Hey there!
We’re getting close to WrestleMania, people. Who’s excited? I most definitely am.
Cody Rhodes is here tonight to talk about that upcoming event where he’ll attempt to end Roman Reigns’ rule as Undisputed Champion.
Every time he comes out, I absolutely love his theme music. Sooo good!! But, aside from my personal preference, Cody tells Kansas city that he has the utmost respect for Reigns, which came as a pinch of salt in the wound to the fans. They booed the mention of Roman’s name. Ha! Ha! However, Rhodes is also ready to beat him at Mania.
What came as odd is that Cody was asking for Kevin Owens to come out and talk to him. Maybe given the Street Fight match between him and Solo Sikoa earlier this Monday that resulted in an ambush orchestrated by The Bloodline.
Rhodes also invites Sami Zayn knowing that this conversation of going against The Bloodline involves a third party. Although, Kevin looked disgusted at the mere sight of Sami. He even kept a sharp distance in the ring…
So, now, let’s have the talk. Zayn believes that regardless of how many times he and Kevin have done unspeakable things to one another in the past that for some reason this is different. I reckon that when someone abandons the other for what they deemed as “superior company”, that may have been the last straw for Owens. Sami left him for someone who used him. A bit weird, no?
Everyone wants to see Owens and Zayn back on the same page. Sadly, Kevin says “Why should I fight for someone who doesn’t want to be my friend?” That made the whole arena cry as Owens walks out. I kind of get it…
Sami catches up to Kevin in the parking lot to say that he loves him and sees him as his brother. That was sweet, but Kevin simply drives off without saying a word.
Santos Escobar & Zelina Vega vs. Rhea Ripley & Dominik Mysterio – Mixed Tag Team match
This match came to be due to last Friday during a 6-man tag team match between Judgement Day and Legado del Fantasma. Multiple nonsense happened in order to create tonight’s fight. Oof. It was still funny as hell. Ha!
Michael Cole reckons that Ripley turned Dominik into a “loser in life,”’as opposed to Wade Barrett saying that Dom is a winner because he’s dating Rhea, who’s main eventing at WrestleMania. Dom is most definitely plunging into a black hole that I’m not sure he’ll get out of that easily.
As soon as the bell rings, Dominik charges Santos with a drop kick then continues the assault with punches to the temple of his head.
Escobar retaliates with crossbodies mixed with fists to the face of Dom before sending him scurrying off. Ha! Typical.
Ripley comes into the ring, gets caught by Santos, tags Zelina, she leaps from the rope and lands on Rhea.
Ripley is then sent onto the main floor, and Dom follows to check on her. Laughably, he doesn’t see Escobar from afar as he bulldozes him out. Zelina Moonsaults Rhea the moment she’s on her feet.
Cole narrates that people in the locker room are saying the Dominik looks like an extra from Orange is the new Black. Ha! Ha! Randomly funny.
Santos collides with a thunderous drop kick to Dom in the middle of the ring. He then pays homage to Eddie Guerrero before leg dropping Dom for a near win. Ripley intercepts with a double team then Zelina interrupts.
A collision prompts Vega and Ripley to get in this match. Zelina stands Rhea up with a sharply well executed DDT. She almost had it until Dom pulls her off of the cover.
Ripley takes out both Dom and Santos as she wobbles to remain still. Zelina climbs back into the ring after getting thrown out, stalking Rhea. Vega leaps in with a crossbody then a harsh knee to the face.
This could have been Legado del Fantasma’s night, but Dom distracted Vega to launch him out of the ring, which gave Rhea an opening to perform the Riptide for a victory.
Damn it!
They won, why must Dom say anything? He had to remind us that Rey is a disrespectful dead-beat father. Of course, Rey wasn’t going to let those thought processes to continue.
The crowd cheers when they see Rey on the big screen making his way to the ring.
Rey acknowledges that he hasn’t been there the majority of Dom’s life, so that’s good. He takes ownership like I mentioned last week or so. He’s not the best father, but I don’t believe he’s the worst. “That doesn’t take away my love for you, son. I still love you.”
Whether he believes him or not, Rey does warn Dom that pretty soon he’ll see exactly how selfish this business really is, all he did wasn’t a spur of the moment thing, or careless acting.
I thought that when Rey said that whenever Dom gets into trouble, “the Mysterio name bails you out,” he said, I was like “Ooh. Advantages, then?”
No matter how hard it is for Rey to cope with the whirlwind that’s daddy issues, he still wants his son to be there when he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame the night before WrestleMania.
I actually heard Rey’s voice cracking possibly indicating he’s in tears. I almost cried myself, but I know if I fully did, I wouldn’t stop for a while.
Rey thinks it’s too late for any kind of retribution, yet his only regret is seeing what Dom has become. If someone like Dom approaches Rey with a huff and puff attitude, calling him out at WrestleMania, he would gladly beat their ass. Ha! Ha!
“Beat his ass! Beat his ass!” The crowd chants
“Unfortunately, you’re my son. And fighting you would be the biggest disgrace as a father. You’re not worth it. I’m not going to fight you now, I’m not going to fight you ever.”
Dom is so entitled to say that Rey is running from him. That Rey taught him what not to be. Very Shakespearean. Ha!
Everything Rey said almost felt like dirt and wind because of Dom’s reaction.
Winners: Rhea Ripley & Dominik Mysterio
Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez vs. Emma & Tegan Nox – WrestleMania Showcase Qualifying match
By getting involved in this fight, two out of these four women hope to punch their ticket to WrestleMania. Will it be Rodriguez and Morgan, or Emma and Nox?
Raquel quickly and harshly plants Tegan on his face. She then tries to powerbomb Nox, but she manages to escape and slaps Raquel, who takes it poorly.
Morgan and Rodriguez play a double team on Nox by keeping her in their corner. Liv continues the onslaught with a knee to Tegan’s jaw.
Nox manages to turn things around as she hammers away at Liv’s backside. Morgan was in trouble once Emma and Tegan were picking her apart in their corner. Payback, I see.
An opportunity arises once Morgan performs the Backstabber to Tegan as she looks to reach Raquel for aid.
Rodriguez charges in at Emma with a number of clotheslines, a fall away slam, and the Spinning Corkscrew for a cover that’s interrupted by Tegan Nox, who’s immediately dropped by Morgan with the Code Red.
Raquel performs the Tahana Bomb to Emma, leaves an opening for Liv to deliver the final blow with the Oblivion. These ladies are now part of the fatal 4-way tag team match happening at WrestleMania in two weeks time.
Winners: Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez
“Rose as a challenger, Flair as a champion.” said Charlotte as she talks about the Road to WrestleMania. This is going to be her seventh appearance where she’s either the challenger, or the champion, but she always been the star.
Ripley won’t be the champion till she goes through Flair first. Because “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” However, this is a new kind of Ripley than the one from three years ago.
Every men and women in the locker room turn away and walk in the opposite direction when they see Rhea because of fear. She chose Charlotte over Bianca Belair for a reason knowing we’ll get back to that RAW Championship chat later.
Flair, surprisingly to Rhea, is staring at her without an ounce of fear like she wanted. She’s staring down at Ripley. “To be quite frank with you, that pisses me off.”
Charlotte has been a Superstar for a reason, and Rhea scarily knows that. She needs to be a star as well with the knowledge that she’s “bloody good” at what she does. If Rhea rises as the winner, she wants Flair to learn to not only call her champion, but to submit to fear.
Dominik abruptly approaches Charlotte and starts mouthing off, which allows Rhea to send a cheap shot so hard that Flair fell backwards.
That made her very angry, so she decides to clothesline Rhea on the main floor. This turns into a brawl as officials attempt to break them up. It got real nasty! Ha! Charlotte even takes out a security guard by mistake.
Charlotte and Rhea were wiping out everyone else in order to get to the other no matter what. They also flopped into the audience. They eventually managed to remove these ladies from the arena.
Michael Cole said he can’t wait for WrestleMania.
Elsewhere, Sami Zayn says that it’s time to buck up and face Jey, even though, he deems Zayn as the problem.
Xavier Woods vs. LA Knight
Knight has Woods under his boot of pain for a good portion of this match. Stomping Xavier’s chest and whatnot while saying “Yeah!” Eew.
LA Knight performs a, dare I say, beautiful DDT to Woods before a failed cover. Xavier shifts gears with a missile drop kick to Knight off the top rope.
We look at the power of Woods when he puts Knight through one hell of a vertical suplex.
Knight thought that after the throw down he performed, he was going to win, but Woods rolls him up for a victory.
Winner: Xavier Woods
Ric Flair made the announcement that the Japanese legend, The Great Muta will be joining Rey Mysterio as the second inductee of the class of 2023 Hall of Fame. I’ve, unfortunately, never had the pleasure of watching Muta in the ring, but from the clips they provided, I can see he was amazing. Well deserved.
Backstage, LA Knight had the nerve to suggest to Rey that if he won’t fight his son, he’ll gladly do it as “LA Mysterio”, he can be the dead-beat dad too. Rey rightfully slaps Knight across the face and cusses at him in Spanish. That left Knight breathless and confused. Ha! Good for him.
As a solution, Rey will take his frustration on LA Knight next week.
Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre – Winner takes on Gunther at WrestleMania
Just as the fight was about to start, Imperium shows up as well. I was like “Ooh” with Wade Barrett. Ha!
Gunther is here on a scouting mission to see who he’ll face in two weeks. Are you telling me you couldn’t do that from the VIP section?
I’ve been noticing this for quite a while, the attempt at a hand shake. What’s up with that? Superstars in a rivalry always seem to want to shake hands with their opponent who clearly isn’t in the mood for no tomfoolery like Sheamus. They mostly get their hand slapped. Ha! I just don’t get it.
Sheamus delivers a shoulder tackle to Drew, who counters with a knee to the mid-section.
McIntyre was going for the hip toss, but Sheamus takes him down swiftly. Meanwhile, Gunther is welcomed at commentary because Barrett wanted a few words from him.
If Sheamus wins, Gunther will fulfill his duty and beat him. Following that, the Intercontinental Champion gets pissy because of Barrett’s “Ill-prepared questions,” He’s only here to observe. Ha! Liar.
While McIntyre delivers chops to Sheamus’ chest, he returns the blow with uppercuts then an Irish Curse Back Breaker for a near win.
McIntyre performs a superplex off the top rope, which was amazing, but he is momentarily unable to capitalize.
Gunther was simply enjoying himself.
Since Sheamus couldn’t submit Drew, he decides to deliver the Ten Beats of the Bodhrán. He then charges at McIntyre attempting the Bro Kick, yet Drew impedes him with a neck breaker.
Kip up by McIntyre! We might be going to Claymore Country, funnily, we get a detour with a harsh knee to the jaw courtesy of Sheamus. 1, 2… nope. It wasn’t enough to put Drew away.
A collision by both men plants them on their backs in exhaust. A Claymore and a Bro Kick at the same time. Wow!
If that surprise wasn’t sufficient, Gunther gets into the ring to start yelling at Sheamus and Drew, wondering who will face him while masking an ambush from Giovanni and Ludwig from behind resulting in the match ending prematurely. Arg!
Due to Imperium’s arrogant actions, Adam Pearce decides to turn Gunther’s one-on-one championship battle into a triple-threat match at WrestleMania. He made it official. Ha! Yay!
Gunther is pissed.
Winner: Adam Pearce
Sami Zayn wastes no time after Jey Uso makes his entrance to come out too.
“This is what you wanted, isn’t it, Uce? Right, my dog!” I burst out laughing.
We all know that from day one, Jey hated Sami, didn’t want him around his family. Now, Jey tells Zayn that since he was little, it was his job to protect his family, but the moment he lets his guard down, Zayn, apparently, caused destruction. Betraying him.
Jey says Sami made him look stupid and embarrassed in front of us. He called Sami his brother, and that takes a lot out of Jey Jey to begin with when it comes to strangers making their way into his family. I think tears were coming out.
“But, from day one, you have always been a fake ass Uce!”
Jey keeps saying he had no choice to take Sami out, but Zayn believes he did. He chose to take Roman’s abuse while Sami decided not to. “I don’t think you’re mad at me, Jey. I think you’re mad at yourself.”
Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Damn.
Sami predicts that Jey isn’t mad that he hit Roman with the chair, he presumes that Jey is pissed that he didn’t do it first.
Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! That left Jey Jey temporarily silent…
Whatever the audience chanted made Jey attack Sami. Zayn also attempts to return fire.
Jimmy leaps out from nowhere to assist Jey. The use of the steel stairs as a weapon against Sami was included.
But when we thought Sami was done for, Kevin Owens “came to his senses” according to Cole to take out the Usos. A Stunner to Jimmy. A Pop Up Powerbomb to Jey.
All you hear after that is “Aah! Ahh!” from Owens. It was weirdly hilarious. Ha! Ha! Ha!
Anyway, Owens and Zayn finally hug it out. YAY! The whole arena was cheering. So was Cody Rhodes backstage.
TOP PHOTO: Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens hugging. Courtesy of WWE