SmackDown recap & reactions: SLAP!

A big angle on the blue brand gives us a big match at WrestleMania.

Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins came to Dallas for Friday Night SmackDown this week to officially accept The Rock’s challenge for a tag team match at WrestleMania 40, one with stipulations that will have major implications on Roman Reigns vs. Rhodes in the main event of night two. When it came time for the main event segment, Nick Aldis couldn’t find them.

Huh?

The Bloodline hit the scene first, and, well, The Rock, you won’t be surprised to hear, is still being treated like the much bigger deal than Reigns. He’s got a new entrance and everything.

Electric.

You get it.

Meanwhile, Reigns deviated from the norm, demanding Dallas acknowledge not himself but “us.” This after a hug with “The Great One.” That’s when we finally got to see the babyface team, who made their entrance to Rhodes’ theme but did so through the crowd, which I guess is why poor stressed out Aldis couldn’t locate the duo.

Finally, it was time for the four of them to share the ring together.

Cody made mention of the fact that, actually, it’s pretty cool that they’re all here like this, and they should take a minute to soak it in with the crowd. It’s kind of a big deal, after all, and he’s honored, despite everything.

Sure.

Rhodes took a shot at Rock acknowledging his Tribal Chief before he tried to answer the challenge but Rock cut him off to a thunderous applause. The people still want Cody but they can’t help but love this guy. He acknowledged Reigns because that’s what family does.

He went into explaining the stipulations set forth in his challenge when the fans in the arena started chanting “diarrhea” at him. He stopped to let them do it but didn’t acknowledge it beyond a smile, going right back into his preplanned words.

Rollins finally cut in, telling him to shut the hell up, calling him “Mr. Mid Life Crisis.” They refuse to give up their time to these guys, especially The Rock who already had his time. They accept the challenge.

Reigns derided Rhodes for allowing Rollins to answer for him. Rock got back on the mic and dropped the big one — he’s the boss, a director on the board of TKO, and he says if Rhodes fails again he will never challenge for the title again. He went on and on for a bit, eventually coming in with the biggest gut punch he could.

He brought up Cody’s siblings being a lot older than he is, and that being because the truth is he was a mistake. Rollins tried to hold him back but Rock demanded he let him go. And Cody delivered his receipt.

A slap across the face.

The Rock smiled, it looked like a brawl was going to pop off, and the show went off the air.

That was one hell of an angle to close it out, and about as good as they could have done considering. The Rock was much less about cracking bad jokes to the crowd and more about being a heel opposing the babyfaces, what with the whole thing about being the boss and what that means.

Rhodes getting that slap back was wholly satisfying and absolutely has me ready for this match. I can’t believe we have to wait another month for it.

Logan Paul kicked off this show with a promo talking up his accomplishments in his short career, claiming he’s the man and WWE is better because of it. You might even say WWE is in its “PRIME.”

Oh yes, folks. His big announcement was to say he has entered into a partnership with WWE to be the center ring sponsor for WWE starting at WrestleMania and every premium live event after that. It’s a big deal!

Then he introduced KSI, fellow social media star and his business partner. The fans in Dallas responded to him flying over from England by chanting “USA! USA! USA!”

He was there for a photo op for the announcement but, naturally, it was interrupted by Randy Orton’s theme song hitting the loud speakers. He didn’t show up from the entrance, though. Instead, he came from under the ring and went for another RKO OUTTA NOWHERE. Paul, however, was ready for it.

He left KSI in the ring, though, and he, somehow, wasn’t ready for it.

Orton, swell guy that he is, made sure to cover up the PRIME sponsorship with KSI’s lifeless body. Then he drank the bottle of PRIME in the ring, called it “very good,” and dumped it all over poor KSI, still laid out with Paul watching on from outside the ring.

We are indeed getting Paul vs. Orton and I’m done doubting just how fun it will be when Paul gets into it with anyone. Randy is also deep into his “hell with it, let’s have fun” phase too.

I’m in.

Immediately after all this, Orton teamed up with Kevin Owens against their common enemies, Grayson Waller & Austin Theory, for a tag team match. They teased a spot after the match where Orton nearly laid Owens out with brass knuckles brought in by Paul, who showed up with a sneak attack on both men.

A triple threat incoming?

All the rest

• Bayley was interviewed, and she’s having a crisis looking back on everything that happened with Damage CTRL. She has to wonder if they ever cared about her at all. Kayla did hit her with a good question — what would you say to people who think you kinda deserved this? Bayley had the right answer, that she’s been a rabble-rouser, for sure, but she really cared about those girls and did everything she could for them. That’s the right approach to this, no question. Now, she’s promising to do everything possible to break them for what they did.
• Naomi was shown watching this and saying she feels bad to Bianca Belair, who has zero sympathy at all for her plight considering everything she’s done in the past year or so. Naomi pushed back on this and Belair held firm in her belief. It was an interesting interaction, at least in that Bianca was a bit short, and ill tempered. I might be looking too far into that, though.
• Karrion Kross and Bobby Lashley had a match and I can give you two guesses as to how it ended but you’re only going to need one. Yes, AOP showed up to interfere and cause a disqualification, leading to the Street Profits rushing in to even the odds. Back in the ring, Lashley laid out Kross before Scarlett showed up to tease getting involved. That’s when B-Fab slapped her across the face. Eventually, The Final Testament took control of the ring and Kross left Lashley laid out after The Final Prayer. Something about this isn’t clicking, and I can’t imagine I’m the only one who feels that way. We need some more depth to it, because all the characters are there for this to be great.
• Tiffany Stratton defeated Michin clean with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever. Not much to this one, just giving the fans what they want, which was more Tiffy Time. The rocket isn’t strapped quite yet but she’s on the way to it.
• AJ Styles got a video promo and I couldn’t help but laugh when he said even he liked LA Knight’s schtick but how dare he try to “steal momentum at my expense.” He literally shouted this and I burst out laughing here at home. Something about his delivery just got me. Knight was shown watching said video and responded to it by using a chair to attack the television he was watching it on. Still love this guy.
• Dragon Lee scored a victory over Angel of Legado del Fantasma in a fun match that I ended up wishing got more time. After, Fantasma left Lee laid out in retaliation as commentary told us the LWO were not in the building tonight. The saga continues.
• Dakota Kai claimed she’s always been the brains of Damage CTRL while the rest of the group openly mock her, claiming it was easy to manipulate her and it was always going to end up this way. They set up Kai vs. Bayley for next week.

The blue brand is strong.

Grade: A-

Your turn.