WWE SmackDown Live – April 9, 2019 (Review)

The Best of SmackDown Live

Ali, Aleister Black and Ricochet Return to Winning Ways

After several weeks of ineptitude, including a run of six days in which Black & Ricochet came up short in matches for the Raw, NXT and SmackDown tag belts, their victory over the franken-team of Nakamura, Rusev and Andrade was a much-needed change of direction. As impressive as all three men are in the ring, it really felt like they desperately needed a win to re-establish themselves as a team to be taken seriously. (I’d still rather see them as singles stars though.)

The six-man tag bout itself was also a nice TV encounter, complete with a moonsault off the barricade by Ricochet and an awesome Black Mass on Nakamura just as he was climbing into the ring.

#BlxckMass just CONNECTED on @ShinsukeN!#SDLive #SDLiveAfterMania @WWEAleister pic.twitter.com/ZqsdsNdYxy

— WWE (@WWE) April 10, 2019

The IIconics Are Life

I’m going to reveal my personal biases here, but I firmly believe that there’s nothing in life that can’t be made significantly better by a small dose of the The IIconics.

SmackDown saw them take on the undefeated Brooklyn Belles, boasting an impressive record of 45-0 (according to Billie Kay at least). From the outset, I struggled to remember these two women’s names – a task in which I was done no favours by Corey, who seemed to be having the same difficulty – but this squash match was all about the new Tag Team Champions.

The IIconics need to establish themselves as a legitimate tag team threat, following a bumpy first year on the main roster, and a couple of matchups against jobber teams is a good way to go about it. It allows the Australian duo to pick up a few dominant wins, without running the risk of exposing their shortcomings between the ropes.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwDjCwxhRAa/

Paige is Back!

The former SmackDown Live General Manager was shown backstage observing The IIconics defeat the Brooklyn Belles. Kayla Braxton quickly scurried over to ask her a few questions, during which Paige revealed that she would be returning to the blue brand next week. And that she would be bringing a team to challenge the Tag Team Champions.

Not only was I happy to see Paige back on TV, but I’m genuinely intrigued to find out what (and whom) she’s got in store for The IIconics next week.

New Tag Team Champions

The Usos defended their belts against the Hardys, in a match that really got going towards the end. Jeff kicked out of a Jey Uso splash, before dodging the dual splash from the brothers. From there, Matt delivered the Twist of Fate on Jimmy and Jeff landed the Swanton Bomb to finish.

And just like that, we have new tag team champions, presumably freeing up The Usos to jump across to Raw next week. The former champs have run the SmackDown tag division for a good few years now, and it’ll be refreshing to see them take on teams other than The Bar or New Day.

Oh, and Lars Sullivan then laid out both Hardys in typical monster fashion. It’s still unclear where this is going for ‘The Freak’, but WWE seem content to push Sullivan as a monster heel for now.

He has struck again.

The #HardyBoyz' #SDLive #TagTeamTitles win has been DESTROYED by the FREAKISH @LarsSWWE! #SDLiveAfterMania pic.twitter.com/i26mwu0Lyt

— WWE (@WWE) April 10, 2019

• review
• WrestleMania
• Smackdown
• wwe

Share this article with friends