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Good Morning!
I love a Saturday in Suburbia. The sun is shining, the lawn care machines are running, the kids are shooting hoops in the cul-de-sac. My wife and her buddy are watching something in the other room and laughing maniacally, but that’s why they made headphones. The wife and I spent the better part of this morning on lawn care duty, picking up after my two pups, laying down clover and grass seed, and burning the weeds and brush we cleared out earlier this week. I watched SmackDown this morning while grocery shopping, a surprisingly easy task when the store is mostly empty. And now we’re here, ready to recap SmackDown and add to it once Collision airs. It’s almost WrestleMania week! SUPER EXCITING TIMES!
Weekend Rasslin'!
With the weekend having been pretty busy, let’s jump right in with some thoughts on the penultimate SmackDown before WrestleMania, an episode of WWE TV that surprisingly didn’t focus on the Bloodline’s story. We got four matches, none of them great but all serviceable, and they were there to move their respective plot lines along anyways. We saw A-Town Down Under defeat a distracted Street Profits, and the New Catch Republic take out the previously-assaulted Humberto and Angel of the Legado del Fantasma. Those two winners will get to fight for the tag belts at WrestleMania, along with DIY, Awesome Truth, the New Day, and current champions Judgment Day. I would love to see R-Truth get a title win at WrestleMania, even if that means Miz gets another one as well. Truth is a ray of sunshine, and deserves the reward of even just a short title reign. The guy is just universally beloved, like Paul Rudd or Kermit the Frog.
We got a couple more matches announced during the show, too! Jade Cargill signed her SmackDown contract, and after the main event arrived to help Naomi and Bianca Belair as they were getting assaulted by Damage CTRL. She’ll be teaming up with Naomi and Belair against the Kabuki Warriors and Dakota Kai, just like we predicted last week! I think it’s a great way to showcase Jade in the ring next to and against a bunch of veteran performers who can help make her look good in the ring, and I envy Kairi Sane, who I imagine will be getting tossed around the ring by Jade.
The Ligado del Fantasma and Latino World Order had a big promo-off that led to Rey Mysterio and the newest member of the LWO, Dragon Lee, challenging Dominic Mysterio and Santos Escobar to a tag match at WrestleMania that will undoubtedly feature both of these groups in an all-out brawl by the end. I was hoping for a big old street fight, but this should be fun as Lee is fantastic and the other folks have all proven their chops in the ring.
Some good promo work tonight, as well, headed up by IYO SKY getting to talk smack to Bayley in Japanese! I love me a good native language promo, because it feels more natural and even though I’m reading subtitles I can sense the annunciation and passion that sometimes doesn’t come across when folks are using a second language. Bayley was polite enough to let IYO say what she had to say before absolutely jacking her on the set of that video, tossing lighting setups and beating her down before the crew realized their equipment was at risk and stepped in.
Naomi and Bianca had a really sweet friendly chat a little later, and AJ Styles got to talk in the ring before getting assaulted (again) by LA Knight. Oh, and we got a glimpse of a non-goth Isla Dawn trying to chat up GM Nick Aldis. All good stuff, everybody got their point across in their own ways.
AEW Collision opened up with Adam Copeland heading to the ring for an open challenge, just ten days removed from his incredibly brutal match for the TNT Championship against Christian Cage. Cope offered up a title shot, and beloved indie deathmatch king Matt Cardona accepted. The two had a really fun match, with commentary doing a great job of catching those of us not in the know about the long mentor/student relationship the two had. The outcome never really seemed in doubt, but it was a cool surprise and a good match with a creative finish.
Oh, and speaking of cool surprises – post match, the lights went down and Malakai Black appeared in the ring when they came back. That was enough of a distraction to allow Black’s pal Buddy Matthews to attack Copeland from behind, but Mark Briscoe and Eddie Kingston arrived to even the odds. Briscoe and Kingston will be fighting at Friday’s Ring of Honor show, but we’d find out later that the pair will team with Cope at AEW Dynasty against the House of Black.
After some promos setting up Billy Gunn vs Jay White, with the two men’s factions staying in back, we got FTR versus The Infantry in the OTHER tag team tournament we’re keeping up with. Infantry looked great in this one, actually much better than the squeak-by victory they got over the House of Black to get here. FTR, as always, was solid, letting the younger men look faster before catching up by way of their veteran savvy.
A squash for the recently-returned Kyle O’Reilly (or Kylo Reilly, as we call him ‘round these parts) was next, followed by a celebration by the Undisputed Kingdom with their old pal. Then we had the second tournament match, with Top Flight taking on Big Bill and Ricky Starks, the latter of whom we haven’t seen much of since they lost the tag titles to Sting and Darby. It was what you’d expect from the high-flying Martin brothers and Bill and Starks, although there was a scary moment when Ricky suffered what’s been called a “stinger,” which might have led to Top Flight getting the win as a precaution/call on the fly kind of thing. Thankfully, Starks has said on social media that he’s okay, and since it feels like this whole tournament was set up for us to get to another FTR/Young Bucks match anyway, I don’t think it’s that big a setback for the Big/Ricky team.
A good match between Thunder Rosa and Lady Frost followed, and I have been noticing that Rosa acts kinda mad for her matches lately. Like, not salty, per se, but definitely like she’s got a chip on her shoulder, or feels disrespected by booking. Regardless, it was a solid fight, and Lady Frost is really good in the role AEW has given her.
Speaking of, Storm and Mariah May were interviewed after that match, with Toni learning that a match next week will decide whether Thunder Rosa or Mariah May will face her at Dynasty. Storm immediately, charmingly, turns on May, asking if that was her plan all along before smooching her and calling her a genius. “I see myself in you and I love me” was just a great line, and Storm continues to do well with a gimmick some have turned on, but I was slow to warm to so it’s still working for me.
Our main event was Claudio Castignoli, Bryan Danielson, and Katsuyori Shibata challenging The Righteous and Lance Archer. This one was one of those matches that pits big guys who lose a lot against an AEW favorites group, which are always a good time even if the ending is rarely in doubt. There were some entertaining spots, including Castignoli and Shibata teaming up on a series of running uppercuts and shotgun dropkicks, and Shibata ended up getting the victory with his PK. Overall, a fine ending to a good episode of Collision!
Closing Up Shop
…in which I say goodbye for now
And that’s it! This week should be pretty stacked with WrestleMania and Stand and Deliver go-home shows, an already-loaded Dynamite card, and the Bray Wyatt documentary dropping tomorrow. I can’t say I’m in a rush to start bawling in front of my wife and my TV, but she really liked Bray too, and I would like to review the program, so be on the lookout for that whenever I get to watching it!
I’ll also be doing the usual previews for ‘Mania and Stand and Deliver, with the latter probably coming Wednesday or Thursday after we’ve watched the last episode of NXT, and the former going up as part of the Casual Friday blog – most of SmackDown looks to be devoted to Hall of Fame stuff, promo packages for WrestleMania, and the Andre the Giant Battle Royale.
My "plan," dear reader, is to knock out the article I’m working on for SlashGear after I've published this, and write the previews as kind of a primer, perfect for lapsed fans or people who just want to watch the biggest show of the year with a little background. I’m hoping to break the preview into two parts, but that kinda depends on tonight’s Raw and whether they announce what matches will be on what nights. Regardless, if you’ve got plans to watch, or you’ve got Peacock and a free weekend, this will be perfect for you -- or perfect to share with a buddy before the biggest weekend on the pro wrestling calendar!
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Thank you so much for reading. If you liked what you saw, consider telling your friends, mentioning Let’s Watch Some Wrestling on social media, or even buying me a hot cup of coffee using the Ko-Fi button. Have a great week, and we’ll see you back here Fridays and Mondays. Until then, Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!