{"id":77919,"date":"2019-04-09T12:53:28","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T17:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=77919"},"modified":"2019-04-09T12:54:22","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T17:54:22","slug":"wwe-smackdown-primer-4-9-wrestlemania-fallout-kofi-celebration-miz-and-shane-target-on-beckys-back-smackdown-is-iiconic-usos-defends-titles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2019\/04\/09\/wwe-smackdown-primer-4-9-wrestlemania-fallout-kofi-celebration-miz-and-shane-target-on-beckys-back-smackdown-is-iiconic-usos-defends-titles\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER 4\/9: WrestleMania Fallout, Kofi celebration, Miz and Shane, target on Becky\u2019s back, Smackdown is IIconic, Usos defend titles"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-409004471\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><h3><strong>WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>APRIL 9, 2019<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>BROOKLYN, N.Y. AT THE BARCLAYS CENTER<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00 P.M. EST<br \/>\nBY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH SPECIALIST<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em>Announcers: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, and Byron Saxton<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Arena, Smackdown Results Pertinent to Smackdown, and Items Advertised by WWE<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>WWE stays put in Brooklyn, N.Y. as we wrap up a long stretch of wrestling events in The Barclays Center tonight.\u00a0 Tonight\u2019s show is the \u201cSmackdown after WrestleMania.\u201d\u00a0 I will be the on-site correspondent on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post Show tonight and look forward to sharing our in-arena experience especially after the ending to Raw last night.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the results from WrestleMania pertinent to Smackdown:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Carmella won the women\u2019s battle royal on the kickoff show<\/li>\n<li>A.J. Styles defeated Randy Orton<\/li>\n<li>The Usos defeated Shinsuke Nakamura &amp; Rusev, Aleister Black &amp; Ricochet, and The Bar (Sheamus &amp; Cesaro) to retain the Smackdown Tag Team Championship<\/li>\n<li>Shane McMahon defeated The Miz in a Falls Count Anywhere match<\/li>\n<li>Kofi Kingston defeated Daniel Bryan to win the WWE Championship<\/li>\n<li>Samoa Joe defeated Rey Mysterio to retain the U.S. Championship<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here is what\u2019s advertised for the show tonight:<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Matches &amp; Segments:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The New Day celebrate Kofi Kingston\u2019s WWE Championship win at WrestleMania<\/li>\n<li>The Usos and The Hardy Boyz square off for the Smackdown Tag Team Titles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Storyline Follow-Up:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>How will the Miz bounce back after crushing loss to Shane McMahon?<\/li>\n<li>Will the target on Becky Lynch\u2019s back get even bigger?<\/li>\n<li>How IIconic will Smackdown LIVE be?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>ADVERTISED MATCHES &amp; SEGMENTS<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Kofi Kingston\u2019s WWE Championship Celebration<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, Kofi Kingston completed the long journey and captured the WWE Championship from Daniel Bryan.\u00a0 The match went around 24 minutes and ended when Kofi hit his signature Trouble in Paradise and scored the pin.\u00a0 He celebrated with his New Day partners and brought back the original leather and metal one.\u00a0 Kofi\u2019s sons joined in the festivities and New Day also revealed new t-shirts showing Kofi as champion.<\/p>\n<p>Last night on Raw, New Day made a surprise appearance.\u00a0 Kofi challenged new Universal Champion Seth Rollins to a winner take all match in the main event.\u00a0 They started their match but were interrupted by the Bar (Sheamus &amp; Cesaro) who also made a surprise appearance on Raw.\u00a0 They would have a tag team match against Kofi and Seth, scrapping the winner take all match.\u00a0 This was NOT well received by the crowd.\u00a0 Kofi and Seth would go on to win.<\/p>\n<p>Tonight, New Day celebrates Kofi\u2019s WWE Championship victory.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a <a href=\"http:\/\/wwe.com\/\">WWE.com<\/a>\u00a0exclusive following his win:<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2818151129\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The New Day react to Kofi Kingston becoming WWE Champion: WWE Exclusive, April 7, 2019\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6XLlLu0psYE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis:\u00a0 I hate piling on, but what in God\u2019s name was WWE thinking last night?\u00a0 It\u2019s not that we didn\u2019t get a finish to the winner take all match, but they have the Bar interfere and have it led to a tag team match?\u00a0 Give me one person in the audience or watching on TV that would have been excited about that.\u00a0 I guarantee you won\u2019t find him or her.\u00a0 Also, they have a commercial before the Seth-Kofi match advertising Kofi\u2019s celebration tonight which all but gave away that there wouldn\u2019t be a finish.\u00a0 It\u2019s just tone-deaf and sloppy on a lot of levels.\u00a0 There were thoughts that WWE was concerned about going up against the NCAA Championship game and that\u2019s why they advertised a winner take all match.\u00a0 I wonder if Vince thought that well, people complained about the lighting and the length of WrestleMania?\u00a0 Who do you think you are to complain?\u00a0 Now you\u2019re going to get a virtual middle finger by getting a non-finish in a big match and a tag match in which you have no interest.\u00a0 Give me a break.\u00a0 At any rate, it\u2019ll be interesting to see how the crowd responds to Kofi tonight considering we got to see him last night already.\u00a0 It takes the steam from seeing him on Smackdown for the first time as WWE Champion.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Smackdown Tag Team Championship: The Usos (champs) vs. The Hardy Boyz (Matt &amp; Jeff)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Usos retained the Smackdown Tag Team Championship by winning a fatal four-way match at WrestleMania as I noted earlier.<em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It could be argued that the Usos are one the best tag teams if not the best in the past ten years with their popularity and six championships overall.\u00a0 If you back an additional ten years, many more teams join that conversation and one them is without question Matt &amp; Jeff Hardy.\u00a0 In addition to their individual accolades, the Hardys have won eight tag team championships overall under the WWE banner and have had many memorable matches.<\/p>\n<p>You can make the analogy that the Hardys are to Edge &amp; Christian as the Usos are to New Day, as these teams had great long-term feuds.\u00a0 You could say the best of the 2000s meet the best of the 2010s as the Usos defend their championship against the Hardys tonight.\u00a0 The Hardys last won the Raw Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania in their epic return at that show in 2017.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the Usos after their win at WrestleMania:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Usos won&#039;t stay on the WrestleMania sidelines anymore: WWE Exclusive, April 7, 2019\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-iHRi-bvioo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis:\u00a0 You could argue that this should have been on the WrestleMania card and it probably should have, but with so many matches it\u2019s almost better that this is on Smackdown as it will stand out.\u00a0 Something to consider here is that the Superstar Shakeup is next week.\u00a0 The Usos have been on Smackdown since 2016.\u00a0 A move to Raw wouldn\u2019t hurt and the Hardys winning the title wouldn\u2019t be the worst thing in the world.\u00a0 They could hold it short term and build up somebody else in a feud.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>STORYLINES ADVERTISED FOR FOLLOW-UP<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Next Up for Miz &amp; Shane McMahon<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Shane McMahon defeated the Miz in a Falls Count Anywhere match at WrestleMania.\u00a0 He won when Miz suplexed him off a camera platform but freakishly Shane was on top of him and scored a pin.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-4000176825\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Their story goes back to when Shane McMahon won the World Cup at Crown Jewel, when he replaced Miz in the finals of the World Cup tournament.\u00a0 They went on to briefly hold the Smackdown Tag Team Championship and when they failed to recapture the titles, Shane turned on Miz.\u00a0 That lead to the match at WrestleMania.\u00a0 Here\u2019s Miz and Shane separately on Twitter:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sometimes winning isn\u2019t defined by a 1,2,3. Last night at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Wrestlemania?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Wrestlemania<\/a> I whooped Shane all over @mlstadium Today I hurt, I\u2019ve got staples in my head, my body aches but my\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/p8lQmdQJ1c\">https:\/\/t.co\/p8lQmdQJ1c<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; The Miz (@mikethemiz) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mikethemiz\/status\/1115426927194648581?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 9, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201c1..2..3&#8230;and the winner, the BEST IN THE WORLD, Shane McMahon.\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WrestleMania?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WrestleMania<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ITzYwRGmh0\">pic.twitter.com\/ITzYwRGmh0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Shane McMahon (@shanemcmahon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/shanemcmahon\/status\/1115316395766616064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 8, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis:\u00a0 I had Miz winning, thinking Shane would go away as he usually does after WrestleMania.\u00a0 Shane winning points to this feud continuing and that\u2019s fine.\u00a0 The match delivered and I\u2019m sure we can expect something on a future episode of Smackdown if not the next Saudi Arabia show.\u00a0 With WWE having Saudi shows after WrestleMania, we can start to see feuds continue past \u2018Mania rather than end as they typically do.<\/em><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Target on Becky Lynch\u2019s Back<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>As we know, Becky Lynch won both the Raw and Smackdown Women\u2019s Championship at WrestleMania from Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair.<\/p>\n<p>Last night on Raw, Becky thanked the fans and called herself \u201cBecky Two Belts.\u201d\u00a0 She told Ronda, who was not in attendance, that when she was done \u201csulking\u201d she can come back and get her head slapped off her shoulders.\u00a0 As far as Charlotte, she sarcastically said the McMahons will probably hand her the tag team championship to make her feel better.\u00a0 In the end, she realized she\u2019s a marked woman but is ready to \u201cslap the heads off y\u2019all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lacey Evans would interrupt Becky leaving and the two would brawl.\u00a0 Becky almost put the Disarm Her on Lacey before the refs pried her off.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s Lacey on Twitter.\u00a0 You wonder if there will be social media banter between these two if they start a feud:<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/LaceyEvansWWE\/status\/1115614805879029761?s=20<\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis:\u00a0 There are multiple reports that Ronda Rousey broke her hand at WrestleMania, so it looks like that feud will get a break.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to say if the feud with Charlotte is getting a break as well, but we\u2019ll find out on Smackdown.\u00a0 Lacey Evans while she hasn\u2019t done much except for multiple struts and a Royal Rumble appearance, wouldn\u2019t be a bad option opposite Becky for a while.\u00a0 The two interesting things to see play out is which women move in the Superstar Shakeup next week combined with Becky holding both titles.\u00a0 Charlotte and Asuka are the ones to which I will pay attention.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>The IIconics Begin their WWE Women\u2019s Tag Team Championship Reign<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The IIconics (Peyton Royce &amp; Billie Kay) captured their first WWE Women\u2019s Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania in a fatal four-way I mentioned earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Peyton and Billie are childhood friends that came into the WWE system in 2016, debuting as the Iconic Duo on NXT.\u00a0 They never won any titles, but Peyton did take part in a fatal four-way for the NXT Women\u2019s Championship at Takeover in November of 2017.<\/p>\n<p>They debuted on last year\u2019s Smackdown after WrestleMania and attacked Charlotte Flair, leading to Carmella cashing in her Money in the Bank contract to win the Smackdown Women\u2019s Championship.\u00a0 One year later, they are the WWE Women\u2019s Tag Team Champions.\u00a0 Here they are in a <a href=\"http:\/\/wwe.com\/\">WWE.com<\/a> exclusive following their win:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">EXCLUSIVE: After winning the WWE <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WomensTagTeam?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WomensTagTeam<\/a> Championship at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WrestleMania?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WrestleMania<\/a>, The <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/IIconics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#IIconics<\/a> show off their new titles. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7UNjZaVGUE\">pic.twitter.com\/7UNjZaVGUE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; WWE (@WWE) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWE\/status\/1115418951700242434?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 9, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis:\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure the IIconics should have gotten the tag titles here, but with Bayley losing a quick match to Alexa Bliss you wonder if they are splitting her and Sasha Banks in the Superstar Shakeup.\u00a0 I don\u2019t hate this win either.\u00a0 There\u2019s a story to be told with these two.\u00a0 They\u2019ll need some opponents to be built up for their run to mean something.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Other Items to Anticipate Tonight:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Lars Sullivan finally made his debut on Raw last night, and Sami Zayn made his return after a 10-month absence.\u00a0 Lars attacked Kurt Angle and Sami came up short in an Intercontinental Champion match against new champ Finn Balor.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen multiple callups from NXT so, it\u2019s hard to imagine getting any more tonight.\u00a0 Lars was to have been called up in November but had mental health issues which he has appeared to have overcome.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Start Time &amp; Matches Advertised on the Arena Website <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Barclays Center\u2019s website advertises a start time of 7:45 p.m. local time.\u00a0 Oddly though I got an e-mail that says the event starts at 7:30, with doors opening at 6:00 p.m.\u00a0 As they did with last night\u2019s Raw, they advertise no matches nor wrestlers appearing.<\/p>\n<p>205 Live will follow the main show.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Follow me on Twitter @FrankPeteani or e-mail me at <\/em><a href=\"mailto:fpeteani@gmail.com\"><em>fpeteani@gmail.com<\/em><\/a><em>.\u00a0 Questions and discussion are welcome.\u00a0 Thank you for reading!<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-4140335750\"><div id=\"pwtor-2855958582\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER APRIL 9, 2019 BROOKLYN, N.Y. AT THE BARCLAYS CENTER AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00 P.M. EST BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH SPECIALIST Announcers: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, and Byron Saxton Arena, Smackdown <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2019\/04\/09\/wwe-smackdown-primer-4-9-wrestlemania-fallout-kofi-celebration-miz-and-shane-target-on-beckys-back-smackdown-is-iiconic-usos-defends-titles\/\" title=\"WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER 4\/9: WrestleMania Fallout, Kofi celebration, Miz and Shane, target on Becky\u2019s back, Smackdown is IIconic, Usos defend titles\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,4403,27,5893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-smackdown-primer","category-specialists","category-tvprimers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/KingstonKofiGG_3x2_600.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77919"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77928,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77919\/revisions\/77928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}