Bobby Lashley sent a message to the WWE locker room with a convincing victory in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
The staple of WrestleMania took place again on a special episode of SmackDown, this year from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California as the Show of Shows goes Hollywood.
Despite the arena coming loose LA Knight throughout the match it was Lashley who knocked out runner-up Bronson Reed to get his hands on the trophy.
The All Mighty still hasn’t confirmed a match for WrestleMania, coming down to his original fight with Bray Wyatt seemingly being scrapped.
The Eater of Worlds has been off screen for weeks, with Lashley, in turn, left without a dance partner for the biggest event of the year, although he has been repeatedly called up for a new challenge.
He tweeted after the show, “I’ll say it again… I’M FREE SATURDAY AND SUNDAY!! You can’t have #WrestleMania without the Almighty. You just can’t! Whoever wants to test me, step up! 👊🏾’
SmackDown kicked off with a tense exchange between The Usos and the team of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, with the two feuding pairs exchanging verbal jokes about loyalty and brotherhood.
Sami and KO continued to try to plant the seeds of doubt in Jimmy and Jey’s minds about The Bloodline and Roman Reigns, with fans clearly looking forward to Saturday night’s high-stakes match.
Ricochet stuck with the tag division and picked up a big win over Montez Ford, Erik and Chad Gable in a blistering barnstormer of a match that served as a thrilling preview for this weekend’s WrestleMania Showcase between the four men and their respective tag team partners .
After The Andre, it was the women’s turn to crank up their WrestleMania Showcase, with Raquel Rodriguez defeating Natalya, Shayna Baszler and Sonya Deville in a rushed bout.
Drew McIntyre and Sheamus struggled to put aside their differences, but stayed on the same page just about long enough to beat Imperium’s Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser.
On Sunday night, Drew and Sheamus will both fight in a Triple Threat match involving GUNTHER for the latter’s Intercontinental Championship, which could easily steal the entire weekend.
Elsewhere on the show, Rey Mysterio – hours before arrival inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame – was greeted by Legado Del Fantasma in his locker room as they promised to be there as backup at WrestleMania should The Judgment Day try to get involved in his match with son Dominik.
The masked luchador liked that idea and gifted the group Latino World Order t-shirts, bringing the LWO to life for a new generation.
After a brilliant Cody Rhodes promo that included Tupac covers and a branding about Roman Reigns’ years of fan rejection, the chieftain came out and simply told the American Nightmare to acknowledge him two nights before their WrestleMania main event.
WWE SmackDown airs Friday nights at 1pm on BT Sport.
WWE WrestleMania Smackdown Results and Figures – March 31, 2023
- Ricochet defeated Chad Gable, Erik and Montez Ford (B+)
- Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal: Bobby Lashley wins (B)
- Raquel Rodrigez defeated Natalya, Shayna Baszler and Sonya Deville (C-)
- Sheamus and Drew McIntyre defeat Imperium (B-)
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