The WWE Smackdown Reaction for April 8, 2022
Welcome to the WWE Smackdown Reaction, where I offer my take on this week’s show in Milwaukee, WI.
As always, you can check out John’s full in-depth report here.
A video package recapping WrestleMania opens the show up. That throws us to the ring for Promo Time with Ronda Rousey. Rousey gets right down to business and wants a rematch with Charlotte Flair for the Smackdown Women’s Championship. She doesn’t want any rematch but an “I Quit” match rematch. Flair popped up on the video screen to tell Rousey to head to the back of the line. This explains why Rousey lost at WrestleMania. I expect Rousey to win the title at Backlash.
Xavier Woods faces Butch in our opening contest. Did Creative forget that Woods won King of the Ring? It appears that they have. Such a shame. The match was really good but the stench of 50/50 booking was strong here. Woods picked up the win with a small package that McAfee pointed out is called “Backwoods.” I could make a joke there, but I digrees. Butch should have won his debut but he started on the wrong week.
We get a recap of the Sami Zayn/Johnny Knoxville Anything Goes match at WrestleMania before cutting backstage to Zayn complaining to Adam Pearce about it. I thought the match was pretty funny, which was the whole point of it. Zayn wants to be credible again and will fight the next guy coming out of the locker room. The door opens and Drew McIntyre comes out. That’s on for later. I was kinda hoping it would have been Brock Lesnar instead. McIntyre/Zayn should be really good.
Marcel Barthel announces he lost his match with The WWE Random Name Change Generator and is now Ludwig Kaiser. It could be worse, I guess. Kaiser announces Gunther is about to kill some scrub in the ring. Gunther does just that and we move on. At least Gunther got to keep his name and nickname.
Kayla Braxton is interviewing the latest addition to the Women’s Division, Raquel Rodriguez. She looks a lot like Raquel Gonzalez and at least got to keep her first name. It’s progress, I guess. Los Lotharios show up to hit on her and get shot right down. Good for her.
Happy Talk with Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss is up next. Moss told some terrible dad jokes before Corbin attacks him to split the duo up. Moss gets the upper hand to become the babyface in this feud and sends Corbin packing. Is this going to be the end of the Happy Corbin gimmick too? The fans were behind Moss so that’s a positive sign this week.
Drew McIntyre is out next for his match with Sami Zayn. The match could have been great if Zayn had a better gimmick. Sadly, this was short and pointless with Zayn running away to take a countout loss. I fear what they have planned for next week’s rematch.
Lacey Evans returns with a promo video talking about her background growing up. They are going for a face role here. I think it could work if allowed to grow organically. The story is an easy one to get behind. More story next week.
Sasha Banks squares off against Liv Morgan next. The match was pretty solid with Morgan going at it solo. Morgan showed some veteran savvy by hooking Sasha up when she thought about rolling though a superplex and pinned her. That was a smart move by Morgan. Morgan and Ripley still have no chance on Raw.
Promo Time with The Bloodline closes us out (again). At least Roman’s shoulder looks better. Roman Two Belts wants to see The Usos Two Belts. That’ll be really boring, so I’m sure that is going to happen at WrestleMania Backlash. Shinsuke Nakamura comes out to face off with Reigns. Reigns gives Nakamura a hug before The Usos wipe Shin out. The Usos went on about going to Detroit (where Raw will be held) for RK-Bro to close out the show.
Let’s take a look at tonight’s highs and lows.
The Highs
Good to see some NXT call-ups land on Smackdown. All three are welcome additions to the brand that was lacking in a bit of talent. I would expect Raw to have a few new faces pop up as well.
Lacey Evans’s backstory is an interesting evolution from her previous character. Hopefully, her moveset is a bit better and we can all forget about that whole Ric Flair angle.
The Lows
I’m not getting the warm and fuzzies on the prospect of The Bloodline holding all of the gold. It harkens back to the Two Man Power Trip angle and it didn’t quite work out before they lost their titles one at a time. I think this is going to tread water until the summer stadium shows, to which they will lose their titles one by one. It could be a long summer.
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That’s all I’ve got, until next time.