WWE SmackDown live results: Randy Orton returns home
Randy Orton, the challenger to Cody Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania 42 returns home tonight when SmackDown emanates from St. Louis, MO. Orton comes back to his hometown the clear favorite for many despite his recent actions towards Rhodes, as well as Matt Cardona and Jelly Roll.
We may also find out the identity of the mysterious person who Orton has been talking to on the phone in recent weeks since his betrayal of Rhodes, as he promised to meet with them tonight.
Announced the afternoon of the show was a singles match with Rhea Ripley against Michin, and a segment with the new United States Champion, Sami Zayn, who defeated Carmelo Hayes for the belt last week.
The full lineup for tonight’s WWE SmackDown:
- Cody Rhodes looks to spoil Randy Orton’s homecoming
- Rhea Ripley vs. Michin
- We’ll hear from Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu
- We’ll hear from new United States Champion Sami Zayn
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– As tonight’s show kicked off, the voice of Joe Tessitore welcomed us to the night, where we’ll see Rhea Ripley take on Michin, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss versus Bayley and Lyra Valkyria in tonight’s matchups.
– At the commentary desk, Tessitore and Wade Barrett tossed to a recap of Cody Rhodes’ confrontation with Stephanie McMahon on Raw this past Monday.
Randy Orton’s St. Louis Homecoming
As expected, Orton got a huge ovation from this hometown crowd, as they sang his theme song as loud as they could. Orton soaked in all the cheers before finally getting down to business with what he had to say.
Orton started by mocking Cody Rhodes’ “what do you want to talk about” intro when addressing the St. Louis fans. He said that it’s no secret that St. Louis is his hometown, where he was raised here as a young man, and that the next time he’d return here, he’d return as a champion. Orton pointed out that he wasn’t doing it for the fans, for his family. He wasn’t winning the Undisputed WWE Championship for St. Louis, but for the people sitting in the front row.
Orton said that it didn’t matter if Rhodes was going home on a stretcher by the time WrestleMania wrapped, but he was going home empty-handed. Orton again pointed out that Rhodes gave him “the green light” to listen to the voices in his head. However, Orton saw Rhodes on Monday may have been listening to the voices in his own head. Orton pointed out that Rhodes wasn’t a killer and what was awoken inside of him, there was no putting that back to bed.
Cody Rhodes made his way out to a very mixed reception from the St. Louis crowd. As he got to the ring,. he removed his suit and immediately fought with Orton. When Rhodes gained the upper hand, the St. Louis crowd audibly booed loudly. In the ring, Pat McAfee appeared and kicked Rhodes in the groin. Dressed in an Orton shirt, McAfee continued to attack Rhodes as Orton got a mic and handed it to him.
Orton knocked Rhodes down with the chair. McAfee got in some cheap St. Louis sports heat as he spoke. Nick Aldis and company walked down the ramp while McAfee explained himself. A month ago, McAfee said that the business passed him by and it was absolute shit. Orton supposedly called McAfee and told him that the business was just going in a direction nobody liked. McAfee asked why he has to watch 45-minute iron man matches if Randy Orton is around. McAfee brought up SmackDown’s worst-rated episode of all time as he called Rhodes a puppet. McAfee revealed himself as Orton’s mystery caller as he claimed that Orton was going to “save the f*cking business”.
Throughout this, the crowd still cheered as Orton and McAfee laid out Rhodes.
This angle took a rather ridiculous left turn with the Pat McAfee reveal, and a lot of it feels like a retread of what happened with John Cena pre-WM42 last year, especially the whole vibe of “ruining WWE” that this McAfee/Orton thing is taking. Plus, as you can probably tell, the crowd, even with McAfee and Orton doing cheap heat, failed to get the desired reaction as Rhodes getting destroyed was thoroughly cheered. Suffice to say, this angle, like a lot of the WrestleMania 42 build, is kind of a damn mess and it’s getting worse as WWE stumbles along to Las Vegas in two weeks.
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– Randy Orton and Pat McAfee took pride in what they did as they drove off, stating that they were going to “save the business”.
Rhea Ripley vs. Michin (w/ B-Fab)
Ripley hit Michin with a big boot to start as she pummeled her foe in the corner with clubbing strikes. Michin found herself thrown into the opposite corner and hit with a shoulder thrust from Ripley. A nice fallaway slam from Ripley kept Michin on her toes. At this moment, Jade Cargill made her way to the ramp as Ripley took notice and again threw Michin with a fallaway slam. As Ripley turned her attention to Cargill on the ramp, this allowed Michin to take advantage with a German suplex as we took a break.
WWE SmackDown recapper. Former NXT PLE/WWE Saturday Night's Main Event/fill-in recapper.