Friday, March 14, 2025

WWE Smackdown (3/12/25)



WWE Smackdown
Olimpic Arena
Barcelona, Spain
March 14, 2025


Commentators: Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett

Ring Announcer: Lilian Garcia


Welcome to Barcelona, Spain as the UK Rampage Tour continues with a special edition of Smackdown. Going into it, Cody Rhodes will be on Miz TV and DIY defends the tag belts against the Street Profitz. Pretty Deadly won the four corners tag match last week so they got winner of that. Alba Fyre joined Chelsea Green last week so her antics will be must see TV later. B-Fab challenged Charlotte Flair last week so we'll be seeing that as well. Let's get things going.

We open with a panoramic view of Barcelona with the fans already chanting to start. Cody Rhodes is here, so is Gunther, Carmelo Hayes, Randy Orton, DIY, the Street Profitz and Paul Heyman. We start the show with LA Knight in his gear on the way to the ring with a highlight of Knight winning the US strap last week against Shinsuke Nakamura. The fans are cheering so loud Knight can't even get a word in. He just repeatedly says "Yeah" until he says "los toros" and this is the first Smackdown in Barcelona which causes the fans to chant again. Knight "Mah gawd, I'm worldwide." Knight says the belt is where it belongs but here comes Jimmy Uso who doesn't look happy. Jimmy says he's not here to congratulate him, he's desperate. Jimmy says he can't make it to Wrestlemania unless he challenges Knight for the title. Before Knight can answer, here comes Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu and Tama Tonga. Solo says if anyone deserves a title shot its Jacob Fatu. Jacob actually gets a cheer as Solo says Knight got lucky a few weeks ago. Solo says Jimmy is the failure of the family and Jimmy says the only failure was trusting him as his brother, but the biggest failure is Solo losing to Roman Reigns in Tribal Combat. Those are fighting words in Solo's country so he and the others surround Jimmy and Knight. Tonga hits a hanging DDT on Jimmy and the three on 2 attack is on.....but here comes Braun Strowman. Strowman pain trains Tama before cleaning out Jacob and Solo. Jimmy and Knight join in to clear the ring. But wait! Here comes Nick Aldis to make this an official six man tag team match.


Match 1

Jimmy Uso, Braun Strowman and LA Knight vs Tama Tonga, Jacob Fatu and Solo Sikoa

We go to commercial as soon as Aldis says the match is official and when we come back, Solo is clobbering Jimmy in the corner. Jimmy goes up and over and chops Solo in the corner before punching him in the corner. Jimmy decks Tama and Jacob off the apron, but walks right into a Rock Bottom by Solo. Jacob tags in and hits a running senton. A graphic shows Damian Priest vs Shinsuke Nakamura later as Tama hits a hilo on his way in. Solo tags in and Jimmy says something to him before crawling in the corner. Solo hits the Umaga in the corner and headbutts him down. Jacob tags in and applies a nerve hold. Jimmy fights out of it and dives to tag in Knight. Knight punches away at Jacob but gets thrown in the corner. Jacob misses a charge and Knight hits a jumping neckbreaker. Knight hits a DDT and covers but Jacob no sells it, kicking out before a count. Jacob hits a superkick and headbutts Knight in the corner. Jacob misses a Stinger Splash and Knight hits the top rope elbow. Knight calls for the BFT but its blocked. Tama holds Knight and Fatu drops LA with a back elbow smash. Tama tag in to pound away on Knight and splashes him in the corner. Solo tags in and mocks the LA Knight chant. Knight punches his way out of it but gets sent into the buckle. Solo taunts Knight again before dropping him with a back elbow smash. Solo covers for 1...2...no. Tama tags in and headbutts the left arm. Tama headbutts Knight and delivers a snapmare before a basement clothesline. Tama covers for a deuce before Jacob tags back in. Fatu delivers a falling headbutt before tagging in Solo. Solo punches away on Knight in the corner but misses the Umaga. Knight rolls out of a back suplex and hits one of his own. Tama tags in but Knight gets the hot tag to Strowman. He cleans house of all three baddies and the crowd wants the pain train. Strowman plows all three of them on the floor and Jimmy suicide dives on the floor to send Jacob over the announce desk. Back inside Strowman hits the running powerslam on Tama and covers for 1...2..3 to win the match. Serviceable match and it got the crowd hot, not much more you can ask for.


Time of match: 10:09

Winner: Knight, Uso and Strowman by pinfall



The celebration is short lived as Solo hits the Samoan spike on Strowman after the bell. Knight throws Solo into the ring steps on the outside and sends him over the barricade with a clothesline. Jacob superkicks Jimmy on the floor and he attacks Strowman on the inside. Jacob hits the moonsault and calls for a second one. Jacob hits the second one and gets a big pop from the crowd. Fatu hits the third one and leaves with Tama....or not. He sprints back and plows not only Strowman but the barricade itself. Tessitore "Message sent to the monster". Yeah, I'll say. Fatu is a mean looking fella. We're shown a graphic of B-Fab and Charlotte coming up later along with a sit-down interview with Jade Cargill. Before the commercial break, we get a vignette of HHH being an inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Back from break, Tessitore glazes over the 1992 Dream Team as Wade Barrett picks his WWE dream team of Cody Rhodes, John Cena, Randy Orton, Gunther and Dom Mysterio. Tessitore is IRATE that he chose Mysterio and sends us to Cathy Kelley with Jade Cargill before the show started. With nobody in the arena, it looks like an AEW show. Jade says physically she's fine and hates that Naomi is playing victim. Cathy knows how did she know it was Naomi and why didn't she say anything earlier? Jade says she got hit from behind and thrown onto the car, she saw Naomi running away. Jade says that was supposed to be her best friend. She saw Naomi tag with Bianca like nothing happened so she had to take matters into her own hands. But wait, here comes Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez to interrupt. Liv says she told everyone she didn't do it and she blows a raspberry at Jade. Jade challenges Liv to a match next week and walks off. Guess we got a match next week. B-Fab cuts a promo in half Spanish and half English like she's Gerado. The match is next, let's get to it.



Match 2

B-Fab vs Charlotte Flair

Charlotte's heel run established her as a queen bee and B-Fab is having none of it, hence this match. Bell's gone and Tessitore says Charlotte was number 27 and didn't have to go that long to win the Rumble. Charlotte backs B-Fab into the corner and they tie up again. Charlotte arm drags her and drops her with a shoulderblock. Charlotte chops B-Fab three times but Fab hits a superkick, followed by a clothesline. B-Fab hits a half nelson slam as we go to break. Back from commercial Charlotte delivers her knee rolls but the Figure 8 is blocked. Fab is smacked and shoved by Charlotte but then rallies with right hands. She hits shoulderblocks in the corner and a suplex before hitting a sweeping kick in the corner. Charlotte takes her father's bump over the turnbuckle and Fab hits a big pump kick. Fab covers for 1...2...no. Flair superkicks Fab and hits Natural Selection before Charlotte taunts the irate crowd. Charlotte locks in the Figure 8 and B-Fab gives it up. Valiant effort by B-Fab but you knew this was coming, it was designed to put Charlotte over.


Time of match: 8:22

Winner: Flair by submission



Charlotte refuses to release the hold so here comes Tiffany Stratton to get her some. Referees, security and the Suit Brigade (Shane Helms, Shawn Daivari, Kenny Dykstra, etc) run in but Tiffany and Charlotte continue to brawl all over the floor area. Tiffany hits swanton off the top rope onto security and Charlotte. Petey Williams finally separates them as Kenny Dykstra drags Tiffany away. Good stuff. 

We cut to a Drew McIntyre vignette and he blames Damian Priest for all his problems lately. He beat Seth Rollins to win the World title only to be beaten up by CM Punk and cashed in on by Damian Priest. He got screwed by Punk at Clash At The Castle and again after winning Money In The Bank. Priest then eliminated Drew at the Rumble and pinned him at Elimination Chamber. McIntyre says this isn't about titles anymore, this is persona and he's putting Priest down for good so he can't take anything from him ever again. Once again Drew blames everyone else but himself for his problems.

Its time for Miz TV as The Miz makes his way to the ring as we go to break. Back from break Tiffany and Charlotte brawl back to the entrance with Miz trying to start his promo. The funny thing is there's about ten men out there and they can't separate two women. Tiffany climbs up onto the titantron and swantons the entire security team and Charlotte as well. The crowd loved it as Tiffany says "There's a new queen in town" as Charlotte stares a hole in her. Back in the ring Miz says "That was awesome." Miz says his guest tonight should have taken The Rock's offer and instead got beat up by two rappers, Travis Scott and John Cena (haahahahahhaa!). Miz says unlike himself, Cody Rhodes will not beat John Cena at Wrestlemania. Say what you will about Miz, he CAN boast that he retained the WWE title against John Cena at Wrestlemania. Here comes Cody but Miz cu1ts off the music much to the crowd's chagrin. Miz "I don't have time for sing-a-long with Cody Rhodes! I've already been interrupted by Tiffy Time" and Cody doesn't wait around. He hits the Dustin punch and Cross Rhodes immediately. Rhodes wears a Barcelona Nightmare shirt and says he doesn't want to talk to anyone but John Cena. He'll be in Belgium on Monday night to see Cena.

We cut to Shinsuke Nakamura with Nick Aldis and Shinsuke wants a re-match. Damian Priest shows up and wants Drew McIntyre. Shinsuke says something in Japanese and Priest answers in Spanish. Aldis says he has no idea what either of them are saying but if they want a match, they got one. Priest makes his entrance as we go to break. Back from commercial we get a vignette to signify Ray Fenix is on his way although he's not named.



Match 3

Damian Priest vs Shinsuke Nakamura

The rumor going around is Shinsuke's contract is up and he's leaving. If he loses this one, that could be a sign that the rumors are true. Bell's gone and they tie up to start before Priest gives a clean break. Priest locks in an arm-ringer before switching to a headlock. Shinsuke kicks away at him in the corner but Priest catches the leg. Priest throws him into the corner and rallies with right hands. A big right hand rocks Shnsuke and face plants him. Priest clotheslines Nakamura over the top to the floor as we go to commercial. Back from break, Nakamura has a pinfall attempt for 1..2...no. Shinsuke locks in a chin lock as Priest fights his way out of it. Nakamura hits an enziguiri and goes for the second rope elbow. Priest catches him in mid-air and hits downward spiral. Priest kicks away at Shinsuke and drops him with a discuss punch. Priest hits an avalanche in the corner and a broken arrow. Nakamura bails and Priest bullrushes him into the announce table, missing Wade Barrett by two feet. Priest walks the top rope and hits a cross body before calling for South of Heaven. Nakamura counters with a triangle choke but Priest sldies out of it. Priest turns Nakamura into a 360 spin with a lariat and calls for South of Heaven. Drew McIntyre pops up and sits on the announce table as Nakamura rolls up Priest for 1...2..no. Nakamura calls for Kinshasha but runs right into South of Heaven. McIntyre runs in to beat up Priest for the DQ. Good way to keep Nakamura's head by having him not take the fall there. It was a good match for what it was.


Time of match: 8:42

Winner: Priest by DQ



McIntyre rakes the eyes of Priest and Nakamura hits the Kinshasha to the back of the head after the match. McIntyre smiles at Shinsuke as Nakamura leaves. The crowd chants for CM Punk and McIntyre continues the beat down. McIntyre throws him outside then into the barricade. McIntyre throws him into another barricade and picks up the ring steps. Drew blasts Damian with the ring steps and goes to leave. He sees Priest getting up so he hits him with the Claymore Kick. McIntyre leaves Priest laying again as McIntyre says Priest has taken everything from him so he's got nothing left to lose. Sometimes that's all you need in a feud.

We cut to Cathy Kelley with DIY and she asks how they're so sure they're winning. Ciampa "Why is Smackdown the greatest tag team division in wrestling? Us!" Gargano says Street Profitz never win the big one and say the Profitz don't want the smoke, they want the choke. Here comes the Motor City Machine Guns and Alex Shelley says DIY are marked men. Chris Sabin says when they're done with the Profitz, the Guns will be waiting.

We cut to Randy Orton making his way to the ring for his first match since October 11th against Carmelo Hayes. Back from break some soccer players are shown in the crowd before we cut to Cathy Kelley with Chelsea Green, Piper Niven and Alba Fyre. Chelsea tells Cathy that she's been facing injustices like Nicholas Aldis and Michin. She says her administration is in full force but Zelina Vega doesn't agree. Vegas calls herself the next champion but Niven steps in and says you have to go through her first. Vega says fine, next week its her and Niven and then Chelsea is hers "byeeeee". On to the next match.



Match 4

Randy Orton vs Carmelo Hayes

The crowd sings along to Orton's theme as he makes his entrance. Tessitore "Every time Carmelo opens his mouth, there's always a massive challenge in front of him." Orton can barely get a reaction out of a girl in the front row and Melo just stares at her. Bell rings and Melo wants a hand shake to start. Randy goes for it and Melo pulls his hand away. Melo shoves him and Randy hits him with an uppercut before hitting nine punches in the corner. Randy heaves him into the ring post and out of the ring then slams him on top of the announce table as we go to break. Back from commercial, Melo has a headlock then calls for a suplex. Orton blocks it but Melo hits a chopblock to the left leg. Melo covers for 1...2..no. Melo locks in a chin-lock then wraps his legs around Orton's waist. Orton fights out of it but walks into a kick to the ribs. Orton responds with two lariats and a powerslam. Hayes blocks the second rope DDT and goes for the springboard crossbody, but Orton powerslams him. Orton covers for 1...2...no. Orton finally hits the second rope DDT and caters to the crowd. Orton goes to coil up but Hayes bails to the outside. Melo snaps Orton off the top rope and goes for Nothing But Net. He misses but still hits a springboard DDT, covering for 1....2..no. Melo says its over as he goes for Nothing But Net again. Orton stops him with a right hand and they play "yay/boo" on the second rope. Orton hits a superplex and Orton coils up. He goes for the RKO but Hayes blocks it. Hayes goes for First 48 but Orton blocks that. Hayes blocks a second RKO but Hayes hits First 48. Randy no-sells it, hits the RKO and covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. Tessitore "UNO, DOS, TRES INDEED!" Orton wins his first match in damn near 8 months and it was pretty fun with the crowd.


Time of match: 10:22

Winner: Orton by pinfall



Orton offers a hand shake after the match and Melo slaps him. Orton hits him with the RKO and goes to punt Hayes. Suddenly Kevin Owens appears out of thin air and Orton attacks him on the floor. Owens throws Orton into the post and makes a mad dash out of here. We're shown a graphic of Jacob Fatu crushing Braun Strowman from earlier before cutting to the New Bloodline in the back. Tama and Solo hype up Fatu and Jacob wants Strowman next week. Jacob "I'M BOUT TO DOG WALK YO ASS!"

Here comes Gunther in full gear as we go to break. Back from commercial we get a creepy vignette of a crowd of smoke and what looks to be the number 4. What the hell is that? Gunther grabs a mic for a soliloquy. Gunther says the road to Wrestlemania in Europe starts tonight in Barcelona. Gunther calls himself the greatest European wrestler ever and wishes he was in Madrid instead. Gunther says the fans loves Jey Uso because his waves his hands like an idiot but doesn't mean a damn thing when the bell rings. Gunther then calls out Axiom from NXT since he's from Spain and says he's going to make an example of him.



Match 5

Axiom vs Gunther

Non-title as Axiom is one half of the NXT Tag Team Champions.

Hell of a way to get on the main roster as Axiom faces the nearly unbeatable in his home town. They chain wrestle to start before Axiom ducks a chop. Axiom gets heaved out of a headlock as Gunther towers over him. Axiom kicks away at the legs and misses another chop. Axiom continues to evade Gunther with chops of his own. Tessitore admires the stick and move strategy as the crowd goes nuts. Gunther puts Axiom on the top rope but Axiom counters with an arm-ringer and a boot to the head. Axiom boots him in the head and the chest but runs right into a big chop. Gunther chops him again, delivers a snap mare and then a scoop slam. Axiom fights back with strikes in the corner but gets thrown backwards by Gunther.  Gunther kicks away at Axiom but Axiom fights back with kicks and chops. Gunther trips him up and applies the Boston Crab. Gunther then turns it into an STF and tries to rip Axiom's mask off. That fires up Axiom enough to fight out of it, but get chopped down. Gunther hits a knee to the ribs and backs Axiom into the corner. Gunther chokes him with his boot and once again goes for the mask. Axiom counters with a dragon screw on the apron, then dropkicks the left leg. Axiom hits a missile dropkick and forearms Gunther in the head. Gunther's powerbomb is blocked and Axiom hits an enziguiri. Axiom counters a suplex with an inside cradle for 1..2...no. Axiom dropkicks him down but Gunther counters with one of his own. Gunther hits the powerbomb and stacks him up for 1...2...nooooooo. Gunther can't believe it and goes up to the top rope. Axiom dropkicks him but is swatted away. Axiom hits a running high knee but the hurracarana is blocked....momentarily as he hits it anyway. He hits Golden Ratio and covers for 1...2....NOOOOO. Barrett says no one in NXT ever kicked out of that but this is a new level. Axiom and Gunther trade strikes and Axiom applies Rings of Saturn. Gunther rolls through it and hits the powerbomb. He hits a lariat and another power bomb before covering for 1....2....3 to win the match. Outstanding match and that's how you do big man vs little man.


Time of match: 9:24

Winner: Gunther by pinfall



Post match Gunther poses with the belt then puts the sleeper on Axiom. The refs pry Gunther off of him as Gunther leaves with more heat. We're shown a highlight of Monday's cage match where Roman Reigns unintentionally helped Seth Rollins win by dragging him out and kicking the crap out of him. Apparently Paul Heyman is up next as we go to break. Back from commercial we're shown Reigns not liking Paul Heyman helping up Punk so he spears him for good measure. In the ring Paul Heyman says tonight he's going to hype the crowd on two things. Heyman says this is Roman Reigns Day since WWE2K25 came out today. Heyman says wait till after the show to play the game and goes on to say people have a problem with Roman Reigns Day. One of them is CM Punk who Heyman calls his friend. A massive CM Punk chant breaks out but Heyman says its not Punk's day, and it damn sure isn't Seth Rollins day. Heyman says he hates the Seth Rollins chant and if anyone has a problem with him or Reigns, they can say it to Roman's face next week in Bologna, Italy. Heyman says that's not a prediction, that's a spoiler. Nice heel promo by Heyman while politely putting down Punk while demonizing Rollins.

Next week Roman Reigns will be in Italy along with Jade Cargill vs Liv Morgan. Zelina Vega takes on Piper Niven and Braun Strowman vs Jacob Fatu. We cut to the Street Profitz getting ready for tag action when Legada Fantasma walks up. Santos Escobar says they want them to win so Garza and Berto can take the titles off them. They laugh and Montez mocks their laugh. Dawkins says they're winning the straps and they want the smoke. They head to the ring as Tessitore says they haven't been tag team champions since January of 2021. Back from commercial, Jimmy Uso is favoring his shoulder when Gunther sits next to him. Gunther says he's got a younger brother and says he left Axiom laid out like a wet towel. He says that's going to happen to Jey and tells Jimmy to talk Jey out of facing him. Jimmy replies Gunther will lose at Wrestlemania and we'll be yeeting. Gunther says he tried and walks off.



Match 6

The Street Profitz (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) vs DIY (Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano) for the WWE Tag Team Championships

The Profitz kept the MCMG from winning at the Royal Rumble so they can beat DIY themselves, this is their chance. Dawkins starts with Ciampa and backs him into the ropes. Ciampa applies a headlock but eats a shoulderblock. Dawkins tags in Ford who dropkicks Ciampa down. Ford moonsaults Ciampa and covers for a deuce before Ciampa bails. Dawkins tags in and he decks Gargano with a right hand, but Ciampa puts the boots to him. Ciampa punches Dawkins down and Gargano tags in. Dawkins backdrops him to the apron but Gargano's springboard DDT is blocked. Dawkins heaves him away and Ford tags in for the flying crossbody. Montez drops Gargano with a lariat and caters to the crowd. Pretty Deadly watches from the back as Gargano shoves Ford off the apron into the barricade. Ciampa puts the boots to Ford on the outside before throwing him inside. Tommaso suplexes him off the top rope and delivers a running knee. Gargano and Ciampa taunt the irate crowd before Gargano throws Ford into the side of the ring. Back inside Gargano does a crotch chop to Dawkins to bait him in the ring. They double team Ford in the corner with frequent tags before Ciampa puts Ford on the second rope. Tommaso is headbutted off and Montez is pushed down by Gargano. Ciampa hits a death valley driver off the second rope and covers for 1..2...noooo. Ciampa goes for Fairy Tale Ending but Ford backdrops him off then avoids a Gargano splash. Dawkins gets the hot tag and cleans house, dropping Ciampa with a back elbow smash. Dawkins hits a spinning Stinger Splash and a DDT, covering for 1...2..no. Ford tags in and hits an assisted moonsault for 1...2...nope. Ford goes for the 450 Splash but eats Ciampa's knees. Gargano hits a Ribstabber on Ford and covers for 1...2...no, Dawkins makes the save. Ciampa slugs it out with Dawkins and both are dispatched as Ford hits a high knee on Gargano. Outside Dawkins throws Ciampa into the timekeeper but Gargano suicide dives onto Dawkins. Back inside Gargano jumps into what looks to be Cross Rhodes and Ford goes for the Doomsday Blockbuster. Ciampa stops it but is thrown out of the ring anyway. Ford kicks Gargano then Ciampa off the apron. Ford flips onto Ciampa out side then goes back to the top. Ford hits Doomsday Blockbuster and covers for 1...2...noooo, Ciampa makes the save. Dawkins throws Ciampa over the top rope and tags in. Ford jumps into a Ciampa knee and Tommaso distracts Dawkins long enough for him to miss a swanton. Ciampa tags in and hits a running knee. Ciampa hits Fairy Tale Ending with a Gargano superkick for good measure. Ciampa covers for 1...2...NOOOOOO. Gargano superkicks Ciampa by accident and Dawkins hits a spine buster. Ford tags in and hits the frog splash off the top. He covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Tessitore "DO WE HAVE NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS? YESSSSSS" The Street Profitz are the new WWE Tag Team Champions for the first time in four years. Good match and the Profitz are rewarded after going through so much the last few years. After the pseudo heel turn with Bobby Lashley that went nowhere to playing second fiddle to everyone, it was their time to shine.


Time of match: 11:52

Winners: Street Profitz by pinfall (new WWE Tag Team Champions)



We sign off with the new champs celebrating and that's two straight Smackdowns with a title change. All in all it was a good show and the crowd carried it. Priest and McIntyre is definitely headed to Wrestlemania and Tiffany FINALLY got one over on Charlotte. Axiom vs Gunther was a great big man/little man match and the tag title change lit the crowd up. The tag division is so loaded you could have anyone as the champs going into Wrestlemania. I see a multi team tag match unless Pretty Deadly wins next week. Chelsea Green continues to be entertaining and Jacob Fatu continues to get babyface pops. Guess we'll have to tune in to Raw to find out what happens next. Raw will be at a special start time of 3 PM on Netflix this coming Monday since they'll be in Belgium. I'll see you there!

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