The Wrestling Roundup is here to bring you all the news and rumors you need to know in one place.
WWE SmackDown Results:
Another week, another dose of Friday Night SmackDown. This one promised a Women’s Tag Team Championship match. What other action was on the blue brand as they continued the march to Backlash? Here are the results:
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- Otis def. King Corbin
- Lacey Evans def. Sonya Deville
- Drew Gulak def. A.J. Styles
- Chad Gable & New Day def. Cesaro, Shinsuke Nakamura & Mojo Rawley
- Sasha Banks & Bayley def. Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss (c) to win the Women’s Tag Team Championships
WWE SmackDown Takeaways
We had our follow-up to the Jeff Hardy angle from last week. It seemingly was a set-up perpetrated by Sheamus. This angle is very raw and very real, drawing on a lot of Hardy’s personal experience. If he’s cool with it, that makes it a bit more okay. It still feels a little too close to home for a midcard feud.
WWE is going for a strange build to their Miz & Morrison versus Braun Strowman title feud. This show had Miz & Morrison play pranks on Strowman. They messed with his protein shake, and later with his car. There was also collateral damage: poor Kayla Braxton got slimed instead of Strowman. They’re really building towards a title feud with the same gimmick as the Kids Choice Awards.
We’ve got new Women’s Tag Team Champions! The Role Models, Sasha Banks and Bayley, have been a great team for so long. They were the first champs, and now they get to bring some more life to the tag division. The inevitable loss of the belts could be the catalyst for their eventual singles feud. For now, Bayley & Banks have a stranglehold on the blue brand’s women’s division.
Rumors on NXT Call-ups & Contracts
We know that Matt Riddle is making his way to SmackDown as the latest call-up. There are rumors about the next set of call-ups as well. According to reports from WrestlingInc, Velveteen Dream & Io Shirai are being discussed for a main roster call up. This adds to reports that Dominik Dijakovic and Chelsea Green are also on their way to Raw or SmackDown. An infusion of new talent could make Raw and SmackDown much more interesting in the near future.
NXT Champion Adam Cole is also a topic of conversation. WrestlingInc is reporting that Cole has not signed a new contract with WWE, and that his current one expires in June. Would a move to AEW to be with girlfriend Britt Baker and his Bullet Club friends be in the cards? Let the rampant speculations begin!
One for the Road:
Lio Rush uploaded screenshots on social media that show an email he sent to WWE regarding hazing and a hostile working environment in WWE. It will be interesting to see if WWE responds at all. Here’s hoping the “tradition” of hazing disappears soon from the wrestling world.
https://twitter.com/itsLioRush/status/1268974196652150792
