wrestling / TV Reports
Winfree’s WWE Smackdown Review 3.03.23
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...Hey there people, it’s Friday and time for another episode of WWE Smackdown. Tonight the road to WrestleMania continues, and it’s time to forget the brand split exists. Roman Reigns will be here tonight, and first and foremost on his agenda is dealing with Jey Uso. Jey showed up briefly last week as Sami Zayn was talking with Jimmy Uso and the overall loyalties of Jey remain unclear. Further complicating matters for the Tribal Chief will be the presence of Cody Rhodes tonight, Cody and Roman have yet to go face to face despite being the main event of WrestleMania and it’s time to see how they’ll interact. Elsewhere Rhea Ripley will take on Liv Morgan, Gunther is looking for his Mania dance partner and it looks like Drew McIntyre is the current leading contender, with Rhea here it’s a fair bet that Dominik Mysterio will be here and if they’re going to pull the trigger on Rey vs. Dom they need to do so pretty soon. There’s also some questions around Bray Wyatt and how he’ll be lining up with Bobby Lashley, also who thought that was a good pairing and why are they still employed? LA Knight lost a match with Kofi Kingston last week, which was a stupid booking decision, but we’ll see if he shows up again to continue antagonism with the New Day. Anyway that’s the preamble, let’s get to the action.
We open with the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, our Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns. Roman is here with Paul Heyman, Solo Sikoa, and Jimmy Uso. Heyman has a mic, which he hands off to Roman. Roman provides the crowd in Washington, DC a chance to acknowledge him, which they do. Immediately after that though, here comes Cody Rhodes. Cody has a mic and somewhat hesitantly gets into the ring, Solo taking a slightly more aggressive posture as he does so. Pretty loud “Cody” chants. Cody says contrary to what Mr. Heyman might have said, Cody is not here to invade or engage in reckless negotiation, he’s here for a conversation with his WrestleMania opponent. So unless Roman feels he needs his compatriots here they’re not really needed. Roman smiles, and tells Heyman to leave, then says Solo goes too. Heyman and Solo do leave after Heyman returns the title belts to Roman. Jimmy is heading out as well, leaving our WrestleMania main eventers alone. Roman asks if that makes Cody more comfortable. Roman drops both of the title belts in front of Cody, then asks what he wants to talk about. Cody wants to talk about Roman, Roman seems down. Cody brings up the current title run of Roman, the reality has become legend and Roman has superseded hyperbole. But allow Cody to tell Roman something about himself. Roman has become an impossible mountain to climb, but that’s kind of what Cody does. He’ll never become more than Randy’s apprentice, he’ll never survive Stardust, and there’s no way 10,000 people will pay to see his little indy show. For anyone else Roman might be impossible, but not for Cody. Roman chuckles at this, then says Cody is good, that might have been practiced all week, it was flawless. But allow Roman to switch gears, he asks if Cody has ever won either of the titles between them right now, has he ever even competed for one of them? Has he ever main evented WrestleMania before? Because Roman has done all of that, making him the most experienced main event of all time. But the real kicker is that Roman has been groomed for this since he was a boy, by his own father and by Cody’s father. Cody’s little facial reactions here are good, but Roman’s not done with his story. Roman wants to talk about Dusty Rhodes, now take it easy, he’s got way too much love for Dusty to degrade his memory. Roman goes into a Dusty impression, recalling what Dusty said to him that gave him confidence in this business. He’d talk with Dusty for hours about everything, about being the face of the company, and says Dusty called everything Roman would do long before he ever did. Dusty was the best. He says Dusty would never say anything about Cody when they were together. Maybe with others, but when Roman was there Cody didn’t exist. He knows this is a lot, and God he wishes Dusty was here right now. They both miss him. Roman picks his belts back up, and he knows Dusty isn’t here but be aware, if there’s anything Dusty didn’t teach Cody, Roman will. Roman offers a handshake, Cody isn’t even playing on the same field as Roman, this isn’t chess. Cody realizes that Heyman wasn’t sent to get into Cody’s head, he was just there to tell him the truth. If that’s the truth then one of the fabled Dusty’s kid is better than Dusty’s actual kid. And that might mean that Roman is the son Dusty always wanted. Well that changes everything. This isn’t just a story that needs to be finishes, this becomes a necessity. Cody has to exist, and the only way he can exist is by beating Roman at WrestleMania. So absolutely Roman, champ, may the better man win. They shake hands and Roman heads off. OK, that was great. Why the hell did they wait that long to let these two interact?
After this break we’ll get our first match.
We come back to Rhea Ripley heading to the ring.
Match #1: Rhea Ripley w/ Dominik Mysterio vs. Liv Morgan
Liv with a shotgun dropkick right away then she tries strikes. Ripley catches a kick but Liv fights back with a few arm drags only to be caught in a flapjack then a running knee from Ripley. A few strikes from Ripley then she slams Liv into a corner but misses the follow up. Some corner offense from Liv then another dropkick to send Ripley out of the ring. Liv sets for a dive, and kind of hits the ropes on her way out but Ripley just dodges anyway and Liv faceplants to the floor as we head to break.
Ripley is in control as we come back, she’s working the back of Liv. Liv flips out of a back suplex and hits a Backstabber. Kick from Liv then a hurricanrana. Kicks from Liv then a Codebreaker, and a follow up Codebreaker off the ropes. Liv up top, jumping Codebreaker and that gets a 2 count. Ripley counters an ObLIVion, tries Riptide but Liv slips free and lands a kick then a knee strike in the corner. Liv up top, but flies into a powerbomb. Ripley is pissed, hits the Riptide but doesn’t pin instead locking up the King Kong Clutch to get the tap.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Rhea Ripley won
Rating: 2.5 stars
Liv’s attempted suicide dive wasn’t great, but everything after the commercial break was perfectly fine. That’ll send us to break.
We come back to the Bloodline, Roman asks Jimmy if he’s talked to Jey and Jimmy says Jey just needs time. Roman wants to know how much time. Roman is running out of patience, Jimmy promises to tell him. Apparently not with Jey, Roman is running out of patience with Jimmy. Hoo boy, Roman is staring daggers at everyone.
Video recap of Rey Mysterio and Karrion Kross last week featuring the interference of Dominik and the confrontation between Rey and Dom after the match.
Ripley and Dom walk in the back, they find Santos Escobar. Santos says Rey should have clocked Dom last week, but he knows why he didn’t. Fortunately Santos doesn’t have that problem, and if Dom wants to do something about it he’ll be in the ring. If Dom’s anything like the man he claims he is he’ll be there, man to man. That sends us to break.
Post break here comes Santos Escobar all by his lonesome, though he’s bringing out the mask that Rey gave him a few weeks ago. I’m sure nothing bad will happen to the mask.
Match #2: Santos Escobar vs. Dominik Mysterio w/ Rhea Ripley
Santos charges, Dom just hides in the ropes. Dropkick from Dom then he grabs a side headlock. They hit the ropes and Santos lands a dropkick. Santos with some elbows in the corner then a back elbow. Romero Special from Santos, and Dom tries to beg off before sending him out of the ring. Triangle plancha from Dom to send us to break.
We come back to Dom working in the corner. They hit the ropes, Dom sets up the 619 but doesn’t do it, leading to Santos laying in strikes. Dom avoids a Phantom Driver and hits some punches. Corner clothesline from Dom then some really bad line reading. Dom lands a slap, boy have they lost the crowd. Santos hits the ropes and lands a flying clothesline to wake the crowd up. A flurry of offense from Santos then Dom avoids a Shining Wizard but eats a mid ring headbutt and both men are down. Dom pulls some brass knuckles out of his boot, the ref yells at him allowing Ripley to hit the Riptide on the floor. Back in the ring Dom with the Frog Splash to win.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Dominik Mysterio won
Rating: 2 stars
Pretty boring in all honesty, Dom’s control segments are utterly without interest or intrigue and always seem to lose the crowd. Santos deserves better than this.
Post match Dom is able to tear the Rey mask, nice of them to precut it for him. As Dom and Ripley are on the entrance ramp here comes Rey. Dom demands to be hit, Rey won and Dom lands a cheap shot and leaves.
We get some video from social media, Sami Zayn walking around the venue talking about the Bloodline crumbling. Tonight Sami is sending a message to the Bloodline.
Back to the ring and here comes Drew McIntyre. Drew will talk after this break. Oh, we see the Titanic parody featuring Montez Ford and Bianca Belair. Meh, not great, we’ll have to see how the next one goes.
Drew is in the ring as we come back, he says Mania is in 4 weeks and he doesn’t have a match. Well he wants to remedy that, he wants to beat the schnitzel out of Gunther and calls him out. That brings out Sheamus with a mic of his own. Sheamus wants to know what Drew is doing, he can’t believe Drew went behind his back like this. Drew says this isn’t personal, Sheamus says Drew knows how much the Intercontinental title means to Sheamus. They get face to face in the ring, Sheamus wont be calmed down as Drew knew that Sheamus wanted the Mania title shot. Drew says Sheamus isn’t his parent, he doesn’t need his permission. Sheamus thought they were brothers, but they’re not. He calls Drew a backstabbing bastard. Drew accepts that, but if friends tell the truth then Sheamus had two shots at Gunther and lost them both. To complicate things here comes LA Knight. I’m not sure you want in on this one buddy. Knight wants to talk to us as he walks to the ring. Well if you’re talking the IC title you’ve got to be talking about LA Knight, yeah! Those two have been handed every opportunity and are still crying. Well you can’t have an LA WrestleMania without LA Knight. New Day show up now, because who doesn’t love a revolving door promo segment? Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods both have mics, they wanted to come out here and apologize on behalf of Knight. Knight has been begging for a Mania match for the last couple of weeks, and Woods calls all of this sad. Knight wants a Mania match, but Knight can’t even win a match on Smackdown. Karrion Kross decides it’s his turn through the revolving door and stalks to the ring with Scarlett by his side. Knight attacks New Day, ejecting them from the ring then Sheamus clotheslines Knight out of the ring. Drew and Sheamus wind up face to face, both think about attacking each other but Drew just winds up diving onto the pile of bodies. Kross attacks Sheamus from behind, posting him and then tossing him out, and Kross stands tall. Well that was your standard revolving door promo segment, they’re rarely good.
A video promo for NXT’s next big event before WrestleMania.
We come back and get a video recap of an attack in the back when Shayna Baszler and Ronda Rousey fought with Tegan Nox, apparently Ronda got an arm injury in the fight and now our next match is just a one on one match.
Match #3: Shayna Baszler w/ Ronda Rousey vs. Tegan Nox w/ Natalya
Nox lands a dropkick then a kick to the chest. Corner senton from Nox then mounted punches to utter silence. Baszler gets free and goes to stomp the arm but Nox fights free then lands a head kick. Baszler catches a knee and faceplants Nox then stomps on the arm of Nox. Nox avoids a corner knee but her arm is messed up, Baszler just kicks it to stop her comeback. Arm whip takedown from Baszler. Nox grabs a Small Package for 2, then Baszler lands the kneeling knee strike. Armbar from Baszler and Nox taps.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Shayna Baszler won
Rating: 2.5 stars
Felt nearly like a squash, Nox got some hope spots which was important but this was all about rebuilding Baszler.
In the back Kayla interviews Gunther and the rest of Imperium. Gunther says it’s a disgrace that a man like him has been kept waiting for his WrestleMania opponent for the IC title. Gunther is only concerned with finding a worthy opponent, he wants to do battle at Mania for this great prize in this precious sport and start building the legacy of the Ring General. Short and sweet promo from Gunther.
Back to the ring and here comes the Almighty Bobby Lashley, he’s heading to the ring and we get the Bray Wyatt video clips breaking into the feed to send us to break.
We come back to Bobby Lashley in the ring. We get a video recap of Monday when Bobby objected to little kid games, only to be trolled by Bray Wyatt’s muscle man dance and a warning to run. Well Bobby, here’s your chance to try and make this work. Bobby has a mic, for the past two weeks Bray has been telling him to run, but Bobby doesn’t run from anyone. Well since that didn’t work Bray’s been playing games. That all just feels like weakness to Bobby. If Bray has a problem he should come see Bobby face to face. But since Bray wont come to his face he’s showed up on Smackdown. Now Bray, if you’re man enough, Bobby’s right here some come see him. That brings up the Uncle Howdy music, which is still really great. Uncle Howdy jumps Bobby from behind and unloads on him while laughing but does run into a high angle slam. Bobby wants a Spear, but the lights go out and when they come back up Bobby is alone in the ring. Well, that didn’t work. Bobby is the wrong man for this.
The Bloodline are in their locker room. Jimmy says Jey still needs more time, Roman wants clarification and Jimmy says Jey wants to be left the hell alone. Roman can’t understand how Jey can do this after everything they’ve done for him. This didn’t start happening until Sami showed up. Maybe that’s where the greed comes from. Well Roman’s going to fix the Sami problem once and for all. He tells Jimmy to go out there with Solo and get rid of Sami tonight, because then Jey will come home. Jimmy is down, then heads out. Heyman sucks up to Roman, Roman doesn’t agree. Roman says Jey has one week, and if Jey’s not back next week then Roman wont blame Sami, he’s blaming Jimmy. That ominous note sends us to break.
Commentary runs down next weeks show as we come back.
After that here comes Solo Sikoa for our main event. Roman Reigns is in the locker room watching with Paul Heyman.
Match #4: Solo Sikoa w/ Jimmy Uso vs. Sami Zayn
We get a brawl right away, Sami hits a Thesz press then avoids Jimmy before low bridging Solo. Sami then dives onto both of them. In the back Roman is seething. Solo shoves Sami away then crushes him with a back elbow. Headbutt from Solo but Sami is able to clothesline him out of the ring. Jimmy and Sami trade words, which sets up a Solo clothesline then Solo bounces Sami off of the ring post over and over again. Solo launches Sami into the time keepers area to send us to break.
Solo is still in control as we come back. More strikes from Solo, Sami tries to fight back but Solo headbutts him. Sami jumps over Solo and lands a clothesline to drop both of them. Punches from Sami but he runs into a Samoan drop from Solo. Solo sets for a hip attack, and hits it. Sami gets set on the top rope but he fights Solo off and hits a tornado DDT for a 1 count. Now Sami goes up top, he hits a crossbody for a 2 count. Solo’s too heavy for a Blue Thunder Bomb, but Solo misses a Stinger Splash and Sami is able to hit the Blue Thunder Bomb for another 2 count. Jimmy pulls Solo away from a Helluva Kick, Solo follows with the Samoan Spike to get the pin.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Solo Sikoa won
Rating: 2.5 stars
Perfectly acceptable, but Solo’s lack of mobility becomes a bit more evident as he works longer. He’s still got presence and knows how to work around his physical limitations though.
Post match Jimmy and Solo beat down Sami, they set up for a chair assisted hip attack in the corner, but Jimmy pauses Solo as he wants to do this himself. This all takes too long though and Sami gets the chair and whacks Solo with it then hits a Helluva Kick to Jimmy. Sami gets the chair but Solo is able to chase him away before he can use it. Sami scuttles back through the crowd while Roman continues seething in the locker room. That’s where the episode ends.
