There were rumors that The Rock would come to Memphis, Tennessee for Friday Night SmackDown this week and do another “Rock concert.” When he showed up, they treated him like the mega babyface star he’s long been, hottest heel in the business status be damned.
And then, curiously enough, he played the babyface off the top, working the gimmick like he was still the beloved returning hero, back to conquer the long reigning champion. He even said he was back “home.”
And a lot of “I love you too” messages for a crowd who kept screaming them at him.
Then, he did indeed sit down to sing a song and hold a little concert. He cracked a few of his usual jokes, called Cody Rhodes a mistake again, repeatedly cracked on Seth Rollins for being cringe, and generally had himself a good time. The fans, too, seemed to be having a blast.
Finally, he turned his attention to the “Cody crybabies,” called them whiny bitches, said he’s going to beat their hero, and wrapped it up. The result was a loud ovation, chants of his name, and a truly bizarre feeling that this is how they were choosing to play this.
It acted as a great showcase for the reality of the situation here — the fans never wanted to boo The Rock, they never wanted for any of this to go down this way, they just didn’t want Rock to come back and take Cody’s story from him. It’s created a line they’re going to have to continue to weave all around.
Here, The Rock looked a hell of a lot cooler than Cody when he made fun of him for crying on Raw this week, saying “you gotta be shitting me” over it. What a pathetic response and all that.
Then, finally, he got around to acting like a real heel, talking directly to Cody’s mother and telling her how much he’s looking forward to taking a belt to her son, and making him bleed, and then giving her the very belt he uses to inflict all that punishment. And then, this fuckin’ guy, he actually dropped a Moana reference.
How I really hate him.
Oh, he’s also back to using the heel music and calling himself “The Final Boss.”
Again, this was such a bizarre segment considering he was a babyface for almost all of it but still gave some depth to the story and stood firmly opposite the babyfaces in said story, Cody and Seth. If the idea is to keep him as close to babyface as possible for the inevitable turn so they can get right to the Reigns match they wanted after WrestleMania, then maybe this works okay. But I can’t decide if I like how much he panders to the crowd while he’s supposed to be a heel.
LA Knight hasn’t been getting much time on television, so we haven’t been able to do this but he got something this week so we’re bringing back the LA Knight segment of the week:
He got one hell of a pop once again, the fans still love him, and we need a whole lot more of him. This was a fun promo, with Knight, funny enough, using some old Kevin Nash lines to run down Styles before challenging him to a match at WrestleMania 40.
When he finished his promo, Styles ran in, hit him with a chair in the back, then accepted the match. Hell yes, this should be a lot of fun and it’s a great opportunity for Knight to have a classic match with an opponent who can absolutely give him one on the biggest stage imaginable.
Let’s go!
All the rest
- I’m still a bit confused at it but it seems Nick Aldis decided that with SmackDown getting two spots in the Six Pack Ladder match for the Undisputed tag team titles at WrestleMania 40, the way he wanted to find teams for it is to do mini tournaments. They didn’t do a great job explaining this, and it’s even more confusing when WWE.com is promoting matches for Monday Night Raw next week that are simple win-and-in bouts. It feels needlessly complicated, even if a contender is stronger for having won multiple matches to make the title match. It’s a bit overkill when said match is already a six-team battle though. Anyway, Legado del Fantasma defeated the LWO in a fun one to advance before New Catch Republic defeated Pretty Deadly to set up Fantasma vs. New Catch Republic for the right to move on to WrestleMania. I will only say that I, personally, am unhappy with Pretty Deadly being treated this way.
- For as big as Jimmy vs. Jey Uso at WrestleMania feels to me, WWE strangely decided to have Jimmy accept the challenge for the match in a backstage interview in between entrances for a match between Randy Orton and Grayson Waller. Jimmy cut a passionate promo, full of fire, and promised to once again do his big brother thing and put little brother in his place.
- Logan Paul sat in on commentary for Randy Orton’s match against Grayson Waller, a very basic match that was all about putting Orton over as the mega babyface — and he was surprisingly over in Memphis — with another fun RKO that Paul personally got to bear witness to. Logan was upset with Nick Aldis for not finding him a WrestleMania opponent but it’s obvious where this is headed. Sure enough, Austin Theory launched a post-match sneak attack and Paul kissed Randy’s forehead before making like he was going to deliver the big punch. Instead, Kevin Owens hit the ring to make the save. Orton almost hit him with an RKO, confused at who was approaching him, but they teamed up and hit a sweet Stunner/RKO combo on Theory. Finally, Aldis showed up to make the announcement: Paul will defend the United States championship against both Orton and Owens in a triple threat match.
- Santos Escobar defeated Dragon Lee in relatively short order, pinning him clean despite Lee getting most of the offense in the match. It was entertaining for what it was, but they were rushing to get to Carlito coming out to help on the post-match beatdown and then right into Rey Mysterio making his promised return to once again confront Escobar. Rey looks like he’s in pretty damn good shape, and the tease for the 619 was super hot. Mysterio got on the mic and laid out a challenge for a singles match for next week.
- Bayley vs. Dakota Kai headlined this show, and it predictably broke down into Damage CTRL interference and a disqualification. It was always going to go this way, and the added wrinkle this time was the fact that Naomi decided to get involved and attempt to make the save for Bayley. It seems she has chosen her side, despite Bianca Belair’s attempts to dissuade her. How will this affect WrestleMania? Hey, maybe the power of friendship will rule the day and that’s how Bayley comes out on top.
This was a solid show, as usual.
Grade: B
Your turn.
Laura Davis is an entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to Broadway, she offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
