Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque Takes Shots At ‘The Rock’ on WWE Smackdown

Tonight’s episode of Friday Night Smackdown originated from the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC, and took place 24 hours removed from the WrestleManiaXL Kick-Off event in Las Vegas.

The event was a massive success, with a huge live crowd and an insane amount of social media interaction surrounding the broadcast.

TRIPLE H CONTINUES TO ADD LAYERS TO AN ALREADY GREAT STORYLINE

Paul “Triple H” Levesque kicked off SmackDown cutting a promo with both RAW and SMACKDOWN General Managers in the ring, doing his best to make things as clear as possible after Roman Reigns called for a match with The Rock while Cody Rhodes chose to challenge for Roman’s title at Mania— a luxury for which Cody earned after winning this year’s Royal Rumble and becoming the 4^th entrant to win back-to-back years.

Levesque said the final decision as to who would face Reigns at WrestleMania was always his to make (as head of creative). He would go on to announce that Cody would get the shot at Roman instead of Rock.

Things got a bit personal when Levesque insinuated that The Rock was trying to use an authority that he does not have, to which the live crowd began chanting, “Rocky sucks” just before “Trips” reminded the crowd that “the answers only come from one place, and you’re looking at him.”

After announcing Reigns-Cody as the main event for WrestleMania, Levesque added that he knows the decision will be unpopular for “some people” in the backstage area, referring to The Rock and The Bloodline.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t like that decision,” Levesque said in reference to The Rock’s famous catchphrase.

In a later segment, Triple H was nervously approached by Paul Heyman backstage. The “Wiseman” had business to discuss with Trips before reading the room and deciding it was best to wait for next week when both Roman Reigns and The Rock will be in company.

Next week’s SmackDown should be awesome and will probably serve to upset marks worldwide.

WE ROLL(INS) ONTO ELIMINATION CHAMBER

Following Levesque’s promo, RAW’s GM announced the twelve superstars competing for an opportunity to enter the Chamber match. The winner of the Elimination Chamber match will be named the challenger for Seth Rollins’ title at WrestleMania.

We’re only three weeks or so away from Elimination Chamber, WWE’s next Premium Live Event taking place in Perth, Australia, and we’re just now getting the first qualification match for the men’s Chamber match.

The following superstars will get the chance to compete in Chamber qualifying matches: Randy Orton, Bobby Lashley, Bronson Reed, Logan Paul, Kevin Owens, The Miz, Dom Mysterio, Ivar, LA Knight, Sami Zane with AJ Styles and Drew McIntyre announced as the first qualification match to open up SmackDown.

MEN’S ELIMINATION CHAMBER QUALIFIER #1

Drew McIntyre defeated AJ Styles

There were some entertaining near-falls, but McIntyre was able to pick up the win after a distraction from LA Knight. Styles was in a position to pick up the surprise pinfall victory with a sneaky roll-up, but Knight got on the apron, and the referee’s attention was taken away long enough for McIntyre to land the “Claymore Kick” for the 1-2-3.

McIntyre has been on fire the last couple of weeks, showing prowess on the mic and in the ring. In fact, McIntyre has been carrying the main event scene on WWE TV weekly since the lead-up to Royal Rumble.

Styles just recently challenged for ‘THE WWE title’ at the Rumble in a four-way match where Roman retained. So, choosing McIntyre was the right call, although WWE could’ve booked things so that both McIntyre and AJ Styles, who excels in multi-man matches, are both believable winners.

Qualifier #2

Randy Orton defeated Sami Zane

Randy Orton and Sammy Zane is the same kind of bummer booking as Styles-McIntyre because both men are believable contenders to win the Chamber, and yet only one man can win.

Orton took control early, but Zane made it competitive before a backward leapfrog landed Zane into an RKO from Orton… out of nowhere.

With this victory, Orton is the second superstar to punch his ticket to the Elimination Chamber for a shot at Rollins’ WWE heavyweight title (the next two qualifiers will be on RAW, with the final two coming on next week’s Smackdown).

The show went off air with a stare-down between the only two wrestlers qualified for Elimination Chamber: Orton and McIntyre, setting up the idea that both men should be greatly favored heading into the event in Perth.

• Note: a backstage segment between Dom Mysterio and Kevin Owens took place to promote their upcoming qualifier. Heavy chatter is going on that Mysterio is headed for a big Elimination Chamber, but it is hard to believe that KO loses that match. But with Logan Paul making a stink about having to qualify, this could all be set up for Paul to continue his feud with KO.

WOMEN’S ELIMINATION CHAMBER QUALIFIER

Bianca Belair defeated Michin

Belair was able to pick up the win against Michin via pinfall. The match was nothing special, but Bianca in the Chamber will surely be.

Belair was the 2^nd superstar to qualify for the women’s Elimination Chamber match, with Becky Lynch defeating Shayna Bazler on RAW this week to secure the first spot in the match.

IN-RING ACTION

• British Strong Style (Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate) defeated DIY (Ciampa and Gargano) in an exciting tag team match. Both teams qualified to face each other by winning separate four-way tag team tornado match. With this win, Dunne and Bate will receive a shot at The Judgement Day for a shot at the undisputed tag team titles.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Bayley was in another great segment as the missing member of Damage CTRL, Dakota Kai, came out to discuss the faction’s decision to turn on Bayley ahead of her WrestleMania decision.
• Kai sided with Bayley and helped defend her when the remaining member of Damage CTRL attempted to ‘run in’ on Bayley during her in-ring promo.
• This storyline is excellent, and the hope is that they can keep it interesting until WrestleMania, but there is plenty to achieve storyline-wise, considering the nuanced plot filled with context and backstory.

Mario Mungia

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