WWE SmackDown Live Results, Highlights, and Grades for April 2, 2019

Corey Graves fails to interview Becky Lynch

Next up on SmackDown, we saw Corey Graves in the ring to interview “The Man” Becky Lynch. He introduced her, but Becky Lynch happily walked right past Graves and instead hopped up on the announce table at ringside. Lynch simply explained that she doesn’t answer to Corey Graves, she answers to “these people,” as she motioned to the fans.

Becky Lynch made a point of what a difference a year makes. Last year at WrestleMania, she was best of friends with Charlotte Flair, and Ronda Rousey was making her debut in WWE. Lynch stated that things were in place to build to Charlotte Flair vs Ronda Rousey, but the plan wasn’t for Becky Lynch to be a part of that.

However, Lynch recounted that she changed all of that at SummerSlam last year. The rest was history, and now we’re set for the first women’s main event of WrestleMania in history. Lynch finished by saying she’ll be a double champion at WrestleMania, dropping the mic and embracing the adoration of the crowd.

Grade: A, Great stuff from Becky Lynch here. With every little part, she makes herself feel special and different, and this was another example of that. Lynch is “the people’s” choice at WrestleMania, and that was on display.

18-Person Mixed Tag Team Match: The Hardy Boyz, Heavy Machinery, R-Truth, Naomi, Asuka, Nikki Cross, and Carmella vs. Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Shelton Benjamin, Andrade, EC3, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Lana, and Zelina Vega

Next up we saw an absolute clusterf**k. There’s really no other way to describe it. Eight women who will compete in the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal and ten men who will compete in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal came together for this massive mixed tag team match, and it was a complete mess.

Early on we saw Zelina Vega and Nikki Cross squaring off, only for Lacey Evans to interrupt with her trademark useless appearance. When the action got back underway, there was a mix of moments from Heavy Machinery, R-Truth, Carmella, and others. Things finally broke down and the referee called for the bell because there was no containing the brawl.

Every man and woman was fighting for themselves, and we even saw some brief moments of intergender action as Nikki Cross attacked Shelton Benjamin and Asuka kicked EC3’s head into the third row. In the end Asuka tossed Jeff Hardy over the top rope, standing tall amidst the mess.

Grade: B-, The only thing that keeps this from being an F was the efforts of the men and women in the ring. This was a sad shrine to WWE’s failure to do anything with these 18 superstars and was a giant mess.

Samoa Joe vs. Ali

Next up we got a short but solid clash between Samoa Joe and Ali. No, not Mustafa Ali. Unfortunately, just Ali. Samoa Joe had an early advantage, but Ali utilized his speed and agility to turn the tide and was looking for a huge upset. However, a single moment turned the tide. Ali missed an attempt at a 450 Splash, and Samoa Joe locked in the Coquina Clutch immediately after to put him to sleep and pick up the win.

With that win, Samoa Joe carries the momentum into WrestleMania 35 where he is still scheduled to defend the United States Championship against Rey Mysterio. While Mysterio didn’t compete tonight, there were no mentions throughout the night that he wouldn’t be able to compete at WrestleMania, so that looks to be going on as expected.

Grade: B, Decent little match that could’ve been better with more time, but it was a good glimpse of Ali’s underdog tendencies and Samoa Joe’s ability to capitalize on a single mistake from his opponent.