WWE Friday Night SmackDown was in the “Steel City” of Pittsburgh at the PPG Paints Arena as we turn the corner on WrestleMania 42‘s two-night affair. The show’s main narrative has focused on the world title feud between champion Cody Rhodes and Elimination Chamber winner Randy Orton. He turned heel two weeks ago, and Orton has cemented his place in the program as the returning ‘Viper,’ a version of the 3rd generation superstar more calculated and chaotic than the guy who has been singing along with the crowd.
Orton is on the chase for his 15th title reign, and what started as a ‘finish the story’ sort of narrative has now morphed into a desperate need to win the title at Mania.
DREW MCINYTRE AND JACOB FATU IS OFFICALLY UNSANCTIONED
The feud that has been bubbling for months is finally booked for Mania, after the two men were included in multi-man world title matches in varying numbers. They circled each other for most of the night before GM Aldis officially booked the match.
Most assumed this match would happen, but the stipulation was always up for debate. Tonight, we learned that they would finish their feud at WM in an ‘unsanctioned’ match, with Aldis delivering the best line that claimed WWE needed legal separation from the expected violence. Tonight’s programs were delivered brilliantly, but the elements felt a bit tired as Drew harped on Fatu’s criminal past.
That said, things nearly escalated when Drew asked Who gives a damn about Jacob’s kids’ in a line that hit harder than it made sense. It will certainly be an entertaining match even if Drew’s upcoming movie role significantly increases Fatu’s status as the odds-on favorite.
A VIPER GETS BIT
Randy was in the opening segment spot to deliver a character-honing program that further establishes the rationale for his heel turn. He leaned on a lot of the same stuff that he used last week, justifying his actions by simply claiming, ‘Cody asked for this.’ It felt redundant, and with no Cody on the episode (yet), it fell back to Matt Cardona to keep the respect.
Cardona did not waste any time returning the favor to Randy with a right hand of his own, putting the number one contender on his back to bring things to a swift end. In the back, Randy caught up with GM Aldis, who booked a main event between the two superstars because, as Orton put it, you do not want this handled ‘outside the ring.’
RANDY ORTON VS MATT CARDONA
Before the match, Randy was seen on yet another call with, presumably, the same mystery man that he was speaking with several weeks ago—the one referenced as being the one in ‘more than 1’ pro wrestling royal families. He seemed to thank the person on the phone, but no other details about the potential identity were provided.
As for the main event finale, it could be broken up into two separate segments consisting of the actual match between Orton and Cardona, and then the unofficial brawl between Randy and Cody—making his heroic ‘last stand’ on a show for which he was never featured.
Orton won on the back of a ruthless performance, and in his post-match celebration, the screen on stage cut to Cody’s tour bus pulling into the building with the champion slowly walking through the arena as ads played side by side. The whole thing weakened the situation’s severity, and by the time Cody calmly asked the GM to ‘speak to Orton,’ it seemed to lose steam.
How Aldis bought the ‘just here to talk’ line, we will never know, but Cody immediately rushed Orton in search of payback for leaving him busted and bloodied. The two fought around ringside as WWE officials made a poor attempt to keep them apart. They were eventually separated, again, and again Cody broke free to attack Randy before Orton took his turn attacking Cody.
The segment felt weak, but Randy started throwing around WWE staffers before Cody was able to break free. The two went back to battling in the ring before Jelly Roll came out to play mediator between the two long-time friends, so of course, Jelly took an RKO for his effort.
CARMELO HAYES(c) VS SAMI ZAYN—U.S. Title
After an impressive run from Hayes, the title ends up back in the hands of the man who started this reincarnation of the U.S. ‘open challenge’ in Sami Zayn. Zayn has been in some interesting storytelling segments this year, but they’re also a continuation of the same narrative nearly this time last year.
The match was terrific, but the finish furthered Zayn’s story, with Trick Williams as the heel in the ‘lemon pepper steppers’ playing a role in the title change. Sami was able to win when Trick blatantly threw the U.S. title into the center ring and right in front of the ref, and when he went to discard it, Sami ducked a Trick right hand that landed flush on the chin of the champ.
With ‘Melo’ dazed, Sami was in position to hit his ‘helluva kick’ finisher to reclaim his 2nd reign as U.S. champ, and it did not take long for him to learn his WrestleMania opponent. After nearly missing his chance to be on ‘the show of shows,’ Sami will now face Trick Williams for the U.S. title in what could be a very interesting finish.
JELLY ROLL VS KIT WILSON
After a terrific showing from Kit Wilson in the poetic rap battle, the match was booked between the two for this week. Wilson could not let the line about his mom go, however, and so he tried a few bars pre-match.
Jelly Roll could not wait to begin the match, and he controlled it early on with a ‘Jelly-to-Belly’ suplex. The Grammy Award-winning artist tried to use Wilson’s poetry book as a weapon, and he eventually succeeded. After a chokeslam, Jelly Roll picked up the victory in his second-ever match, his first singles match, which leads to the question: Should Wilson still have a job? If Saquon Barkley had his ankles broken by Logan Paul in a flag football game, then we should expect him to lose his job all the same.
RHEA TRIES TO MAKE IT MAKE SENSE
Rhea cut the initial promo that lured out the champion Jade Cargill alongside her new faction, made up of B-Fab and Michin. The program battle led to a one-on-one between Rhea and B-Fab, only for Jade to eventually intervene, as the plan had always been to set up a 3-on-1 beatdown to soften up the challenger.
Pittsburgh is known as the ‘fireworks capital’ of America, but not even this famous American city could help the heatless segment. After an amazing ‘shoot’ social media promo on each other, fans were supercharged to see this feud evolve, but instead, WWE has opted to keep the lid on it.
Other Tidbits
– The Bella Twins defeated Flair and Bliss in tag action after the tag champs caused the interference. Lash and Jax put a beatdown on both teams until Bayley and Lyra came down to assist the rest of the competition. The former tag champs, Bliss and Flair, confronted the legendary Bellas backstage, calling them out for utilizing the interference.
– Giulia was able to defeat Tiffany Straton in singles action after a brief distraction from Kianna James, though it was pretty clean otherwise.
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