Green once again her US Championship against Zelena Vega
Speaker 4: Piper Niven and Alba Fire the Secret Harvists were present
Speaker 4: and they helped Green throughout the match, but Zelena Vega
Speaker 4: was able to fend them all off and the ref
Speaker 4: eventually ejected them. And while a quick match, it was
Speaker 4: a really good match, and Zelena Vega hit a code
Speaker 4: read to get the pin. You heard that right, guys.
Speaker 4: Zelena Vega is our new Women's US Champion and she
Speaker 4: got a huge pop. She took the belt, went up
Speaker 4: the ramp crying, very emotional, very powerful. Loved seeing it,
Speaker 4: and just like the Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania, we
Speaker 4: were bound for some surprises and this was it. So
Speaker 4: we'll see what Vega does with it. She works her
Speaker 4: butt off, so I think she does deserve it. But
Speaker 4: where will Chelsea Green go next? I'm seeing a backlash
Speaker 4: match between Chelsea Green and Selena Vega. Speaking of debuts
Speaker 4: and or returns, we had the turn of Alistair Black,
Speaker 4: so the mis came out and complained about how nobody
Speaker 4: respects him. He said, Raymistereo went to someone he barely
Speaker 4: knows for help instead of him, and Orton did the
Speaker 4: same thing. He said, he's sick of seeing people get
Speaker 4: opportunities when he isn't. Kind of sounds like echoes of
Speaker 4: carry and cross but whatever. So then the lights went
Speaker 4: out and we had the return of Alistair Black. He
Speaker 4: rose from the floor very creepily. I guess this was
Speaker 4: his entrance back in the NXT days. I'm not familiar
Speaker 4: with Alistair Black guys, so I do apologize. I know
Speaker 4: he did leave a lasted impact when he was over
Speaker 4: at NXT, and I love his style, I do so.
Speaker 4: He slowly came down to the ring, he hit Miss
Speaker 4: with a black Mass without saying a single word, and
Speaker 4: then he just sat in the ring ominously. So this
Speaker 4: could be setting up a feud with a Miz for backlash,
Speaker 4: or just asserting Alistair Black's dominance as the weeks continue.
Speaker 4: Underwhelming for me personally, as again I have no connection
Speaker 4: to Alistair Black, but he got a pretty decent pop
Speaker 4: and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can actually
Speaker 4: do in the ring. Next up, we finally had our
Speaker 4: match between La Knight and Drew McIntyre for the number
Speaker 4: one contendership spot for Fatu's US Championship. This was a fantastic,
Speaker 4: methodical match until Sikoa showed up and hit Night with
Speaker 4: a Samoan spike while the ref was distracted. McIntyre looked
Speaker 4: mad that he was about to be helped by someone
Speaker 4: that he saw as an enemy, but he was unable
Speaker 4: to take advantage of the moment because Damian Priest showed
Speaker 4: up and attacked him. He put McIntyre through the announced
Speaker 4: table with the South of Heaven choke slam, causing a
Speaker 4: no contest. Q and Night got into his face for
Speaker 4: causing it, but both men were soon taken down by
Speaker 4: Jacob Fatu, who stood tall. This really seems like it's
Speaker 4: setting up a multi men match at Backlash, and I
Speaker 4: cannot wait to see these three go at it. And
Speaker 4: we finally got our main event of the night, the
Speaker 4: Street Profits vers DIY versus Mody Mody versus Motor City
Speaker 4: machine Guns. This was a TLC tag title match and again, guys,
Speaker 4: this should have been at WrestleMania because it was definitely
Speaker 4: the match of the night at SmackDown. So montes Ford
Speaker 4: and Angelo Dawkins, Chris Saban and Alex Shelley and Johnny
Speaker 4: Gargano and Tamaso Champa risked it all in this match.
Speaker 4: It was given a lot of time, There were no
Speaker 4: commercials and they used every second of it, and they
Speaker 4: all had their own moments and some scary spots, and
Speaker 4: there was one point where Ford actually used a fans
Speaker 4: prosthetic leg as a weapon, which got a huge pop
Speaker 4: from the crowd. There was a very rough spot where
Speaker 4: Angelo Dawkins took Chompo off the ladder and through a table.
Speaker 4: They both looked dead after that, there were a few
Speaker 4: more high spots off the ladder, and then Ford eventually
Speaker 4: retrieved the titles to retain for the street profits. This
Speaker 4: was an exceptional match and really showed what this tag
Speaker 4: division can be when booked Wright And that was SmackDown, guys,
Speaker 4: all three hours. And I'll say this, this is perhaps
Speaker 4: one of the first times that it felt like SmackDown
Speaker 4: used every minute of those three hours. But I still
Speaker 4: can't wait for it to go down to two hours.
Speaker 4: Really hit us hard as the Blue Brand bounces back.
Speaker 4: Overall fantastic SmackDown after WrestleMania, and I cannot wait to
Speaker 4: see what happens next. So again I want to thank
Speaker 4: all of you for giving me your ears these past
Speaker 4: three weeks. It has been a super fun experience. Again,
Speaker 4: I want to thank Matt and Amanda, and I want
Speaker 4: to once again remind you to check out my wrestling
Speaker 4: podcast called Someone in the Ring. We just suppressed a
Speaker 4: thousand subscribers over on YouTube, so you can find us
Speaker 4: there or just search for the Somewhere in the Ring
Speaker 4: podcast wherever you get the WWE podcast as well. Thanks
Speaker 4: again everybody, here we go down the winding road to backlashra.
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Speaker 3: next time.