Hello everybody and welcome back to another episode
of Finishes and Factions Does Smackdown. This
week we are still on the European tour in Bologna,
Italy in the Unipol Arena. We are here again
with myself Rich and my co -host Adam as always.
Adam, welcome in buddy. Yeah. Yeah, I've done
you eat a few times on the last few episodes
I thought I'd change it up a little bit but yes
Bologna Italy and we are this is like the like
the first time in about 18 years that WWE TV
has been in Italy and the very first smackdown
to be broadcast from Bologna so and I mean all
throughout this European tour we've seen some
absolutely Insane crowd reactions. I mean Brussels
was the highlight of it all Belgium when Monday
like raw was there was absolutely incredible
And in fairness, the Italians did not did not
disappoint either and either did the Spanish
last week to be fair No, they didn't and this
is what I'm saying was amazing. So yeah, no and
the Italians definitely kept up with it but You've
got to give the Italian they had it a little
bit easy to keep up with Because the first person
they got to see was the Viper Randy Orton Yeah,
isn't there enough to hype you up anyway I mean
if I was sat there and the first dude that I
got to see at WWE live event was a 14 -time world
champion Then I'd be pretty freakin hyped as
well. Oh 100 % I am just gonna throw out there
that Randy Orton isn't just a 14 -time world
champion because they do give us a breakdown
of Randy Orton's career as he comes to the ring.
So he's a 10 -time WWE champion, a four -time
world heavyweight champion, a one -time US champion,
a one -time Intercontinental champion, a four
-time tag champion. He also won the 2013 Money
in the Bank and he's a two -time Royal Rumble
winner as well and that was 2009 and 2017 so
that's a hell of a list of accolades that man
has got right there. I mean the guy has always
been we all yeah he was always going to be a
he's a third generation superstar he was always
going to be a future hall of famer purely for
the fact that he was born with this business
swimming around in his nutsack do you know what
I mean like It was already there. Pretty sure
Randy Orton popped an RKO on his dad as he came
out of his mum, to be fair. There is that possibility.
I wouldn't put it past the guy. And we've said
it before, but this guy, since he's come back,
he looks fucking incredible. Like he is jacked.
I don't think we've seen a Randy Orton like this
in a long time. I would go as far as to say I
don't think we've ever seen a Randy Orton quite
like this I mean considering how old he is now
it is a case that he is in probably the best
shape of his career to date and there's no steroids
involved no none at all that guy is cleaner than
a whistle I mean just coming back to crowd noise
I mean during Randy Orton's entrance I'm almost
positive they probably had to jack the volume
just a little bit, just to keep the music sort
of audible. I think at one point they turned
it off because all you could hear was the goddamn
crowd singing voices. It was incredible. Honestly,
it really was. Not that it lasted long though.
Because before Randy got to say anything, we
got another lot of bloody music hit. Yes, we
did. We got Kevin Owens coming out and yeah,
that was met with a very different crowd reaction.
Oh, he got booed harder than Hulk Hogan trying
to promote the All -American Ale. Well, and Dom
Mysterio. He got booed worse than Dom as well.
Yeah, yeah, that's true too. However... The crowd
reaction we the crowd reaction aside This is
a Kevin Owens that I would go as far as to say
that I don't think we've ever seen before because
Kevin Owens comes out and does the one thing
that Kevin Owens never does he apologizes and
admits fault This is probably something that
Sammy's aim would like to have received rather
than Randy Orton But yeah, Kevin's basically
just kind of there to tell him he was wrong with
the for hitting him with the package pile driver
But Cody and Sammy deserved what they got just
Randy didn't this makes me think that Kevin Owens
might be a little bit scared of What Randy Orton
could do to him? I mean he is the legend killer
Let's think about it. Randy Orton has already
promised that Kevin Owens is getting the... he
is invited to the punt party. Oh yes. He's getting
punted one way or the other and we've got to
remember that Randy Orton at one stage was banned
from using the punt kick because it was ending
people's careers. Yes and... I'm not gonna lie
when you get a move that is on the band list
that they let appear every so often. Oh, don't
get me wrong. I absolutely love it. My favorite
one is Jordan Grace with the muscle buster. When
she pops that muscle buster out and you know
that she shouldn't be using it and she's probably
been told do not use it but she just they're
like, I don't give a fuck. So to see Randy Orton
trying to line up that punk kick or you just
kind of sat on the edge of your seat, especially
with Kevin Owens like go on. kick him in the
fucking edge of brick but considering we normally
see Kevin Owens hyper aggressive hyper yeah just
generally um coming out like the like the biggest
dick in the locker room basically i mean we've
got bitch Owens bitch this week oh 100 that guy
came out with he pushed that out as well Well,
he came out with his tail between his friggin
legs. Which is nice to see, to be fair. I like
seeing Kevin Owens with his tail between his
legs. Because it makes him unpredictable. And
that Kevin Owens when he's unpredictable is dangerous.
Well, as it stands, we know that, I mean, everybody
knows you don't piss off the Viper. The Viper
is one person you don't piss off. And... Kevin
Owens is well and truly within Randy Orton's
sights, and Randy Orton tells him as much. I
mean, Randy Orton's planning on kicking Kevin
Owens' head clean off his shoulders as we have
a match announced for WrestleMania, which will
see Randy Orton versus Kevin Owens to settle
the score. I'm hoping that this isn't just a
standard singles much and I say this because
I'm I'm really hoping that turns into an element
where there is a stipulation where it's either
no package pile driver no punt kick or where
it goes no DQ These guys go hell for the leather.
I don't necessarily want it to be in a steel
cage or Like a specific a specified match type
if you get me I just like there to be either
a No, dick you element or you can't use a package
pile driver with a punk kick So I've got a feeling
that I sort of know how this that I don't think
it's gonna be a standard singles match But I
don't think it's going to be no DQ either. I've
got a feeling it's going to be... No, it's not
going to be a strap match either. I've got a
feeling what we're going to see is a special
guest referee match. And I've got a feeling that
the ultimate underdog is going to end up being
the special guest referee. It's gonna be Sami
Zayn. It'll be Kevin Owens versus Randy Orton
with Sami Zayn as the special guest referee.
That would be an interesting match. Definitely.
Just think about it. It would still be somewhat
unbiased. We know that Sami Zayn has got a bit
of a habit of forgiving and forgetting. He's
also got a lot of reason to favour Randy Orton
as well. So there's... There's a storyline twist
there that could go several different ways in
that WrestleMania match. Definitely. I'm going
on record and saying that's the match stipulation
I think they'll end up putting in place. I think
Sami Zayn will end up coming back a week, maybe
two weeks before WrestleMania officially kicks
off. and he'll be added as a special guest referee
so I've been known to make predictions before
and I've got a reasonable degree of success that's
my prediction for this match okay okay well fair
enough fair enough we will leave that match there
with Adam's prediction and we will move on to
the next segment which was a recap of last week
when Drew McIntyre attacked Damian Priest during
his match with the Shinsuke Nakamura. Yes, the
dead man walking. Yeah, and this sort of feeds
into the... very first match of the night which
sees actually a men's tag team match which sees
Drew Mack in cryo team up with Shinsuke Nakamura
and Damian Priest teaming with Big Jim, Jimmy
Uso. On paper this was has the the elements to
have been a really really good match and through
a majority of the match it did follow where the
paper would take it. I just think that they could
have done maybe a little bit more with it within
the time they had. For me this match got a little
bit draggy towards the end. I sort of thought
the match fell completely flat I will be honest.
So match action starts before everybody's even
made it into the ring so I'm going to point out
Jim Uso didn't get an entrance. Nope. That we
saw. No, I was very confused with this because
we saw three entrances and then when we got down
to I think the last man coming in, which was
either Drew or David Priest. Yeah, it was Mocking
Cry and Priest ran straight for him and it was
only when the camera angle came round that I
saw Jim in the ring and I'm like, what the fuck's
Big Jim doing there? Because, you know, it's
day one. I think if anybody was going to have
no entrance in that match, possibly Shinsuke
Nakamura. I don't think we really needed to see
him come to the ring. No. There was no enhancement
there. It's a case that it just wasn't worth.
And we're not just stuck in on Shinsuke Nakamura
because we don't like him. He has one of the
longest most boring entrances in WWE and they'd
show that over Big Jim Jimmy Uso's got a pretty
good like entry. He's pretty upbeat and hype
with it You know, he brings that that little
bit extra. So Yeah, I'd much rather have had
big Jim's over shinsuke's but WWE decided otherwise
and we all got fucked Yeah, and I'm going to
be honest, I didn't get an awful lot of notes
on this match. I think I got three notes all
together. Hit me with what you've got and I'll
try and fill in the gaps. So I got the match
action starts on the ramp as Priest runs to meet
Drew on his entrance. I've then got the finish
for the match, which was Damien Priest gets the
pinfall after a South of Heaven to Nakamura.
And then Mack and Cryer delivers a truly brutal,
I mean, that beating that Priest got at the end
was fucking brutal. I mean, that Claymore was
brutal enough as it was. And if you get to see
it, he sold it so, so well. So I'll fill in a
little bit of the gaps here just to help everyone
else out. So it started off in the ring when
they all finally got in there and the bell was
rung between Drew McIntyre and Jimmy Uso, but
then Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest ended up
following on from there there was a little bit
of an exchange between the two with a tag coming
to put Jay back into the ring and he ended up
on the wrong side of a belly -to -belly suplex
from McIntyre and Yeah, it was a Bit of an interest
in moms afterwards McIntyre goes back to trash
-talking Damian Priest This probably could have
been better served as a singles match at some
point because it was literally a lot of McIntyre
and a lot of Priest We did get to see a few little
bits at one point Jey Uso was running the ropes
and Nakamura grabbed his legs out from underneath
him Jimmy Yeah, I said Jade and I yeah, so Jimmy
was running the rope sorry when Nakamura grabbed
his legs out from underneath him to drop him
on the floor and then basically after a secret
tag that we you had to keep an eye on to really
see the tag but Jimmy ends up on the announce
table after a rather large kick from Shinsuke
Nakamura Which didn't hold him back too much
because once he got back into the ring he managed
to hit a Beautiful Samoan drop on McIntyre Which
gave himself a bit of time to recover because
McIntyre really was not expecting that Samoan
drop I don't think a few a few little bits from
Damien Priest here We got to see an old school
onto Nakamura with a crossbody modifier onto
it Nakamura basically counted it with a rather
large kick And then went to set up the Kinshasa,
which was recounted by Damian Priest with a clothesline
For a count which we didn't get too far into
before the Scottish crybaby himself jumped on
to break up the crown Break up the count. Sorry
We've got a bit of a super kick special from
Jimmy at one point Yeah drops drew goes through
the ropes to knock drew onto the announce table
Nakamura knocks him off the apron and That in
the process allows at Damien Priest to hit that
south of heaven on Nakamura for the three count
Like we said here so Damian after the the match
McIntyre attacks Damian Priest Telling you just
reminding him that you know I said that it was
gonna be on site and every time I've seen you
on site I've whooped you and Kind of yeah, we
go back to we had a bit of an ass kick in bit
of a beat down and then that absolute Claymore
that I say I I watch a lot of UFC right some
of them Brutal knockouts you've seen in there.
I will remind you of one from the ultimate fighter
many years ago by a guy called Uriah Hall The
guy that he dropped like a deuce Reminded me
very much of Damien Priest in this point because
he was full stiff eyes rolled back completely
like he was He played the out out very very well
But um, yeah, no it was I It sounds better than
it was, you know, like, try and give you a bit
of hype to it, because if you can get through
this first match, you will really enjoy SmackDown
this week. This was definitely a slow start to
SmackDown, and it does progressively, I feel,
get a little bit better. Yeah, it's, as I said
before, it really sort of fell flat for me, so,
hence that, like, a lot of the action that you've
mentioned, I remember happening, and I remember
enjoying those individual spots, but... The match
itself, considering the players that were in
it, was just really underwhelming for me. Yes,
and I completely agree with that. But the one
thing that wasn't overwhelming for me during
this match, we had a fair amount of decent good
quality promos. We've had the Randy Orton, Kevin
Owens one. We move into a backstage segment with
Braun Strowman. Working out and when we get to
see LA Knight come in saying he needs to Slap
him back into factory settings. Oh They're busy
talking about Jacob Fatu because Braun Strowman
has got a match a little bit later on with Jacob
Fatu So we're just getting a little pre cap into
that and both of these guys are basically saying
that Jacob flat Jacob Fatou needs to get slapped
back to factory settings and The LA night will
be keeping his eye out when on for Braun These
are and Braun says that he's spoken to Nick Aldis
and actually the winner of this match gets a
title shot against LA night and Next week in
London So we got a little bit of an intro into
where LA Knight is going to be going with his
first defense of his United States Championship.
He's either going to be seeing Jacob Fatu or
the big son of a bitch Braun Strowman Yeah, and
I mean Either one of those on their own is an
intimidating challenge to be sure. Yeah, you
then like the thought of having to go against
either one of them Mr. No sell himself or As
you've said the biggest SOB in WWE It's a case
that Yeah, I'm not sure which one I'd prefer
if I'm completely honest with you from a fan's
perspective I'd rather watch him face Braun Strowman
purely for the fact that like you said Mr. I'm
not selling nothing Really is not gonna do much
for LA night in that much and We've seen a lot
of Jacob Fatu versus LA night over the last couple
of weeks It would be nice to have like a change
of pace essentially. Yeah I completely agree
with you with that and a change of pace is actually
what we get next. This next little bit we get
a recap of last week's... I don't even know how
to describe this. Last week's battle of the bitches
between Tiffy Stratton and Charlotte Fleur with
their chaotic brawl that basically also not only
kind of took away a lot of time from what was
going on from the rest of the show because it
interrupted Miz TV I mean that's not a bad thing
do not get me wrong But yeah, it was carnage
and that that moonsault off the tytron from From
Tiffy Stratton onto Charlotte and the security
last week was was nuts it basically leads into
this week that we're gonna get a a split -screen
interview slash promo between the two of them
Obviously after last week neither of these two
can be in the same room as each other or even
the same arena by the looks of it but so nice
bit of homework in for both Charlotte Flair and
Tiffany Stratton this week still managing to
make an appearance on the European tour while
sat at home with their feet up I'm sure but me
and Rich talked about this this promo segment
specifically off podcast and we sort of came
to the same conclusion I think is that Charlotte
Flair dominated this promo realistically. Not
only did she sort of cut off Tiffy with a question
that was directly aimed at Tiffy herself, claiming
that the Queen will speak first, it's a case
that she then went on just to completely bury
Tiffany Stratton as it goes. She does not help
herself. There are a lot of wrestling fans that
really aren't interested in her anymore and she
comes in and she's a the most disrespectful Person
she could be to the current women's champion,
which do not get me wrong. I get it. She's a
heel character It's all she can bloody play but
you know like So good job they weren't in the
same room because I think Tiffy would have smacked
a square in the mouth and we'd have had Barcelona
bash 2 .0. It would have been bashing Bologna.
Because I think if those two had been in the
same room they'd have been fighting. I mean if
that's how you want to spend your time bashing
Bologna then you feel free. I'm not bashing no
Bologna. We're happily married now and we don't
do things like that. This this interview was
very much dominated by Charlotte and Like I said
a lot of it was very Yeah You know there's points
in the interview with Charlotte saying that you
know Tiffy doesn't deserve the championship and
you know it was She won it by a cash in she didn't
beat anyone for it as such. It wasn't a fresh
match You know Charlotte sees this as it was
a dirty way of getting your hands on the title
which Mean Yeah, it could be but there's a reason
the money in the bank is there and that's to
give someone a dirty cash in like you say It's
not to say that if Charlotte flair had ever actually
won a money in the bank match That she wouldn't
be a winner one of her title reigns exactly the
same way just so happens that she's never won
one Yeah, she's normally the champion that's
gotta go against the winner Yes, and she doesn't
have a terrible she doesn't have a terribly good
track record of retaining against a money in
the bank championship Money in the bank challenge
to be quite honest But hence such is the way
of money in the bank really I mean, there's only
a few people that have ever failed and the first
one of those was Mr. John Cena because he announced
two weeks prior what he was going to do part
of the beauty of money in the bank is the ability
to the ability to surprise your opponent and
nine times out of ten we see it after an absolutely
hellacious match the champs out in the middle
of the ring anyway and it's basically a way of
being able to take full advantage of the situation
which let's face it i'd fucking do it yes so
charlotte money in the bank charlotte's lost
give me a money in the bank give me a money in
the bank briefcase and i'll run in the middle
of fucking wrestlemania I don't care who the
fuck it is. I'll cash in a money in the bank
and get a championship reign. I'll fucking advocate
it the next week just to make sure I don't get
my ass kicked. But yeah. So Charlotte's lost
to a money in the bank winner on three separate
occasions in her career. She lost to Carmela
in 2018. She lost to Bailey in 2019. And she
lost to Nikki Ash, who we know more as Nikki
Cross. July at 2021. Yes, she did. But yeah,
this split screen promo was Tiffany got a few
steady decent retorts in towards the end, but.
Yeah, I mean she a very strong showing from the
women's world champion against a potential challenger
realistic I think the only note I made that Tiffy
managed to open her mouth was was to say that
the fans don't really want her and Charlotte
says when Tiffy's here, she won't have a job
anyway, so I mean She can't look any worse Charlotte
Charlotte Flair buried Tiffany Stratton in this
promo and I don't know if that was by design
or what? But I'm hoping not if they if they're
gonna start as they mean to carry on The only
thing I can see from this is Charlotte walking
out of WrestleMania with that damn title, which
is something no WWE fan wants Especially not
when Tiffy's so over at the moment. Yeah, she's
not the greatest women's champion in the world
She's not the greatest wrestler in the world,
but she's over and it it it means something,
you know, the crowd want her the crowd enjoy
watching her and they react well with it yeah
but um i suppose they definitely managed to build
some heat within this promo for the match at
wrestlemania it's just that i'm not sure they
went about it entirely the right way but we'll
move on We will move on as match two is a men's
singles match. In fact, a men's singles match
we've already started talking about because it
sees the biggest SOB in WWE Braun Strowman versus
the Samoan werewolf, Jacob Fatu. And as we found
out earlier on, the winner of this match goes
on to face LA Knight for the US title next week
in London. Which we didn't manage to get tickets
for because unfortunately I only have two kidneys
and I need both of them and I couldn't get enough
for just one to buy two tickets because For both
of us to sit in the nosebleeds and watch the
paper what the event through our mobile phone
camera at full zoom Was a little bit more than
I could afford this time. So maybe in October
you'll get a finishes and factions goes live
from WWE. Maybe we'll see. But yeah, actually
I actually enjoyed this match to be fair. It
was a very entertaining match to watch. Because
these are two wrestlers generally that quite
easily go on week after week just having squash
matches and it's believable. Purely for the fact
they are both massive men. I mean Massive they're
both big blokes anyway, but they've both got
big ring presences and big Big personalities.
I mean we see that at the start where Braun Strowman
crotch crosses Jacob Fatu Like you had been wearing
a DX t -shirt Which I thought was quite funny
Oh, 100%. You're telling the guy who put you
in hospital with a hip, from running hip attacks
to suck it. You know it's about to go down. Yeah,
despite having said, despite what I've said about
obviously enjoying the match, I didn't get a
massive amount of notes in terms of sort of spots
during the match. I know that there were two
attempts at the Stroman Express as it's been
dubbed. One of them was evaded which sent Braun
Strowman flying over the announced position.
And then a little bit later on in the match he
tries it again and just blasts straight through
Jacob Fatu. Oh mate, he ran through Fatu like
Fatu was a fart in the wind. That guy, he just
absolutely annihilated him. It was brilliant
to watch. I absolutely loved it. 100 % I mean
they could have quite easily gotten away with
having Strowman continue running and he wouldn't
have lost any pace at all No, pretty much and
then there wasn't wasn't a lot of time between
that happening and us getting a little glimpse
of one of Jacob Fatu's friends stood on the turnbuckle
Didn't hear any crowd noise to let us know this
was going on But yeah, Strowman turns around
to find Tamatonga just staring him in the face.
On the apron. Which, I mean, fair play. If you've
got Tamatonga staring you dead in the eyes going,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd
be fucking like, what the fuck? And Strowman
pretty much just grabbed him and yanked him straight
over that top ramp. As though Tamatonga was just.
a teddy bear of some kind. Yeah, I mean, as it
stands, you mentioned that there was no crowd
noise for when Tamatonga made his appearance.
And that's not entirely surprising, as Tamatonga
had... We haven't really seen enough of him to
be anywhere close to over. He is just a... He's
a warm body at this point. There's no... There's
nothing building for him. since he lost his tag
team partner in Tonga Loa they don't really seem
to know what to do with him beyond the bloodline
and Tonga Loa is not due back for a little while
from his injury I don't think so it would be
interesting to see how little they use him because
he is literally just there at the moment to be
Fatu and Solo's bitch Yeah, he's essentially
a valet at this point, but Yeah, we don't just
see Tamatonga at this point We also see Solo
Sokoa as both of them end up costing Jacob Fatu
the match As the match ends in a DQ because both
of these pair come out and start attacking Braun
Strowman, which I'll be honest Can sort of see
why they might have done it but not really sort
of understanding what they hope to gain out of
it either Yeah, so the way they've set this up
is a little bit strange. So they've done it.
So obviously Braun Strowman has won this match
by DQ which means he'll be going on to face LA
night in London next week for the US title at
some point Jacob Fatu is gonna want retribution
for what's just happened, whether he goes, I
mean, are we starting to see the end of the bloodline
2 .0, so to speak? Are we gonna see Solo and
Fatu split up to a point where, or end up to
a point where are we gonna see them both facing
each other at WrestleMania? I think that's possibly
what we are going to end up with at this stage
just because, yeah, it's... There's nothing left
for the Bloodline to do. Like, Bloodline 2 .0,
they don't really have a lot left to do. Unless
they're going to start trying to put them in
something with the Wyatt 6. But... if they were
going to do that they'd have done it by now and
we wouldn't have lost superstars like Alexa Bliss
out of the programming at the moment and sort
of because yeah we saw at the rumble we've seen
her elimination chamber we haven't actually seen
her since or in between so I think there seems
to be an issue with Alexa at the moment as to
what they're going to do with her which is why
we're not seeing her but if they were going to
bring back the Wyatt 6 to have something with
the the bloodline 2 .0 you'd have seen seen Alexa
Bliss by now yeah very much so and yeah we're
just not yeah I'm just not sure of sort of how
they're gonna build that because they could have
Jacob Fatu take the they could take the easy
route and just have Jacob Fatu and and the Samoans
attack Braun Strowman during his match next week,
which yeah, I suppose I could possibly see coming,
but it just feels a bit predictable. Or it could
end up being how they sort of split all of those
up once and for all and have maybe Fatu and Tama
Tonga go off in their direction. Solo Sokoa ends
up being sort of outcast, maybe trying to make
his way back in with Roman Reigns potentially.
I don't know. but yeah um we'll move on from
that match anyway uh into another backstage promo
is what i've got down here which sees Kathy Kelly
interviewing Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez
um basically talking about the beef they've got
going with uh with Jade Cargill at the minute
well yeah and that's that's mainly because we
found out no but Naomi was the one that gave
Jade Cargill the ass kick in from hell but Liv
and Raquel are still pissed off because Jade's
had all this time out injured knowing who did
it to her you know she's been on Instagram she's
been on social media she's been doing all this
sort of thing but hasn't had the time to text
Liv or Raquel going look I know it wasn't you
I'm sorry and that's pretty much that's why they're
pissed and I mean I think I would be too you
know if I'd been accused of something that I'd
Hadn't done and I'll end up having a few scraps
in the process of it Yeah, it's it's not and
it's not outside of the ordinary to think that
That Jade's been sat at home watching WWE TV
for the last few months while she's been off
injured and and watching the fact that Liv and
Raquel have been getting the getting the blame
for it so I can 100 % understand why they're
pissed But Yeah, I can sort of very much see
Liv and Raquel side to it, which I didn't actually
think I'd ever be able to say with a straight
face Yeah, no, I completely get you But yeah,
so they Basically live during this mat during
this little promo they're hyping up the match
between Liv Morgan and Jade Cargill later on
in the evening and Liv basically claiming that
she's gonna finish the job that Naomi apparently
wasn't capable of doing which is big talk from
a little woman yes but as we know the smaller
they are the feistier they become so uh it's
definitely not someone you want to fuck around
with anyway no this is it especially not when
the smallest person on the roster has the tallest
woman on the roster to help her out so we move
from there and we get a small vt about the ending
of the stroman far too much we will have just
watched and then cut to backstage where Fatou
is incensed. He pissed. He has every right to
be pissed too. It just cost him another title
shot. Yeah, this is a match that reasonably we
could have seen Jacob Fatou go on to win his
first singles title since being main roster sort
of thing. This isn't, it wouldn't be an unusual
thing to see at this stage. And yeah, we just
start to see more of the cracks forming as basically
Fatou tells Solo to keep his nose out. I mean,
you can completely understand that. I mean, Solo
got involved in Fatou's business, cost Fatou
that title opportunity. And it's not the first
time he's had Fatou's taken kicks off him and
all sorts. Yeah, this is it. It's definitely
splitting these guys down, but it needs to be
done, I think. Yeah, I'm going to be glad of
when the bloodline 2 .0 disappears. I will be
completely honest with you. Yeah, this is it.
But that was quite a short little promo, realistically.
After that, we went into the third match, which
was actually a match I've been really excited
to see just because they've teased it for long
enough. This was the women's singles match, which
sees Piper Niven versus Zelina Vega. Previously
I am a huge advocate for Zelina Vega because
I think she is massively underutilized in the
WWE. She could have beat so much more than what
they've used her for up to this stage. Yeah,
definitely. And this is the first time we've
actually seen her in the ring since her brand
transfer from Monday Night Raw. Actually the
first time we've seen it in the ring while we've
been doing finishers and factions as well Yeah,
very much so and so But the choice of opponent
I will say was Interesting to say the least only
because An opponent I'd have put with Zelina
Vega. I'm not gonna lie Mean the size difference
in the two of them is incredible Zalina Vega
is very small short and petite Piper Nevin is
very Tall very well built and not as petite No,
this is it and Like this this match actually
makes up Zalina Vegas only a second match in
2025 from what I'm able to find out so far. But
yeah, just not... As I said, I think she's been
massively sort of underutilised as it goes. And
she could have done... She could have had so
much more than what she's had. She could have
done, she could have done. And she definitely
gave us a reason in this match to expect that
as well. I don't have a huge amount of notes
for this match purely because I don't think there
was a lot of high spots or a lot of big spots
to tell you about. This was pretty much a Piper
Nevin ragdoll Zelina Vega around for a while
but Zelina Vega did put up a very good fight.
At one point she managed to lock in, I had to
ask Adam what this was called because it was
slightly weird but it's a modified octopus hook
that she managed to lock in on Piper Nevin and
it only just managed to lock it in because of
how wide Piper Nevin is and the length of her
arms. Yeah it was a really interesting hole to
view as it goes. Really cool cool move and there
was another one where she went for a roll up
gets a two count and You can tell I've been listening
to a lot of Limp Bizkit recently because in my
notes it goes that Selena Vega goes for a roll
up and gets the two count and a face full of
the chocolate starfish and the hot dog flavored
water Yeah, she gets a whole face full of a face
full of Piper Nevins ass, which I'm sure is somebody's
dream I just don't think it was Selena Vegas
at the end of the day at that point and then
the other big thing that I've got here from Zelina
Vega which she managed to hit a satellite DDT
on the on on Piper Nevin which is not something
I was about to call it the Scottish Shrek for
some reason but I think that's a little bit unfair
um yeah too much of Drew Mack and Cry being referred
to as the Scottish Crybaby just popping up there
um but yeah no it was definitely a lot of things
that i didn't expect to see that i enjoyed seeing
i just i think they probably could have pushed
this in a slightly different direction than what
they did but they've been building Piper Nevin
quite strongly recently with you know the matches
she's had with Chelsea Green and being alongside
Chelsea Green But it kind of was only going to
end with in the way it went which was Piper Nevin
winning after we had a little bit of of interference
I say interference Chelsea Green was shouting
some obscenities at Zelina Vega Zelina Vega clotheslined
her off the apron and then she goes to hit a
619 on Piper Nevin and then you get her kicking
Albert fire in the face, so She does eventually
end up getting caught by a running crossbody
from Piper Nevin for Piper to get the three count
But she didn't she didn't roll over. She gave
a bit of a fight, but it was always going to
go in the way of Piper Nevin, which is a member
of the Secret Herbists for Chelsea Green. I mean,
ultimately, Zelina Vega came into this match
as possibly one of the most underdogged characters
we've seen in a little while. She's only tiny
as it is. She was up against an absolute woman
mountain that is Piper Nevin. and even if they
hadn't been massively mismatched as individuals
we also had the Alba Fire and Chelsea Green in
Piper Niven's corner who were not going to let
Piper Niven take an L on this match. Realistically,
Zelina Vega was never going to win but her loss
did not hurt her in any way in terms of character
development. I'm just hoping they don't kill
this little bit of a run they've been giving
Zelina Vega up to this point. They've transferred
her from Raw over to Smackdown. made quite a
big deal of it. She's made a few appearances
on Smackdown. This was her first match on Smackdown
since her transfer and yes it was a lot. Her
only other match of the year was when she participated
in the Royal Rumble where she was eliminated
by Nia Jax so yeah she's still got a bit of ring
rust in there as well but you wouldn't have seen
it from this match. No, definitely not and Yeah,
I'm just hoping that we see a lot more as Alina
Vega moving forward because yeah massively underutilized
Moving on from there. We had a VT promo which
sees a Raw recap from the John Cena Cody Rhodes
promo from Monday Night Raw just gone Which we
covered in an earlier episode And then we went
from there in... Oh, what was that? I said we've
done that multiple times. Yes, we have. And then
we went from there into another backstage promo
where Cathy Kelly's interviewing Jade Cargill.
We do, but before we go too much further, one
thing we haven't recapped on is did you know
that John Cena had a heel turn at Elimination
Chamber? Do you know? It might have completely
passed by. I don't think they've advertised it
at all. No, they haven't mentioned anything about
John Cena and Cody Rhodes with that heel turn,
but yeah back to the to the Liv Morgan Jade Cargill
match This was Jade Cargill's first match since
August 9th last year Which was I mean that is
a significant amount of time To be out of the
ring. I know a lot of that was with injury But
that's still a huge amount of time Yeah, very
much so and I mean before the match started in
that promo with Cathy Kelly Cargill is bowing
to basically She's gonna use Liv Morgan as a
doll to show Naomi what is in store for her when
Jade Cargill eventually catches up with her but
during this match I mean Jade Cargill spends
a lot of the early part of the match in control
very much sort of dominating the match to the
point that Liv and Raquel try to duck out and
just say no do you know what fuck this shit I
don't need it tag team champions are out um only
to be sort of have Liv dragged back to the ring
by uh by a rather pissed off Jade Cargill and
actually I'm gonna fat check myself there because
I wasn't 100 % sure but Jade Cargill was last
seen in the ring on August 9th, but it wasn't
her last match. Her last match before this one
today was actually May 17th last year where she
lost to Nia Jax in the Queen of the Ring tournament
at the quarterfinals. So yeah, no, almost a year
out of the ring in a wrestling capacity. You
would not have known it by the way she started
this match. No, definitely not. And Unfortunately
the control lasted for as long as it took Jade
Cargill to drag Liv Morgan back into the ring
and yeah sort of Liv gained and remained in control
from that point on. Pretty much. I mean Jade
does manage to reverse an oblivion attempt from
Liv Morgan at one point but Liv Morgan also as
she seems to have culturally appropriated a lot
of Eddie Guerrero's moveset because of her relationship
with Dominic Mysterio. We do also see a Three
Amigos attempt at that as well. She hits at Three
Amigos. 100%. And she even gives off the little
shuffle to go afterwards. It looks a lot better
when she does it than when Dom Mysterio does
it. Yes. Doesn't hold the same appeal to me.
Dom doesn't quite have the same figure either,
so it doesn't work quite as well. No, I mean,
he has that figure just not himself. Lucky fucker.
Anyway. the big news story out of this match
realistically was Naomi appearing at ringside
with what looks like some new ring gear yeah
it was very much new ring gear new um in our
new look um you know it was but then we both
made this this comment off the podcast it would
be very hard for her to come back feeling the
glow after she tried to eliminate Jade Cargill's
glow So it's just a little bit hit -and -miss
with that one, I think So we're seeing now before
our very eyes a repackaging of Naomi, which Has
happened before It'd be interesting to see what
entry music they give her when she comes back
into the ring. We didn't get any music this time.
So She just kind of popped up and appeared. She
was a run -in from the crowd Yeah, and the distraction
from Naomi ends up allowing Liv Morgan to pick
up the win as she hits oblivion on Jade Cargill
after Naomi took Jade out with Basically blowing
her away with a title belt Pretty much and I've
got a few bits here from Jade Cargill that you
know, she managed to get quite nice power slam
Gosh, she's a slam -down power bomb for a two
count The kip up after the three amigos suplex
that she received from Liv Morgan But yeah, it
wasn't a lot of big bits from From Jade Cargill
not enough for For what? i'd have expected for
her first match back i thought she'd have been
raring to pop off some some big bits and and
and blow off some steam so to speak but yeah
it didn't quite happen no definitely did not
um and yeah just uh the only thing that really
had the naomi beat down on jade cargill afterwards
throwing her out the ring into the announce table
and then kind of Bouncing her head first off
it kind of shouting at her that she's gonna she's
gonna Kind of keep doing this. I suppose there's
definitely some animosity between those two There's
gonna be beat down after beat down. We then went
to a backstage segment with Drew McIntyre and
I believe it was Cathy Kelly, but I could be
wrong Yeah, so Cathy Kelly manages to catch Drew
just as he's leaving the arena to basically say
and Drew says about how he's going to continue
to beat down priest again and again and again
and yeah Drew basically having it in his head
that he's not wrong for doing what he's doing.
No but we're not going to get Drew go the same
way as Kevin Owens and think he's you know suddenly
have an epiphany and go I'm really sorry I was
doing that. The only way Drew's going to learn
is when he gets his arse handed to him on a big
silver platter. Yeah, very much so. And then
he complains about that. Yeah, pretty much. And
then to end that little segment off we have a
little a little standoff as we see Seth Rollins
arrive at the arena and Think I've given up trying
to figure out what Seth Rollins looks like week
from week But I think I made a comment to you
about him looking like the fashion designer from
Zoolander Yeah, I pretty much thought he looked
like a blue bottle to be fair because those glasses
made him look like he had bug eyes like fly eyes
But um, yeah, he looked like a complete muppet
again this week But we'll just go there that
you know is Wrestling ability in this fashion
sense go hand -in -hand. They're both a little
bit tarnished But I've never had any doubt about
Seth Rollins ability to go to do business in
the ring I'm just I mean you asked him Bala about
that buckle bomb when he picked up the Universal
title Yeah Is that his fashion sense is probably
worse than his ability in ring his ability in
rings half -decent he never never fails to give
us a bad match Talking about people that don't
really fail to give us a bad match though Street
profits we get an in -ring promo from straight
profits the new Tag team champions after they
beat DIY for their titles last week Yeah, so
We're definitely seeing a happier side to the
street profits as it goes just because they are
they're not destroying everyone they've got their
titles back yeah they got their gold after i
think they said it was like four years or something
like that yeah which is a long time for an active
tag team i know they've had some injury issues
but still it's a long time to to be without gold
especially someone as talented as street profits
and the Bologna crowd definitely feeling like
street profits deserve their victory chanting
you deserve it Yeah, just reminds me of the the
guy off aloh aloh, I'm not gonna lie No, I'm
not doing the impression no, that's fine. I wouldn't
expect you to Yeah, it's They were basically
sort of congratulating themselves on their win,
but even they admitted they'd started to have
doubts about their ability to to go basically.
I think Zuniga said had so many issues and so
many weird losses, but you know, they've got
the titles. They can only build from where they
are and have a hopefully a nice strong title
reign. And we'll find out how strong that is
going to be because we get to see The Gado Del
Fantasma come out so we've got Santos Escobar
and his little group of cronies Decide they're
gonna come out and basically say That they may
have the titles, but they're not gonna have them
for much longer Which seems to be the thing that
every new title holder gets told Yeah Very much
so. It's a case that, I mean, I can sort of understand
how this is all sort of coming about. Santos
Escobar seems to think that he can skip the line.
We have pretty deadly joiners out in the arena,
but they don't really do a massive amount other
than remind Los Garza and Santos Escobar that
they're the number one contenders. They get first
crack at the Tag Team Champions. Los Garza don't
get a title shot, basically. And we see Santos
Escobar actually lose his cool. He's not happy,
is he? No, definitely not. He's a happy little
Mexican. Yeah, no, he definitely is. He definitely
is. But yeah, we we end up kind of saying with
the Street Profits basically saying they'll give
L 'Algardo del Fantasma a bit of a match Los
Garza can have a can have a crack at it and Yeah,
we then get a A little VT. It's more of it. It's
not a reveal. It's It's basically yet. It's a
vignette. Yes. We got the Ray Phoenix vignette
so Well, I'm I'm putting my money on the fact
it's a ray phoenix vignette, it's it was very
very Very uncannily Similar Yeah, but we have
seen a few ones recently with the Alistair black
one that's been floating around We've seen a
few times and there's one more No, I can't think
of which one that is that you're thinking of
either and Yeah If it will come to one of us
I'm sure but where it leads us into the next
match, which was the Street Profits versus Los
Garza for a tag match This ended up actually
being the main event match of the evening as
there isn't another match after this one and
Weirdly because it's the main event match we
join this match in progress which sort of pissed
me off a little bit Yeah, it really devalued
the main event and I didn't realize that until
just now realistically having watched it a day
or two previous I would have expected to sort
of Pick up on that a little bit more, but what
we did see of the match I don't think we missed
much if anything, but what we did see of the
match. It is a case that, I mean, we saw that
basically the Street Profits have not missed
a step since they've been gone. No. Yes, Los
Garza took a pretty early control, but it didn't
really last for long, to be fair. I haven't got
a lot of notes for this. it wasn't no i haven't
i enjoyed the match that i that what i saw of
the match i enjoyed and it's sort of the fan
took over rather than the podcast although there
is one spot that i know that you've seen as well
because we've talked about it already um so mon
uh both members of los gaza have got montez ford
basically in an unwinnable situation which he
still manages to turn around so they're both
perched up on the top turnbuckle basically about
to body drop montez ford who manages to land
on his feet so very nonchalant and you can set
up the camera angle all you've got is a completely
straight face of montez ford having landed that
perfectly and both members of Lost Gaza sat in
the background with their jaws well and truly
in their laps. I think they needed a crane to
lift the jaws back up for those two because they
really did not know what what happened at that
point. So a lot of my notes for this are quite
early. So I've got at one point Santos Escobar
pulls down the ropes. So Angela Dawkins goes
and I'm saying Angela Dawkins I could be wrong
and it could be Montez Ford I'm still getting
there and ends up going over the top rope and
then receiving a suicide dive from Los Garza
as well. I've got here that Los Garza at one
point hit something called a Garza special. Now
I'm Guessing that is a tag finishing move. They
use but I couldn't tell you what it was for the
life of me No, I mean that I've also got down
here at one point that Montez Ford hits a rather
nice superplex for a two count but It's the the
from the heavens from Montez Ford that he hits
for the three count to win and retain their tag
titles. Yeah, very much so. But as I said, I
enjoyed the match. I just think it devalued a
main event that we joined the main event in progress
and we didn't see it from the from the get go.
I just don't feel like that was the main event
either. No, it was very off the cuff. It kind
of feels like they had to cancel a match that
was supposed to be the main event, but they didn't
want to tell anyone they'd cancelled it. Yeah,
pretty much, but I couldn't tell you what that
main event should have been, realistically. But
yeah, it just felt a bit haphazard there, especially
for a main roster show. It's something I would
have 100 % expected in NXT. but not in Smackdown.
But we go from there into a backstage promo with
Pretty Deadly running into DIY. We know that
obviously DIY former tag team champions were
royally taking advantage of Pretty Deadly when
they were the champs. And yeah, they're still
trying to cash in on whatever social capital
that they seem to still think they have. As they're
basically coming in and saying look you guys
have got a match with the Street Profits next
week for the title in London We're more than
happy to come in and make sure that you win those
titles all we ask is that we get first run at
you when you do and Pretty deadly tell them to
go fuck themselves. I mean also fair Which is
quite nice to see pretty deadly standing up for
themselves because they have basically in DIYs
bitches for the last few weeks so um Now they've
basically just kind of gone well actually no
you've not got anything we need now So we'll
we'll just do what we've got to do to make sure
we get what we want which is the tag team titles
that Montez Ford and Angelo Hawkins currently
hold Yeah, but it's not over for DIY just yet.
As pretty deadly leave, DIY turn around to be
met by, in their own words, by the people at
the back of the queue, Motor City Machine Guns.
Chris Sabin, yeah, the Motor City Machine Guns.
They're looking for a fight for DIY. They're
looking to collect on an ass -kicking basically
DIY don't have the titles anymore So they are
open season for all the guys that they tried
to screw on Their way to the top and all the
ones they screwed when they were at the top So
yeah, Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano. They've
got some receipts coming their way for some transactions.
They've They've already made Yeah 100 % So we
go into, from here, go into an in -ring promo.
This is the very last piece of this episode for
it, where we see the true tribal chief, Roman
Reigns, come out with the wise man, Paul Heyman.
And yeah, I mean, considering... considering
Roman Reigns is part -time compared to a lot
of the others the pop that he gets is insane
yeah but he's he's one of those that when we
were getting a force down our throats all the
time you know he was there week in week out everyone
booed the living hell out of him they've worked
out it wasn't working they were overfeeding him
to us we don't get him a lot less but when we
do get him we appreciate the fact that we've
got our tribal chief back Yeah, somehow I think
the leukemia has probably got something to do
with that as well So I mean, yeah that might
have a very good point No matter how hard he's
gonna try and be a heel now at any point like
that is gonna make him the ultimate face This
isn't the guy who just beat someone for a world
title. He beat death to keep living Yeah, pretty
much But yeah, he's coming out basically talking
through what happened at the what happened at
the cage match basically is that he came he came
out there to get even with CM Punk and Seth Rollins
who I Mean, yeah, I mean they've both sort of
crossed him in one way shape or form Whether
it be you know, whatever happened at Royal Rumble
because there's a big issue at Royal Rumble between
those three superstars you obviously had the
issue between punk and Rollins, Elimination Chamber,
you know, we've then had other issues between
them. That cage match was a perfect opportunity
for Roman to sneak out and fuck them both. And
he did. And I'm not going to lie to you, I quite
enjoyed the fact that I'm a massive CM Punk fan,
but I enjoyed having Roman come out and continue
the next step into that story. Because now we're
all being reminded from previous... events how
epic this storyline has been yeah so um brief
recap obviously CM Punk eliminated Roman Reigns
at Royal Rumble Seth Rollins basically tried
to kill Roman Reigns at Royal Rumble there was
a point in time where we where we thought he
might have actually succeeded but uh um but Yeah,
basically this is what Roman Reigns came out
to avenge in the cage match a week or two previous.
Basically Reigns stands in the ring with the
biggest Cheshire cat grin on his face saying,
I'm here if anybody wants to come out take advantage,
confront me, go nuts. Someone did decide that
this was the perfect opportunity to do this.
That was the architect himself Seth freaking
Rollins Yeah, Rollins answers the call comes
out basically says that it goes on a bit of a
tirade about CM Punk being dangerous to the industry
and Roman basically fucked up by not allowing
him to, not allowing Rollins to finish CM Punk
in the cage as he was planning on doing. I mean,
I don't think punk is as dangerous as Rollins
makes them out to be, but Rollins can, in fairness,
be equally as dangerous. I'm sure Finn Barlow
would attest to that fact. But, you know, They're
gonna say and do whatever they can to get underneath
each other's skin knowing that they're gonna
be facing each other in well Less than 30 days
at the grandest stage of them all in Las Vegas
at WrestleMania Yeah, and I mean Seth Rollins
also starts talking to Roman about the sort of
their shared history almost and that maybe it's
time to add another chapter to what is already
a meaty novel between these two superstars. I
mean, they both came up to main roster as part
of The Shield, and Seth Rollins betrayed The
Shield for the authority. And then they found
absolute iconic chair shot and Dean Ambrose's
face like what the fuck did you just do? Yeah,
pretty much back when Roman Reigns was completely
incapable of cutting any kind of promo now He's
he's at least improved how to do it Mean John
Cena told him a few years ago, you know, it was
a promo if you want to make it big You got to
learn how to do it Roman went off and learned
how to do it. He spoke to uncle Rocky I Mean
if there's anybody you want to learn to cut a
promo from it's definitely a rocky But yeah at
this point it's CM Punk's turn to interrupt and
I actually made a note of the fact that during
CM Punk's entrance, Rollins just loses his shit,
fucking throws his own microphone to the ground.
We had that classic, sorry, I don't know where
Chronic came from, one a few weeks ago where
Punk was in the ring cutting a promo and Rollins
music hit and you've just got him kind of go.
Why couldn't it have been real? so You know,
they both dislike each other as much as as they're
portraying it. This isn't a Well, this is a story,
but this has got some very real emotion behind
it. So yeah, this is gonna get heated Yeah, I
think eventually that the The real heat is I'd
like to think it's gonna die away because if
they're still holding on to these grudges It's
it's not gonna make for a nice working environment
for any of them. My production is My prediction
is punk wins this at WrestleMania though. I have
a feeling that Roman and Rollins aren't going
to be able to uh We had a kind of liver alongside
each other to try and turn it into a handicap.
They'll start fighting in between themselves
trying to get one over on the other and Punk
will sneak it. Well, one of the few things that
Punk sort of has to point out to both of them
is that neither one of them have ever been able
to beat him on his own, on their own. They've
always needed the other one to do so. Well, yeah,
exactly. I'm sure that is going to be something
we hear a lot. going up onto the road to WrestleMania.
Oh, 100%. Yeah, and Punk has to sort of remind
Roman that as much as Roman thinks that Punk
screwed him at the Rumble, that the Rumble is
every man for himself. Yeah, I found that line
quite good, to be fair, because he's... Obviously,
there are allegiances made within the Royal Rumble
between sort of tag partners and stuff like that.
If they're in at the right time, they will try
and help each other out. But yeah, Roman's experienced
enough to know that you can't really get screwed
in the Rumble. Like everyone's trying to fuck
each other unless he thinks because of Survive,
not Survivor series, Wargame, sorry, that Punk
was a long term ally where Punk's just... More
of a short -term distraction for Paul Heyman
As it stands, I think punk couldn't have been
more clear at war games that Yeah, no, I'm here
to make the numbers. I'm here as a favor to Paul
Heyman. I couldn't give a fuck about you pretty
much And yeah, I mean that's pretty much Pong's
attitude towards anything is that I'm here for
myself and for nobody else. Unless it's donuts.
He is very, very passionate about sharing his
love in donuts. Fair enough. And yeah, it's a
case that he does bring up about war games, about
the fact that he came in and bailed Roman out
and that Heyman still owes him a favour and I
actually really enjoyed the little bit of mind
games that Punk played at this point because
I thought it was really clever is that he goes
a step further and so after reminding everybody
that Heyman still owes a favour to Punk he then
goes and says oh I want to thank the wise man
for delivering the tribal chief to me on a silver
platter and you just sort of see it rooming in.
Roman's face there. It's just like, wait a minute,
are you, what the fuck are you doing? And then
just as he turns around, Punk hits him around
the back of the shoulders with the microphone
and starts laying the second, laying him in.
Yeah, this is it. Punk dinks Reigns in there.
I put back of the head, but yeah, you might've
been right, just sort of back of the neck, shoulders,
that sort of area. And yeah, just chaos completely
erupt. Oh yeah. Again, chaos always seems to
erupt with these guys. Oh, 100%. And we have
like WWE officials, security, refs pour out to
try and contain them as... Each person challenges
the other two to a match at WrestleMania So I
get the feeling that at some point there's gonna
be an argument about who challenged who first
Yeah, I've got a feeling Punk wins that somehow
I'm pretty sure Punk was the first one and Roman
Reigns was last And yeah, it's That's gonna become
another bone of contention I can imagine but
yeah, so we've potentially got a triple threat
match at WrestleMania at this point. Which is
gonna be one hell of an event to get onto. Definitely
building that WrestleMania card now. It's really
looking really meaty this year. It's beefing
out and it's not just the the number of matches
but it's the quality of match that's written
on that you know obviously we've got Sina Cody
Rhodes we've got Gunther against Jeyuso we've
got these three in their match you've got Charlotte
Flair and Tiffy Stratton you've got Bianca Belair
and EO Sky you know there's there's so so much
floating around at the moment It's a hell of
a card already. Yeah, 100%. But I think that
actually brings me to the end of my notes for
first Smackdown this week. Yeah, no, I haven't
really got much after this at all, to be fair.
I'm pretty much with you. My notes are done.
Yeah, so I think that brings this episode to
a close Thank you to everybody who's listened
and obviously we will be back with finishes and
factions does Monday night raw coming to coming
to or that will be coming to us from Glasgow
Scotland So we look forward to talking through
that one as soon as that one comes out until
then See you all soon. See you soon peace out