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WWE SmackDown Live comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (April 10, 2018) from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, featuring the fallout show from the WrestleMania 34 pay-per-view (PPV) that went down just this past Sunday in the same city.
Advertised for tonight: It’s the final show before the Superstar Shakeup, and more!
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the SmackDown live blog kicks off once the show starts on USA. It will be below this line here. (REMINDER: NO GIFS OR PICS ARE ALLOWED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. OFFENDERS WILL BE BANNED.)
WWE SMACKDOWN RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR APRIL 10
For too long now, there were secrets in my mind. For too long now, there were things I should have said. In the darkness, I was stumbling for the door to find a reason, to find the time, the place, the hour. Waiting for the winter sun and the cold light of day, the misty ghost of childhood fears. The pressure is building and I can’t stay away, I have to liveblog this here pro wrestling show for you, folks.
The show opens with Shane McMahon making his entrance.
He soaks in the atmosphere a moment before thanking the crowd and welcoming us to the show. First, on behalf of the entire organization and everyone in it, he wants to thank all of us for being part of WrestleMania and making it such a huge success. He says he’s been fortunate to have had an extra-special WrestleMania with the return of Daniel Bryan and seeing him in action was something magical.
He says Bryan was born to do this, and is officially a full-time performer and WWE Superstar once again! Because of that, he’s accepted Daniel’s resignation as SmackDown general manager, and since this is the land of opportunity, when one door closes, another opens, and he wants to introduce us to the new general manager... PAIGE!
She gets on the mic and says she’s back, and yesterday on Raw she delivered her retirement speech, walked straight to the back and it felt like the last time. The first person waiting for her was Shane, and she thanks him for the position and shakes his hand. For her first act as GM, she wants to make the night truly special for everyone, and that means talking about Daniel Bryan.
A “Yes!” chant goes up and she says he hasn’t competed on TV in over three years. She polls the crowd on who wants to see him in action tonight, the crowd are into it, and she goes to announce his opponent but lets the crowd take long beats to chant for various people before announcing that it’ll be AJ Styles!
Commentary recaps Shinsuke Nakamura’s heel turn and promise an explanation later, as well as a celebration for Charlotte Flair ending Asuka’s streak and another New Day vs. Usos with a shot at the tag titles on the line to send us to break.
Back from commercial, we get a hype reel for the Greatest Royal Rumble.
New Day (Big E &Xavier Woods) vs. the Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) (WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship #1 Contender’s Match)
Jey and Xavier to start, off the ropes, corkscrew forearm, tag made and they hit stereo kicks on Woods for two. Off the ropes, blind tag from E and he comes in with a bear hug! I can hardly bear it and he turns it into a belly-to-belly suplex! Xavier legal, gets Big up on his shoulders, assisted splash... NOPE! Unicorn Stampede follows, quick tags and we go to break.
Back from commercial, E is on the apron, big splash... JEY ROLLS AWAY AND BIG CRASHES TO THE FLOOR! Back in, tags made, Jimmy in hot with right hands! A superkick, another palm strike, E comes in, eats an enzuigiri, Uso dumps Woods to the floor and hits a big suicide dive! Cutting Xavier off, he runs into a boot AND COUNTERS HONOR ROLL INTO A SAMOAN DROP!
Tag made, Xavier hits a big DDT, gets some breathing room AND E SPEARS JIMMY TO THE FLOOR! Woods gets a springboard leg drop... NOT ENOUGH! Right hand, Xavier pummeling Jey’s kidneys, trading charging forearms, Xavier with another body blow to stop the chain, off the ropes and Uso gets a superkick to the midsection! Tags made, jockeying for position, New Day with a Rock Bottom lungblower double team... JIMMY USO KICKS OUT!
Superkick party! Woods with a misisle dropkick! Jimmy slides over with a schoolboy, only two, Woods gets the same, off the ropes... SUPERKICK! Tag made, Jey heads up top...
The Usos win by pinfall with a diving splash from Jey Uso on Xavier Woods, becoming #1 contenders to the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
Bludgeon Brothers come down to confront their new contenders, pointing their hammers at them.
We get the John Cena Make-a-Wish ad and get some hype for AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan for later tonight before being sent to break.
Back from commercial we get a still picture recap of WrestleMania.
We get footage of a confrontation Naomi had earlier today while admiring the trophy she won in the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal. Natalya rolled up and said she was putting an end to the sham because Naomi was the least favorite pick to win and her victory was the disappointment of the night and everyone is sick of her sophomoric glow. She can’t wait for Naomi to get shipped off to Raw.
Naomi says this is her last chance to get hands on her and she accepts, Natalya complains, Naomi tells her to stop whining, and we’ve got a match.
Naomi vs. Natalya
Collar and elbow, Natalya with a side headlock takeover, Naomi reverses to a headscissors, escape made. Circling, back to the lockup, Naomi with the headlock takeover this time, Neidhart with the headscissors and again the escape is made. Forearms exchanged, Nattie with a snapmare into the running stomp, Naomi with a kick, off the ropes... HEADSCISSORS DRIVER!
Hanging Natalya in the ropes, kick to the back, Naomi goes to the apron for a slingshot leg drop but Neidhart heads to the floor and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Nattie has an abdominal stretch locked on, elbowing her midsection for punctuation. Naomi slings her off, Neidhart with the mat slam, snap suplex, forearm to the back and back to the abdominal stretch, trapping a leg to boot this time. Escape, off the ropes, wheelbarrow Stunner and both women are down and out! Naomi to her feet first leg kicks into the Speedball kicks, scorpion kick, springboard, cut off... NATTIE HITS A REVOLUTION POWERBOMB!
Looking for the Sharpshooter, Naomi kicks her off, discus lariat takes her back down, no good. Sunset flip, roll through, duck the roundhouse kick, short springboard roundhouse gets Naomi in control, up top...
Naomi wins by pinfall with the split-legged moonsault.
Renee Young is outside Shinsuke Nakamura’s locker room hoping for an interview. He pops out and she asks about his attack on AJ Styles. He says he doesn’t know what came over him, maybe he got too emotional and he’s very sorry for what he did to AJ. Asked why, he claims he doesn’t speak English!
Commentary informs us the men who didn’t win the United States Championship will have a #1 contender’s match, and we cut to Charlotte Flair walking backstage to send us to break.
Back from commercial, we get a press roundup on all the big news from WrestleMania.
Charlotte Flair then makes her entrance.
She says Sunday she faced the toughest challenge of her career. Asuka made her work harder and dig deeper than ever before, and for that she thanks her. She’s still champion, and she tells Asuka they left every ounce of energy and emotion and it was special and magical, it really was. So the question is, who’s she gonna make magic with next?
ENTER BILLIE KAY AND PEYTON ROYCE, BILLED AS “THE ICONICS”!
Peyton gets on the mic saying that she happens to know a couple of wizards, and Billie says one of them will make the title disappear from her waist. They introduce each other and they’ll give it to Flair, her match at WrestleMania wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t... iconic. Nobody wants to hear Charlotte yak, and Royce does a mocking impression of Charlotte thanking everyone and anyone.
They chastise her for looking at the past when the future’s in front of them, and it’s out with the old, in with the Iconics. CHARLOTTE ATTACKS BUT THAT DAMNED NUMBERS GAME WINS OUT AND THEY BEAT HER DOWN! Flair gets a few forearms in, dumps Peyton... AND BILLIE HITS THE BOOT! They take Charlotte to the floor and dump her over the announce desk, first one direction and then the other!
Continuing to put boots to her, raining forearms down as the champion covers up! They let her get to her feet... and put her shoulder-first into the steel steps! They hoist her up... DOUBLE POWERBOMB! They hoist Flair up and drag her into the ring where they stand tall over her unconscious body when refs hit the ring to send them off, but their music hits and they take the time to pose first.
CARMELLA’S COMING DOWN, BRIEFCASE IN HAND! SHE HANDS IT TO REFEREE MIKE CHIODA AND IT’S ON!
Carmella vs. Charlotte Flair (c) (WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship)
Carmella waits for Flair to rise...
Carmella wins by pinfall with a superkick, winning the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship.
The Princess of Staten Island celebrates with the title on the announce table before holding it over Charlotte’s unconscious body and jawing at her. She kicks some dust on her body to add insult to injury.
Commentary hypes up Bryan/Styles again and we cut back to Carmella moonwalking on the ramp and see Flair staring at her from the ring.
So we go to break.
Back from commercial, we see Jinder Mahal and Sunil Singh hanging out next to the commentary position.
We get entrances for our #1 contender’s match, but the actual match will have to wait until after the break.
Bobby Roode vs. Randy Orton vs. Rusev (WWE United States Championship #1 Contender’s Match)
The match is in progress and Roode is in control on Orton. Hard whip, RKO blocked and Rusev comes in with punches and stomps in the corner for Bobby. Roode back with a blockbuster, Randy breaks the pin up, dumps Bobby, in on Rusev, eats the roundhouse kick, only a nearfall! The Viper heads to the floor, Rusev comes around, smashing his face into the apron and then into the announce desk.
Orton fires back with a chop, back suplex into the table, Roo over with chops, he rolls Randy back inside, duck a lariat, shoulder block connects, lariats into a swinging neckbreaker, Bobby heads up top and perches... diving lariat connects! Lying in wait, kick to the gut, Glorious DDT blocked, schoolboy no good, and the Viper starts throwing lariats!
Snap scoop powerslam, rope-hung DDT blocked, up and over to the apron, snap his neck over the ropes but Rusev scoops Randy up and suplexes him into the table! Back in, roundhouse kicks to the chest, charging back elbow, and that beautiful Shinjiro Ohtani-esque spinning wheel kick! Fired up, he charges in and hits the Machka Kick but decides he wants to break him!
Stomp to the back, the Accolade is in! Wrenching back, Randy breaks it up, puts Rusev into the post, Roode with a schoolboy, nope! Randy comes outta nowhere...
Randy Orton wins by pinfall with the RKO, becoming #1 contender to the WWE United States Championship.
Commentary hypes up Styles/Bryan one last time and we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get a quick card rundown for the Greatest Royal Rumble.
This is followed by a recap of Carmella’s successful cashing in of her Money in the Bank briefcase. Carmella is interviewed and says when a Queen’s reign grows too long a Princess is always ready to knock her off. She waited 287 long days to cash in and now look at her! She gets emotional for a second and tries to fight it before continuing, saying there’s somebody she really wants to thank... herself!
Just like she made history at Money in the Bank all on her own, she made history tonight all by herself. She has no idea who Billie Kay and Peyton Royce are, but she says Mella is money and now, Mella has the gold.
AJ Styles is walking backstage when he rolls into an interview. He says he doesn’t need an apology from Nakamura, he’ll just put his fist down his throat. But he’s not worried about that tonight, because he never thought he’d face Daniel Bryan in a WWE ring. He’s great, one of the greatest... but he’s not Phenomenal.
We get entrances, but Styles/Bryan will wait until after the break.
AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan
Circling, collar and elbow, Styles with a waistlock takedown, Bryan slips out and we stalemate! Back to the lockup, AJ with a side headlock, taking a knee, shot off, shoulder block, drop down, up and over, double leg into a test of strength pin but Dan bridges up! Test of strength continues, kick the hand away and the inverted double stomp armbreaker! Kicks to the arm follow up, arm wringer, Jim Breaks Special, shoulder armbreaker into Ode to Jim Breaks!
Double wristlock shifted into a hammerlock, back elbow breaks, Bryan throws uppercuts, off the ropes, leapfrog, drop down, big dropkick from Styles! To the floor... PLANCHA! AND SO TO BREAK!
Back from commercial, jockeying for a suplex, Bryan blocks with a knee, off the ropes, duck a lariat, AXE BOMBER! Fired up, Dan gets to his feet, lines AJ up and hits the corner dropkick! Yes! Kicks follow, but Styles catches the buzzsaw and counters with a dragon screw! Leaping lariat in the corner, whip across, backflip up and over, Bryan’s knee buckles... AJ HITS THE MOONSAULT INVERTED DDT FOR A NEARFALL!
Styles tries to pick the leg, Bryan throws forearms, a leg kick staggers him, Styles Rush, countered, DANIELSON SPECIAL! AJ reverses and the Calf Killer is locked on! The American Dragon crawls, reaching, rolling around and he goes back to the armbar! Roll into the omoplata, AJ blocks the crossface and rolls into a pin for a nearfall! Duck a roundhouse, the Pele connects, Styles with a lariat... NOT ENOUGH!
Styles heads to the apron, springboard... roundhouse kick! Another! “YES!” fingers, charging in... AJ REVERSES THE BUSAIKU KNEE KICK! LOOKING FOR THE STYLES CLASH, BRYAN REVERSES, OMOPLATA... THE YES! LOCK IS ON BUT STYLES IS TOO CLOSE TO THE ROPES! Hanging AJ in the Tree of Woe, more kicks, the knee bugging him, he lifts Styles back up... BACK SUPERPLEX ATTEMPT BUT AJ COUNTERS TO A CROSSBODY!
Shinsuke Nakamura hits the ring... KINSHASA ON BRYAN!
Daniel Bryan wins by disqualification, presumably.
Shinsuke attacks Styles after and getting fired up... KINSHASA ON STYLES! He draws the champion up after... another low blow!
That’s the show, folks.