If you’re wondering what Cody Rhodes would talk about during his promo for the WrestleMania 39 Go Home episode of Friday Night SmackDown in Los Angeles, believe me when I tell you that he started out playing 2Pac’s role in the hit song ” California” from 1996 “Love?”
As soon as he entered the scene.
He got off fast enough, just in time to do a bit of shooting on Roman Reigns and make it clear that he has left all other roles in the past behind and now is the time for him to be The Guy. Now it’s time for him to finish…
Before he could say “the story,” Roman’s music took off.
foreshadowing?
Probably not, but I still really enjoyed it.
I also really liked that Reigns didn’t even bother to tell LA to acknowledge him for not caring about her. Instead, he turned to Rhodes and said, “It’s not your turn — it’s your turn.”
“Cody Rhodes – RECOGNIZE ME!”
His music hit and the credits rolled as the two stared at each other.
It was an understatement but I absolutely loved it. They’ve said everything they have to say. There is nothing left but to fight in the ring.
Soon.
The Usos kicked off the show this week and were quickly joined by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn so they could gamble everything in one last chat before pouncing at WrestleMania 39.
It got a little difficult.
Owens looked up to Jimmy and Jey for being there for him early in his WWE run. But then they started bidding on Roman Reigns and everything changed. He’s still somewhat conflicted – he’s not going to like what he has to do to win the tag team titles from them.
But he’s damn sure he will.
When Jimmy and Jey had to answer, they talked about family and all that it means. When Zayn got involved, it was with one hell of a line. “Blood isn’t the only thing that makes a family – so is loyalty.”
That offended Jey deeply, but Sami kept talking and you could tell that his words got through to him. There was always that little doubt in Jey when it comes to Reigns. We’ve all seen it.
premonition maybe?
Zayn promised to end everything at WrestleMania. They win the tag team championship and The Bloodline will fall and maybe the Usos can go back to being the boys they were when Owens first showed up, the good guys they were talking about just minutes ago.
“No, it’s going to be the same as always – you’re going to lose the big match and Kevin Owens is going to stab you in the back. ONCE AGAIN!”
This was one hell of a back-and-forth, and they set up the match as well as they could with just one last chance to do just that.
all the rest
- With a Fatal 4-Way men’s tag team match scheduled for WrestleMania, what better way to give us a preview of it than having one member of each team do a Fatal 4-Way singles match just the night before to let play? That’s what we have here, with Montez Ford vs. Ricochet vs. Chad Gable vs. Erik. It actually served its purpose well considering they had a just plain fun match where Ricochet took advantage of a Ford splash on Gable followed by a big moonsault to get the pinfall and the win.
- WWE went the predictable route and booked Bobby Lashley to win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. As far as battle royales go, it wasn’t bad. They got the tag teams out in pairs, made an elimination save spot for BUTCH, gave us some interesting mid-ring square offs with big burly men, and an impressive performance for a guy who didn’t win in Bronson Reed has. This could very well be all of the Lashley we get during WrestleMania weekend, and that would be a bit of a shame, but at least he has to shine here.
- That being said, LA Knight was clearly the most cocky dude in this battle royal – with a special shout out to Maximum Male Models, who also got a nice reply for their spot in the match – and it would also be a real shame if Knight is out of shape or way involved in WrestleMania.
- With a Fatal 4-Way Women’s Tag Team Match scheduled for WrestleMania, what better way to give us a preview of what’s coming than having one member of each team play a Fatal 4-Way singles match the night before to permit? That’s what we have here, with Raquel Rodriguez vs. Natalya vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Sonya Deville. They didn’t have nearly the same time as the men, and the match didn’t stand a chance of getting anywhere near as good either. Unfortunately, it could also be a preview of what’s to come at WrestleMania, just for the wrong reasons.
- Another big trope WWE absolutely nailed on this show – WILL THEY MEET?!? Drew McIntyre and Sheamus will be involved in a triple threat match for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 39, but they had to team up against Imperium at that show. Wouldn’t you know, they couldn’t get along! Still, they managed to put the differences aside just enough to hit their finishers against Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci, with Sheamus scoring the winning pinfall for the team. Then a stare down as GUNTHER watched on a backstage monitor. There’s nothing particularly remarkable about that.
They were focused on building the two biggest matches at WrestleMania, but spending time on two Fatal 4-Way matches on two WrestleMania match fillers instead of literally doing everything for Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley felt like a misstep to me at.
Still, it was a good show.
Grade B
It’s your turn.
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