SmackDown airs tonight (Mar. 27) with a live show emanating from PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This is the fourth episode of SmackDown during the seven week build to WrestleMania 42, which takes place on the weekend of April 18 and 19.
Jelly Roll probably won’t make it to WrestleMania this year
WWE is promoting a celebrity match on tonight’s show when Grammy Award winner Jelly Roll goes one-on-one with Kit Wilson. This match has been brewing for a couple of weeks after Kit accused Jelly of being toxic due to his fat-phobia, among other things.
Wilson laid out Roll with an elbow drop last week after they exchanged some poetry about the celebrity’s very tiny penis. Now they will settle their issues by punching each other in the face tonight on SmackDown.
There are a few different ways this one can go. The least likely scenario is that the match happens and Kit wins. Wilson only has one win over the last full year, and that came on an episode of Main Event. In other words, the guy never wins on SmackDown, and it would be a shocker if he begins to reverse that trend at the expense of a celebrity who will probably wrestle again on WWE PLEs at some point.
Another scenario is that the advertised celebrity match doesn’t actually happen. Kit said last week that he wanted to fight with his words, not his fists, and it’s possible he will pull a similar stunt tonight to avoid getting his ass kicked by Roll. A heelish tactic like this would only delay the inevitable beating until he can no longer run away from Jelly at WrestleMania 42 next month.
The match could also quickly end in a schmoz with run-ins from The Miz and/or Royce Keys Danhausen, setting up some kind of tag team match at WrestleMania.
Finally, there’s a real chance that Roll vs. Wilson does go down as advertised tonight, and the celebrity picks up his first career win in WWE. Jelly lost his only previous match when he teamed up with Randy Orton last year at SummerSlam, so this could be how he finally gets to put a W on the board in pro wrestling.
In this scenario where the match happens as advertised tonight and Roll wins, there’s no need for him to get back in the ring for a celebrity match at WrestleMania 42. Why might WWE go down this route when we know how much they love booking celebrity moments at ‘Mania? Well, consider that WWE is also promoting the following story on tonight’s show:
“Just one week after savagely attacking his former friend and brother, Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton unleashed another vicious assault on Matt Cardona. Which Superstar will The Legend Killer ambush next?”
It’s kind of strange that WWE is so concerned about Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu causing chaos on SmackDown, but doesn’t seem to mind at all that Orton gets a quota of murdering one innocent person each week as if it’s now part of his contract. Nonetheless, Jelly Roll stands out as Orton’s most likely target tonight.
The celebrity star has been involved in Randy’s business each week and is offering him wholesome advice that seemingly contradicts whatever Orton has been hearing from that mystery person’s voice in his head and phone. What better way is there for Randy to make a statement that there is no going back on his psychotic heel turn than by giving another friend the same brutal treatment that he gave Rhodes and Cardona? If Randy delivers broken bones and/or a devastating punt to Jelly, it could very well take him out of the mix for WrestleMania 42.
Or maybe none of that happens, and it’s instead that loser Sami Zayn who gets killed by the killer tonight, and misses WrestleMania as a result.
Will Jelly Roll pick up his first career win in WWE only to become The Viper’s next victim? Tune into SmackDown tonight to find out.
The rest of the card
Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs. The Bella Twins is scheduled for tonight, after each team cost the other their shot at winning the WWE women’s tag team championship in recent weeks. WWE says the winning team potentially moves one step closer to a tag title rematch. Does that mean they both get a tag team title match at WrestleMania if the Irresistible Forces show up tonight to cause a disqualification?
Women’s United States Champion Giulia vs. Tiffany Stratton is also booked for tonight. This one started out as a title match, but for some reason WWE now says it’s a non-title match. That kind of change is becoming a regular thing in WWE, I suppose. Let’s hope this match has a better finish than the one on this week’s Raw where hothead Jey Uso punched out his opponent with brass knuckles in front of the referee, setting up the actual title match for next week. I’m sure Chelsea Green can solve this problem.
Finally, WWE says GM Nick Aldis will give an update on the condition of Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu after they “plummeted off a high steel structure” at the end of last week’s episode. If these guys both survived the fall, then I expect they will be officially booked in a very violent match against each other at WrestleMania 42. If one of them didn’t survive the fall, I guess the other will be stuck in this year’s Andre the Giant Battle Royal.
Other stuff to keep an eye on
– Will Michin and B-Fab get any mic time tonight to explain why they suddenly aligned themselves with WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill after just feuding with her? Or is it silently understood that they are heels now because Rhea Ripley needs some henchwomen to beat up before she gets her hands on Cargill at WrestleMania 42?
– It sure looks like some of the MFTs want Solo Sikoa to give the lantern back to the Wyatt Sicks so he can start acting like himself again. If Solo stubbornly refuses to return the lantern, is he pushing Tama Tonga right out of his family tree and into a new alliance with Shinsuke Nakamura?
– Damian Priest and Bald Ron Cena are the new WWE tag team champions! But does that actually get them any closer to making the cut for WrestleMania 42?
– Did Chris Sabin review the footage to see that Candice LeRae cheated to help them beat Fraxiom last week? Do the Motor City Machine Guns care about how they win in WWE, or is it more important to just pick up the wins however they come?
– That loser Sami Zayn was knocked out and pinned by Aleister Black last week, after a scuffle at ringside with Trick Williams. Which babyface will Sami verbally take out his frustrations on in a backstage segment tonight before weakly apologizing again? Or will he skip that weekly segment this time and instead challenge Trick to a match at WrestleMania?
– What’s next for United States Champion Carmelo Hayes and Ilja Dragunov after their show-stealing match last week? Will Hayes simply move on to another open challenge for his belt tonight while Dragunov’s self-doubt begins to consume his soul?
– There was a moment last week when Randy Orton said he planned to apologize to WWE Champion Cody Rhodes on tonight’s episode of SmackDown. Does that mean there’s a chance Cody might return tonight to prevent Orton from assaulting his next victim?
– Where the f*** are the Street Profits?
What will you be looking for on SmackDown?
