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WWE is live from the ThunderDome at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida, for tonight’s (Apr. 16) WrestleMania fallout episode of SmackDown.
Who can stop Roman Reigns?
Roman Reigns emphatically pinned both Edge and Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 37. Some fans are interpreting the dominant finish as a sign that WWE is ready to move on to a brand new contender in the Universal title scene. Cesaro could be the perfect man for the job given his victory over Seth Rollins at WrestleMania.
But I wouldn’t be so sure that WWE is heading in a completely new direction for Roman Reigns just yet. The name of the next pay-per-view is WrestleMania Backlash, after all, which implies that we’ll get several rematches or spinoffs of bouts that took place at WrestleMania 37. Edge has a legitimate gripe with the way his match ended given that he technically pinned Daniel Bryan too.
But that’s not even getting into the real travesty of justice at WrestleMania, which was Jey Uso’s non-stop interference. The main event of WrestleMania may have officially been a triple threat match, but it was in effect a ridiculously unfair 2 vs. 1 vs. 1 bout. Uso has done this all throughout Roman’s feuds with Kevin Owens and Daniel Bryan, and it needs to stop already. Reigns’ opponents either need to smarten up and bring their own allies to the table to counteract Jey, or Adam Pearce & Sonya DeVille need to step up and take action against him. Jey Uso is ruining too many important matches, and something needs to be done about it.
Edge is the ultimate opportunist, so I expect that he’s not going to disappear from the title picture so easily. Look for him to find a way to secure another championship match with Roman at Backlash, this time with no Daniel Bryan or Jey Uso in the mix.
The title scene
The SmackDown Tag Team titles will be on the line tonight when the Dirty Dawgs (Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler) defend the belts against the Street Profits. Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford have lost quite a few matches of late, but that doesn’t really matter when there are only four tag teams in the entire division.
Bianca Belair defeated Sasha Banks to become the new SmackDown women’s champion at WrestleMania. WWE is teasing that we’ll find out what’s next for Bianca with WrestleMania Backlash coming up on May 16. The smart money is that she’ll be defending her title on that card against either Sasha Banks, Bayley, Carmella, or some combo of the three.
Sticking with the women’s division, WWE Women’s Tag Team champions Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler have been all over WWE television during the last few months. They clashed with Tamina & Natalya on Night Two of WrestleMania 37 and barely retained their belts. How will the longtime vets respond to coming within seconds of the biggest win of their careers at WrestleMania?
Big E was screwed over by Raw Underground’s Dabba-Kato during the Nigerian Drum fight at WrestleMania 37, allowing Apollo Crews to win the Intercontinental title. The rumor mill suggests that Dabba-Kato’s new name will be Commander Azeez. It really doesn’t matter what Apollo calls his new ally, the bottom line is that Large Epsilon is going to be pissed off and looking to kick both of their asses.
Other stuff to keep an eye on
- Rey Mysterio is going one-on-one with Otis on tonight’s broadcast. WWE has suggested that the outcome of this match could move one of their teams closer to a shot at the SmackDown tag team titles. The finish here might come down to whichever one of their teammates (Dominik Mysterio, Chad Gable) proves to be a more effective ringside tactician.
- Sami Zayn was embarrassed by both Logan Paul and Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 37. The most likely scenario is that this will only ramp up his crazy conspiracy theories.
- Will tonight’s episode of SmackDown bring us any surprise returns or NXT call-ups?
It’s the WrestleMania 37 fallout show!
What will you be looking for on SmackDown tonight?