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WWE SmackDown Live comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Mar. 26, 2019) from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, featuring all the latest build to the upcoming WrestleMania 35 pay-per-view (PPV) next month in New Jersey.
Advertised for tonight: Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles in the former’s final match on the blue brand, a Fatal 4-Way to determine who challenges Asuka at WrestleMania, 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 MAR. 26
Medicalized, under the knife, expected to be grateful. Trapped in the lens of the cis gaze, just another sad transsexual. Masculinity was their artifice, rip it away. Femininity, always the heart of us, trans girls be free. And me, I’m gonna exercise my freedom by liveblogging this here pro wrestling show for you, folks.
The show opens with Big E doing the deal and New Day making their entrance.
Xavier Woods asks if they can be serious for a minute and says the past few months have been an emotional rollercoaster. Big says we’ve been here for this entire incredible journey from “New Day sucks” to “New Day rocks” for almost five years, and Woods says it’s been incredible being here and traveling around the world, it’s been one hell of an experience and they want to say “thank you.”
E says he and X have spoke and they discussed walking away because of all the obstacles put in Kofi Kingston’s way. They’ve done a lot of cool things and made a lot of friends, but, uh... He trails off and Xavier takes back over, saying the hard thing is seeing how Kofi’s been treated, and not just recently, for the entire past eleven years. Big says POP isn’t just a catchphrase, and Kofi exudes the power of positivity.
Their brother does not know the word quit, and they can’t come to a decision until they get some answers. Unfortunately, the person that has those answers is Mr. McMahon, so New Day are asking Vince to come out here and address them face-to-face so they can talk about the issues they have. And they have no problem waiting in the middle of the ring until he does.
Enter Vincent Kennedy McMahon.
He goes to start but is immediately interrupted by Daniel Bryan making his entrance, with Erick Rowan (today wearing a Children of Bodom shirt) at his side. Bryan tells McMahon not to waste another breath placating New Day’s fragile egos-- if they want to quit, let them quit. New Day is nothing but a stale novelty act, he says, and one that Vince created, and if he wants to make another one just call three dudes up from NXT, call ‘em Fresh Afternoon and give them waffles to throw to the crowd and they’ll be more popular than New Day ever was.
And why? Because Kofi is nothing but a B+ player and let’s face it, he lost last week, he lost at Fastlane, he lost at Elimination Chamber, and don’t let the parasites in the audience get into your head, he says, Vince has been right about Kingston every step of the way, 100%, and these people are wrong. And just like Kofi, these people refuse to accept that reality.
Woods calls Bryan out and accuses him of being too scared to face Kingston one-on-one and he’s turned into everything he used to fight against, a hypocrite, and that’s why he’s here right now. Dan starts to respond but McMahon tells everyone to shut up. He wants to talk about “this quitting crap” first. He asks if they’re gonna quit repeatedly before saying they’re not gonna quit.
The power of positivity is psychological crap to make Vince think they’re gonna quit, but they were never gonna quit, he says, and he gets it, everybody loves what we have here, or most everybody. So Kofi still and always will be, in McMahon’s view, a B+ player, which Bryan chimes in in agreement. McMahon says the only question is whether the other two are a B+ tag team.
All this respect for Kofi, he gets it, and he asks if they can put Kingston into the WWE Championship match. All they have to do, and Kofi’s out of opportunities here, but if Big and Xavier can win a tag team gauntlet tonight, Kingston’s in at WrestleMania!
Commentary discusses the news and whether or not winning the gauntlet will mean anything more than Kofi winning his gauntlet did and then hype up the news that the Raw Women’s Championship match is main eventing WrestleMania.
Backstage, Becky Lynch is interviewed about the news.
She says she’s just out here changing the game and says she’s gonna win at WrestleMania just like she won the Beat the Clock Challenge. She brings the people, Ronda Rousey brings the title, but what does Charlotte Flair bring to the title? Can you tell her?
The interview gets cut off so Charlotte can make her entrance on the mic and question the notion that she’s a third wheel, saying she’s going to show us how deserving she is, on which note we go to break.
Back from commercial, Asuka makes her entrance. We’ve got a title match!
Asuka (c) vs. Charlotte Flair (WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship)
Collar and elbow, Asuka with a wristlock, Flair reverses but the Empress gets the ropes and reverses it right back! Mat slam from Charlotte, side headlock applied, Asuka reverses to one of her own, shot off, drop down, leapfrog, back handspring and the Empress kicks her midsection to cut her off and send us to break.
Back from commercial, Charlotte takes her knee pad down and drops the knee across the back of Asuka’s neck! Neckbreaker countered, the champion has the octopus hold on and wrenches back on it! Flair upright, Asuka rolls to a cover, only two and she blocks forearms to return her own until Charlotte kicks her leg out from under her. Stomps to the inner thigh, jawing at her, off the ropes... CODEBREAKER EVENS THE ODDS!
Both women down and out and rising to their feet, Asuka laying slaps and forearms in, kick to the midsection, running hip attack into a German suplex and then a superkick! Off the ropes, sliding kick, only two! Laying kicks into the Queen’s back, fired up, off the ropes for the hip attack but Flair dodges it and lands a boot... NOPE! Charlotte up top... FEET UP ON THE MOONSAULT AND THE ASUKA LOCK IS ON!
Flair reverses to a pin, blocks the backfist but takes the reverse roundhouse kick... She’s still in it and we go to break!
Back from commercial, Flair is pasting Asuka with chops before going for the exploder but Asuka reverses and fights out of a cover. The Queen looking for the spinning toehold, upkicks deny it and eventually send her face-first into the turnbuckle. Buzzsaw roundhouse kick lays her out... NOT ENOUGH! Up top, jockeying for position... CHARLOTTE HITS A SPANISH FLY OFF THE TOP BUT IT’S NOT ENOUGH TO PUT ASUKA AWAY!
Both women spent emotionally and physically, screaming at each other on the mat, Flair rains forearms double but Asuka has the armbar and shifts to the triangle! Grabbing her head, wrenching it in, Charlotte posts to her feet, deadlift... SITOUT POWERBOMB BUT ASUKA LIVES! Leg pick, spinning toehold countered into a small package, roll through, Asuka Lock attempt but Flair’s fighting her!
Reversed, leg pick, spinning toehold and the figure four is on! Bridging back....
Charlotte Flair wins by submission with the Figure Eight to win the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship.
As Flair leaves, holding her title high, Kurt Angle makes his entrance, giving the Queen a little nod of approval and a clap.
His match will be after the break.
Back from commercial, AJ Styles is interviewed ahead of his match.
He says he’s honored to be Kurt Angle’s last match on SmackDown, privileged to be part of his career, and proud to be in the ring with him tonight. Angle’s done more with his career than most have dreamed of, and he’s taking this seriously. Kurt may have laid the foundation, but this is the House That AJ Styles Built.
AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle
Angle and Styles hug before getting to it, Kurt landing a German suplex out the gates! AJ stumbles to his feet and barely jumps out of the Angle Slam before rolling the Calf Killer on! Wrenching back on it, Angle in agony, tempted to tap but he manages to roll through and reverse to the ankle lock! Styles crawls around the ring, looking for a way out, reaching and he finally posts to one foot and throws Kurt into the turnbuckle face-first!
To his feet, Randy Orton’s in the ring... RKO OUTTA SOMEWHERE!
AJ Styles wins by disqualification, presumably.
Orton puts boots to Styles but Angle recovers and Angle Slams the Viper!
We get a replay of a WWE.com interview from earlier today with Rey Mysterio and his son Dominic where they’re confident that Rey will beat Samoa Joe at WrestleMania and become the new WWE United States Champion.
The Miz makes his entrance and we go to break.
Back from commercial we’re informed that the triple threat women’s championship match now has two champions in it, plus Joan Jett will be playing her Bad Reputation (which, of course, is not as good as the Thin Lizzy song of the same name) live at WrestleMania for Ronda Rousey’s entrance.
The Miz is in the ring and he gets on the microphone.
He says we’re just 12 days away from WrestleMania and usually he has a rush of emotion but this year it’s different, because the only image he sees is him ripping Shane McMahon apart piece by piece on the Grandest Stage of Them All. And he knows how he wants to do it-- Shane’s lit a fire under him by making this personal and attacking his father. He wants everyone to see him destroy McMahon up close and personal... in a Falls Count Anywhere Match!
He’s gonna take Shane all over the stadium and showcase everything he can do.
Security and several secondary members of the heel roster fill the ramp ahead of McMahon’s entrance, getting between him and the Miz. Shane starts by yelling at Greg Hamilton for a proper introduction and when he gets it he says his security is here to protect Miz from him. When he heard about the stipulation he couldn’t believe it, but he guesses the A-Lister is as dumb as his father looks, and he gets an image of him grabbing Mr. Miz’s face on the tron.
He’s had a lot of time to reflect about what happened, downloaded every camera angle to his phone to watch over and over again, and the more he watches it, the better it makes him feel. When he beat the holy crap out of Miz in front of his home town and his father it made him feel great, down to his bones. Then, to really elevate it, when he put hands on his dad’s face, he paralyzed him with fear.
Shane says he couldn’t imagine what was going through Mr. Miz’s head and that took him past feeling good all the way to feeling euphoric and he has a taste for it now. He says the greatest mistake of Miz’s dad’s life was impregnating his mother and the A-Lister’s had enough! He brawls with security, a man enraged, throwing them aside one by one and thinning the herd before finally getting to the actual roster guys.
Laying Shelton Benjamin out with a boot to the fast, throwing a Colon into the steps, putting Shelton into the post and SAnitY swarm him, agents of chaos... working... for... Shane... McMahon for some reason. Anyway SAnitY use That Damn Numbers Game to get Miz on the run but slowly the A-Lister turns the tide and fends them off as well! He dives off the barricade into both Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain!
Brawling into the crowd with Wolfe and Dain, he finally runs them off in full.
We then get a recap of the opening segment, because it’s two weeks to WrestleMania and that means even two-hour SmackDown needs to remind us what just happened constantly to make sure everybody’s on the same page.
A recap of the women’s title match follows, as well as one for last night’s Moment of Bliss setting up the first three entrants for the Sixth Annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal in Memory of Andre the Giant.
New Day make their entrance and our gauntlet match will presumably begin after the break.
Back from commercial, we get a handcam promo from the Iconic Duo about being in the Women’s Tag Team Championship match at WrestleMania and how they’re gonna win.
Daniel Bryan & Erick Rowan vs. New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) vs. Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. the Bar (Cesaro & Sheamus) vs. the Club (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) vs. the Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) (Gauntlet Match)
Woods and Anderson to start, X with a dropkick and right hands into the corner but Karl turns him around and lays into him with punches and uppercuts of his own. Coming out of the corner, uppercut, off the ropes, right into a superkick! They run Gallows off, tag to E...
New Day eliminate the Club by pinfall with Up Up Down Down on Karl Anderson.
Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura out next, Shinsuke starting opposite Xavier and catching him with knees in the clinch. Off the ropes, duck the lariat, tilt-a-whirl headscissors and Woods jaws at Rusev to back off. Charging in, Stinger Splash denied, Nakamura sets him up top for the running knee to the ribs but the cover’s only good for two. Tag to Rusev, takedown into grounded punches and he follows with a stomp before throwing Xavier to the floor and sending us to break.
Back from commercial and Rusev manhandles Woods into his corner for shoulder thrusts and a tag. Nakamura with some Good Vibrations, knee drop across the chest, only two! Guillotine choke applied, trying to sap Xavier’s will. Inverted exploder, Woods lands on his feet, tag to E! Big comes in hot, one belly-to-belly suplex, a second, a third, he’s fired up, hip swivel, off the ropes for the big splash!
Clapping, lying in wait as we see the roster watching backstage but Shinsuke slips out of the Big Ending and passes E to the floor. Tag to Rusev, whip reversed and the Bulgarian Brute goes hard into the steel steps! Back inside, but Shinsuke snaps Big’s neck over the ropes, kick, assisted suplex, off the ropes for Kinshasa... WOODS BREAKS IT UP! The match breaks down a bit, Nakamura has E lined up but he sidesteps him into the post!
Into the post again! Tag to Woods, up on a shoulder...
New Day eliminate Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura by pinfall with Up Up Down Down on Nakamura.
The Bar are up next and we go to break.
Back from commercial, the Bar are putting boots to E, Sheamus legal and he drops an elbow on Big’s knee before grabbing a legscissor and wrenching the joint with the point of his elbow grinding into the side of his knee. E with a side headlock and crossface strikes to batter his way free! Tag to Cesaro... GIANT SWING ON BIG E INTO THE SHARPSHOOTER! Shifting gears, Big kicks him out of the ring and the way is clear!
Crawling, reaching, Cesaro picks the leg and tags Sheamus! The Celtic Warrior blocks the tag and puts boots to E, stomping at his knee. Grinding a forearm across his face, leg pick, tag to Cesaro. Assisted body avalanche, countered with a back body drop to the floor and nothing’s in his way... BACK BODY DROP TO CESARO AND A TAG TO XAVIER WOODS!
Xavier ducks a lariat, clears the apron, off the ropes, slide low, kick to the midsection, another, running knee and a dropkick to the back! Sheamus passes Woods to the apron, enzuigiri in return, springboard tornado DDT! Off the ropes... TOPE CON GIRO WIPES THE BAR OUT! Throwing the Swiss Superman back inside, Woods heads up top... DIVING LEG DROP BUT SHEAMUS BREAKS IT UP AND SENDS US TO BREAK!
Back from commercial, Cesaro has a deep half-crab locked in on E but the New Day man kicks him off. Tag to Sheamus, baseball slide to Woods, up top but the diving lariat comes up empty and Big powerbombs him for some breathing room! Tag to Woods, shoulder block, Cesaro legal, up top... HE DIVES INTO SWISS DEATH AND A SMALL PACKAGE BUT XAVIER WON’T GIVE UP ON KOFI’S DREAM!
Cesaro choking him over the middle rope, cheap shot from Sheamus and he tags in after. Fireman’s carry, Cesaro in position but Big E yanks him to the floor! Woods with a schoolboy...
New Day eliminate the Bar by pinfall with a schoolboy pin from Xavier Woods on Sheamus.
Sheamus puts boots to Xavier but Big makes the save! Cesaro joins the beatdown and they wail on E for a beat before the Swiss Superman heads under the ring for a table! They set it up in the ring and powerbomb Big through it!
The Usos are out next as referee Mike Chioda and Woods check on E and clear the ring of table fragments. They get on the mic and say everybody knows they’ve fought wars with the New Day, and everybody knows Kofi deserves to fight for the WWE Champinoship. He’s already earned their respect, the respect of everyone in the locker room, and of the WWE Universe, so that being said, good luck, because the Usos forfeit!
New Day eliminate the Usos by forfeit!
We see Bryan and Rowan backstage, trashing the locker room over the Usos forfeiture of the match, to send us to break.
Back from commercial and medics and trainers are in the ring as Greg Hamilton announces there’s one more tag team in the match-- Daniel Bryan & Erick Rowan!
Bryan & Rowan hit the ring and beat New Day down! Erick takes Woods out to the floor as the American Dragon starts dissecting E’s bad leg, pulling him against the ringpost and hammering it into it as Rowan puts Xavier face-first into the apron! Putting boots to Big but he fights back, hammering Rowan, clubbing Bryan, only for a rolling half-crab to keep Dan in charge!
Wrenching maximum torque on it, inverting his grip... WOODS WITH A MISSILE DROPKICK TO BREAK IT UP! Erick gets low-bridged, off the ropes... TOPE CON GIRO! Running dropkick... E COUNTERS WITH THE ROCK BOTTOM! BIG E IS FIRED UP AND THE STRAPS ARE DOWN! Lying in wait... BIG ENDING CONNECTS BUT ROWAN BREAKS IT UP! Erick blasts Xavier off the apron and makes the tag.
Huge Rock Bottom of his own... E WON’T STAY DOWN! Rowan heads to the floor and clears the announce desk, slinging office chairs around as Bryan runs into an elbow from Woods and gets DDT’d on the floor! Erick has Woods in the claw but he floats out and sends the big man into the post! E rams him a second time and clubs him over the desk with a lariat! Big pushes... AND FLIPS THE ANNOUNCE TABLE OVER ON ERICK ROWAN!
Back inside, referee Mike Chioda counting...
New Day eliminate Daniel Bryan & Erick Rowan by count-out, earning Kofi Kingston the #1 contendership to the WWE Championship!
KOFI RUSHES TO THE RING TO CELEBRATE!
An interviewer flags Mr. McMahon down backstage. He says New Day’s win was impressive and Kofi Kingston IS going to WrestleMania, but says the real question is if a B+ player can beat Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship!
KOFI’S GOING TO WRESTLEMANIA, BABY! ELEVEN YEARS! THE BABYFACE ROSTER POURS OUT TO CELEBRATE WITH THE NEW DAY!
THAT’S THE SHOW, FOLKS!