Good morning, good afternoon, good evening and
welcome to another episode of Finisher's and
Faction's The Smackdown. This week we come from
the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington
for the 10th taping of Smackdown from Seattle.
We start off this week with a recap of quite
a big moment from last week. Where Kevin Owens
announced that he was having to go off and have
some neck surgery and therefore Would not be
competing at WrestleMania this year Which is
where we then got the viral video going round
where Randy Orton came down to the ring two of
them kind of shared a moment on the apron bit
of a mutual respect between the two I suppose
and then Randy Orton went into the ring when
Nick Aldis then informed him that due to Kevin
announcing this injury that he would not have
a match at WrestleMania and as everyone in the
world watching live anticipated was gonna happen
Randy Orton hit Nick Aldis with that beautiful
RKO which I said brings back that viral moment
from 2023 where Randy Orton RKO'd Nick Aldis
and was find $50 ,000 for doing so, and he actually
paid $100 ,000 and told Nick it would be for
next time. Randy just claimed the receipt that
he had written on that check. So we then get
a little in -ring section from Nick Aldis, seeing
quite a lot of Nick Aldis at the moment, especially
in the ring as well, which is quite nice. He's
come down to the ring, he's come to talk about
the those moments and that RKO and he was instructed
to maintain professional and you know he's going
to do that because you know that's that's who
he is and he invites Randy Orton down to the
ring and yeah as Randy makes his way down the
entrance ramp and into the ring Nick Aldis is
staring him out the entire time. Now if you were
to ask me what I thought at the time I thought
we might have a general manager kicking one of
his own superstars square into plums But he did
say he needed to remain professional and you
know, he was just staring him out. Now, this
was definitely the way a professional wrestler
would stare an opponent down. And when they enter
the, you know, when Randy finally slides himself
through the ropes into the ring, they do block
eyes for a minute and then Randy stares off at
the WrestleMania sign. And then Randy turns around
and says, you know, He can tell that that Nick
Aldis took last week personally and he should
have known it was going to happen because he
did pay in advance which is you know it's true
he did and um you know he wants to wants to talk
to Nick Aldis because at WrestleMania 41 he doesn't
have a match and this year will be Randy Orton's
20th time competing at WrestleMania and he needs
to have a match there. And to the point, you
know, he's getting a bit desperate, even challenges
Nick Aldis to a match at WrestleMania. Now, that
is definitely an interesting prospect. WrestleMania
every year does tend to have a bit of a funny
match, a bit of a silly one. Randy Orton versus
Nick Aldis would definitely fit into that category,
I think. There's, you know, one RKO wouldn't
set up a WrestleMania moment, but it would be
funny if it did. Nick Aldis basically says that
he's worked 20 years, worked very hard for the
last 20 years to get to WWE. He doesn't want
Randy Orton's money. He wants his respect, at
which point Randy replies with, you've got my
respect, you earned it a long time ago. But if
you don't deliver on a match, then I can't apologize
to Mickie James for what's gonna happen when
that happens. So basically, he's - Making a bit
of a cheap threat there. So if we don't get my
match, I really want to apologize to you to your
girlfriends late so um I'm not entirely sure
if they're married or just together, but it's
one of those one of those things at which point
As la night would like to call them we get To
cross -eyed half wits come walking out. We get
solo Sacoa and Tama Tonga basically trying to
say that we they need to Nick Aldis needs to
tell Randy Orton to get out the ring and stop
embarrassing himself because no one wants to
hear Randy cry and uh Basically just says that
uh, you know, if Randy carries on going next
week He'll be in the same boat as LA Knight because
Jacob Fatu is gonna be walking out of WrestleMania
with the US title and both while Randy Orton
will be at home all alone which Randy Orton kind
of says it. I think it's funny you two coming
out here trying to interrupt me It's a got these
voices in my head and they're telling me that
need to they need to destroy you both You know,
it's time to fight so Randy Orton is so less
color and Tama Tonga step up to the apron to
Have a little bit of a little bit of fun. Randy
Orton sends Tama Tonga off the apron and turns
his attention to solo but solo is just a little
bit too quick for him and it turns into a two
-on -one beatdown in the ring with Solo Sacoa
and Tamatonga sending Randy Orton a bit of a
message until the current United States champion
LA Knight comes running down to save Randy Orton
and between the two of them they end up dispersing
the two cross -eyed halfwits out of the ring
Ended up standing in the center of it side -by
-side looking out over the front of them and
Then LA night cuts himself a nice little promo
like we always get from LA night Then it's the
same damn thing with both solo so color and tamatanga
and the fact that he just came down here took
his name out of their mouth and stuck his fist
in it and And says that you know tonight I've
had enough of this stuff. So tonight it should
be so listen cover and tamatanga versus Randy
Orton and the United States champion LA night
and then we are Basically when Nick Aldis is
is already out there He had been talking to Randy
when all this started Nick Aldis agreed. Yeah,
that'd be a great opportunity That match is gonna
be our main event in the evening. So our final
match tonight is gonna be Randy Orton and Elena
versus Tama Tonga and Solo Sacoa. So as we jump
from that section into the next one we are shown
a little bit of the current Women's Tag Champions
Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. Currently sat
ringside waiting for the start of this gauntlet
match to take place. We were at informed that
there was going to be a gauntlet match and the
winner of this would be facing both Liv Morgan
and Raquel Rodriguez at WrestleMania next week
and the first two teams to be taking part were
Lyra Valkyria and Bayley versus Shayna Baszler
and Zoe Stark. The idea of a gauntlet match is
basically the winner stays on and then a fresh
team comes in at the end of every match so to
speak and at the end of the series the person
who wins the final match wins the gauntlet. So
we start off with Bayley and Shayna Baszler in
the ring and it's pretty much just a high octane
sort of start to this. There's quite a few sort
of like arm drags and clotheslines and a lot
of reversal style wrestling. And also when you've
got guys like Shayna Baszler who have been former
UFC fighters and sort of that. sort of MMA side
of things. You know you're not going to get the
high risk high flying action that you would get
if it was say someone like Tiffy Stratton. But
this one is quite an interesting start to it
to be fair. The first pinfall was recorded by
Lyra Valkyria on Shayna Baszler of which Zoe
Stark intercepted this one at two. And then a
little bit later on after this Bailey saves Lyra
Valkyria on a two count as well. The first match
is finished when Lyra Valkyria pins Shayla Baszler
with a jack knife. So that means that Lyra Valkyria
and Bailey progress onto the second team while
Shayla Baszler and Zoe Stark head back to the
locker rooms. Which is a bit of a shame to be
fair because they both had a good crack at it
But just weren't quite there at the time and
the second team to come out was a bit of an unlikely
team and this was the team of Natalia and Maxime
Dupree There was a little bit of controversy
with this one as Maxime Dupree came out in heart
foundation colors as did Nati But these aren't
things you can just put on these are things you
have to earn It's a right you have to earn with
the Heart Foundation Nati married into it and
well Nati Sorry is part of it Maxine Dupree hasn't
really earned that right and she didn't really
with this match either So Nati started off with
Bailey or against Bailey Sorry and took her out
with a clothesline and then we had a cross body
for a two count of Maxine Dupree and then a double
elbow drop from Maxine Dupree onto both women
and then a reversed worm and a two count onto
Bailey. You then got in here that Maxine Dupree
locked in a sharpshooter which Natalia really
did not look too happy about and Bailey reversed
it up into a roll up for the three count which
meant that Lyra Valkyria and Bailey went through
to fight their third. team of the evening, which
was the team of Kaden Carter and Katana Chance.
Katana Chance got off to a really big sort of
start here with an attempted roll up straight
away. Obviously at this point, Bailey and Lyra
have had to go through two teams and are both
getting very tired, which is understandable.
This is quite a long, long process to be going
through. with each team that comes in they are
more fresh or just as fresh as the team before
but your legs aren't as fresh as they were. Bailey
managed to get an elbow drop off the top rope
for a two count on Kaden Carter. Carter and Chance
hit a keg stand for a two count. That keg stand
moves beautiful, I absolutely love it. And then
Kaden Carter hits a corkscrew onto Bailey on
the outside of the ring. while there is a two
count between Lyra Valkyria and Katana Chance
in the ring. That two count is then shifted into
Lyra hitting a Nightwing to finish off Kayden
Carter and Katana Chance and win the third section
of their match. So that pushes Lyra, Valkyra
and Baily through against their next set of opponents,
which are Bfab and Mishin. And again, at this
point, Baily and Lyra are struggling. They are
four matches into a five match potential run.
And they both look pretty down tired and they're
trying to conserve energy and they're trying
to make sure they both get an equal opportunity
to do. You know, one's not taking more damage
than the other and And one's not getting as much
rest as the other one. They're trying to keep
it fair. And this one, basically, we see Mishin
bounce up Tornado DDT for a two count. Bfab with
a Twisting Net Breaker for a two count. As Lyra
Valkyria manages to break out of that one. At
one point Mishin goes to the outside to take
out Lyra Valkyria and Bfab gets denied by Bailey
in the ring on her remove and Bailey hits the
rose plant for the three count so that then puts
Bailey and Lyra Valkyria into the final match
of this gauntlet series which throws them in
against Piper Nevin and Alva Fire. The secret
herbus I don't know if it's just me but Piper
Nevin looked very ill in this match and didn't
really look like she wanted to be there. Let's
say she did do a fair chunk in this final. This
final match was probably the longest section
of all of them and both, you know, both teams
gave What they had left which for Lyra Valkyria
and Bailey was pretty much everything left in
the tank I think if you'd have had to have asked
one of them to perform double duty today or Possibly
do that title match today. I don't think they'd
have been able to do it but yeah, so as I've
Just kind of given away without even realizing
that this one finishes with Lyra Valkyria and
Bailey Wiping out to be fair and taking Piper
Nevin and Albifaya down But I mean they struggle
to do so a lot of this I've got Albifaya is taking
Bailey out and Lyra Valkyria tries to take out
Piper Nevin You know that Albifaya is throwing
Bailey into barricades Piper Nevin is ramming
people into steel steps I mean she got Lyra Valkyria
hook line in sync around those steel steps and
to be fair it wasn't This match was really really
good. This was for what it was, which is the
final part of a gauntlet much this is not what
you'd have expected, but you definitely got a
lot a lot of and Good action with it Piper Nevin
runs through her hits a running Santana at one
point gets a two count off that one Secret her
this pop a double team up on Bailey who kicks
out with two there was a lot a lot of near falls
in this match and Bailey at one point reversed
a double team attempt by Secret Herbis and ended
up hitting a double DDT off it, which to take
out Piper Nevin and Albify at the same time is
incredible, especially considering how talented
those two women are. I've got here that Lyra
Valkyria ends up putting a cross body on Piper
Nevin followed by a tornado DDT and then Piper
Nevin just suplexes Lyra Valkyria to finish that
one off. but I say it's not the not the finish
at all because Lyra Valkyria manages to pull
off and pull Piper Nevin off the turnbuckle and
power bombs into the floor adds Bailey in for
a flying elbow kick flying elbow sorry and obviously
Piper kicked out at one on that one and then
we then get another A series of power slams,
this time it was Piper Nevin's slam of Bailey,
while Albert Fire takes out Lyra Valkyria. Secret
Herbis had a double team finish on Bailey, but
Lyra saved the day on a two count, which gave
Bailey enough time to get out and pop up a Bailey
to Bailey suplex, and Albert Fire and Piper Nevin
laid the big Scottish headbutt into the Irish
lass Lyra Valkyria. The finish to this one was
beautiful. So Lyra Valkyria slid into like a
baseball slide to try and power bomb Piper Nevin
off the apron onto the outside and she's got
her in the position. She's trying it doesn't
quite have enough and Bailey kind of helps her
out and Manages to get Sort of in the process
so then Lyra or baby hits the rose plant and
then Lyra Valkyria goes up top to drop the leg
count, the leg drop onto the member of the Secret
Hervis. For the three count, which means that
it will be, like I said earlier, Bayley and Lyra
Valkyria going to face Liv Morgan and Raquel
Rodriguez at WrestleMania. And at the end of
this one, we kind of get to see a little showdown
between both teams in the ring. Obviously Liv
Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez holding their title
championship belts. And Bayley and Lyra kind
of going, I want those. We want them. They're
coming with us. You're not going to get to keep
those so much longer. They're definitely ours.
But we definitely know that at the moment, they
belong to Liv and Raquel. And when WrestleMania
turns around, we might see a little bit different.
For now I think that's where they're possibly
going to stay. So we start this next segment
by basically being told that both Tiffy Stratton
the Women's World Champion and Charlotte Flair
were being disciplined for their actions last
week and Charlotte Flair had basically been told
to go home for the evening. We then go into a
sort of a a recap on the Drew McIntyre Damien
Priest incident in London, where, you know, as
Drew was busy talking about the fact that he
was going off to the pub with a few of his mates,
and there's a pop star that was there, Lewis
Capaldi, he walked out of the back door and got
brutally attacked by Damien Priest. And then
we get Damien Priest walking down the ramp to
come down to the ring and as that happens, Drew
McIntyre attacks him on the entrance ramp and
basically brutally beats him down. Security carry
Damien Priest backstage and Drew McIntyre ends
up going into the ring and he asks if we can
all see him clearly now with his eyepatch on.
He says that now everyone is just seeing that
Damien, that Drew McIntyre, sorry, only tells
the truth. that every action is justified including
dropping that muppet Damian Priest. He then says
that Damian Priest challenged him to a Sin City
Street Fight at WrestleMania this year. That's
a bit of a low blow considering that he's only
got one eye. he's gonna give him the beating
of a lifetime that no one's gonna forget and
he says do you want to know a secret and Obviously
the entire crowd of Seattle are like, yeah, we
want to know a secret Rips off the eye patch
and he says I don't need the eye patch anymore
And I'm a hundred percent cleared which means
that WrestleMania Damian Priest is a hundred
percent screwed now McIntyre is irate. He's pissed
off. He's been He feels like he's been done unfairly
an awful lot of times. The Royal Rumble, Elimination
Chamber, WrestleMania last year. This has been
going on for a long, long time. Obviously, McIntyre
just won the title when Damian Priest cashed
in at WrestleMania last year. His Money in the
Bank contract to take it off him. You know, and
then we've got, like I said, Priest eliminated
McIntyre at the Royal Rumble. He eliminated him.
Eastern chamber priest has had McIntyre's number
all year and McIntyre is not happy for it and
at which point after seeing Damian Priest get
his arse handed to him on the back on the entrance
ramp on the way in he comes running back out
and he is going Damian Priest goes straight in
and drops McIntyre with a clothesline sends him
out over the top rope onto the outside and then
bangs McIntyre off the steel steps As they jump
back into the ring, obviously the ref is distracted
at this point, McIntyre goes for the eyes, basically
sticks his thumbs in Damien Priest's eyes. And
then as they get back to the outside of the ring,
where Priest has gone to try and alleviate some
of this pressure and kind of get his momentum
back on, fuck me, the bastard just stuck his
thumbs in my eyes like what the fuck? Drew McIntyre
bounced the top half of the steel steps off his
head and then lines the steps up so they're next
to each other and then hits a Thunder Shock DDT
onto Damian Priest. Priest is fucked up. His
eyes are rolling back. He's not moving. At which
point, Drew McIntyre kind of reaches down, grabs
his necklace and just rips off it. And yeah,
it was a brutal brutal moment that was and i'll
tell you something they've built this storyline
up really really well this is one of the matches
at wrestlemania that i'm looking forward to a
good old feud match you know a good old sort
of beatdown there's always always a match that
turns into what this is going to be just a no
holes barred we're going to just absolutely destroy
each other as much as we possibly can and to
be fair I'm really blaming them. It's going to
be an opportunity to do so. Our next little segment
this week was a little backstage segment with
DIY going off the absolute walls. Mainly Johnny
Garagano going off the walls about how he feels
Tommaso Ciampa was screwed last week in their
match with the Exposed Turnbuckle and it was
dangerous and they should have stopped the match
before you know Tommaso Ciampa was thrown into
it. Basically saying that it was a massive conspiracy
and pretty deadly stood there laughing at them
say we know It's a yeah, they think if you think
it's completely conspiracy theory then that's
fair enough But since you guys have lost your
titles you've gone crazy At which point pretty
deadly step off to one side and we see Motor
City machine guns come in saying that they're
ridiculous and Next week when Motor City machine
guns are going off up against the Street Profits
at WrestleMania. It's gonna be karma basically
for the fact that the DIY screwed everyone over
while they held their titles and now there's
no one there to help them get them back after
they feel that they've been screwed themselves.
Which then leads us into a nice little Rey Fenix
vignette obviously as you should be aware if
you're listening to last week's episode of Smackdown.
Rey Fenix made his WWE debut last week against
Nathan Fraser from Fraxiom and this week he is
up against Beto from Los Santos, no Los Garza
sorry Los Santos, I've been playing a bit too
much Grand Theft Auto recently yeah from Los
Garza where his tag partner Angel and they are
cronies Santos Escobar, which the three of them
are La Garda del Fantasmo. This one is basically
Berto, was set up as Berto last week said after
Phoenix's match with Nathan Fraser, like he could
basically go out there and do a better job than
Nathan Fraser and beat Ray Phoenix. At which
point Santos Escobar goes, that's the sort of
attitude I'm after. This is good. You know, actually
you've said that. I'm going to go and talk to
the eldest let's get this match set up you know
let's show this new guy who who's in charge here
and you know who are the the top sort of uh the
top dogs in in this side of things especially
with the the lucha background between them all
um and to be fair this match you you got what
you were what you were given to be fair well
you knew what you were going to get and this
was basically um ray phoenix showing us that
he is indeed a lot better than burto and uh as
much as burto keeps up incredibly well we see
a lot a lot of ray phoenix and his sort of like
fast pace lucha style and i mean there are some
incredible bits to pick up um again i'll pick
up there was a kip up at one point from ray phoenix
flying headbutt springboard stomp you know like
all these different bits and pieces at one point
ray phoenix corkscrews over the top rope to take
burto out and it was such a well -timed corkscrew
as well um we do it some don't get me wrong it
wasn't all ray phoenix um you know at one point
burto got a super kick on ray phoenix which you
know he got two count off set out power bomb
for a two count Ray Phoenix who I will say finished
it off really nicely just before he hit that
Mexican muscle buster we had a Frankensteiner
and he basically jumped from the left hand side
middle rope onto the top rope into the seated
position and then flip the Frankensteiner off
it is done effortlessly but it it was just perfection
that entire move set was beautiful and we only
got two count off the frankensteiner though uh
the same as berto only got the two count off
a sit out power bomb he hit shortly afterwards
onto ray phoenix um and there was a whole series
of reversals here and there was some really really
good old school style wrestling and i don't know
about you lot i've never set foot in a wrestling
ring in my life I'd like to maybe give it a go
one day, but we do not need to see me attempt
to try and do for a wrestler. Probably could
be quite funny, but could also be quite dangerous.
But at one point, as I say, Ray Phoenix finished
this one off by hitting the Mexican Muscle Buster
for a three count. As he gets up, he's so elated
that he's won this match. He hugs the referee,
you know, which is Not something you see very
often in WWE where the competitor gets up and
hugs the ref, but it was definitely an interesting
mum. Berto gets told by Santos Escobar who comes
from the outside into the ring to shake Rey Fenix's
hand and as he kind of as he walks off out the
ring he gives it a quick like fuck's sake and
then walks out the ring and up the ramp where
we go into a backstage segment with Byron Saxton
talking about Rey Fenix when Roxanne Perez walks
in on him as he's coming to she's coming to talk
to Nick Aldis about getting a match at WrestleMania
because Eva won't give her an answer about Stand
and Deliver. Are we about to see Roxanne Perez
perform at both Stand and Deliver and WrestleMania?
Mean it's definitely an interesting option. I
don't think anyone has done it in the same weekend
I Know I know some of the NXT guys have done
their pay -per -views and then you know taking
part in the Royal Rumble But I don't think we've
ever seen one take part in stand and deliver
on the one night and then go into WrestleMania
the next night We do find out a little while
later though that's not gonna happen um but she
does end up getting a match this evening with
Tiffy Stratton after Tiffy interrupts the conversation
when Roxanne Perez says that she can't handle
being champion um to which point yeah Tiffy offers
Roxanne Perez a match this evening and Nick Aldis
says look think about it but first off you've
got to go and call off Which, I mean, it was
a very heated conversation. I can understand
why you'd want that to happen. And you don't
want to be making heated decisions, especially
when you are holding the Women's Championship.
Our next step into SmackDown was a brief history
of the friendship between CM Punk and Paul Heyman.
Basically starting back when CM Punk was sent
to OVW down in Kentucky at the start of his sort
of tenure with WWE. And just kind of going back
through sort of what's happened over the years
from Paul Heyman and ultimately predicting that
CM Punk would be a WrestleMania main eventer.
which is something he's gonna be doing this year
when he headlines WrestleMania with Seth Rollins
and Roman Reigns on the Saturday night, which
is gonna be a way to finish off the first night
from the show of shows, which is, I mean, I'm
definitely looking forward to that one. From
there we go into a little bit of a backstage
moment with Chelsea Green outside the medical
room looking for both members of her secret hervists
which are Alba Fire and Piper Nevin. Obviously
both of these women competed earlier on in the
gauntlet match that saw Bailey and Lyra Valkyria
win and go on to face Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez
at WrestleMania. When Selena Vega kind of comes
out and says, well, look, if you need those two
by your side, what sort of champion are you anyway?
Kind of wanders off out towards the ring because
our next match is actually Selena Vega and Chelsea
Green. This match was just a singles match. it's
not a women's United States title match in this
opportunity I think that might be coming up a
little bit a little bit later now this match
was my notes for this match consist of six lines
and there is a reason to that it starts off pretty
quickly with Chelsea Green throwing the, I want
to call it a bail, it's not, you know, the fluffy
thing that she wears around her waist when she
comes down to the ring. She throws that at Zelina
Vega and then sort of drop kicks her in the chest
to start off with. A lot of the way through this
match, it's just Chelsea Green sort of calling
out for a secret herb. It's like, come on, where
are you? I need you out here, I'm in a match.
and while she gets caught out doing this once
or twice Selena Vega does manage to get a roll
-up two count on her on one of the first sort
of times she does it. Chelsea Green then sort
of whilst on the outside throws Selena Vega into
the barricade and slams her head off the announce
table and then throws her back into the apron
and up into the ring and while this is happening
and Chelsea Green's out sort of on the outside
kind of trying to find out where her secret hervists
are. She jumps back into the ring as the referee's
kind of pointing to ring the bell, in which the
bell rings and there's an awful lot of confusion.
We are told afterwards by the announcer that
Zelina Vega has won this match due to countout
and it looks like, well, you can see it, Chelsea
Green throws Zelina Vega back in on nine. But
doesn't actually make the count herself because
she's looking for her members of the secret her
this so she Yeah, actually loses her own match
But it wouldn't matter if it was a title match
anyway purely for the fact that champions Advantage
would have meant that she couldn't have lost
her title that way And then we go into a backstage
segment where we see Berto with Santos Escobar
and Angel saying The performance from Ray Phoenix
was the performance they were expecting from
Berto. And after all those big words last week,
the fact that he lost is just a big sort of like,
well, you're all talk and no more mouth than
no trousers, so to speak. And, you know, Angel
says that, no, sorry, Santos Escobar says that
him and Angel should go and congratulate Rey
Fenix on a job well done. And Andrade sort of
comes into the side as both Santos Escobar and
Angel walk off and says to Berto, you know, backstage
that, you know, you're a great wrestler too and
you work hard and you should be proud. And Alberto
basically tells him to mind his own business
and piss off. Which, a bit unfair, but. you know,
when you stick your nose into places, it doesn't
feel like it's wanted. That is not something
you should be doing. And Andrade found out the
hard way on this opportunity. So following on
from this, we go into a VT from Naomi talking
about Jay Cargill and basically just kind of
summarizes everything that's gone on from her
point of view from, you know, from. Naomi dropping
Jade Cargill off that ledge onto the front of
the car and all the things that you know she's
done with Bianca as Tag Champ since and you know
that now it's it's got to this point and at WrestleMania
Jade Cargill needs to proceed with caution and
then we follow that straight into a response
from Jade Cargill that basically says the moment
is here and the time has run out and she's She's
pissed at what happened, but it glows fading
and Naomi is just trying to do everything she
can to stay relevant. Which, you know, and she,
everything she does to stay relevant, can't make
her as relevant as Jade is at the moment. And
at WrestleMania, a storm is coming. Now we've
already had the announcement. last week from
Nick Aldis that these two are gonna meet one
-on -one at WrestleMania and this again we've
got quite a few of these little grudgy revenge
matches going on but personally I'm not mad at
it. This match between Naomi and Jade Cargill
is gonna be incredible I personally think it's
got Jade Cargill winning all over it but you
know these two women are gonna put on a show
at the show of shows and it's gonna be a really
really impressive show. So from that, we get
a nice big in ring segment from well, the man
who's going to be main eventing the Sunday evening.
This is going to be Cody Rhodes. He comes to
the ring and as he comes out to the ring, we
are shown a whole display of of titles, title
belts. made by different wrestlers over the history
of the WWE. And Cody Rhodes comes into the ring
talking about these titles and how each of these
titles represents a point in history. And for
these titles and for the next 20 champions that
come forth, he's trying to continue building
the pathway for the next series of champions.
And John Cena is trying to take that all away
because he wants to take that belt and be the
last real WWE champion. And while he's walking
through talking about the fact that John Cena
isn't in Seattle on his farewell tour, rather
wait until next week to be in Las Vegas. But
it's fair enough. we can't be everywhere doing
everything every week in I mean saying that Cody
Rhodes does seem to be doing an awful lot of
appearances and different places and he does
continue to talk about John Cena's remarks last
week about his tattoo and what it is and where
it is making him basically nothing more than
a common fan and he basically says that I've
got that tattoo for the same reason I'm wearing
this suit because I want to be someone You know
within this with this industry when you've got
names like what he mentions as he walks down
this list of belts You know the Undertaker even
Had the spinner belt there that John Cena thought
he said, you know a lot of people don't like
the spinner belt But actually I quite like it
But you know at the end of the day, you know
Cody Rhodes is the WWE championship at the champion
at the moment not John Cena and Cody likes to
call himself the captain, but when you look at
the roster on SmackDown, he pulls out some big
names, you know, like Randy Orton on SmackDown.
He says, you know, I mean, there was several
other big names that he mentioned, but Randy's
the only one off the top of my mind that I can
remember from this point. And he goes, then Cody
says, he goes, I'm going to tell you the same
thing, I told Brock and I told Roman and it worked.
He goes, and I worked. best and my back is against
the ropes he says when that bell rings they'll
be the champion and don't give Cena his moment
to say goodbye but John Cena has known his time
has been up for some time one day Cody's time
may be up but that title when Cody's time is
up will be staying with the WWE and not John
Cena which I mean fair play The fact that John
classes myself as the last real champion could
be quite hurtful to some of these guys but I
mean to be fair he's kind of earned the ability
to call himself whatever the fuck he wants to
within this promotion because he's been there
for so long and done so much for it um you know
which is I mean I'm definitely grateful for a
lot of the things he's done for the sport especially
what I've been watching over the last Well, pretty
much since he debuted, I've been a fan of WWE,
not necessarily for that reason, but finds have
just sort of worked the way out. But yeah, his
debut against Kurt Angle with that ruthless aggression
speech was probably around the same sort of time
I started watching WWE more often than not. Now,
this next segment, I was a little bit unsure
about how it went off. purely because it is based
on a video that supposedly went viral that I've
not actually seen but so that apparently is a
video of Motor City Machine Guns who Street Profits
are facing at WrestleMania this year and I found
this out because Street Profits were in a backstage
interview talking to Byron Saxton about their
match with Motor City Machine Guns at Las Vegas
and WrestleMania. And the viral video talking
about things they don't have most sitting machine
guns and they don't care about and and sort of
bits and pieces like that, but Street Profits
basically say well, you know don't have the title
so, you know, you can't care too much about that
and Mellow and Miz come in and say that they
think I mean Mellow don't miss or a joke anyway
so the fact they came in and say they think the
Street Profits are joke champions and that they
want a match because you know Miz feels that
the street profits are disrespecting a title
that he's held nine times with nine different
performers and he feels that him and his latest
hot shot in Carmelo Hayes have an opportunity
to make him a 10 -time tag team title holder
and yeah knock one on the the list for Carmelo
Hayes as well. We then go from this little segment
which I believe involves them ending up in a
match next week but nothing is confirmed in this
episode so we are going to have to wait until
Smackdown gets to Las Vegas to find out about
that one. We then go into a match between Tiffy
Stratton and Roxanne Perez this was announced
a little bit earlier backstage by Nick Aldis
when these two were having a bit of a bickering
sesh outside his door while Roxanne Perez was
trying to get a match at WrestleMania Right so
this one started off pretty well to be fair And
my notes for this one aren't particularly long
but the match itself wasn't particularly long
and it wasn't too many bits that I felt were
really necessary to guide you through. It starts
off with Tippi Stratton hitting a snap suplex
on Roxanne Perez. Not once but twice. The second
one she decides she's gonna go and have a pinfall
attempt and that goes for a two count. when Roxanne
Perez is lying on the mat Tiffy goes to drag
her towards her and Roxanne Perez pulls the the
apron with her so when the ref goes to put it
back she actually turns around and pokes Tiffany
Stratton in the eye now I can imagine that this
would have pissed off Tiffy time and I mean it
would definitely have annoyed me and Tiffy comes
back with a powerbomb The next step I've got
here is Roxanne Perez attempting moonsault but
Tiffy Stratton manages to get her knees up and
then shortly after that Roxanne Perez hits a
Russian leg sweep off the second rope. Now a
lot of these women are very very talented when
it comes to their sort of high flying ability.
Tiffy Stratton we know is a former Olympic gymnast
but Roxanne Perez is also very very good at sort
of these high flying moves. And after quite a
lengthy series of counters, which ends up with
Roxanne Perez hitting a face buster into a cross
face on Tiffy Stratton. And as Tiffy's crawling
to the ropes, you see Roxanne Perez use her feet
on the ropes to stop Tiffy from getting there.
So we do end up with Tiffy popping off a moonsault
and getting a roll up. for recount to win, at
which we get Charlotte Flair come running out
of the crowd after the match has been announced
and finished. And Tiffy's up on the apron, busy
celebrating on the turnbuckle. Charlotte Flair
comes running out of the crowd and starts laying
a beat down on Tiffy Stratton, throwing her over
the announce desk. And basically Wade Barrett
has to step over Tiffy and get into Charlotte's
way to stop her from doing any more damage. Basically
telling Charlotte, look, you're going to get
fired. Go home. You are not supposed to be here.
And whooping this one out is just not the way
to be going about it. Go. I've put in my notes
here, I have a feeling we could end up with Wade
Barrett as a special guest referee. for this
Charlotte versus Tiffy Stratton match at WrestleMania.
And I actually think it could be really cool
to see Wade Barrett in a ref shirt. I'm one of
these that I'd love to see Wade Barrett get back
into the ring anyway. I think he'd be phenomenal.
I know he's got no interest in that at the moment.
Also, he said that I think to see Wade Barrett
one last time would be really, really cool. you
know that's that's just my opinion if you agree
with me though um jump on the socials drop me
an email that's not what you're thinking it's
finnishismfactions at gmail .com or if you're
on x it's bin and fan pod at finn and fan pod
you can uh catch up with both myself and adam
and we will get back to you when we can so we
move on from there onto a hall of fame vt for
the class of 2025 now i'm not going to talk too
much about this even though you feel this is
probably something i should go into the reason
not is adam is currently recording a bonus episode
for you guys all about the hall of fame class
2025 the people that are in it the match that's
in it and everything hall of fame related um
so If you want to check that out I know I definitely
will be that will be released the day of the
Hall of Fame is announced officially. We move
on from that little VT which Adam is going to
discuss more with you in that episode into a
recap of CM Punk and why you know it basically
just CM Punk saying he wants Paul Heyman in his
corner and then after the beatdown that Seth
Rollins gives CM Punk and then when Paul Haven's
busy checking to see if Punk's alright and Rollins
goes to curb stomp him but does it just shy enough
to be able to make him shit his pants and then
go you owe me a favour now. Which is a little
bit more build up to that main event of the Saturday
night between Roman Reigns Seth Rollins and CM
Punk. Punk. So at this point we find out which
matches are you know what for the um WrestleMania
and what day we are getting each match. So as
I said the main event of the Saturday night is
uh CM Punk with Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns.
Also on the Saturday we will see Naomi versus
Jade Cargill, War Raiders versus New Day, for
the tag team titles. Rey Mysterio is going one
on one with El Grande Meccano. We will see LA
Knight defend his United States Championship
against the Samoan werewolf, Jacob Batu. You
know what I mean? We will also see Tiffy Stratton
go up against Charlotte Flair for that women's
title. And we will see not quite WrestleMania
main event Jey Uso go up against Gunther for
the World Heavyweight Championship. We are going
to Yeet Vegas. And it is going to be incredible.
So yes, that is the breakdown for the Saturday
night of WrestleMania. So it's WrestleMania night
one. WrestleMania night two, the main event.
We have John Cena and Cody Rhodes undisputed
world title. We will see Rhea Ripley versus EO
Sky versus Bianca Belair in a triple threat for
EO's women's title. AJ Styles will be going up
against Logan Paul in a singles match. We will
then see Bron Breaker defend his intercontinental
title against Dirty Dominic Mysterio, Penta and
Finn Balor in a fatal four way. We have Drew
McIntyre and Damian Priest in a Sin City street
fight and Bailey and the Women's Intercontinental
Champion Lyra Valkyria will be going up against
Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez for the Women's
Tag Championships. So there's a few matches that
haven't made sort of the main WrestleMania show
that will definitely be on the pre -show. That
one of course will be Street Profits versus Motor
City Machine Guns for the tag titles. I don't
think we have a match for Chelsea Green defending
her Women's United States Championship at the
moment. Yeah, there's a few matches that wouldn't
have made it to this card, which is unfortunate,
but the pre -show is still a really, really good
thing to watch. So I know we've got a lot of
wrestling coming out there is a lot of episodes
of finishes and factions coming up so if you
don't have the time to watch it or the time to
listen we will be keeping you up to date as quickly
as we possibly can you will just have to bear
with us this is the busiest weekend in wwe programming
and it is literally just myself and adam we have
no production team It is down to just us so it
will take us a little bit of time as I work weekends
and Adam is also working weekends every other
weekend and I'm not sure how it falls for him
this week. So that is our lineup for WrestleMania
and to be fair I think that is a very impressive
lineup and there's some matches there that I'm
really looking forward to but we will talk more
about that over the course of WrestleMania weekend.
which starts in just seven days. So as we jump
into our main event of the evening, which was
Randy Orton and LA Knight teaming up against
the Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga. So this match
was set up from our opening promo. And before
we get into the meat and veg on this one, we
are basically informed but the 2003 WrestleMania
was held in Seattle. Now, I had to do some research.
The WrestleMania in 2003 was WrestleMania 19,
which of course had that legendary match for
all the wrong reasons. It was the botch of the
century with Brock Lesnar. fucked up that shooting
star press and almost broke his own neck against
Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship. Where if
Kurt Angle was disqualified or counted out he
would still lose his title. I'm guessing that
was a stipulation on that one. But as we get
back into this one it's Tamatonga and LA Knight
who start off the match and basically LA Knight
is having a cheeky little look at Solo Sokoa
when Tamatonga gets his the start off with a
cheeky little sort of beat down in. LA Knight
then throws Solo Sokoa off the apron and then
sends Tamatonga the same way. We then see Randy
Orton come in, he starts off with a clothesline,
that scoop snap power slam that he hits on both
Solo Sukowa and Tama Tonga, and then the draping
DDT on Solo Sukowa. We do see what turns out
to be an RKO attempt from Randy Orton on Tama
Tonga, but Tama intercepts it. and basically
ends up with Solo Sacoa dropping a very dirty
Samoan drop onto Randy. At which point Solo then
locks in a choke hold on Randy which Randy basically
reverses this one with a good old angle slam
style move which was always nice. You get to
see Randy Orton display some incredible power
against some of these Bigger sort of like superstars,
but Solo Sokoa is definitely a monster himself.
We see LA Knight hit a cheeky little neck breaker
from behind on Solo Sokoa and then a power slam
onto Tamatonga as he goes up top for that elbow
drop and finishes off with a two count. at which
point Solo Sokoa ends up landing a Samoan spike
on the United States Champion and Randy Orton
basically throws him out of the ring while lining
up for Tamatonga to eat one of the nastiest RKO's
I've seen in a little while. Nick Aldis ate one
last week, Tamatonga ate one this week. Those
voices are definitely connecting in Randy's head.
And yeah, after that vicious RKO, Randy couldn't
get on him for the pin because Solo dragged him
out of the ring. And so Randy Orton and Solo
Sacoa end up going off into the crowd and carrying
on their little bit of a fight out there. No,
it does not matter too much about these two because
neither of them are legal men at this time. The
two legal men which are LA Knight and Tama Tonga
are in the ring and it doesn't last for much
longer as LA Knight hits the BFT for the 1 -2
-3 which means that LA Knight and Randy Orton
win this match and Solo Sacoa and Tama Tonga
have lost out again. But while LA Knight is standing
up on the turnbuckle celebrating, Jacob Fatu
takes a page out Charlotte Flair's book and comes
in and destroys him. There is a running senton,
there is some running hip attacks and there are
multiple moonsaults. And at one point you see
him sort of just pick up the belt. On the floor,
obviously this is LA Knight's United States title
that Jacob Fatou will be challenging him for
at WrestleMania in Las Vegas at the end of next
week. Yeah, and the show ends with a final moon
salt from Jacob Fatou and a head shake. Which
then brings me to the end of my notes for this
week. There is no Adam this week as you will
have guessed by now so it is yeah, pretty much
just being me and Me you and smackdown so I will
thank you all for taking the time out of your
day to to listen to me Grab it on keep you in
the loop and I will see you again for our next
episode which is finishes and factions There's
Monday Night Raw. Peace out everyone and have
a great rest of your weekend.