The road to WrestleMania 42 officially wraps up tonight in “Sin City.”
WWE SmackDown is live this evening at 8/7c on USA Network and Netflix from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV., with the WrestleMania 42 ‘go-home show.’
As always, ‘WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together.’ kicks things off. We then shoot into the WrestleMania memories video package that Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque recently shared on social media, straight into the live Superstar arrival shots backstage in Las Vegas, NV.
Backstage With Pat McAfee, Randy Orton & Nick Aldis
The show kicks off with a truck arriving. Out pops Pat McAfee and Randy Orton. SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis approaches them with some contracts. McAfee says he’ll give them a look at get back to him. He boasts being a self-made billionaire. Orton says he’ll let them two talk. He’s headed to the ring.
Randy Orton Kicks Things Off
Inside the arena, the familiar sounds for Orton’s theme hits and out comes “The Viper” as Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett welcome us to the show on commentary. Fans sing along with Orton’s theme, loudly, as he makes his way down to the ring to kick off tonight’s WrestleMania 42 ‘go-home show.’
Orton says he will be the first one to admit it. He doesn’t need Pat McAfee. The truth is that he wants him. Orton says Pat is the only straight shooter in the company, he doesn’t tell him what he wants to hear, he tells him what he needs to hear. And what he needed to hear was all along, he just had to be him.
He says they were all set, he is listening to Pat, here comes WrestleMania. He wins the Chamber and he is facing Drew McIntyre for the title. He says there is no love lost with Drew, he knew what he needed to do to win the title. But then, Cody won the title back.
He says he and Cody are friends, he couldn’t be who he needed to be, he couldn’t hurt his friend. And then, Cody gave him permission to be him. He asks who is Cody to give him permission to be himself, he wrote the book on being him, he is the viper. He says this is how a friendship works.
There is give and take but with Cody as a friend, all Orton ever did was give and all Cody did was take. Tomorrow, they main event night one of WrestleMania. But two years ago, at WrestleMania, Cody was in the main event of night one. Solo’s Bloodline is all over Cody, as a friend, he is there to have his back.
But all he got was going through a table. He says Cody gifts a WWE Championship match to his friend at the time, Kevin Owens. Orton says Owens turns on Cody and as his friend, he is there by Cody’s side. He tries to talk sense into Owens. But he got dropped on his head in the ring through a piledriver.
That could have been it. All Cody does is take, take, take. He says Pat has done more for his career and legacy than Cody has done in half of a lifetime. He says Cody thinks that Pat hurts his legacy. He says hurting him these last few years have hurt his legacy more than anything else. He says at WrestleMania, he will right the wrongs.
He will take number 15 home where it belongs. And he will do it with the three most dangerous letters in all of sports entertainment, RKO. Orton’s music hits and he heads to the back to wrap up a basic opening segment to set the tone for the evening.
Backstage With Pat McAfee, Randy Orton & Nick Aldis Again
Now we shoot to the back again, where we see Aldis is with Pat and Pat is in his truck. He says great work Randy and Randy gets in the truck. Pat says that’s what a WWE Superstar looks like.
He says tomorrow, everything changes for the better and he put in a good word with the higher ups with Nick. He says see you tomorrow marks, life is about to get better and he drives off.
Street Fight
The MFTs vs. The Wyatt Sicks
Back inside the arena, The MFT’s make their way out led by Solo Sikoa. The scheduled Street Fight between The MFTs and The Wyatt Sicks will kick things off inside the ring on tonight’s show. But first, we head into a quick pre-match commercial break.
When the show returns, The Wyatt Sicks’ theme hits and out they come for their entrance. From there, the bell rings and we are under way. The Wyatt Sicks throw the MFTs to the outside of the ring. Lumis and Gacy with dives to the outside of the ring. Rowan runs to the ropes but Tonga Loa drags him to the outside of the ring.
Tala Tonga with a right hand onto Rowan and Tonga Loa grabs the steel steps. He hits Gacy and Lumis with the stairs. He throws the steps onto Rowan. On that note, the show shifts gears and heads into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues.
This time when we settle back into the show, we see Gacy with a clothesline onto Tama Tonga followed by a back suplex on JC Mateo. Lumis with a back suplex onto Solo. Gacy with a super kick onto Tala Tonga. Lumis and Gacy double team Tama Tonga. Gacy goes for the cover but JC Mateo breaks it up.
JC with a German onto Gacy and a back suplex onto Lumis. JC with an overhead belly to belly suplex. Tala Tonga with a Samoan drop onto Uncle Howdy. Tala Tonga with a Samoan drop onto Gacy. Rowan with a big boot to Tala Tonga and he falls to the outside.
Rowan with a suicide dive onto Tala Tonga. Rowan throws steel chairs and trash cans into the ring. Ucle Howdy and Rowan hit Solo with the trash can. From there, we once again shift gears and head into a second mid-match commercial time out as the wild action continues.
The show returns to Solo looking for a running hip attack in the corner to Howdy, who moves just in time. Howdy picks up a steel chair and goes to work, hitting any-and-everything that moves with it as the crowd comes to life in the background.
Nikki hits a dive onto the floor. Moments later, Sikoa steals the pin on Howdy after Tama Tonga finished things off. Afterwards, Sikoa begins barking orders at Tama, who looks annoyed. That’s how things wrap up in a wild Vegas Street Fight.
Winners: The MFTs
Backstage With R-Truth & Damian Priest
We cut to the back and R-Truth is with Damian Priest. R-Truth tells Damian that Asuka cursed The New Day. Priest tells him it was Danhausen, R-Truth tells him Danhausen was last week. He says it was Asuka. He says Woods is sick, so sick that he turned Sammy Sosa white. Priest tells him that’s Grayson Waller.
R-Truth tells him that Grayson Waller is from Australia. Priest tells him yes but R-Truth says they are talking about Xavier Woods and what does Waller have to do with this. He tells Priest he has to get it together, they have a tag team title match tonight and walks away. Priest says what.
Danhausen Curses Maryse
We see a clip of Miz and Maryse renewing their vows but Danhausen is behind Maryse. He says he is the ring boy, best man and maid of honor. Kit Wilson is officiating and he says you may kiss the bride. Danhausen says you are cursed and they begin to argue. Maryse ends up face first on the cake. Danhausen tastes the cake and says vanilla.
Royce Keys Profile
After a commercial break following the Danhausen segment, we take a look at the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal trophy as the commentators talk about tonight’s big match. They mention Royce Keys will display his power during it later, and then a Royce Keys video package airs exploring his rough upbringing.
Jacob Fatu Ready To Dog-Walk Drew McIntyre At WrestleMania
From there, we see clips of Drew McIntyre attacking Jacob Fatu last week. The camera cuts to a police car with the sirens on entering the arena. The car parks on stage and out steps Jacob Fatu. His music hits and he stands on top of the police car. Fatu says that Drew wants to tell the world that Fatu is a criminal.
They can talk about his life all they want, he is not ashamed of it, he is not afraid of it and he does not live that life anymore. Fatu says Drew thought that putting him in cuffs in front of his family was going to embarrass him. But that didn’t. Even the police know that he is not the same guy. He says this is where Drew gets it twisted.
He says tomorrow night, unsanctioned match, that means no Nick Aldis, no police, no security, no management, no army, no navy, the swat team can’t even stop him from beating Drew’s ass. He says the best thing about it is there is no one to save Drew. He tells Drew that he tried to put him back in that jail cell where he changed his life.
The truth is that when he is done beating his ass, that is exactly where he is putting Drew, in the back, in his rear view. He says at WrestleMania 42, you will see Jacob Fatu shake his dreads. He tells drew to get a calculator and do the match because at WrestleMania, he will dog walk his b*tch ass.
Backstage With Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss
We cut to the back and see Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair. Bliss says it has been a big year, she became a Tag Team Champion with someone who became her best friend. Flair says the cherry on top would be winning gold at WrestleMania. Flair says before that, they have to win tonight and get momentum.
And no matter what, they will still be best friends. Flair says she knows, the gold is the friendship they made along the way. Flair says for real, their friendship is great but how good would gold be and Bliss walks away. On that note, we head to a commercial break.
WWE Tag-Team Championships
R-Truth & Damian Priest (c) vs. Kofi Kingston & Grayson Waller
Inside the arena, the familiar sounds of Damian Priest’s theme and R-Truth’s theme hits to bring out the reigning WWE Tag-Team Champions for the latest title defense. As they make their way to the ring, the show shifts gears and heads into a pre-match commercial break.
The show returns to the entrance of the challengers, Kofi Kingston and Grayson Waller. The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this tag-team title tilt. Waller and Priest kick things off for their respective teams at the onset.
Priest with a big boot and he throws Waller in the corner. Priest with right hands and R-Truth is tagged in. Waller with right hands and Kofi is tagged in. They double team R-Truth and R-Truth is thrown to the outside of the ring. On that note, we head into a mid-match commercial break.
When we return, we see Kofi with right hands onto R-Truth. Waller is tagged in and he climbs the second rope but R-Truth pushes Kofi onto him. Priest is tagged in. Priest with right hands onto both men. Priest with a clothesline onto Waller. He goes for the cover but Kofi breaks it up.
In comes R-Truth and he lands shoulder tackles onto Kofi. Priest body slams Waller. Priest and R-Truth with the double five knuckle shuffle. Priest and R-Truth with the 1D onto Waller. Priest goes for the cover and gets the pin to retain the tag-titles.
Winners and STILL WWE Tag-Team Champions: R-Truth & Damian Priest
Jade Cargill & Rhea Ripley’s Last Stop On Road To WrestleMania
We see a video recap of the Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes saga is shown. Then we see Jade Cargill walking backstage with Michin & B-Fab and she makes her way out to the ring to share her thoughts and we cut to another commercial break.
When the show returns, Jade Cargill’s elaborate ring entrance takes place and the WWE Women’s Champion makes her way to the ring accompanied by Michin and B-Fab. Before she can say much, Cargill is interrupted by the familiar sounds of Rhea Ripley’s theme.
“The Eradicator” wastes no time coming to the ring to confront her opponent at WrestleMania 42.
