With only two SmackDowns left before WrestleMania 40, WWE went into overdrive for tonight’s episode of the blue brand. That resulted in a stacked SmackDown with major WrestleMania 40 implications, as by the night’s end two more matches had been added to the card and one of the many Title matches revealed its final lineup. The night was also the official SmackDown debut of Jade Cargill who signed with the brand last week, and she wasted no time in making an impact on the Women’s Division. Throw in Logan Paul, The Bloodline, and reveals for The LWO, and you’ve got yourself a pretty solid night of wrestling. Here are the best and worst moments from tonight’s WWE SmackDown.
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Best Moments
Jade Cargill is a Star: If you were at all in doubt of Cargill’s star factor, look no further than her SmackDown debut. Cargill’s opening promo was fine, but it more importantly set the table for her big moment at the end of the night. The crowd was chanting for Jade right on cue and popped big time when she finally showed up to help out Belair and Naomi. Cargill looked every bit the beast that’s been promised, and Damage CTRL sold expertly to make each move look devastating. When Cargill stood next to Naomi and Belair, she absolutely belonged, and the hype will only build now that she’s headed to WrestleMania.
Factions Gain Momentum: While some factions had to take Ls tonight, two other factions gained some much-needed momentum as a result. The LWO felt relevant again with Rey leading the charge against Legado Del Fantasma and Dominik Mysterio, and adding Dragon Lee to the group benefits both parties with some fresh energy. The Final Tesatment also gained some needed movement after not just costing the Street Profits their Title shot but also beating down Bobby Lashley twice. It was a crucial show of force that the group needed after not feeling like a genuine threat since their initial debut, and it also provided some needed direction and focus for Lashley and the Profits moving forward.
Additions to WrestleMania 40: Overall the matches added to the WrestleMania 40 card all felt like solid additions, and the card is impressively stacked with a mix of talent and styles. The tag match with Rey and Lee vs Santos and Dominik should be fun on its own, but it also ties into Judgment Day’s overarching story headed into WrestleMania. The 6-Woman tag is now one of the more anticipated matches on the card thanks to the talent involved, including Cargill, and the final lineup for the Tag Team Titles match offers a number of intriguing scenarios that could result in an unexpected set of Champions.
Worst Moments
Missing Bloodline: One rather big miss is the lack of Bloodline-related storylines during tonight’s episode. Being the second to last SmackDown before the event, it’s surprising that there was just one Paul Heyman promo pushing the biggest story of WrestleMania forward. The video was fine, sure, but following up the epic event that was Rock and Cody’s showdown on Raw this week with a quick promo from Heyman backstage, well, it feels rather underwhelming.
Tiffany Stratton’s WrestleMania Spot Gets Cloudy: Tiffany Stratton received a video package mid-way through SmackDown, and while it was quite good, her role in WrestleMania is a bit cloudy after tonight’s events played out. Stratton had been trading barbs with Belair and Naomi in past backstage segments, but they will be in the tag match with Cargill now, which also involves Damage CTRL. Bayley and Sky are in their Title match, and Rhea and Becky are also tied up in their feud. That leaves Stratton, who has quickly become a fan favorite, without an easily identifiable opponent or feud going into WrestleMania, and there’s simply no way she ends up not on the card. We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out, but hopefully, there is a clear plan in place.
WrestleMania 40 Updated Card
- Tag Team Match: The Rock and Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins (Winner either bans Bloodline or Adds Bloodline Rules Stipulation to Undisputed Title Match)
- Undisputed WWE Universal Championship Match: Roman Reigns (C) vs. Cody Rhodes
- WWE Women’s Championship Match: IYO SKY (C) vs. Bayley
- Women’s World Championship Match: Rhea Ripley (C) vs. Becky Lynch
- World Heavyweight Championship Match: Seth “Freakin” Rollins (C) vs. Drew McIntyre
- Intercontinental Championship Match: Gunther (C) vs. Sami Zayn
- 6-Pack Tag Team Championship Ladder Match: Judgement Day (Damian Priest & Finn Balor) (C) vs. New Day (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston) vs. DIY vs. A Town Down Under vs. The Miz & R-Truth vs. New Catch Republic
- 6 Woman Tag Team Match: Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai, Kairi Sane, and Asuka) vs Bianca Belair, Naomi, and Jade Cargill
- United States Championship Match: Logan Paul (C) vs. Kevin Owens vs Randy Orton
- Tag Team Match: LWO (Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee) vs. Santos Escobar & Dominik Mysterio
- Jey Uso vs. Jimmy Uso
- LA Knight vs. AJ Styles
What have you thought of SmackDown so far? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk everything wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!
