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WWE SmackDown comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Apr. 9, 2021) with a show from the ThunderDome inside Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. This is the go-home show for WrestleMania 37.
Tonight’s episode is billed as a “Special WrestleMania Edition” of SmackDown. Shinsuke Nakamura, Jey Uso, SLAPJACK, and at least 19 other superstars will compete in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode will put the tag titles on the line in a fatal 4-way match against the Street Profits, the Mysterios, and Alpha Academy.
Finally, we’ll hear from Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, and Edge on the cusp of their main event match for the Universal championship at WrestleMania.
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. 9
People look to me and say, “Is the end near, when is the final day? What’s the future of mankind?” How do I know, I got left behind. Everyone goes through changes, looking to find the truth, but me, I’m just here to liveblog this here pro wrestling show for you, folks.
The show opens with a recap of last week’s main event.
Daniel Bryan makes his entrance in street clothes.
He gets on the mic and talks about how close we are to WrestleMania. He’s excited about everything about the show, but especially to finally hear the roar of the WWE Universe in person again. He says there’s nothing like winning a title in the main event of WrestleMania and goes on to talk about how he was told “no” for most of his career, but he belongs in the main event.
He’s lucky because every time he was told no, his parents and mentors told him to ignore the negativity and look inside for the truth, and that’s how he came to say “yes.” Every time life told him no, he said yes, and he answers a bunch of rhetorical questions in the affirmative. On Sunday you’ve got Edge on one side and Roman Reigns on the other, mad for having their spotlight stolen and for being tapped out for the first time ever, respectively.
When people are furious, they’re dangerous, and those two are the most dangerous men in WWE, but which Daniel Bryan are they gonna face? It’s not General Manager DB, it’s not family man DB, they’re getting the best damn Daniel Bryan, the dangerous Daniel Bryan, the Daniel Bryan that tapped Roman out and will kick Edge’s head in, with fire in his eyes and in his heart.
He’s got one last question— “Can Daniel Bryan walk out of the main event of WrestleMania as Universal Champion?”
Yes.
Street Profits are interviewed in Gorilla, doing “Yes!” chants.
They say it’s about time they had a title opportunity and say they’re winning their titles back tonight, but they get blindsided by the Dirty Dawgz! They brawl out to the stage, where the other two teams in this tag title match join them as we go to break.
Alpha Academy (Chad Gable & Otis Dozovic) vs. Dirty Dawgz (Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode) (c) vs. Dominik & Rey Mysterio vs. Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) (WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship)
Back from commercial, the match is in progress and Dominik dumps Gable out of the ring before nailing him with a dropkick on his return! Arm drag into an armbar, Chad to his feet, whip across, blind tag to Otis, wheelbarrow / axehandle Hart Attack but Ziggler tags in for the nearfall! Dawgz working Mysterio over, Gable tags in and keeps it up but Dom fights to the corner and tags his dad in!
Whip, big tilt-a-whirl tijeras, knee lift, whip reversed, back elbow, springboard moonsault, Chad catches him but Rey reverses to a DDT and the Dawgz break it up! Clear Profits off the apron, Mysterio clears them out with dropkicks and his son helps clear the ring! Rey dives on the Alphas and Dom follows right after as we go to break.
Back from commercial, Ford in control on Roode but the veteran clubs him down. Back suplex, Montez lands on his feet, wicked rights but Robert drops him with a spinning spinebuster! Dozer in with a discus lariat, cover for two, Rey breaks the pin up. Otis staying in control, tag to Gable and the heat segment rolls on. Ziggler comes in, goes for the Fameasser... FORD REVERSES TO A REVOLUTION POWERBOMB!
Tags made, Dawkins in hot, cleaning house on everybody! Spinning Stinger splash, one-handed bulldog, blind tag from Rey and he hits the seated senton! Low-bridge puts Angelo to the floor, tijeras puts Robert into Otis, tag to his son, get him on the second, Ziggler joins him... STEREO 619! Mysterio headed up top, Dom with the frog splash... OTIS BREAKS IT UP WITH A BIG SPLASH!
Stereo dropkicks from Street Profits, Ford with a tope con giro to take Dozer out! Dom and Robert on the outs, tags made, Dawkins on Gable, trading pins, no finish! I get a little flabbergasted by Michael Cole naming Dan Engler as your referee for this match, Chaos Theory on Dawkins, Ford with the frog splash, Ziggler with a superkick and Roode with the blind tag...
Dirty Dawgz win by pinfall with a lateral press from Robert Roode on Chad Gable to retain the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
Bianca Belair is interviewed backstage and she talks about what winning the title would mean to her, and we go to break.
Back from commercial we get a WrestleMania hype reel.
We get a video package from Big E hyping up that WrestleMania is in his city and he’s going back to his roots in much the same way as Apollo Crews has, to get his mind right.
A video package for Randy Orton vs. the Fiend follows.
Entrances for our next match follow and we go to break.
Nia Jax vs. Tamina
Collar and elbow, Tamina shoves Nia down and she’s absolutely stunned! Jax gets back up and piefaces Snuka, gets a backfist for her trouble and Tamina beats her down in the corner! Reginald gets up on the apron, Snuka tries to drag him in but Nia cuts her off and blindsides her! Jax presses the attack for a long beat but Tamina sidesteps her into the post!
Jockeying for position, Snuka hits the Samoan Drop, slow to the cover, Shayna Baszler hits the ring and attacks, forcing the referee to throw it out...
Tamina wins by disqualification, presumably.
Natalya joins the fray and helps her partner run the champions off.
The Riott Squad are interviewed backstage when Billie Kay rolls up. They ask why she’s here and Carmella joins them to say that she’s with her.
The Squad are laser-focused on the tag team turmoil match coming up, Lana and Naomi show up as well as Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke, all four teams start brawling and then Tamina and Nattie show up to clean everybody up! Neidhart calls Brooke worthless and throws her into a road case!
A political attack ad-style segment running Cesaro down and sponsored by Seth Rollins follows.
Edge makes his entrance, steel chair in hand, and sets it up in the ring to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Edge gets on the mic while seated on his chair.
He tells his story about how being at WrestleMania 6 made him want to be a wrestler and he put his mind to it and became a WWE Superstar who accomplished everything except for ending his career on his terms. If you have to ask “isn’t that enough?” then you don’t understand the mentality he has to reach those heights and fight for nine years to get his career back.
He didn’t come back for a greatest hits tour, he came back to steal the show and main event WrestleMania, and he won’t apologize for that. Daniel Bryan talks about this maybe being his last WrestleMania, well what do you think it is for him? He complains about his generational clash of the titans match against Roman being interrupted by some indie bookstore nerd before moving to run Reigns down.
He says he doesn’t owe Roman anything but Roman owes him everything, and continues on the theme and notes that the match takes place ten years to the day after his retirement, but nobody wants to talk about that. He emphasizes how impossible his comeback was and goes red in the face shouting about the pain he went through to get here.
He’s the Rated-R Superstar, and call it fate or god’s will, whatever you want, but he’s the next Universal Champion.
Five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce is hanging out backstage with Sonya Deville.
Sonya says it wasn’t fair that Dirty Dawgz had to defend against three other teams tonight, and she thinks Daniel Bryan shouldn’t be in his match on Sunday, either.
Sasha Banks is hanging out backstage ready for an interview and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Sasha Banks is interviewed.
She says she’s the best and she always will be, and she knows Bianca Belair is going to give her all, but she’s gonna give it right back, Boss-style, and make her tap out and realize her place.
A video package for the WWE Championship match follows, with a video package for Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn right after.
We get footage of Sami Zayn rolling up on Logan Paul’s gym while he’s training for boxing with his brother. They’re kinda confused but Sami is efflusive and wants to hang out and spar. He leaves to go get his gear and accidentally locks himself out of the building, but the guy that opens the door won’t let him back in.
Back and live in the arena, Sami pleads his case to the commentary team and swears that everything is fine between him and Paul.
Owens attacks him while everyone is coming down to the ring for the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal in Memory of Andre the Giant but Zayn gets away and we go to break.
Back from commercial, commentary runs through the WrestleMania card.
7th Annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal in Memory of Andre the Giant
Battle royal chaos early as always, Akira Tozawa gets dumped, Tucker Knight goes out after with former Hurt Business lads Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin on a roll! Wild brawling, Alexander and Benjamin get eliminated, and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Retribution working Drew Gulak over and they eliminate him! They dump Humberto Carrillo out on top of him, Elias dumps SLAPJACK with a knee strike, Ali manages to eliminate T-Bar with a Frankensteiner! Murphy nails Mustafa with a kick, Lucha House Party work Buddy over but have a falling out when Kalisto tries to take charge again.
Lince and Metalik work Kalisto over, Dorado dumps him, Gran dumps Lince, and then Corbin covers over to attack Metalik! Gran dodges at first but Baron back body drops him over the ropes and eliminates him as we go to break!
Back from commercial, the field is starting to thin, Angel Garza and Buddy Murphy fighting on the apron, Baron Corbin tries to dump Ricochet and fails. Garza with back elbows, Buddy tears his pants off and hits a wicked kick only to get eliminated by Corbin in a drive-by! Angel back inside, working Shinsuke Nakamura over but he gets hung up top for a knee!
Shinsuke eliminates Garza with a knee through the ropes, Baron putting boots to Nakamura while Ricochet and Ali go at it on the apron, Ricky eliminates Mustafa! Corbin hangs him up in the ropes and Jey Uso eliminates Ricochet with a superkick! Final three now, Nakamura fighting them off two on one, Uso with a superkick to Corbin but he can’t eliminate him!
Nakamura takes Baron out with a knee, just him and Uso left now! Jey with a fireman’s carry, Shinsuke fights out, strike rush, 540 roundhouse, an STO follows and the King of Strong Style is fired up but runs right into a superkick! Keeping his wits, the big superkick-style Kinshasa connects but Uso reverses his momentum...
Jey Uso wins, last eliminating Shinsuke Nakamura to win the 7th Annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal in Memory of Andre the Giant.
Roman Reigns makes his entrance, flanked by Paul Heyman.
Jey Uso joins them as they stand tall in the ring and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Roman Reigns gets on the mic.
He says he’s annoyed that he even has to be here. He’s not a politician, he’s not running for President, he doesn’t have to sell himself to us. He has other thinks to worry about, like the match he’s in on Sunday. He’s gonna show up and win, and that comes easy to him, but for everybody else in this company, all “show up and win” means is that when Roman Reigns is in this company, WWE is winning.
Edge and Daniel Bryan have each had one good week recently, but he’s been doing it for a consistent basis, week after week since he came back last August, over 30 weeks in a row now, and the numbers don’t lie. Who changed the ratings and made this title relevant? He did. And that brings him to the dreamers. Bryan’s tired of hearing no, running around telling everybody he tapped out?
But that’s clearly not true because he isn’t champion, so he clearly didn’t actually make him tap out. He spends a moment talking about Edge and says this is where the comeback story ends. Being champion isn’t the dream, being in the main event with Roman Reigns is the dream, and they’re just the launching pad for what he does next.
That’s why he’s the head of the table, the man with the golden hand, and he saves careers. He’s gonna crush Edge and Bryan’s dreams, and on Sunday night he’s gonna wreck everyone and leave. He’s gonna smash ‘em, stack ‘em, and pin ‘em, and the referee will count three, he’ll stand up, hold the title high, and they’re gonna look up and see a man greater than them, light years ahead.
Then they’re gonna hear a million dollars of pyro go off and hear the whole world acknowledge him.
That’s the show, folks.