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WWE SmackDown on March 27 took place at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh and featured a singles match between Randy Orton and Matt Cardona.
The build to WrestleMania 42 continued with the announcement of new matches and a title change. We saw The Bella Twins get a win over Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss thanks to outside interference. Rhea Ripley got a DQ win over B-Fab, but it was all about a beatdown from Jade Cargill with the help of Michin, too. Giulia also got a win over Tiffany Stratton.
Here’s the top takeaways from this week’s show:
For the first time since SummerSlam, Jelly Roll was in an official match, but this time it was a singles match against Kit Wilson. Danhausen gets the assist here for cursing Wilson backstage just prior to the match.
After some poetry about Jelly Roll’s mother, the action began. Jelly Roll and Wilson worked a very basic match that allowed the musician to look alright in the ring. Wilson eventually got his offense in after a hot start from Jelly Roll, but things came to an end after a chokeslam.
Jelly Roll is now a winning singles wrestler on WWE programming.
Who knows where this is all going? Jelly Roll has been getting a lot of TV time in recent weeks – and I do mean A LOT. Maybe it’s just an opportunity for him to share his weight-loss story (which is a great thing) and get a little action in – but let's be real: this feels forced.
Sami Zayn has been going through it in recent weeks, but finally has a path to WrestleMania, which was in question backstage when speaking with Nick Aldis. The SmackDown GM had just told Trick Williams he would be competing in Las Vegas, but there wasn’t anything for Zayn at the moment. Zayn said he would find a way.
Fast forward to the US title Open Challenge, and Zayn would answer the call against Carmelo Hayes. Before the match could begin, Williams entered and took a seat ringside to watch.
The match was unsurprisingly the best of the night. Hayes and Zayn went back and forth, keeping the fans energized. After a First 48, only got a two count, Zayn hit a Blue Thunder Bomb, also only getting two. That’s when Williams got involved.
Williams grabbed the title, threw it into the ring to create a distraction. He signaled for Hayes to push Zayn his direction, but the punch connected with Hayes. One Helluva Kick later, and we now have a new US champion.
After wallowing in his own self-pity for weeks, Zayn found his way to get back on track and punch his WrestleMania ticket. Aldis said we’re getting Zayn and Williams in a match, but the question is whether or not that will become a three-way match with Hayes, since he will be wanting revenge for the interference. We’ll see.
Jacob Fatu took the mic to address Drew McIntyre following their brawl last week, which resulted in both of them falling off the side of a building. Both were shown in bad shape throughout the show before this moment.
Fatu vowed to dog walk McIntyre every week until he was satisfied. McIntyre entered and stood at the entrance to offer his rebuttal that Fatu stole everything from him before Nick Aldis came in to make an announcement.
Aldis said since these two are uncontrollable around each other, they will have a match at WrestleMania – but not just any match. This one will be unsanctioned.
It’s great to get matches with stipulations for WrestleMania. We could use even more, but this one works very well with this blood feud. Great move here.
The main event of this week’s show was a singles match between Randy Orton and a compromised Matt Cardona.
With his injured arm as the focus, Cardona did what he could against Orton, but "The Viper" was too much to handle. Orton relentlessly attacked the injured limb until he hit an RKO to get a three-count.
While getting his arm raised, Cody Rhodes was shown on the tron pulling up to the arena in his bus. After a long walk to the ring, the two brawled it out. The world’s worst security team repeatedly failed to keep the two men separated. Eventually, Jelly Roll came out to play peacemaker in a moment security had control. Orton broke through a moment later and hit Jelly Roll with an RKO before exiting.
The unhinged version of Orton remains one of the most diabolical characters ever. I’m still not quite sure why Jelly Roll is on our screens as much as he is, but he got a taste of an RKO for effect here. The Orton-Rhodes brawl was OK, even though it felt like it just dragged on as security just kept letting them bust through. WWE loves using the failed security trope. This was certainly an ending to the show.
This article originally appeared on Wrestling Junkie: WWE SmackDown takeaways: Zayn wins US title, Orton RKOs Jelly Roll
Continue reading...
The build to WrestleMania 42 continued with the announcement of new matches and a title change. We saw The Bella Twins get a win over Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss thanks to outside interference. Rhea Ripley got a DQ win over B-Fab, but it was all about a beatdown from Jade Cargill with the help of Michin, too. Giulia also got a win over Tiffany Stratton.
Here’s the top takeaways from this week’s show:
Jelly Roll wins first singles match
For the first time since SummerSlam, Jelly Roll was in an official match, but this time it was a singles match against Kit Wilson. Danhausen gets the assist here for cursing Wilson backstage just prior to the match.
After some poetry about Jelly Roll’s mother, the action began. Jelly Roll and Wilson worked a very basic match that allowed the musician to look alright in the ring. Wilson eventually got his offense in after a hot start from Jelly Roll, but things came to an end after a chokeslam.
Jelly Roll is now a winning singles wrestler on WWE programming.
Who knows where this is all going? Jelly Roll has been getting a lot of TV time in recent weeks – and I do mean A LOT. Maybe it’s just an opportunity for him to share his weight-loss story (which is a great thing) and get a little action in – but let's be real: this feels forced.
Sami Zayn wins men’s United States title
Sami Zayn has been going through it in recent weeks, but finally has a path to WrestleMania, which was in question backstage when speaking with Nick Aldis. The SmackDown GM had just told Trick Williams he would be competing in Las Vegas, but there wasn’t anything for Zayn at the moment. Zayn said he would find a way.
Fast forward to the US title Open Challenge, and Zayn would answer the call against Carmelo Hayes. Before the match could begin, Williams entered and took a seat ringside to watch.
The match was unsurprisingly the best of the night. Hayes and Zayn went back and forth, keeping the fans energized. After a First 48, only got a two count, Zayn hit a Blue Thunder Bomb, also only getting two. That’s when Williams got involved.
Williams grabbed the title, threw it into the ring to create a distraction. He signaled for Hayes to push Zayn his direction, but the punch connected with Hayes. One Helluva Kick later, and we now have a new US champion.
After wallowing in his own self-pity for weeks, Zayn found his way to get back on track and punch his WrestleMania ticket. Aldis said we’re getting Zayn and Williams in a match, but the question is whether or not that will become a three-way match with Hayes, since he will be wanting revenge for the interference. We’ll see.
Jacob Fatu, Drew McIntyre get Mania match
Jacob Fatu took the mic to address Drew McIntyre following their brawl last week, which resulted in both of them falling off the side of a building. Both were shown in bad shape throughout the show before this moment.
Fatu vowed to dog walk McIntyre every week until he was satisfied. McIntyre entered and stood at the entrance to offer his rebuttal that Fatu stole everything from him before Nick Aldis came in to make an announcement.
Aldis said since these two are uncontrollable around each other, they will have a match at WrestleMania – but not just any match. This one will be unsanctioned.
It’s great to get matches with stipulations for WrestleMania. We could use even more, but this one works very well with this blood feud. Great move here.
Randy Orton beats Matt Cardona, RKOs Jelly Roll
The main event of this week’s show was a singles match between Randy Orton and a compromised Matt Cardona.
With his injured arm as the focus, Cardona did what he could against Orton, but "The Viper" was too much to handle. Orton relentlessly attacked the injured limb until he hit an RKO to get a three-count.
While getting his arm raised, Cody Rhodes was shown on the tron pulling up to the arena in his bus. After a long walk to the ring, the two brawled it out. The world’s worst security team repeatedly failed to keep the two men separated. Eventually, Jelly Roll came out to play peacemaker in a moment security had control. Orton broke through a moment later and hit Jelly Roll with an RKO before exiting.
The unhinged version of Orton remains one of the most diabolical characters ever. I’m still not quite sure why Jelly Roll is on our screens as much as he is, but he got a taste of an RKO for effect here. The Orton-Rhodes brawl was OK, even though it felt like it just dragged on as security just kept letting them bust through. WWE loves using the failed security trope. This was certainly an ending to the show.
This article originally appeared on Wrestling Junkie: WWE SmackDown takeaways: Zayn wins US title, Orton RKOs Jelly Roll
Continue reading...
