mobanmarketTonight’s SmackDown Live opens up from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tom Phillips welcomes us to the show. He is joined by Corey Graves and Byron Saxton.
SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon makes his way down to the ring. He soaks in the atmosphere for a moment before thanking the crowd and welcoming us to the show. Shane says that first, on behalf of the entire organization and everyone in it, he wants to thank all of us for being part of WrestleMania and making it such a huge success. He also says that he has been fortunate to have had an extra-special WrestleMania with the return of Daniel Bryan and seeing him in action was something magical.
He then says that Bryan was born to do this, and is officially a full-time performer and WWE Superstar once again and because of that, he has accepted Daniel’s resignation as SmackDown general manager and since this is the land of opportunity, when one door closes, another opens, and he wants to introduce us to the new general manager. It is none other that Paige.
She gets on the mic and says that she is back and yesterday on RAW she delivered her retirement speech, walked straight to the back and it felt like the last time. She says that the first person waiting for her was Shane and she thanked him for the position and shaked his hand. She then says that for her first act as GM, she wants to make the night truly special for everyone and that means talking about Daniel Bryan.
A “Yes!” chant goes up and she says that he hasn’t competed on TV in over three years. She then polls the crowd on who wants to see him in action tonight. The crowd are into it and she goes to announce his opponent but she lets the crowd take long beats to chant for various people before announcing that it will be AJ Styles.
Commentary recaps Shinsuke Nakamura’s heel turn and promises an explanation later as well as a celebration for Charlotte Flair ending Asuka’s streak and another New Day vs. Usos Match with a shot at the tag titles on the line to send us to a commercial break.
Back from the commercial break and we get a hype reel for the Greatest Royal Rumble Event that will be taking place on April 27th from Saudi Arabia.
The Usos (Jey & Jimmy Uso) vs. The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) (#1 Contenders Match For The SmackDown Live Tag Team Titles) (Winners Will Face The Bludgeon Brothers At The Greatest Royal Rumble Event in Saudi Arabia): Jimmy and Xavier start this one off, and The Usos take control when Jey tags in and they do a double kick to the head of Woods. After some back and forth, Big E gets the blind tag and hits a big suplex on Jey. Woods and Big E trade tags frequently now and repeatedly double team Jimmy and Jey. The Usos come back and dump The New Day members to the outside, and Jey follows up with a suicide dive on to both of them at ringside. Back in the ring, Woods fires up with a DDT and a kick, then Big E comes in and spears Jimmy to the outside. Woods hits a flying leg drop to Jey in the ring for a two count. Woods and Jey start trading elbows to the face in the ring, until Jey hits a kick and both men are reeling. Jimmy and Big E tag in, and Big E and Xavier double team Jimmy with a suplex into a backbreaker for a two count. Woods tags back in and they go for another double team on Jimmy, but Jey breaks it up and they hit a double superkick on Big E. Woods hits a missile dropkick off the top one Jey Uso, but then Jimmy Uso superkicks him. Jey tags in now and hits the big splash off the top for the three count. Winners & New #1 Contenders For The SmackDown Live Tag Team Titles: The Usos (Jey & Jimmy Uso)
After the match, The Usos recover and stand tall as their music hits. We go to replays. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bludgeon Brothers come out to the stage and stare The Usos down. Rowan and Harper point their large mallets at The Usos while they look on from the ring.
We get a John Cena World Wish Day Make-a-Wish ad.
Back from the commercial break and we get several still pictures recapping last Sunday night’s WrestleMania.
We get footage of a confrontation Naomi had earlier today while admiring the trophy she won in the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal. Natalya rolled up and said that she was putting an end to the sham because Naomi was the least favorite pick to win and her victory was the disappointment of the night and everyone is sick of her sophomoric glow. Natalya then says that she can’t wait for Naomi to get shipped off to RAW.
Naomi then says that this is her last chance to get her hands on Natalya and Natalya accepts. Natalya complains and Naomi tells her to stop whining because they have got a match.
Naomi vs. Natalya: Natalya starts things off with a headlock take down, and then they go back and forth trading holds and take downs. Naomi hits a hurricanrana, and follows up with a kick to the midsection. Naomi slingshots in with a leg drop on Natalya, then Natalya rolls outside for a breather. Back in the ring, Natalya mounts a comeback and starts working on keeping Naomi grounded. Naomi fires back with a kick and then a split-legged moonsault on Natalya. Naomi pins and hooks the leg for the three count. Winner: Naomi
After the match, Naomi stands tall as her music hits. Natalya sits up against the barrier on the outside. Naomi goes to ringside and poses with the battle royal trophy to celebrate.
Commentary show us some still pictures from the WWE Title match at WrestleMania 34. Renee Young is outside Shinsuke Nakamura’s locker room hoping for an interview. He comes out and she asks about his attack on AJ Styles. He says that he doesn’t know what came over him, maybe he got too emotional and he’s very sorry for what he did to AJ. Renee asks why again but Nakamura says that he doesn’t speak English and he just walks off.
Commentary informs us that the men who didn’t win the United States Championship will have a #1 contender’s match later on tonight and we cut to Charlotte Flair walking backstage to send us to a commercial break.
Back from the commercial break and we get a media roundup on all the big news from WrestleMania 34.
Charlotte Flair makes her way down to the ring. She grabs the mic and says that on Sunday she faced the toughest challenge of her career. She says that Asuka made her work harder and dig deeper than ever before, and for that she thanks her. She says that she is still champion, and she tells Asuka that they left every ounce of energy and emotion and it was special and magical. She then says who is she gonna make magic with next.
Billie Kay and Peyton Royce make their way down to the ring. Peyton gets on the mic and says that she happens to know a couple of wizards, and Billie says that one of them will make the title disappear from her waist. They introduce each other and say that they will give it to Flair, her match at WrestleMania wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t iconic. They say that nobody wants to hear Charlotte yak, and Royce does a mocking impression of Charlotte thanking everyone and anyone.
They chastise her for looking at the past when the future’s in front of them, and it’s out with the old, in with the Iconics. Charlotte attacks but the numbers game catches up to Charlotte and they beat hew down. Flair gets a few forearms in and dumps Peyton, but Billie hits Charlotte with a boot. They take Charlotte to the floor and dump her over the announce desk, first one direction and then the other!.
They continue to put boots to her, raining forearms down as the champion covers up. They let her get to her feet and put her shoulder-first into the steel steps. They hoist her up and hit her with a double powerbomb. They hoist Flair up and drag her into the ring where they stand tall over her unconscious body. The referees hit the ring to send them off, but their music hits and they take the time to pose first.
Carmella makes her way down to the ring with briefcase in hand. She hands it to the referee and the match is on.
Carmella vs. Charlotte: The SmackDown Women’s Title is on the line in this one. The referee hesitates on ringing the bell but it finally hits as Flair stumbles to her feet. Carmella immediately nails Charlotte with a big kick and then pins her for the three count. Winner & New SmackDown Women’s Champion: Carmella
After the match, Carmella celebrates and raises the title as her music hits. Carmella runs around the ring with the title in the air. Carmella returns to the ring and taunts Flair, who is still laid out in the middle of the ring. Carmella gets emotional and keeps celebrating while clutching the title. We get a graphic for Styles vs. Bryan and come back to Carmella celebrating, going from the stage back down to the ring area. Flair sits up in the ring and looks devastated as Carmella mocks her and heads to the back.
On that note, we go to a commercial break.
Back from commercial break and we see Jinder Mahal and Sunil Singh hanging out next to the commentary position.
We get entrances for our #1 contender’s match, but the actual match will have to wait until after the commercial break.
Back from the commercial break and the match is in progress.
Bobby Roode vs. Randy Orton vs. Rusev (#1 Contenders Match For The United States Title): Aiden English does Rusev’s introduction, and he’s at ringside in Rusev’s corner. Orton looks for an RKO attempt on Roode early on, but Roode dodges it and Rusev drops Orton. Rusev and Roode go at it in the ring now and Roode hits a blockbuster off the middle rope. Orton comes in and dumps Roode outside, then he goes after Rusev in he ring. Rusev hits a kick to the head of Orton for a two count. Rusev and Orton fight out to ringside, and Orton hits a back suplex on to the announce table. Roode comes over and starts laying into Orton with right hands, then he takes Orton in the ring then hits a flying clothesline off the top. Roode looks for the Glorious DDT, but Orton escapes and they start exchanging strikes. Rusev pulls Orton out to the floor and hits a back suplex of his own on the table on Orton. Back in the ring, Rusev lays into Roode with kicks then hits a splash in the corner. Rusev follows up with a spinning heel kick on Roode, and then leads the crowd in a Rusev Day chant. Rusev hits a big boot then puts Roode in the Accolade. Orton breaks it up, then hits an RKO on Roode for the three count. Winner & New #1 Contender For The United States Title: Randy Orton
After the match, Orton hits the corner to pose as his music hits. Orton looks out at Jinder and Jinder raises the title at him, smiling. Orton vs. Jinder is confirmed for Backlash. We go to replays.
Commentary hypes up the Styles/Bryan Match one last time and we go to a commercial break.
Back from the commercial break and we get a quick card rundown for the Greatest Royal Rumble Event.
This is followed by a recap of Carmella’s successful cashing in of her Money in the Bank Briefcase earlier in the night. Carmella is interviewed and says that when a Queen’s reign grows too long a Princess is always ready to knock her off. She says that she waited 287 long days to cash in and now look at her. She gets emotional for a second and tries to fight it before continuing by saying that there is somebody she really wants to thank and that is herself.
Just like she made history at Money in the Bank all on her own, she made history tonight all by herself. She says that she has no idea who Billie Kay and Peyton Royce are, but she says that Carmella is money and now, Carmella has the gold.
We head to another area backstage where we see that WWE Champion AJ Styles is walking when he rolls into an interview. He says that he doesn’t need an apology from Nakamura, he’ll just put his fist down his throat. He also says that he is not worried about that tonight, because he never thought he would face Daniel Bryan in a WWE ring. He then says that Bryan is great, one of the greatest, but he’s not Phenomenal.
We get entrances for the main event, but the actual match will have to wait until after the commercial break.
Back from the commercial break and we get more still pictures from WrestleMania 34. We head back to the ring and the bell rings for our main event.
AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan: This one is a non-Title match. AJ starts off with a side headlock, and then a shoulder tackle on Bryan. AJ and Bryan wrestle up to their feet, then Bryan connects with several kicks on AJ. Bryan starts working over AJ’s shoulder, then hits some European uppercuts. They run the ropes and AJ hits a dropkick that sends Bryan rolling outside. AJ follows up with a suicide dive on Bryan to the outside. Back in the ring, they trade elbows until Bryan whips AJ into the corner and follows up with a splash. Bryan misses a shot in the corner, and AJ capitalizes with his moonsault into a reverse DDT for a two count. Bryan and AJ trade strikes on their feet again until Bryan hits a slam and goes right into an arm bar. They wrestle around the mat and Bryan looks for the Yes Lock, but he can’t execute it. Bryan misses a shot and AJ hits the Pele Kick and then a lariat for a two count. AJ misses a shot off the top and Bryan kicks him. Bryan leads the crowd in a “Yes” chant then charges, but AJ trips him and looks for a Styles Clash. Bryan fights out and puts him in the Yes Lock, and AJ reaches the ropes to break it. Bryan hangs AJ upside down in the corner and repeatedly kicks him in the midsection. Bryan takes AJ up top and goes for a back suplex, but AJ reverses and lands on Bryan’s head. Shinsuke Nakamura comes in to interfere and he hits a Kinsasha to Bryan. The referee calls for the bell. Winner via DQ: Daniel Bryan
After the match, Nakamura turns his attention to AJ and goes to work on him. Fans boo. Nakamura delivers another low blow to AJ as the boos get louder. Nakamura waits in the corner as AJ struggles to get back up. Nakamura nails Kinshasa on AJ. Fans chant “you suck” at Nakamura as he drops AJ again. Nakamura heads to the stage and smiles as we see AJ recovering on the mat. The WrestleMania 34 Fallout Episode of SmackDown Live goes off the air.