Here’s a fun reality — when Randy Orton kicked off this year’s episode of WrestleMania SmackDown in Las Vegas, he was loudly cheered. The fans welcomed him with open arms, despite the past few weeks.
Then he said he doesn’t need Pat McAfee, and they cheered even louder. “But I want him,” and that’s when the boos rained down. Orton gave the former NFL player credit for speaking truth, that he just needs to be himself and all will work out.
When he mentioned Cody Rhodes, the WWE champion and top babyface in the land, he was roundly booed. The tides, they truly are turning. Orton then laid out some more back story for us — when Cody needed help at WrestleMania 40, who did he call? Seth Rollins. Then the Solo Sikoa Bloodline issues and Orton ended up injured and out. Then he gifted his friend Kevin Owens a title match, and then everything went to hell there too and Orton again got the shit end of the stick.
“All Cody Rhodes does is take, take, take. Pat McAfee has done more for my career and my legacy than Cody has done in half a lifetime.”
The final sell — he’s going to right all these wrongs in the main event of night one of WrestleMania, and he’s going to do with the RKO.
They deserve a lot of credit for this, whoever was responsible for it, because they put all the focus back on the story between the two wrestlers in the actual match, not the ESPN personality talking about it.
It wasn’t until the main event of the show that Cody Rhodes got the chance to respond. He said he wasn’t going to talk about how he’s been messed around in the past few WrestleMania events but rather keep the focus where it belongs, the fact that he would be throwing hands with his oldest friend in the business, Orton.
Before he could really get into anything, none other than CM Punk’s music hit the loud speakers.
They cut it up with each other like old friends, reveling in the fact that the two former AEW stars are standing 10 toes down in a WWE ring as the top two champions of the promotion, about to headline each night of WrestleMania. Punk gave Rhodes a pep talk before saying they’ll both be here come Monday, no matter if they win or lose.
“I’m proud of you.”
Before he could walk out, Rhodes stopped him and gave him the same pep talk about his upcoming match against Roman Reigns. He even got emotional, saying his dad would be extremely proud of him and how far he’s come.
They went out with Punk and Rhodes going into the crowd to celebrate with the fans.
This was … strange? I’m not all that sure what to think of it, really. You could argue they were laying the groundwork for something between these two later, and yeah, sure, but what does that do for this weekend? Do we really need these two love bombing each other while Orton and Reigns were off doing whatever else?
Odd way to go into the big one.
How do you make a statement about being rehabilitated from your troubled younger days that included actual jail time? You show up to the arena in the back of a squad car, of course! Sirens blaring and lights blasting all the way!
That’s what Jacob Fatu did before he cut a promo on Drew McIntyre.
“You wanna tell the whole world that I’m still a criminal?”
Then he said he’s not ashamed of it and he for sure doesn’t live that anymore. I guess that’s why he showed up in the back of the squad car? Then again, the police let him out and then acted like security for him while he cut the aforementioned promo from the top of their vehicle.
Then he made threats on McIntyre’s life, even going so far as to say the SWAT team can’t save him. Hey, remember, it’s UNSANCTIONED. It’s totally okay to maybe murder a guy.
I’m poking fun here but Fatu was electric here, and looked as comfortable on the mic as he has since coming to WWE.
The final note in the Rhea Ripley vs. Jade Cargill feud was more of what we’ve been given — the two taking shots at each other over the surface level stuff. Cargill called out Ripley for being an insecure goth chick so the challenger fired back by calling her a narcissist and a “fake ass bitch.”
You know, pretty much what they’ve been doing.
The champ claimed Ripley has only had the success she’s had because the entire locker room is weak, and I kind of love that as trash talk but it also doesn’t work in the sense that it makes a Jade win less meaningful.
Even still, they’ve done well to make me believe they genuinely don’t like each other and it might get stiff when it comes time to throw hands.
- I’m beyond tired of The Wyatt Sicks and the MFTs going at it, but they did an eight-man tag team street fight here and it was a good time if only for being a chaotic mess of action both in and outside the ring. They continued telling the story of Tama Tonga’s discontent with Solo Sikoa, who stole the finish with the Spike and pinfall of Uncle Howdy. Still, they celebrated and we’ll see where they go from here. If nothing else, can we move on from this?
- “You may now curse the bride,” is a sentence that was uttered on this show. Maryse took a wedding cake to the face after actually being cursed. I love pro wrestling sometimes. Truly.
- R-Truth & Damian Priest successfully defended the WWE tag team titles by defeating The New Day’s Kofi Kingston & Grayson Waller in a match that saw Waller do a shoey and then get pinned anyway. Remember when that guy was the next big thing coming up from NXT? I don’t either.
- Tiffany Stratton defeated Jordynne Grace in a damn good television match to become the next top contender to the United States championship. She had a staredown with Giulia that felt like it should have been more hype than it was. It’s truly been something of a fall for Tiffy Time, but there’s hope just yet.
- Trick Williams was unhappy about Sami Zayn hitting Lil Yachty with the Helluva Kick because it meant he hurt his WrestleMania entrance. He was so pissed, he wanted to fight early. And then a Gingerbread Man came out to Sami’s theme, and good times were had by all. That is except Zayn, who came out to a chorus of boos while still complaining about those boos. Funny enough, the Gingerbread Man stood in the corner for the remainder of the segment while Trick Willy dressed Sami down yet again. He’s still got the charismatic flow to his promos but he’s starting to get a bit more serious, and it’s working for him. It’s funny to say that during a segment with two Gingerbread Men but it’s true nonetheless.
- They did the typical WrestleMania preview tag team match with Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss taking on Bayley & Lyra Valkyria just before the Fatal 4-Way at the big show. It got no time at all before the champs, Nia Jax & Lash Legend, showed up to crash the party and get the match thrown out. This felt like a big waste of time.
- The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal was back again this year, and Joe Hendry got a moment before Aleister Black pissed everyone off by throwing him out. He had a strong run through the match but was ultimately taken out by Royce Keys, who squared up with Otis and Talla Tonga in the final three. It was a beefy battle to end it. Tonga tossed Otis and it was obvious what would happen from there. Sure enough, a Spinebuster set things up and Keys clotheslined Tonga over to win it shortly after. The push is on!
This wasn’t a great go home show to a WrestleMania but it wasn’t a bad one either.
