Cody Rhodes is the new WWE champion.
Yes, it actually is the direction WWE decided to go on this week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown. Rumors of a multi-man match for the title at WrestleMania 42 have been put to rest, in favor of paying off all those teases for all that time that Orton would be going after the strap even if his good friend and a guy he mentored at one point is the man holding it.
There’s a lot of history there.
The evening started with Orton making clear he earned this spot, not through the aforementioned teasing and story but through winning the Elimination Chamber match and being that dude even after working literally 20 different WrestleMania events throughout his illustrious career.
He’s going in with a chip on his shoulder, and he’s going to leave as champion. He’ll do it one way, the only way he knows how — RKO. To drive the point home, he was interrupted by Trick Williams — who has a fancy new entrance that is going to make him an even bigger star — just so Trick Willy could eat one OUTTA NOWHERE. A perfectly fine way to establish the man who will likely headline one of the two nights in Las Vegas next month.
Drew McIntyre tried to reason with Nick Aldis, reminding him Rhodes wasn’t supposed to get another shot at the title unless he won the Royal Rumble or Elimination Chamber, of which he did neither. It was because of McIntyre, of course, which is why Aldis outright admitted to going back on his word.
I’m just happy they bothered explaining that!
Meanwhile, Sami Zayn doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing, wishing Rhodes luck before the big match before Cody called him out for politicking his way into a match before he even won the strap and Sami maybe agreeing with it? I don’t know, the whole thing was strange. Later still, Zayn went to Orton and asked how he was okay with doing what he did to Rhodes at Elimination Chamber.
“Sometimes you gotta be selfish,” he responded.
Zayn wondered if it makes him a bad person and Orton said it made him a 14-time world champion.
This soul searching Sami is doing really looks to be a clear set up for his finally winning the top title in the land. Orton even encouraged him, telling him it might be time to finally listen to the voices.
It’s a fun subplot, because he’s clearly going to be established as a potential foil no matter what happens over the next couple months.
Finally, it was time for the main event and McIntyre tried to cheat his way to victory but Jacob Fatu was there to prevent that. In the end, Cody used a Super Cutter and a Cross Rhodes to win back the championship and set up the date with Orton at the biggest show of the year.
They went off the air with Rhodes getting the big pyro and ballyhoo treatment as he stared at the WrestleMania Vegas sign.
After the social media war that had everyone playing the work/shoot game, there was plenty of anticipation for Rhea Ripley showing up to SmackDown to confront Women’s Champion Jade Cargill. It happened here.
Commentary was sure to point out how intensely these two despise each other, pointing to the aforementioned social media standoff as evidence of as much. It made for a tense atmosphere.
It was broken with a handshake.
Cargill offered her hand just as soon as she was in front of the challenger. She did so, she said, because she has great respect for Ripley, her accomplishments, and even the body she’s worked so hard in the gym to attain. She’s not impressed, though.
Jade is bigger, stronger, better, and will win at WrestleMania because she’s that bitch. That was the promo.
She tried a mic drop but none of this was worth that.
Ripley responded by saying Jade looks great but she’s built for show — Rhea is built to be a great wrestler. So when the time comes, she’ll learn that actually it’s Ripley who is “that bitch.”
She dropped the mic just like Cargill and, just like in Cargill’s case, nothing was worthy of that.
The buzz they created online may have actually worked against them here. This felt like a disappointment.
- Carmelo Hayes defended his United States championship in the open challenge once more, taking out El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. This was simply a way to promote AAA with a strong match, and I don’t hate it. I don’t love it, but I certainly understand doing it.
- The Irresistible Forces celebrated becoming tag team champions with a toast, were quickly interrupted by Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss seeking an opportunity, who were also interrupted by Giulia & Kiana James seeking an opportunity. Naturally, they booked a match, with Flair pinning Giulia to give the babyface squad top contender status. Color me surprised they’ve stuck with this team for this long but they seem to be having fun and it’s coming through on screen.
- Needing to find new top contenders to the tag team titles held by the MFTs, WWE booked a Tag Team Turmoil match. Fraxiom got away with beating Motor City Machine Guns despite some controversy before they were taken out by Los Garza. The Wyatt Sicks were out next but they were rolled up and taken out thanks to the MFTs interfering. Damian Priest & R-Truth, newly paired together, came in and took care of business to become top contenders. It’s a fun pairing in a division that needed that.
- Johnny Gargano was finally motivated to get up off his ass, get to the ring, and prove himself. So what happened? Oba Femi came out and squashed him. MONEY.
- Speaking of money, Danhausen got a huge pop for his appearance in a backstage segment with Aldis. He attempted to find Danhausen a mentor in the form of The Miz, who refused until he was reminded he can be cursed just like Dominik Mysterio was. This thing might have legs, folks.
They were relying on the main event to deliver, and it did.
