SmackDown Winners and Losers: Riddle Saves Sami Zayn and the WWE Draft Is Back
Riddle #Riddle
This week’s episode of SmackDown was the first blue brand show following WrestleMania 39 and going in, there was a major concern among the fanbase that a repeat of what went down on Monday would rear its ugly head on Friday. With Vince McMahon’s hands all over the first Raw following WrestleMania weekend, would it be a Vince show or a Triple H show on Friday?
The show began with a six-man tag match and ended as Sami Zayn was getting attacked. He was saved by a friend who had a score to settle with Solo Sikoa.
Here are your winners and losers for SmackDown, April 7, 2023:
Winner: Imperium vs. The Brawling Brutes
Can these two teams have a bad match? So far, the answer is no and Friday night was no different. There will come a time when WWE needs to move each group onto another rivalry, but we’re not at that point yet and every time these factions step into the ring, it’s magic. This was a physical bout that reminded everyone about how much in-ring chemistry exists between all six competitors and Sheamus getting the win was a good way to give him a bit of a boost coming out of WrestleMania.
Gunther continues to slot at the top of the totem pole when it comes to everyone involved in the contest and it looks like WWE might be setting up a rematch between The Ring General and The Celtic Warrior. That may not be ideal considering it’s a match we’ve seen a number of times, but those matches are always strong. It would be easy for WWE to sell this contest as fans haven’t lost interest in watching these two men beat the crap out of each other.
Winner/Loser: Ricochet vs Ivar
This was a competitive match that gave Ricochet another important singles win, but it was also a match that probably could have waited a week. WWE might have been better served to use this opportunity to bring someone back or offer up a surprise on the first SmackDown following WrestleMania. Instead, fans got what felt a bit like a throw-in contest, even if there was techincally nothing wrong with the match itself. The One and Only hit a Shooting Star Press and scored the pinfall victory.
Backstage, Paul Heyman was an interview guest for Kayla Braxton and when Jey Uso joined the conversation, Jey was told that Jimmy had been sent home by Roman Reigns, who was also not in the building. It was Jey’s job to go out and solve their Sami Zayn problem.
Loser: Morgan and Rodriguez defeated Shotzi and Natalya
In another match that felt a bit last minute, Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan had to overcome a bit of a speed bump on the way to challenging for the Women’s Tag Team Titles next Monday. It didn’t take much to defeat Shotzi and Natalya who claimed in an interview that they were miffed about being overlooked as contenders for the titles. The one good thing here was that Nattie and Shotzi continue to look more and more like a team each week. The Women’s Tag Team division badly needs teams and it should be a priority to create a few legit contender duos that fans can take seriously. The bad news was, they didn’t pose much of a threat.
Winner/Loser: WWE Announces The WWE Draft
Triple H came out and talked about all of the records WWE shattered this past weekend with WrestleMania. He then went on to say that the WWE Draft was returning in a couple of weeks and revealed that every WWE Superstar would be eligible. He noted, “When it is all said and done, this year’s draft will surely change the game.”
This could be very interesting for a few reasons. The WWE Draft is always fun and there is an opportunity to create some new rivalries. The concern here is who is calling the shots. If it’s Triple H, don’t expect to see many groups broken up and the selections that happen will make sense, with any splits coming because they are logical. If Vince is running things, fans are going to be disappointed that a number of factions are potentially going to see their demise. Damage CTRL, The Street Profits, The Brawling Brutes and others are the first that come to mind.
The other interesting thing about this is that WWE hasn’t exactly kept the brands split. For fans who have liked that, it means either stars will only be on their own brands from here on in, or the Draft will have little to no meaning because wrestlers will be showing up on both shows anyway.
Winner: LWO with Rey vs. Judgment Day
Fans worried about the LWO not coming back can breathe a bit easier as the group was still siding with Rey as he tried to fend off the continued attacks from Judgment Day and Dominik. Judgment Day picked up the win as Damian Priest pinned Santos Escobar.
The takeaways here were how loudly the crowd booed Dominik. Fans should give him credit for being so good at this heel schtick. And, because of how little fans like Dom, when Rey gets in the ring and goes after him, the crowd absolutely explodes.
Winner/Loser: Riddle Saves Sami Zayn
After Solo Sikoa delivered the Samoan Spike to Sami Zayn and cause him a pinfall loss to Jey Uso, Solo and Jey attacked and tried to take Sami out for good. Riddle’s music hit and he came down to clear the ring, the announcers reminding everyone that it was Solo who put Riddle on the shelf in the first place. This was a solid match with a solid ending to the show.
What will be interesting is to see how well fans take to Riddle now being part of this storyline. While the long-term storytelling makes sense and Riddle’s ire does too, a lot has happened since he left and he feels a bit like a third wheel in all of this. Will fans accept him in this narrative or will the early pop not last because he’s the odd one out and his involvement is really only limited to one post-match attack? There’s no real backstory there.