The first night of WWE’s Road to WrestleMania European Tour was as electric as we expected, which elevated the show to new heights.
Kicking Things Off With a YEAH!
The newly crowned United States Champion LA Knight kicked off the show last night with a promo to get the crowd going and was interrupted by a desperate Jimmy Uso. Jimmy said he feels that his window to WrestleMania closing and asked Knight for a title shot.
Before he could accept Jimmy’s offer, Knight was interrupted by Solo Sikoa and the new Bloodline, who came out saying that if anyone deserved a title shot, it was Jacob Fatu. A brawl began and Braun Strowman joined in the chaos shortly after, which prompted GM Nick Aldis to declare a three-on-three tag team match to start the night.
This match was one that could’ve appeared on any episode of Smackdown. What made it special was the Barcelona crowd. They were on fire, which would stay true until the very end of the show.
The Babyface team came out victorious, but another brawl ensued after the final bell rang between Strowman and Fatu, elevating their feud further. Jacob Fatu walked out of this looking stronger than anyone.
Jade Cargill is Interrupted by Liv and Raquel
The next segment of the show was an interview with Jade Cargill in which we finally found out her side of the story as to what happened with Naomi. As she faded into a state of unconsciousness, she saw Naomi running from the scene of the crime. She said that physically, she is fine. She is more hurt emotionally than anything.
As for why she didn’t tell anyone until weeks later, I’m not exactly sure we got our answer. Liv Morgan was wondering the same thing. She and Raquel interrupted the segment to set up a match between her and Jade next week.
I tell you what, Liv Morgan is an amazing heel (if you couldn’t already tell from the year she just had). She plays one of the most easily hateable and annoying characters in the WWE today. Especially with that laugh of hers. You know the one. I said to my girlfriend after the segment,
“Liv Morgan is such a b*tch and I love it.”
B-Fab vs The Queen
Charlotte Flair had her first singles match in over a year last night against B-Fab, which she predictably won. In the match, she showed little to no signs of ring rust. She looked to be a bit careful with her injured knee at times, but otherwise, she looked WrestleMania-ready. She even got fireworks for her entrance.
After the match, Charlotte refused to let B-Fab out of the figure 8 leg-lock. This prompted Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton to rush down to the ring to make the save, and an awesome brawl ensued for a while afterward.
I feel like this feud has the same problem as Jey Uso vs Gunther at the moment. Like why is Tiffy saving B-Fab? They have no relation to one another at all. I think this would’ve been more effective if Charlotte had taken on Trish Stratus tonight, who has an actual connection to Tiffany.
Miz TV: Featuring Cody Rhodes
Miz TV kicked off the way it usually does. With the Miz bashing his guest from every angle he can before he even makes it to the ring.
There was a short interruption before the WWE Champion made it to the ring however, and that was the brawl from the previous segment leaking over into this one. For me, this didn’t add much more to the show or feud than the previous segment did. I just wanted to hear from Cody at this point.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to hear very much from Cody tonight. He made his way to the ring, beat up The Miz, and called out the absent John Cena for the third show in a row.
I think that they have been showing Cody too much since the Cena heel turn, to the point where the crowd has seemingly turned their backs on Cody Rhodes. The John Cena chants were loud. Very loud. People want to see and hear from him more than anything. Showing Cody each week without Cena unintentionally putting Cena more over than ever. Unless this is what WWE is going for.
Damien Priest vs Shinsuke Nakamura
Damien Priest defeated Shinsuke Nakamura via disqualification in a singles match tonight. I gotta say, I knew Priest wasn’t walking away from this with an L on his record, but it was nice to see Shinsuke getting some TV time. Since losing his US title (last week) he has already had the same amount of matches as he did in his title reign.
I said on my radio show a few nights ago that I feared for Shinsuke’s career if WWE couldn’t find a way to use him after dropping the title. Although nothing crazy came out of this match, more TV time alone is doing him and his new auraless character a favor.
Drew McIntyre attacked Damien Priest late in the match to give him the disqualification win. We saw in a video package earlier in the show what Drew’s motivations for targeting Priest are. Thank god we got this too because without it, I had honestly forgotten how involved with Drew’s previous year that Damien Priest was.
Priest capitalized on Drew at WrestleMania, Drew was screwed over in a title match against Priest in his home country, Priest was a part of Drew’s terrible Money In The Bank cash-in, Damien eliminated him from the rumble, and now he got the best of Drew in Elimination Chamber as well.
While I still can’t say I think this is the right thing to do with Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania, at least it is starting to make a little bit more sense now.
A New Challenger for Chelsea Green
We got a backstage segment setting up a feud between Chelsea Green and Zelina Vega for the Women’s United States Championship.
I couldn’t be more happy about this. I am not sure that this will be the feud for WrestleMania, but anything is better than Michin at this point. I hate Michin so much, dude…
Randy Orton vs Carmelo Hayes
As Charlotte Flair did earlier in the night, Randy Orton made his in-ring return with a one-on-one match against Carmelo Hayes.
This match was absolutely awesome and probably my favorite match of the night. As expected, Randy Orton walked out of this looking like the high caliber superstar that we all know he is. But I have to say, Carmelo Hayes earned his flowers tonight. I think he deserves a spot at WrestleMania this year. He has been one of the most consistent superstars getting TV time on Smackdown since his main roster debut.
The finish to this match was sick as well. Randy pretending that Melo got the best of him, acting dizzy for a second while Hayes prepared to finish him off just to hit him with an RKO from out of nowhere was super cool. We even got another punt kick tease at the end of the match.
Hometown Hero Makes His Main-Roster Debut
One-half of the NXT Tag Team Champions, Axiom, made his Smackdown debut tonight in his home country of Spain against none other than Gunther, who was set on embracing the hometown hero in front of everyone.
This was a nice surprise. I don’t watch NXT as consistently as I do Raw or Smackdown, but I knew that this guy was super talented. Everyone in the crowd knew who he was, and he put on an absolute show. I can’t wait to see what he can do when he finally gets his call-up.
A Shakeup in the Chaotic Tag Team Division
After four long years, The Street Profits have finally reclaimed tag team gold. This match was spectacular and definitely earned its main event spot.
This was a well-deserved title change. I knew that The Profitd would reclaim the titles eventually, but not quite yet. My original prediction was that DIY would drop them to Pretty Deadly next week and that Tez and Dawkins would win them at WrestleMania.
For as big of a moment as this was, I think a victory for The Profits would have been much bigger if it were at WrestleMania. I think we can all see a five-team ladder match for the tag titles coming for Mania. I would have liked to see them win there rather than defending them heading into it.
This division is so hectic right now that I don’t see their reign lasting too long. And honestly, that’s the way it should be. We don’t need another drawn-out Uso-like reign with these titles. They should be passed around every few months to keep this division competitive and fresh.