WWE Smackdown 4/4/2025

WWE Smackdown 4/4/2025

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/03/wwe-smackdown-3282025.html

We are in Chicago, Illinois. Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett are on commentary.

We see various wrestlers arrive.

CM Punk comes out to talk. Punk grabs the camera and points it at the crowd. Punk says he's not supposed to be here as he had to be brought back to life when he was born. Punk says he's always told he isn't supposed to be here but he's in the main of Mania. He says he earned it.

He talks about his history in Chicago and says he wasn't supposed to be there every step of the way. He then brings up his dog and wife. 

He says he wouldn't be who he is or where he is without Chicago. He says the hard work begins now. He says he will whip Seth and Roman at the main event of Wrestlemania.

Paul Heyman comes out. He says he just got here late and it's no disrespect to Chicago or Punk. The crowd chants "ECW" and Punk leads the chant. Paul tells the crowd to ask what their Wiseman can do for them. Paul says Punk belongs here.

Paul talked about begging Punk to be on his team at Wargames. Paul says he has another favor for him. Paul asks for Punk to tell him the favor he owes him now. Paul says Roman isn't here. Punk says he wants to tell it to Roman and Paul's faces at the same time. Punk then leaves.

We get a video on Rey Fenix.

Rey Fenix vs Nathan Frazer

This is NF's main roster debut and Rey Fenix's WWE debut.

NF wristlocks him. Re flips out of it using the ropes and wristlocks him. NF headflips out and flips him by the wrist. They kip up together and Rey tries to kick him. Rey avoids being thrown out and spin kicks him. Rey rolls him up for 2. Rey rolls into a hurricanrana on him.

NF does a headscissors off an up and over. He topes him but gets stuck some of the ropes. Rey double jump springboard tornillos him outside. We go to PiP break and return. Rey is on the buckles. NF is knocked off but gets back on 2 more times and superplexes him. He then holds on for a twisting suplex. NF hits a big knee to the jaw. Rey dropkicks him. Rey rope walk kicks him. Rey hits a very nasty emerald flowsion on NF's neck. NF dropkicks him.

Rey kips up and superkicks him. Rey springboard spin kicks him. Rey then does a twisting muscle buster driver and wins.

Thoughts: I didn't like it. The emerald flowsion should have ended it as it looked brutal. It was all flying and big moves as usual with Rey. I was surprised Rey didn't fly a little more.

Byron Saxton interviews Rey in the ring. Rey says it's not just a debut it's so much more. Rey says it's rebirth. He says, "I am WWE, arriba".

Legado del Fantasma watch in the back. Santos tells Los Garza that's the kind of performance he escapes. Berto says he's a flying lizard and a flash in the pan. Berto says he's better than him. Santos asks where this fire has been. Santos says he will make the match happen.

Thoughts: I wondered how long it would be until the eventual interaction with Legado. It was only one night...

Drew McIntyre does a promo with an eye patch on. He says nobody cares about Damian Priest unless he feasts on his scraps. He said DP does what he always does - hide in the shadows like a vulture. He says shards of glass went in his eye when DP attacked him last week. He says he needs to pray and when he prays, bad things happen.

Braun Strowman is interviewed. He says he's had enough of Fatu. He says he will buzzsaw him tonight then go to Mania and take the US Title to complete his grand slam. Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga walk in. Solo says Braun is finished and says no matter what he says, he has to face Fatu. LA Knight comes in. He says not to waste his energy on him and tells Braun to keep his eyes on the prize. Tama tells LA he should be worried about him tonight. LA mocks him and says he will stomp his @ss out. He says we need to get a ref and he can remind Tama whose game this is.

LA Knight vs Tama Tonga

LA hits punches and back elbows him. Tama dropkicks him. LA suplexes him. Tama backdrops him then is facekicked. Tama's head is banged off the buckles. LA running knees him in the corner. LA dropkicks him through the ropes. LA bangs Tama's head off the commentary table. Solo distracts LA. LA is hit from behind and goes off the apron into the commentary table.

We go to break and return. LA and Tama trade punches. LA shoulders him over. LA sunset flips him for 2. Tama lariats him. Tama suplexes him. Tama misses a 2nd rope elbow drop. LA hits punches on Tama. LA hits lariats on Tama then jumping neckbreakers him.

LA powerslams Tama. LA jumping elbow drops him. Solo tries to hit LA on the apron but is nailed. LA hits a BFT on Tama and wins.

Thoughts: It was a decent match. The two matched up pretty well together and don't work that different of styles so they were able to make it work. LA won as expected here.

Byron tries to interview Paul Heyman in the back. Paul says Punk hasn't told him what the favor will be. Paul asks why he should tell this to him. Paul says no matter what the favor is, his answer is yes. A car then pulls up behind Paul and it's Seth Rollins (Paul thinks it is Roman).

Seth says Paul was expecting the other Shield guy. Seth says Paul looks horrible. Seth says Paul dug himself into a hole with the favor thing. He says to tell Seth when Roman comes as he wants to hear the favor.

Charlotte Flair comes out. We get a video for an unknown wrestlers. Tiffany Stratton then comes out. Wade is hosting an interview with them in the ring.

Flair said she wanted to show that there is no comparison between them. Tiff says she isn't her biggest competitor, that's the fans. Tiff says Flair will never win that one. She says Flair will always come second to her dad and will come second to her at Mania.

Flair runs out of things to say and the crowd boos her. Tiff says Flair was being a volleyball player and drinking at age 25 and she's walking into Mania as the women's champ. Tiff says Flair can call herself WWE's least favorite nepo baby for 3 more days. Flair says she's the #1 nepo queen. Tiff says Flair will be alone at Mania just like she is outside the ring.

Tiff walks off and Flair says Lduwig Kaiser (Tiff's Boyfriend) is in her DM's.

Thoughts: This was a disaster. Both girls came off bad and Flair just forgot what to say. Tiff definitely won this but she wasn't impressive.

Nick Aldis says we will have a women's tag gauntlet next week and the winners facing the tag champs at Mania. 

#1 Contender's Match - DIY (Tomasso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano) vs The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelly and Chris Sabin)

The Street Profits are watching in the front row. Sabin armdrags Johnny twice. Ciampa then gets one. Ciampa takes a double shoulderblock. The Guns hit stereo corner moves. Sabin lariats Ciampa over the top. Alex chases JG around and JG slingshot spears him. We go to PiP break and return.

Sabin hits punches on both opponents. Sabin then tornado ddt's Ciampa off of JG. Sabin does a tope outside. Sabin is crotched up top. Sabin rolls up Ciampa then Ciampa pumping knees him. Ciampa powerbomb backbreakers him for 2. Sabin takes a superkick + angel's wings combo.

Ciampa is pushed into JG. Ciampa is held for a basement dropkick from Sabin. Alex is pushed off the top. Ciampa tries to pin Sabin with the ropes but is caught. Ciampa goes into the exposed buckle and is pinned.

Thoughts: Sadly it didn't get enough time and was a bit rushed here with a fast pace. I liked what we got but this should have gotten double the time it did. 

The Miz and Carmelo Hayes talk in the back. They run into Pretty Deadly and mock them. PD says they have jokes too and say, "The Marine 3, 4 and 5". PD says they got done writing a song about a character who hasn't been awesome for at least 10 years and it's called "The Miz". Miz says he's been a tag champ many times. PD asks who many partners he had. Kit says Melo has been relegated to The Miz and says they aren't a real team. Miz says they are Melo Don't Miz. Melo says they couldn't beat them on their worst day.

B-Fab vs Naomi

Jade Cargill nails Naomi as she comes out. Security then come and try to stop her.

Naomi gets in the ring and is thrown backwards. Fab lariats her then bangs her head off the buckles. Fab spinning heel kicks her in the corner then facekicks her. Fab hits mounted shots. Fab hits a uranage for 2.

Fab misses a kick in the corner. She is put in tree of woe then Naomi does like a reverse curbstomp, sending Fab's head into the buckles. Naomi does a short arm codebreaker and wins.

Thoughts: It was a quick one. What we got wasn't bad with them Naomi's tree of woe curbstomp looking cool and her finisher looking good.

Naomi calls out Jade after. Jade shows up behind her and pump kicks her. Jade fights off security. Nick Aldis comes out. He says he has had enough of this. He says there's only one solution and it's a match with them at Mania.

We get a Damian Priest video. He says Drew had his moment at Mania but Punk clowned him. He said he did his job and became champ. He says Drew screwed himself and it happened again at Clash a the Castle. DP says Drew's baggage followed him at MITB. He says he eliminated him at both The Rumble and The Elimination Chamber but Drew attacked him like a coward. He says Drew is a hypocrite and a junkie. He says he plays the victim every week and says the time for Drew to pray is now. He says to look for him in the ring face to face next week as he wants him to stop playing the victim and become his victim at Mania.

Nick Aldis is in the ring. He says there's a fine line between coming back from injury and not stepping back in the ring again. He brings out Kevin Owens.

KO says he has been doing this for 25 years and has given all he had in the ring. He says there's a price to pay for all of that. He says everyone has paid the price and it's his turn. He says he's been dealing with a neck injury for 4 months and they didn't know how serious it was. He says he has to get neck surgery.

He says the timing couldn't be worse. He says not getting to fight Orton sucks. He says he doesn't know when he will be in front of us again. He said he learned not take anything for granted and says he won't take his neck for granted. He says thank you and says he's sorry. 

Randy Orton comes but KO just walks away. KO yells at a fan. Aldis says Orton no longer has a Mania match. Orton then stunners him.

Thoughts: Well that sucks. Hopefully KO will be okay.

Last Man Standing - Jacob Fatu vs Braun Strowman

The brawl in the entrance aisle. Fatu is sent into the steps and holds his knee. BS chops him. Fatu superkicks him and flying lariats him. Fatu hits another superkick then flying back elbows him.

Fatu double jump moonsaults him. Fatu hits another and BS rolls out to beat the count. We go to PiP break. Fatu hits punches on BS and headbutts him. BS sends him knee first into the steps then hits him with the steps. Fatu is sent into the Prime Hydration Staton. BS hits him with the table top. BS is then rolled over the steps. Fatu superkicks him. They get back in the ring. Fatu hits headbutts. BS spinebusters him.

Fatu superkicks him. BS facekicks him. BS is sent over the top. Fatu topes him and sends him over the commentary table. BS is sent into the post. Fatu runs at him and takes a chair right to the forehead. BS then running bodyblocks him through a rail. 

We go to break and return. They are fighting in the production area. BS suplexes Fatu and himself through tables. Fatu running back splashes BS through a table in the corner. BS can't get up and Fatu wins.

Thoughts: It was a shame we missed a few minutes of this during the break because it felt like it was important. It was a good demolition as you would expect. Braun took a nice bump over a table and they did a suplex through a table spot. It was what I wanted and I enjoyed it.

Paul Heyman is still waiting for Roman in the loading area. He says Roman will arrive any minute when Byron asks.

A car arrives after the break and it has Roman in it. Roman ignores Paul and heads to the ring. Roman says to acknowledge him. Roman asks Paul is Punk is here and he says he is. Roman asks if he's still taking about the favor and he says he is.

Roman says Punk wouldn't be back here if it wasn't for him. He says Punk has never been in the main of Mania. Roman says they should bring Punk out so they stop wasting time.

Seth Rollins comes out. Seth says Roman doesn't like to step in the real world but reality bites him in the @ss when he tries. Seth complains about Roman letting Punk back and him being in Mania now.

He says with reality, you either suffer and get left behind or you adapt and control reality. Roman says Seth doesn't know loyalty, but he keeps his word like with Punk.

CM Punk comes out. He says this is about loyalty and friendship. He said Paul stopped him from behind fired. He talks about him, RVD, Big Show and Paul talking. Punk said he told Paul not to leave as they will fire him. Punk said he asked what he could do for him. Punk says Heyman told him to force them to deal with him.

Punk says he will force Roman to deal with us. Punk says he wants Paul in his corner at Mania. Roman laughs. He says Paul loves and needs him but he saved him. Roman says Paul wouldn't even if he let him. Roman tells Paul to tell Punk no.

Paul is teary eyed and doesn't want to. Paul says he can't tell Punk no. Seth laughs. Roman wipes Paul's face. Punk attacks Roman from behind then hits a GTS. 

Thoughts: Punk's favor wasn't surprisingly. Logically, I'm not sure why Punk wants to do this as Paul could turn on him during the match and be his downfall, but we can go with the idea that he will hurt Roman by not being in his corner. That'll add something to this match but this match still could use some some kind of stipulation to really put this over.

Overall thoughts: It was a bit of a long show as usual. These SD shows don't need to be three hours but they are. I don't think WWE is making the most of the extra time and my hopes of more focus on the midcard guys hasn't really come true. The show could have used a bit more star power wrestling wise and we could have used some longer matches here. Braun/Fatu was the best match on this one. Rey Fenix's debut was mostly what I expected. The women's match was short and the men's tag was too short. The Flair/Tiff segment was a total disaster. I wouldn't recommend this one and would really only give it a 6 out of 10 and that might even be generous. It wasn't awful, but even with the same line up, the show could have been better.