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WWE SmackDown comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Apr. 2, 2021) with a show from the ThunderDome inside Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
WWE has released a teaser video wondering how Universal champion Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan will retaliate against an increasingly unhinged Edge. This episode will also feature the red carpet premiere for Sami Zayn’s documentary trailer. His special guest of honor for the occasion is “global YouTube sensation” Logan Paul.
With WrestleMania 37 coming up in just over a week, we’ll also presumably find out more information about what the plans are for the Women’s tag team titles at that event.
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the SmackDown live blog kicks off once the show starts on FOX. 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 APR. 2
I remember Paris in ‘49, the Champs Elysées, Saint Michel and old Beaujolais wine. And I recall that you were mine, in those Parisienne days, but right now I’ve got to liveblog this pro wrestling show for these folks.
The show opens with a recap of last week’s events that lead to the Universal Championship match at WrestleMania becoming a triple threat.
Edge makes his entrance and gets on the mic.
He laments that last week’s events didn’t have to happen before changing gears and saying maybe it was inevitable that he’d hit a few speedbumps on the road to WrestleMania. He complains about Daniel Bryan inserting himself into the match and says if anybody should see an opportunist coming it’s him, so lesson learned. He talks through Dan’s other proposals and mocks him for his bravery before saying he realized he got outplayed.
You might think he’s mad at Bryan, and he his, but he has to thank him because he’s been reflecting on things and looked in the mirror and finally liked what he saw. He finally saw the Rated-R Superstar, and he throws up a graphic for the match. He says he’s finally woken up and he’s a man that Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan aspire to be, a WWE Hall of Fame legend, the Ultimate Opportunist, and he’s finally, once again, the Rated-R Superstar.
Last week, he felt the cold steel chair in his hands crash into their bodies and he was so close to the Con-Chair-To, and now he knows he won’t hesitate again.
We see Daniel Bryan and Jey Uso preparing for their match backstage and go to break.
Back from commercial, we see Edge walking backstage when he runs into an interview.
He doesn’t feel badly that Daniel Bryan might get beat senseless tonight and he’ll be overjoyed if Dan can’t make WrestleMania.
Alpha Academy are in the ring and Chad Gable gets on the mic.
He asks us to look at his #1 guy, Otis, and says he’s unleashed his inner alpha with his enormous mental acumen, and Alpha Academy is peaking at the right time. Tonight they’re gonna outshine their own partners on their way to victory, and next week they’re gonna complete their journey by winning the tag titles.
Dirty Dawgz get an inset promo where they say they’re gonna sucessfully defend their titles next week.
The Mysterios also get an inset promo, where they talk about how proud they are of each other and how excited they are to be father-and-son tag champs together.
Street Profits ALSO get an inset promo where they talk about winning the tag titles back next week.
Alpha Academy (Chad Gable & Otis Dozovic) & Dirty Dawgz (Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode) vs. Dominic & Rey Mysterio & Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford)
Ziggler and Dominik to start, Dolph taking an early lead with strikes, whip to the corner, boot up and Mysterio hits a tornado DDT! The match breaks down, fountain of dives, we go to break.
Back from commercial, Rey lands on his feet off a back suplex and Dawkins tags in hot! Lariats, corkscrew elbow, clear the apron, but Otis tags in and cuts him off. Working Angelo over, whip to the corner, quick tags and the heels take us into heat segment territory. Eventually he gets a hot tag to Ford, in hot with dropkicks, the match breaks down into a bit of “everybody do something cool.”
Gable ducks a frog splash, blind tag to Dozer, Chaos Theory, Otis off the top...
Alpha Academy & Dirty Dawgz win by pinfall with a 747 Splash from Otis Dozovic on Montez Ford.
Backstage, five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville are chatting when Paul Heyman rolls up.
He says Roman Reigns asked him to come to the two of them over a small legality, an indemnification clause, a hold harmless agreement that strips Jey Uso of all liability against Daniel Bryan tonight.
Seth Rollins makes his entrance and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Corey Graves is in the ring to moderate a chat between Cesaro and Seth Rollins.
Cesaro says their WrestleMania match is the biggest of his career and honestly, most of what Seth’s saying about his shortcomings may be true, but he’s not gonna fail because there’s something different in the air. He sings a little about swing being in the air and Rollins demands attention. He says it’s WrestleMania season and he’s unshakable at this time of year.
The moments speak for themselves, and says him stealing the WWE Championship from Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns comes in above noted racist Hulk Hogan bodyslamming Andre the Giant. Cesaro says he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t know that he can beat Seth, and not only that, he knows he can embarrass him at WrestleMania. Rollins snaps and sends Graves out of the ring and starts berating Cesaro.
He says he’s levels above Cesaro and that’s how it will be. At WrestleMania he’s gonna embarrass him so bad he doesn’t even have his potential to fall back on, and he’s only gonna have himself to blame. He’s not even gonna let him get to WrestleMania, he’s gonna end his dream right here! He gets in Cesaro’s face and the Swiss Superman tells him to take a swing!
Seth backs off, the raw coward he is, and leaves the ring.
Carmella is working out backstage when Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, and Reginald walk by.
Nia tells her she didn’t treat Reggie very well, she scoffs, and we go to break.
Back from commercial we get a hype reel for WrestleMania.
Nia Jax has joined the commentary desk.
Natalya vs. Shayna Baszler
Collar and elbow, Natalya pushes her into the corner and breaks clean at referee Jason Ayers’ count. Back in with a kick, double leg, Sharpshooter blocked, sleeper blocked, Neidhart with a small package, jockeying for position...
Natalya wins by pinfall with a small package.
Post-match, Nia Jax and Tamina hit the ring and we get a brawl! The champs run Nattie and Tamina off but the Riott Squad show up and take Jax out with a diving bulldog / DDT combo! Baszler starts choking Ruby out, Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke hit the ring for the save and lay Shayna out with a double flapjack! Lana and Naomi run out to complete the set and Lana takes Baszler out with a diving crossbody!
Naomi lays Nia out with one as well and then they hit stereo X-Factors on Brooke and rose! Snuka in, superkick for Naomi and a Hart Attack on Lana!
Carmella is watching backstage and she waves Billie Kay off before thinking better of it and taking a resume from her.
We see footage from earlier tonight of Sami Zayn fretting about his red carpet as a stretch limo rolls up and Logan Paul gets out and sends us to break.
Back from commercial, Sami Zayn makes his entrance.
He hypes up the debut of the trailer to his documentary and says it’ll show beyond a shadow of a doubt that there’s a vast conspiracy against him, and then hypes up his guest tonight, Logan Paul.
Logan comes out and Sami commends him for standing in solidarity with him. Paul thanks him for inviting him and talks about how cool it is to be here and how excited he is to see the evidence. Zayn invites him to be his guest at WrestleMania and Logan says it’d be his pleasure. Sami calls for a drumroll and runs the trailer.
As one might expect, it’s heavy on conspiracy talk and Pepe Silvia corkboards and light on evidence, and we get a title, “Justice for Sami.”
Post-trailer, Zayn falls all over himself in excitement and asks Logan what he thinks. Paul says it’s exciting but Kevin Owens came to him earlier and told him about his relationship with Sami and this leads to a freakout from Zayn. Logan equivocates and KO comes out of nowhere and lays Sami out with the Stunner! Kev jaws at him and promises to beat some sense into him at WrestleMania.
Paul doesn’t know what to do with himself and Owens shoves him out of the way on his way out.
Edge rolls up on five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville backstage.
He berates Pearce for the triple threat at Mania but says the street fight tonight is actually a good idea and he wanted them both to know that he’s gonna be out there on commentary for that one.
Carmella makes her entrance to send us to break.
Back from commercial we get a recap of what we just saw because there is no escape from WrestleMania season.
Kevin Owens is walking backstage when he runs into an interview.
He says he was trying to send Sami, and anyone in or around WWE, that he can Stun anyone at any time, and— SAMI ZAYN BLINDSIDES HIM AND PUTS HIM INTO A ROAD CASE!
We get a recap of Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks business.
Bianca is interviewed at Gorilla.
She says that after she smacked the soul out of Sasha the Legit Boss finally showed up, and that’s who she wants to wrestle at WrestleMania.
Carmella attacks Bianca during her entrance and throws her into the barricade! Dragging her towards the ramp, beating her down, whip into the steel steps! Belair writhes in pain and we go to break before their match can begin.
Bianca Belair vs. Carmella
Back from commercial, the match is in progress and Belair rams her into the corner to break free of a sleeper hold but Carmella uses her braid to pull her back and go for a hanging figure four headscissors. Bianca steps out, powerbomb reversed into a Frankensteiner, Bronco Buster follows, cover for two. Tying Belair’s braid onto the bottom rope, putting boots to her!
Bianca explodes out of the corner with a lariat, another one, dropkick into a kip-up, clubbing blows to the back, fired up! Stomps, hair whip fakeout, big boot and a forearm! Handspring splash, nobody home and Carmella hits a superkick... NOPE! Piefacing her and yelling about being the best, but Bianca ducks under...
Bianca Belair wins by pinfall with KOD.
Post-match, Sasha Banks hits the ring and squares up with Belair, who tells her to wait for WrestleMania. Banks backs off and holds the title high.
Backstage, Roman Reigns is giving Jey Uso a pep talk and we go to break.
Back from commercial, commentary hypes up next week’s shows.
King Baron Corbin cuts a promo where he says he’s getting tired of being disrespected on SmackDown and when he heard that Bobby Lashley was offering up a bounty, he had to take it, and he’s gonna earn himself a spot at WrestleMania when he beats Drew McIntyre Monday on Raw.
Apollo Crews cuts a promo backstage where he talks about how he wants his WrestleMania match against Big E to be a Nigerian Drum Fight.
At Gorilla, Paul Heyman pleads with Edge, but he ignores him and makes his entrance to join commentary for our main event, and we go to break.
Back from commercial we get some hype for tomorrow morning’s Talking Smack.
Daniel Bryan vs. Jey Uso (Street Fight)
Bryan right in with punches, a back elbow, action to the floor and the brawl continues. Uso goes and gets a steel chair but Dan cuts him off with a dropkick! Off the ropes for a dive and this time Jey holds the chair up and Bryan runs into it! Chairshots, looking to Pillmanize the leg but Dan rolls away and unleashes his own chairshots on Uso!
Jey rolls to the floor and Roman Reigns makes his entrance, Paul Heyman pushing an office chair behind him, and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Uso lays Bryan out with a superkick and wedges the chair in the turnbuckles! Going under the ring for plunder, Jey comes up with a chain and lays Dan out with it! Taking him to the floor, whipping him hard in the steel, jawing at Edge when he says he fears no man and then disassembling the steel steps. Hoisting Bryan up and dropping him into the steps, Dan recovers and smashes him with the chair over and over!
Into the announce table, back inside, chest kicks, the American Dragon in full control! Bryan wraps his arm in the chain and does the overhead elbows spot! Omoplata, roll through, the LeBell Lock is on! It’s over!
Daniel Bryan wins by submission with the LeBell Lock.
Post-match, Bryan hits the Busaiku Knee on Edge! He smashes the Rated-R Superstar’s head into the ringpost while Roman looks on before marching up the ramp... ROMAN THROWS THE OFFICE CHAIR AT HIM BUT BRYAN DUCKS! BUSAIKU KNEE LAYS THE CHAMP OUT AND HE LOCKS THE LEBELL LOCK ON!
Once Reigns is well and choked out, Bryan goes and climbs the turnbuckles and does Yes! fingers.
That’s the show, folks.