WWE Smackdown 4/12/2024

WWE Smackdown 4/12/2024

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2024/04/wwe-smackdown-452024.html

Cody Rhodes comes out to start the show. The crowd chants "you deserve it". Cody said The Rock interrupted him on Monday. He said the room got colder with him in it. He said The Rock gave him something that he had given him already. He said he believes Rock when he said he was going to Hollywood and would come back to look for him. Cody says he will be here when he returns.

He said he will face one of the 6 people tonight at the next PPV. He names Santos, Rey, LA Knight, AJ Styles, Bobby Lashley and Kevin Owens. He said he's no longer the hunter, he's the hunted. He said if you come at the king, you best not miss. He said he was once undesirable and now is the WWE champ.

We see various wrestlers arrive earlier in the day.

We see Solo Sikoa, Heyman and Jimmy Uso at Cody's locker room door. Kevin Owens goes in and tells them they aren't invited, but he says there's a broom closet there for them. Solo said he will take care of this. Paul tells Solo winning and losing matter here. He said we lost and now that locker room is the champ's locker room back. Paul says if we want the locker room back, we need the title.

#1 Contender's Match Qualifier - LA Knight vs Santos Escobar vs Bobby Lashley

Santos is interviewed earlier in the day in a preset promo. He says he always has a plan and said his crew didn't touch Dragon Lee.

Santos goes at LA and gets double teamed. Santos slides out and LA rolls up Bobby. La is thrown out then Santos is thrown in by Bobby over the top. La pulls Bobby out and trades punches. Santos topes both.

We go to break and return. Bobby hits punches while Santos is seated up top. Santos knocks him off then La jumps up to the top. LA superplexes Santos while Bobby powerbombs LA. LA crucifix bombs Bobby for 2.

Santos enzugiri's LA then jumping double knees Bobby in the corner. Santos then does it to LA. LA powerslams and elbow drops Santos. Angel and Berto then jump LA in th ring. LA takes a triple powerbomb. Bobby then gets hit by Angel and Berto. The Street Profits then come down and fight with Berto and Angel, knocking them out of the ring. Dawkins goes for a dive then Elektra Lopez gets in the way. B-Fab pump kicks Lopez then Dawkins is popped up into a kick outside. Ford tope on hilos Berto and Angel. Santos is somehow still in this and takes a flatliner from Bobby. Bobby spears the post when Santos moves then LA hits a BFT on Santos to win.

This was bogus. Angel and Garza jumped both LA and Bobby and the match just kept going on. That made no sense whatsoever.

The LWO are interviewed. Rey Mysterio says this is karma on Santos and says karma inevitably comes back to bite you. The LWO don't believe that Santos didn't attack Dragon Lee. Rey said he believes he has another run in him as WWE champ.

The Bloodline minus Roman and Rock come out to talk. Paul said Bloodline has no excuses for what happened at Mania. Paul says they don't blame Cena, Taker or Jey Uso. Paul said Roman didn't use the chair on Cody at Mania because Roman gave into temptation and wanted revenge on Seth Rollins. He said Roman took his eye off the ball and Cody was ready and focused.

Solo interrupts Paul. He asks him if losing and winning matters. Solo said there are consequences to losing, right? Solo said consequences mean change. Paul gets scared and Solo stares down Jimmy. Solo hugs Jimmy. He said he's his brother and he loves him. Jimmy then gets hit from behind and it's Tama Tonga who hit him. Tama beats up on Jimmy and Paul is shocked. Solo samoan spikes Jimmy as Paul yells "no". Tama then does the one finger pose and Paul beys for mercy from Solo. Solo then brings Paul over to do the one finger pose and Paul reluctantly does it. Paul says to call Roman Reigns. Solo stomps the phone.

Tama grabs a chair. Jimmy has a chair put around his neck and Solo hip attacks him. Paul yells "This is not what the tribal chief wants". Paul then reluctantly walks out with Solo and Tama.

Whoa, I didn't see that one coming. Well, we wondered what WWE would do with Tama and they are putting him in Bloodline, which is great news for his career. He also got to keep his name which is good for him. I don't like Jimmy getting turned on here though and I'll tell you why. Jimmy has already done the begging for forgiveness thing with Jey multiple times so that won't work. He has done a ton of jobs and his credibility is kind of shot as well. I think there's maybe some potential in him as a Matt Riddle style idiot face, but that's going to take some work. We will have to see where they are going from here.

Bron Breakker vs Cameron Grimes

Bron has new music which sucks as I liked his theme. Bron waistlocks Grimes and puts him down twice. Bron blocks a side headlock takeover. Bron runs fast at him with a lariat and flips him. Grimes superkicks him out of the corner. Grimes 2nd rope twisting crossbodies Bron and is caught with a slam. Bron then spears him to win it.

It was a quick squash. I feel bad for Grimes as he deserves better than this. It's hard to believe this was an NXT main event for a special at one point.

AJ Styles said tonight isn't just another match. He fixes what went wrong at Mania. He said his opponents are collateral to his path to the Undisputed Title. He says it's not personal, it's necessary. He says he hopes LA Knight is paying attention as this is a taste of what he gets next week. He promises it will be phenomenal.

Bayley comes out to talk. She said she's proud to call herself women's camp. She said she won and lost titles at Mania but this one feels different. She said she's excited and Tiffany Stratton comes out.

Tiff said it was rude she wasn't given an opportunity at Mania. Tiff said Bayley was going to make an open challenge and she says she accepts because it's Tiffy Time. Bayley said she was not going to do that. She said she had someone in mind and that's Naomi. Tiff isn't happy about it. She said Naomi couldn't win a title if it glowed in the dark.

Naomi comes out. Tiff tells Naomi she already beat her. Naomi said she tried her on the wrong night. Naomi said she earned everything she got in the WWe and doesn't plan on stopping now. She said she wants to take on Tiffany right now.

Paul Heyman is interviewed after checking on Jimmy Uso in the trainer's room. He is asked if Jimmy is okay. He shakes his head. Tama Tongo stares Paul down and says it was by orders of the trial chief. Solo then shows him his taped up samoan spike thumb. Paul asks what the hell that means.

Tiffany Stratton vs Naomi

We join this in progress. Naomi dropkicks her then tiger feints into a dropkick on her for 2. Naomi snapmares her then legdrops her. Naomi armlocks her then Tiff hits corner spears.

Naomi shakes her butt in Tiff's face then Tiff pulls her into the middle rope. Tiff hip attacks her on the ropes then stomps her. Naomi high kicks her from the apron then is thrown into the post by Tiff.

We go to break and return. Naomi kicks her form the ropes then hits crossbodies. Naomi 2nd rope twisting kicks her then dropkicks her in the corner. Naomi legdrops her off the buckles for 2. Tiff double stomps her for 2. Naom is caught on an up and over and takes an alabama slam. Tiff has words for Bayley then Naomi avoids a top rope moonsault. Naomi then jack knife pins hers.

Tiff had a hard time staying in her clothes here. I don't really like Naomi beating Tiff no matter how you explain it and it creates an issue where Bayley vs Naomi will be a face vs face match. Tiff was fine here and Naomi didn't have the greatest execution ever here.

We see Grayson Waller and Austin Theory do a promo. They talk about winning the tag titles at the biggest Wrestlemania ever. They said Waller walked into his first Mania and became a champ. They said Theory beat Cena at Mania last year and won the tag titles this year. They say they are the greatest undefeated tag team champs of all time.

The Street Profits, New Catch Republic and Nick Aldis are seen watching this. Nick says we will find them a challenger next week.

Logan Paul does a promo. He said he hopes we are mad. He said he walked in and beat two legends at Mania. He asks Orton who the real legend killer is. He said he walked in and out champ. He said it was the biggest Mania ever and said every event he is at is the biggest ever. He talks about some of their stats.

Chelsea Green and Piper Niven vs Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill

We see an inset. Green was mad about having to fight Jade. She said Nick Aldis would never treat them that way and said she hopes he drafts them to Smackdown. Piper said she's ready for the chance to prove what they can do together and Nick said he will find them opponents.

Bianca spinebusters Green. Piper gets in and wants Jade. Piper michinoku drivers Bianca then cannonballs her in the corner. Piper misses a vader bomb. Green and Jade get in. Green tries to tag out but can't. She misses a kick and takes a botched spinebuster from Jade. Jade then hits a jade end/jaded and wins it.

Well, so much for that. Jade had 3 moves here and botched one of them.

Byron interviews Kevin Owens. KO asks if he saw the cool camera shots where they follow the guys and he says he wants to try to do this. He talks and points out a Chicago Bears title that he says he is keeping. He said AJ and Rey stand in his way. He said he hopes Aj is suffering from PTSD from LA's home invasion. KO said him and Rey both have sons that are taller than him but says his son isn't an idiot. KO said AJ and Rey are standing in his way but he will kick both their @sses. He then tells Bruce Prichard to hit gis music.

#1 Contender's Qualifer - Kevin Owens vs Rey Mysterio vs AJ Styles

They all get some shots in to start. Rey spinning headscissors AJ then Aj is lariated over the top. Rey is thrown out, AJ catches him and attitude adjustment's him on the apron. AJ jumps over the rail then is dropped gut first on it. KO cannonballs him into the rails. Rey then la silla's KO off the apron.

We go to PiP break and return. AJ enzugiri's KO. Rey is flipped onto KO and hits a nice spinning ddt off of it. Rey then does the same to AJ off the ropes. AJ is tripped into the 2nd rope and blocks a 619 from Rey. AJ neckbreakers Rey on the knee then drops KO chest first onto the mat off the casadora.

KO headbutts AJ and KO 2nd rope fisherman busters Rey for 2. AJ flips off the buckles and takes a superkick on the landing. AJ pele kicks KO then Rey springboard twisting crossbodies AJ. AJ gets german'd while doing a german on Rey.

Rey is monkeyflipped and catches AJ with a hurricanrana. Rey 619's AJ. KO stunners Rey on the apron then AJ gets his knees up on KO's top rope swanton. Rey goes for a hurricanrana on the ropes then is caught and takes a styles clash onto KO. AJ then pins Rey.

This was a really fun three way. These guys went all out here and Rey did stuff he doesn't usually do. These guys had their working boots on here and I never imagined this being as fun as it was. This was a good match this is worth seeing. 

LA Knight gets in the ring after and stands face to face with AJ. They argue and both says they are going to beat the other.

Overall thoughts: Cody's opening promo wasn't that good. I didn't like the opener as it was bogus that there was interference and nothing was done about it. The Bloodline turning on Jimmy and adding Tama Tonga was a big surprise. Bron beat Grimes in a quick squash. Naomi beat Tiffany in a match that wasn't that good. Piper and Green got squashed by Bianca and Jade. The main was good with everyone having their working boots on and really putting out an effort. I'd recommend seeing the main here and The Bloodline turn. I'd say it was an average show though with a mix of good and bad.