– Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX opens up with a recent look at happenings between RAW Tag Team Champions RK-Bro and SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos. We’re live from the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts as Michael Cole welcomes us. He’s joined at ringside by Pat McAfee.
– We go right to the ring and out come RAW Tag Team Champions RK-Bro – Randy Orton and Riddle. Samantha Irvin does the introductions as they hit the ring and the pyro goes off. Orton and Riddle pose as fans cheer them on.
Fans chant Orton’s name so he poses one more time in the corner. Riddle says he’s so stoked to be back on SmackDown, especially with his best friend Randy, but they didn’t come to talk. Riddle jokes about the name Worcester. Orton says they are not here for jokes, they’re here because SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos came to their show, kicked Orton in the mouth, and challenged them to a match to unify the titles. Orton says now here they are in The Usos’ ring on their show, so if they want an answer… bring your asses to the ring and let RK-Bro give it to you. The music hits and out comes Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso.
The two teams face off in the ring now. The Usos warn them that they are behind enemy lines now. The Usos want an answer to their challenge. The Usos keep talking trash and hyping each other up while staring RK-Bro down, telling them to just leave the titles here and go back to RAW. The Usos drop the mics and raise their fingers in the air. Orton goes on about loving and respecting The Usos’ whole family, but you two are assholes. Orton mentions The Big Dog, Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, letting his bitches off the leash. Orton gets fired up now about how this is his show and ring, Riddle’s show and ring. He also goes on about how he’s been setting WWE records for 20 years, and they have the three most destructive letters in WWE.
Orton accepts the challenge, tosses the mic at The Usos and stares them down. Both teams raise the straps in the air while facing off. Cole says WWE officials will need to make the match official now. The Usos exit the ring and head up the ramp as Orton’s music starts back up. The Usos double team Riddle and knock him off the top while Orton is posing in the opposite corner. Orton rushes to tend to Riddle while The Usos back up the ramp, taunting the red brand champion. The two teams continue yelling at each other.
– WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Sasha Banks and Naomi are backstage. Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley appear. The champs taunt the challengers over tonight’s singles match, then they head off to the ring.
Naomi vs. Rhea Ripley
Ripley grabs Naomi but Naomi rolls her into a 2 count. Naomi ducks a move and hits the springboard kick to the face. Naomi follows-up with the Full Nelson Bomb for another close 2 count. Ripley rolls through for the Riptide and Naomi resists but Ripley manages to hit it for the pin to win.
Winner: Rhea Ripley
– After the match, Ripley and Morgan celebrate as the music hits. Banks looks concerned for the titles as Cole hypes Monday’s title match.
– Kayla Braxton stops The Usos backstage for comments on what they just saw with RK-Bro and Adam Pearce. They ignore her and just keep walking, entering the locker room suite of Roman Reigns.
– Still to come, a look back at when Happy Baron Corbin lost his smile last week. Back to commercial.
– Back from a break and we see how Madcap Moss and Happy Baron Corbin fought and split up last week. Megan Morant is backstage with Corbin now. She asks about his former associate Moss. Corbin says calling Moss his associate puts them on the same level, but Moss was nothing but a hanger-on, his lackey. Corbin says Moss was funny at first but he started bringing down his career. Corbin blames the end of his undefeated streak on Moss. Corbin says he dropped some dead weight and now he’s happier than ever. Corbin says Moss is trying to make a name for himself, but he can’t wait to see Moss fall flat on his face and become the laughing stock of SmackDown. Corbin laughs to end the segment
– We go to Drew Gulak backstage with a mic. Cole says he is trying out to be a member of the SmackDown broadcast team. Gulak asks Madcap Moss about the comments just made by Happy Baron Corbin. Moss feels sorry for Corbin because of his personality. He says Corbin did bring him to SmackDown and give him a nice pair of suspenders, and teach him some jokes, which is why the jokes were so terrible. Moss goes on and says he’s happy to be moving on from Corbin. Gulak asks about tonight’s match with Humberto. Moss gives Humberto some props but says if Los Lotharios thinks they will make him a laughing stock, they can put their Kiss Cam right here – Moss points to his rear and we see the Kiss Cam graphic show up on the screen.
Madcap Moss vs. Humberto
Moss runs the ring and levels Humberto with a big shoulder. Moss with more physical offense until he runs into an elbow. Moss catches Humberto in mid-air and delivers a big fall-away slam. Moss yells out for some cheers from the crowd.
Moss with a big running shoulder into the corner. Humberto kicks out just in time. Angel fails to interfere, and Moss drops Humberto with The Punchline, his modified neckbreaker, for the pin to win.
Winner: Madcap Moss
– After the match, Moss stands tall as the music hits and some fans cheer him on. We go to replays. Moss goes back to his trophy to pose. Angel checks on Humberto in the ring and yells at him for losing to a joke.
– Charlotte Flair confronts Adam Pearce backstage, asking who accepted Ronda Rousey’s request for an “I Quit” match. Drew Gulak interrupts and asks Pearce how he did in his first backstage interview segment. Flair is upset at Gulak. She says he can get a performance review only after he interviews her in the middle of the ring. We go back to commercial.
– Back from the break and a Winners Take All match between RK-Bro and The Usos is set for SmackDown.
– We go back to the ring and Drew Gulak has a mic. He gives a grand introduction to SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair and out she comes. Flair stops and gets pyro on her way to the ring. Gulak opens the ropes and Flair continues making her entrance, posing to a mixed reaction. The music stops and the boos are louder now.
Gulak welcomes Flair, introduces himself, and asks if she’s ready for a hard-hitting interview. She tells him to just hold the mic. Gulak says very well, but he asks if she’s concerned about Ronda Rousey’s submission game ahead of their “I Quit” match at WrestleMania Backlash. Flair says she didn’t refuse the match, she was trying to protect Rousey by telling her to go to the back of the line. Flair goes on about Rousey having a fragile ego, and says she went crying and complaining to officials to get her way, and that kind of scares Flair because it’s a dangerous way of doing things. Flair brings up their WrestleMania 38 match and Gulak says he watched it, and it looked like Rousey made Flair tap out. Flair says that’s ridiculous.
Fans chant “you tapped out!” and Flair insists she was just fixing her bra. Gulak believes Rousey would be standing here with the title if the referee saw Flair tap out. Flair says Gulak is out of line. She says she is the champion and she didn’t tap out. Fans taunt Flair. She asks Gulak if he stopped being a competitor so he could stand here and ask her stupid questions. She knocks Gulak and the fans for being quitters. Flair says quitting isn’t in her DNA, but winning is. She raises the title in the air and calls herself a submission master, one who has been submitting competition for a decade. Flair says Gulak doesn’t deserve to interview her. She orders him to get out of her ring… now. Flair starts singing goodbye to Gulak as he turns and slowly walks away.
Flair attacks from behind with a chop block, taking Gulak down. Flair applies the Figure Four on Gulak now. He taps out as she bridges into the Figure Eight. Flair keeps the hold applied while slapping Gulak in the face, yelling at him to say he quits. Gulak yells out, screaming about quitting, but Flair just tightens the hold with the bridge. Referees rush down to tend to Gulak as Flair finally breaks the hold. Flair stands tall to big heat from the crowd. She poses and raises the title in the air as the music hits and the boos continue.
– We see how Sami Zayn was counted out against Drew McIntyre last week.
Sami Zayn vs. Drew McIntyre
Sami goes to hop the barrier but Drew brings him back in. Sami avoids the Claymore again, and this time escapes to the crowd as fans boo. Sami makes his way through the fans, and up the stairs as Drew looks on. The referee counts Sami out.
Winner by Count Out: Drew McIntyre
– After the bell, Drew rushes to the crowd as Sami runs away and fans cheer Drew on. Sami disappears into the arena as Drew stops and turns back to the crowd as his music starts up.
– Kayla is backstage with WWE Intercontinental Champion Ricochet. He gives some props to Jinder Mahal but says he sees someone else who simply can’t match his abilities in the ring when he looks at Jinder, another tree trunk of a man ready to be chopped down. Ricochet says people don’t call him flawless because he’s perfect, but because he makes it look perfect. Ricochet says the title isn’t going anywhere tonight. He walks off.
Ricochet (C) vs. Jinder Mahal – Intercontinental Championship
Ricochet retains with the 450 splash.
Winner: Ricochet
– After the match, Ricochet stands tall as the music hits and we go to replays. Ricochet poses in the corner as fans cheer him on.
– Megan is backstage with Sheamus, Ridge Holland and Butch last week. She says there seemed to be some dissension last week. She shows us how Butch was livid at losing his in-ring debut to Xavier Woods as he took the loss out on Sheamus and Holland. Sheamus laughs and says they’ve had bigger fights over the TV remote control, from where he comes from that’s a civil discussion. Sheamus admits they have decided that Butch needs to harness his aggression, and that they are not the enemy. Sheamus and Holland taunt and laugh at Butch some, asking him who the enemy is. He shoves Sheamus and just blurts out, “New Day!” Butch storms off as Sheamus goes on talking to Megan. Holland gets his attention and says they’ve lost Butch. McAfee asks where the hell is Butch as we go back to commercial.
– Back from a break and we get a Pizza Hut-sponsored video looking back at how John Cena debuted against WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle on June 27, 2002.
– Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston are backstage signing merchandise when Butch attacks out of nowhere and runs wild. A brawl breaks out as Sheamus and Ridge Holland join in. Officials try to break up the chaos to end the segment.
– Cole sends us to Chapter 2 of the story of Lacey Evans. She talks about how her father eventually found them after her mother ran with them. The anger and sadness grew in their home. She talks about the manual labor she did as a kid, and the abuse her father put them through. Evans gets emotional as she recalls her father’s abuse, mental health issues, and addiction. He soon found himself a wanted man due to an assault charge, and they were on the run again, going from campground to campground, state to state. Child Protective Services were involved from the start, almost as much as law enforcement, but neither saved her from her family. She learned to rely on herself because no one else would save her, she learned to keep her head up no matter what life threw at her, and she’s never been handed a single thing. She goes on about keeping your head up and working hard when all else fails. She says unlike the other female Superstars, she’s comfortable at rock bottom and they can’t do anything to faze her. What she’s went through in life has made her a motivated, ready for anything, confident, mother, wife, sister, daughter, U.S. Marine, and a WWE Superstar. Evans says that doesn’t make her any better than these other WWE Superstars, but they sure aren’t better than her. The last two lines were what she said last week as well.
– We see Natalya and Shayna Baszler backstage watching the Lacey Evans promo, rolling their eyes. They say everyone has had a hard life, and all these newcomers don’t respect the Legends like them. Natalya says she doesn’t know what SmackDown has become but it’s now a land of misfit toys. They rant about how this other new person has taken a spot in the locker room. Raquel Rodriguez, who she was apparently referring to, is in the room working out behind them. Raquel introduces herself and they shake hands, but Natalya is annoyed. Natalya and Baszler walk off as Raquel looks on.
Riddle vs. Jimmy Uso
Riddle wins with a pop up RKO.
Winner: Riddle
– After the match, Orton rushes the ring to celebrate with Riddle as the music hits and fans cheer them on. We go to replays as Cole hypes the Winners Take All match at WrestleMania Backlash to crown the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions. Orton and Riddle hit the corners to pose as fans cheer them on. SmackDown goes off the air.
Credit: Winc
