:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63329240/20190330_SD_BryanKofi__3287dacb3455d7f3b2bbca791f23b37a.0.jpg)
WWE SmackDown Live comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (April 2, 2019) from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland, featuring the go home show to the upcoming WrestleMania 35 pay-per-view (PPV) this Sunday night in New Jersey.
Advertised for tonight: A WWE championship contract signing, Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade, 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 2
Roll over, hit snooze, there’s always time to lose. Hydrate your migraine, paint your nails, lick your wounds. Take a bath for an hour and a half, tuck it back, close your eyes... Can’t a girl liveblog a pro wrestling show for you, folks?
The show opens with commentary recapping last night’s women’s brawl leading to the arrests of Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and Ronda Rousey, as well as hyping up tonight’s WWE Championship contract signing.
Kevin Owens is in the ring, ready to host the Kevin Owens Show.
He welcomes us and notes we’re just five days away from WrestleMania, where each of his guests are going to continue their respective legacies. He introduces Randy Orton first and then AJ Styles and begins by talking about Orton interrupting what was meant to be Kurt Angle’s last-ever match on SmackDown last week, asking him if he’s proud of it. Randy says hell yeah he’s proud he stopped us from seeing a washed-up Olympian beat a guy who thinks he’s at the top of his game.
And he saved us from watching the match, to which AJ says Orton’s been in the ring for twenty years and learned one move. Don’t get him wrong, it’s deadly, but it’s one move. Randy says when you have a move that deadly all you need is one, but Styles doesn’t get that. We all think these indie guys have it so hard trying to make ends meet, going from high school gym to armory back to high school gym and trying to impress dozens of fans, but while they’re doing that, the Viper was wrestling at WrestleMania in front of tens of thousands.
AJ says he’s right, when he was in gyms, Randy was in WWE... getting suspended for failing drug tests! Orton says the truth is if Styles is as good as he thinks he is, he’d have been in WWE a long, long time ago. He thinks his legacy is that hard work pays off, no, that’s not AJ’s legacy, his legacy is that now that John Cena’s gone to Hollywood, he’s assumed the role of corporate bitch.
Randy sets the mic down and KO gets the hell out of Dodge as the Viper and the Phenomenal One rise from their seats and face off. AJ in with forearms, backing him into the corner, ripping hisvest off but Orton smashes his face into the table and uppercuts him to the apron! Slingshot forearm striek, elbow pad adjusted... PHENOMENAL FOREARM COUNTERED INTO AN RKO!
Backstage, Kofi Kingston is examining the contract for his title match with Big E and Xavier Woods.
Aleister Black makes his entrance, he’ll be in eight-man tag team action after the break.
Aleister Black, Ricochet, & the Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) vs. Rusev, Shinsuke Nakamura, & the Bar (Cesaro & Sheamus)
Ricochet and Cesaro to start, the Swiss Superman shoving him into the corner. Collar and elbow, jockeying for position, setting the One and Only up in the corner and breaking at referee Jason Ayers’ behest before popping Ricochet in the face! Ricochet slips out of a powerbomb, off the ropes, tilt-a-whirl sunset flip for two and Cesaro decks him with an uppercut!
Tag to Sheamus, whip across, flip over, kick to the midsection, off the ropes again, military press, the One and Only slips away and tags Black in! Quebrada sets up a strike rush, off the ropes for a basement Sick Kick, only a nearfall! Arm wringer, tag to Jimmy Uso, whip into a big right hand and into the corner to tag Jey in. Leaping lariat in the corner, off the ropes, Sheamus catches him and rams him into his own corner!
Trying to clear the apron, double axehandle, tag to Nakamura. Knee lifts to Uso’s midsection get a right hand, another, huge palm strikes, tag to Rusev, whip reversed and a low bridge sends Jey to the floor! Throwing Uso into the steel steps and then into the barricade, ripping his shirt off, the Bulgarian Lion roars before throwing him back inside. Cover gets two, tag to Shinsuke.
Kick to the ribs, drawing him up for some Good Vibrations, knee to the midsection, off the ropes, Jey hits an elbow and both men are down and out! Sheamus tags in, stomping Jey’s bicep to block the tag and dumping him to the floor, where Cesaro puts boots to him as we go to break.
Back from commercial, Rusev is in control on Jey and tags Nakamura in. Lifting him up into the corner, Shinsuke hits the running knee to the ribs and covers him for two. Guillotine choke applied but Uso is able to counter into a Samoan drop! Tags to Rusev and Jimmy, Uso in hot, lariats, superkick, slicing right, fireman’s carry, Rusev slips out, duck the roundhouse, superkick... NAKAMURA BREAKS IT UP!
Ricochet in with a dropkick, Cesaro nails him with Swiss Death, Black takes his head off with a roundhouse, Sheamus with a knee and Jey takes the Celtic Warrior out! Jimmy lands on his feet off a suplex, tag to Jey, stereo kicks... SUPERKICK PARTY! IT’S OVER!
Aleister Black, Ricochet, & the Usos win by pinfall with a Superkick Party from the Usos on Rusev.
Post-match, Alexa Bliss makes her entrance and addresses the crowd, saying it’s not like she wanted to be here but as host of WrestleMania, duty calls.
A lot has changed since she left, and she mentions that Lynch, Flair, and Rousey have been released from jail. She scoffs at the notion that Kevin Owens is a better host than she, and she thinks SmackDown has really lost the spirit of competition, like how the Usos forfeited last week. That was so noble, so heroic, so... deserving of repercussions. Therefore, she’s announcing that the Usos will be defending their titles against all the teams that were just in this match in a four-way.
All three other teams wake up out of nowhere and we got a brawl! Aleister Black and Ricochet cap it off with a Codebreaker into Black Mass for Cesaro and a dive into the crush!
Commentary then recaps last night’s brawls and arrests.
The Iconic Duo make their entrance and we go to break.
Back from commercial, commentary breaks WWE’s WrestleMania Week offerings down for us.
The Iconic Duo are in the ring and Billie Kay starts, saying the state of the tag teams at WrestleMania is quite dramatic, with both the SmackDown Tag Team Championship and the Women’s Tag Team Championship defended in four-way matches. They talk about how they could pin all the various other women that are in the match, running them down and pointing out they’ve already beaten the current champs, Boss and Hug Connection.
So it’s a no-brainer-- at Sunday they’re gonna win the tag titles and make WrestleMania iconic.
Another recap of last night’s brawl and the ensuing arrests follows.
Miz makes his entrance, he’ll be in action after the break.
Back from commercial, commentary informs us that Brutus “the Barber” Beefcake is being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Ahead of his match, the Miz gets on the mic.
He begins by saying WrestleMania means different things to different people. For the women in the main event, it means making history. For Kofi Kingston, it means finally breaking through, and for him, it means retribution. Recently he’s been able to take stock in who he is, and that’s why he knows he stands here as the best version of the Miz because he has an incredible family.
For proof, tune into tonight’s premiere of Miz and Mrs., which sounds like a cheap plug but it’s just something he’s proud of and he fights with a full heart, more motivated than ever before in his entire career. That’s why he made his match falls count anywhere, because he can’t be contained in the ring, and he’ll beat Shane McMahon anywhere and everywhere.
He used to fight for his father’s approval, but after what McMahon did to his dad, now he fights for his honor. And hey, Shane has a dad, so he guesses that makes him a son of a bitch.
SAnitY cut him off with their entrance, and Shane McMahon follows after.
He says he just wanted to come out here and see this one up close and personal, before demanding Greg Hamilton give him his special introduction and then calling for the bell.
SAnitY (Alexander Wolfe, Eric Young, & Killian Dain) vs. the Miz (Handicap Match)
Young in first, Miz punching him into the corner, mounted punches to follow, double axehandle takes Wolfe out, blast Dain off the apron but EY hits the neckbreaker and puts boots to him as we go to break.
Back from commercial, Miz is in trouble but he manages to get Dain hung up in the ropes and back body drops Young when he tags in. Right hands and kicks into the corner, chest kicks, running knees for both EY and Dain, Awesome Clothesline takes Killian out and then Shane McMahon comes back out to say he forgot one more thing. Two things, actually-- one, just like their match at WrestleMania, this one is falls count anywhere!
And he wants to show him his screensaver on his phone, which is him grabbing Mr. Miz, who he calls Mr. Potatoface. SAnitY jump him on the floor and put the boots to the A-Lister! Miz manages to sidestep a charge and put Killian into the barricade, back body drop Eric into the crowd, putting Wolfe in after him and he fights his way into the fray, hammering at EY and then Alexander with punches.
Smashing Wolfe’s face into a table... BACK SUPLEX THROUGH THE TABLE! Young breaks the pin up and the A-Lister backs him off with punches before smashing him into the barricade at the edge of the stage and fighting into the back. Throwing Eric into a wall, throwing a trash can at him, continuing into the bowels of the arena, he throws EY into a photography room before taking him back out into the hall to throw him into a steel door!
Dain breaks the cover up and puts Miz into a road case as they start walking towards a loading bay. Miz slips out of a slam and rams Killian face-first into an electrical junction! Young back over, they brawl to the outside portion of the loading bay and into the rain, the A-Lister hammering the former TNA World Heavyweight Champion with punches before nailing him with a Knee Trembler!
Miz grabs a road case and lines it up... AND HE CRUSHES EY’S HEAD WITH IT FOR THE WIN!
Miz wins by pinfall after sandwiching Eric Young’s head between a pair of road cases.
Miz hunts Shane McMahon down as he gets into his car and pulls out, but is unable to get to him.
A police car pulls up, sirens blaring, and Becky Lynch steps out! She smiles and bids the driver farewell on her way into the arena to send us to break.
Back from commercial, we get a video package recapping the main event story for WrestleMania.
Corey Graves is in the ring and introduces Becky Lynch.
She gets in the ring briefly before rolling out and getting on top of the announce desk to address the crowd.
She says it’s good to be out free in Baltimore and no disrespect to Corey but she doesn’t answer to him, she answers to these people, and then points out that her mugshot shirt aged well. She was thinking, in the back of the cop car, what a difference a year makes. This time last year, she and Charlotte were the best of friends, Ronda Rousey was about to make her debut and it was like the stars were aligned to get Flair and Rousey into the main event of this year’s WrestleMania.
That is, until she smacked the smugness off of Charlotte’s face at SummerSlam and changed everything. She was determined at that point to do whatever it took to get into this year’s WrestleMania, and look at us now! 80,000 people coming to WrestleMania for them, for the Queen, the Baddest Woman on the Planet, and the Man going head to head to head.
Their evolution, the real revolution that started at SummerSlam with a slap, is going to explode this Sunday when the winner takes all and she makes one of them dopes tap! The next time she sees us, she’s going to be the champ she knows she always was, the double champ!
We see Daniel Bryan reading the contract for his match with Kofi Kingston backstage before being informed that an 18-person mixed tag is up next.
Asuka, Fabulous Truth (Carmella & R-Truth), Hardy Boyz (Jeff & Matt Hardy), Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic & Tucker Knight), Naomi, & Nikki Cross vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas, EC3, Fire and Desire (Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville), Lana, Shelton Benjamin, the Club (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows), & Zelina Vega (Mixed Tag Team Match)
Cross and Vega to start, Nikki hammering Vega into the mat repeatedly when Lacey Evans makes her entrance and then makes her exit as per usual. Zelina puts Cross into the turnbuckles, Tiger feint into an octopus hold, Nikki gets underneath her after for a back suplex that gets two! EC3 tags in, Cross doesn’t want to leave but Jeff Hardy comes in. Collar and elbow, arm wringer, elbow strike and a tag to Matt.
Hardy off the second with the elbow drop, arm wringer into repeated shoulder armbreakers, a wristlock, EC3 breaks with a right. Whip into the corner, elbow up, Side Effect counters the charge and Almas breaks it up! Smashing Carter’s face into the turnbuckles, tag to Knight, who tags Dozovic. Double tag.... BIG MAN POETRY IN MOTION! Matt cheers them on, EC3 falls over... CATERPILLAR TIME!
To break and back, Naomi and Rose are legal and Naomi lands a facebuster! Tags made, Truth and Almas, Ron off the ropes, Stinger Splash, Carmella in the ring... DANCE BREAK! The match breaks down and the referee calls for it...
The match ends in a no contest, I guess? Nothing is announced and I have a headache.
Everything breaks down further into the usual demonstration of how a battle royal works. Otis vibrates at the sight of Mandy, Shelton Benjamin runs him off and then Nikki Cross tries to choke the life out of the Gold Standard. Things get down to EC3, Jeff Hardy, and Asuka. Twist of Fate, roundhouse kick, clubbing away, Hardy dumps EC3, Asuka dumps Jeff, and now you know how a battle royal works.
We get a video package for Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins.
We see New Day hanging out backstage briefly.
Samoa Joe makes his entrance and we go to break.
Back from commercial, commentary hypes up this year’s WWE Hall of Fame class.
Mustafa Ali vs. Samoa Joe
Circling, Joe with a leg kick, another one, Ali keeping his distance, roll under, forearms but Samoa puts him into the corner and hammers him with punches and headbutts! Big chop in the ropes, whip across, Mustafa with a pop-up dropkick that sends Joe to the floor! Off the ropes, suicide dive right on the button and Ali is fired up! Clubbing blows, Samoa throws him back inside but Mustafa meets him with a kick to the face and a springboard tornado DDT... NOPE!
Rolling thunder X-Factor, Ali’s feeling it, up top... NOBODY HOME ON THE 054! Coquina Clutch locked in, Joe sinks the hooks in and falls to the mat...
Samoa Joe wins by referee stoppage with the Coquina Clutch.
Daniel Bryan makes his entrance, flanked by Erick Rowan, tonight wearing a Tyr shirt.
We go to break.
Back from commercial, Michael Cole is in the ring to preside over the contract signing for our WWE Championship match at WrestleMania.
He introduces Kofi Kingston, Big E does the deal, and New Day make their entrance.
New Day are in a festive mood as Daniel Bryan waves Cole off and says he’s got it from here. He says he knows Kofi is going to sign this contract and they’re going to wrestle at WrestleMania, and he’s not here to stop him from signing, he’s here to educate the masses as he has all along. He says he’s got a very important life lesson to teach Baltimore, who he calls “so ignorant.”
The lesson is “do not be complacent.” Don’t be complacent the way Kingston has, don’t think good is good enough for eleven years, do not be complacent! And actually he has another lesson for us, “don’t be a bystander in your own lives.” He says Kofi’s been a bystander, sitting on the sidelines and waiting for others to push him to the top like Kingston has, watching and hoping while Xavier and Big pushed him.
Bryan gets increasingly agitated before calming down again and saying he’s got one more. “Don’t mistake a fad for reality.” He’s been in Kofi’s shoes, the way they chanted “Yes!” for him is the same way they chant “Kofi!” for him, and he knows how he feels. He knows it reverberates through his body and he feels like this love makes him stronger, but the reality is he doesn’t feed off them, they feed off of him.
Because they are parasites, you see, and once they’re done sucking all the positivity out of him, they’ll discard him. This gets an “Asshole!” chant, to which Bryan says that’s what they say to all the great truth-tellers. He addresses Kingston again and says he better suck it in because this is going to be the best it’s ever going to be. Kofi’s finally had enough and gets up, telling Dan to sit down and shut his mouth while he gets educated!
Bryan claims to know what he’s feeling, but the more he hears him talk, the more he knows Dan doesn’t know a damn thing about him! He became World Heavyweight Champion within his first two years and he watched that, not as a bystander, but to observe and understand, and here’s the thing... Bryan hasn’t been through what he’s been through. Eleven years, no singles title matches, and that’s okay because it all lead to this moment.
He sees it in Bryan’s eyes, how he trembles and plays mind games, he knows Kofi is ready. The one thing they have in common is that he knows what all this feels like, and he’s scared as hell because he knows what comes next. What comes next is at WrestleMania, Kofi beats him and becomes WWE Champion! KOFI SIGNS, BABY! Cole takes the contract and gets the hell out of there as Kingston stares Bryan down.
That’s the show, folks.