WWE SmackDown Report 4/3/2020

Apr 3, 2020 - by Staff

– Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX opens up with the usual video package.

– We’re live on tape from the empty WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida as Michael Cole welcomes us.

– The ring is set up for another must see edition of MizTV. Greg Hamilton goes to introduce SmackDown Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz, but he’s interrupted by the music of The Usos. Out come Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso with mics. We see ladders all over the Performance Center. The Usos get hyped up and enter the ring. “People at home…” rings out as The New Day’s music starts up. Out comes Kofi Kingston and Big E.

Kofi disagrees with The Usos saying they would be the ones to snatch down the titles at WrestleMania 36 this weekend. Big E says the circumstances are unique this year but it’s still WrestleMania, and they plan on taking the titles. The two teams argue. Out come The Miz and John Morrison with the titles. Miz is used to this kind of disrespect but they deserve better. They go on and Miz says the two teams can argue all they want because the champs will just take a front row to what will happen at WrestleMania. He says they can destroy each other, which will allow them to climb the ladders to retain. Miz and Morrison have climbed ladders on the stage now.

Miz and Morrison tell The Usos and The New Day to be jealous. The Usos and The New Day rush to the stage for a fight. Miz and Morrison meet them and they all brawl. There’s carnage and big bumps everywhere. Miz and Morrison level Kofi and one of The Usos with a ladder before standing tall as Morrison’s music hits. Cole hypes the Triple Threat Ladder Match for this weekend.

– Still to come, John Cena addresses the Firefly Fun House Match challenge from Bray Wyatt. Also, we will look back at the Farewell Match for WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair.

Naomi vs. Lacey Evans vs. Tamina Snuka

We go back to the ring and out first comes Naomi for a Triple Threat. We go to commercial.

Back from the break and out comes Sasha Banks and SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley to join Cole on commentary. Lacey Evans is out next, followed by Tamina Snuka.

The bell rings and they all go at it. Snuka with some offense early on. Evans counters and nails a basement dropkick. Naomi goes to roll Snuka up but has her head slammed into the mat. Tamina fights Evans off and tosses her next to Naomi on the apron. Snuka knocks them both off and sends them to the floor. Snuka stands tall as we go right back to commercial.

Back from the break and Snuka goes at it with Naomi. Naomi with a big springboard kick. Evans comes back in and unloads on Snuka, clotheslining her. Evans with boots in the corner. Evans launches herself over the top rope with an elbow drop to Snuka. Naomi ends up dropping Evans with a big kick on the floor. Banks gets up and launches Evans into the steel ring steps. Banks turns around to a kick to the face from Naomi.

Naomi comes back in with a kick to the head but Snuka rocks her. Back and forth now. Snuka catches Naomi with a Samoan Drop. Snuka can’t get the pin and shows some frustration. Snuka misses a splash on Naomi in the corner. Bayley hits the apron but Naomi sends her back down. Naomi turns around to a superkick from Tamina for the pin to win.

Winner: Tamina Snuka

– After the match, Bayley grabs her title from the announce table as Snuka stares her down from the ring. Bayley hits the ring and keeps talking. Bayley offers her hand for a shake and says she’s proud to have Tamina in the match at WrestleMania, and it’s good to have her back. Snuka shakes as Bayley keeps mocking her. Tamina drops Bayley with a big superkick. Banks tends to Bayley and then looks to suck up to Tamina. Tamina pulls her into a big Samoan Drop. Tamina stares Banks down as her music starts back up.

– Still to come, John Cena will be here. Also, a WrestleMania 24 replay of Ric Flair’s retirement match. Back to commercial.

– Back from the break and we see Tucker talking to Mandy Rose backstage. “The Truth Will Be Heard” in big letters appears over the screen. It looks like this could be unrelated to Tucker and Rose, possibly something to do with the recent glitches we’ve seen on SmackDown? Cole says Tucker will face Dolph Ziggler tonight.

– Cole lead us to a replay from the WrestleMania 24 match between WWE Hall of Famers Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels, which was the Farewell Match for The Nature Boy. We get a few replays and come back. We finally see the end of the match and Flair’s emotional farewell after the match.

– Cole shows us what happened to Elias at the hands of King Baron Corbin last week. Cole wonders if Elias will be able to compete against Corbin at WrestleMania 36 this week. Cole then announces that Braun Strowman will now face WWE Universal Champion Bill Goldberg. No mention of Roman Reigns backing out.

– Tucker and Otis are backstage. Tucker mentions seeing Mandy Rose earlier but he thinks she was just being nice when she asked about Otis, and he thought she was headed to Dolph Ziggler’s room. Otis gets a text message and he’s really excited. He rushes off but won’t tell Tucker where he’s going. Tucker asks what about the match. We go to commercial.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Tucker

Back from the break and out comes Tucker. Dolph Ziggler is out next.

The bell rings and they go at it, trading offense. Tucker overpowers early on and levels Ziggler. Tucker works Ziggler over while he’s down on the mat. Ziggler kicks Tucker’s knees and nails a neckbreaker. Ziggler drops a big elbow to the chest for a close 2 count. Ziggler keeps Tucker grounded now, telling the referee to ask him if he gives. Tucker fights to his feet but Ziggler slams him back down to the mat. Ziggler nails a dropkick for another 2 count. Ziggler goes right back to the headlock.

Ziggler goes on until Tucker catches a kick and drop him. Tucker catapults Ziggler into the turnbuckles and keeps control. Ziggler comes back and goes on to hit a big shot in the corner. Ziggler keeps control and drops Tucker with a DDT. Back to commercial.

Back from the break and Tucker fights out of a headlock. They trade strikes in the middle of the ring now. Tucker tosses Ziggler across the ring and out to the floor. Tucker follows and slams Ziggler face-first into the announce table. Tucker launches Ziggler into the barrier as the referee counts. Tucker breaks the count as Ziggler tries crawling up the ramp.

Tucker grabs Ziggler and launches him into the steel ring steps. Tucker brings Ziggler back into the ring. Tucker catches a kick and nails a sideslam for a 2 count. Tucker shows some frustration now. Ziggler rolls back to the floor for a breather. Tucker goes to slam Ziggler on the steps but he slides out. Ziggler digs at Tucker’s eyes and then nails a Zig Zag on the bottom part of the steps. The referee calls the match.

Winner by DQ: Tucker

– After the match, Ziggler is all smiles as he stands tall at ringside. Ziggler grabs the other half of the steps and goes to slam them onto Tucker. Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville come out to the ramp with Mandy screaming for Ziggler to stop. Otis also runs out. Everyone stops as we see the familiar glitches on the screen as the “Truth Will Be Heard” message pops back on the screen. The big screen now shows a man sitting in a production control room, in front of security cameras. The hooded man turns around but we still can’t see his face. He told us the truth will be heard. Are we paying attention? The man presses a play button and we see security camera video from Valentine’s Day. The video shows Rose and Deville backstage talking about Otis and their date that night. Rose said Otis is big, but he’s super sweet. Deville supports the date. Rose walked out and Deville picks up her phone. We see Deville sending the infamous text message to Otis. We also see Otis receive the text and reply. The security camera feed then shows Deville deleting the texts from Otis. We see Rose in the Performance Center now, looking shocked at Deville. Deville pleads with her. We also see footage of Ziggler and Deville backstage on Valentine’s Day, conspiring together against Rose and Otis’ date to get what they both want. The truth will be heard glitches go off again and the man is gone. Deville begs Mandy to please understand. Rose just looks at everyone and walks up the ramp to the back. Deville follows. Otis chases Ziggler and knocks him down at the bottom of the ramp. Ziggler keeps running away to the back as Otis stares him down, then checks back on Tucker.

– Still to come, Daniel Bryan vs. Shinsuke Nakamura. Back to commercial.

– Back from the break and we see Mandy Rose walking backstage. Sonya Deville is behind her, trying to make her case, but Rose doesn’t want to hear it. Rose keeps walking.

Daniel Bryan vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

We go back to the ring and out comes Daniel Bryan with Drew Gulak. We see how Gulak earned Bryan’s WrestleMania 36 title shot from Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn by defeating Shinsuke Nakamura last week. Out next comes Nakamura with Zayn and Cesaro.

The bell rings and they go at it. Zayn is on commentary while Cesaro and Gulak look on from ringside. Bryan takes control and works Nakamura over while he’s down. Nakamura fights up and out but runs into a dropkick. Nakamura goes to the floor to regroup but Bryan runs and kicks him back to the barrier. Bryan with double knees off the apron to the floor. Gulak and Cesaro have words at ringside. Bryan brings Nakamura back in and goes to the top. Bryan with a missile dropkick.

Bryan kips up and taunts Sami. Bryan with a running dropkick to Nakamura in the corner. Bryan takes Nakamura to the top for a hurricanrana but it’s blocked. Nakamura leaps from the top and drops Bryan for a 2 count. Nakamura keeps control and drops Bryan on his head. Bryan is down as we go back to commercial.

Back and forth after the break. Bryan rocks Nakamura with Yes Kicks while he’s on his knees. Nakamura comes back with stiff strikes of his own. Bryan and Nakamura continue trading shots and pin attempts as Gulak gives Bryan advice from ringside. Bryan works on Nakamura’s arm now. Bryan ends up running into a big flying kick. Nakamura with an Exploder suplex from the corner. Nakamura goes for Kinshasa but Bryan grabs his leg and rolls him into a submission.

Bryan grabs Nakamura back into the middle of the ring as Gulak cheers him on. Nakamura breaks the hold. Bryan gets up and they trade big strikes now. More back and forth until Bryan goes for the Yes Lock. Cesaro hits the ring to break it up for the disqualification.

Winner by DQ: Daniel Bryan

– After the match, Gulak and Bryan are destroyed by Cesaro, Zayn and Nakamura. Bryan is driven into the announce table before Gulak is launched into the steel ring steps. Zayn brings Bryan back into the ring and Cesaro follows with Nakamura. Cesaro with the Neutralizer on Bryan. Nakamura with Kinshasa to Bryan while Cesaro holds him. Zayn talks trash to Bryan ahead of their match this weekend. Sami tells Cesaro and Nakamura to hold Bryan up as the referee keeps yelling at them. Zayn with a big Helluva Kick in the corner. Zayn’s music hits as the heels celebrate and the referee checks on Bryan.

– Back from the break and out comes John Cena for the final SmackDown segment before WrestleMania 36.

Cena hits the ring and thanks Cole for setting the stage. Cena brings up how WWE decided one month ago to continue their shows at the Performance Center with no fans. He says it’s been a learning curve but we’ve gotten through it together. He gives thanks to the fans and says it’s led us to these final moments before WrestleMania, where everyone is asking what’s really going to happen. Cena says starting tomorrow night, a most-epic broadcast will air, the most-viewed WrestleMania in history. How does he know this? Because for the first time ever, no one really knows what’s going to happen.

Cena says he’s been challenged to a Firefly Fun House Match and no one can tell him what that is. He doesn’t even think Bray Wyatt knows, but that’s exactly what The Fiend wants because The Fiend loves uncertainty. Cena says uncertainty leads to fear and fear can lead to panic, and panic leads to collapse. The Fiend thrives off uncertainty and has dominated the WWE landscape off fear and panic.

Cena says here we are on the eve of WrestleMania, staring into uncertainty, asking what happens next. Cena is here tonight to tell us what happens next. He will not panic, he sure as shell isn’t afraid, and he will squash Wyatt to finish what he started 6 years ago. He doesn’t care where it’s at because Wyatt isn’t even on the level below him. Cena says anyone who knows him knows what he’s capable of and realizes this poor man’s Mr. Rogers doesn’t stand a chance. Cena goes on ripping The Fiend and says WWE Universal Champion Bill Goldberg has already exposed The Fiend’s weaknesses. Cena continues talking about the match until we hear Ramblin’ Rabbit at ringside. We see the other Fun House puppets popping up in the crowd, taunting Cena. Rabbit says he’s here. The lights go down and we hear the familiar sounds of The Fiend’s arrival.

The red light comes over the WWE Performance Center and The Fiend is up top on the perch. Cena and The Fiend stare each other down. Wyatt suddenly appears behind Cena, yelling in his ear – let me in! Cena jumps. The lights go back out and Wyatt is no longer there. We hear the familiar sounds again as SmackDown goes off the air with Cena in the ring by himself.

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