WWE SmackDown Results, Highlights, and Grades for April 9, 2019

The New Day Celebrate

The New Day kick off the show for Kofi Kingston’s official celebration as WWE Champion, and the ring looks beautiful! We even have a rainbow made of balloons over the ring, and the crowd gives Kofi a reception fitting for a king, #YouDeserveIt.

Big E called Kofi a clear “A+ player with extra credit”, and the WWE Universe couldn’t agree more! Kingston is the WWE Champion, and it’s been a long time coming. As we saw at WrestleMania 35, Kofi has more than earned being at the top.

Last night, E did the splits, and Xavier Woods started an applause for him…so he went ahead and did the splits again! Someone give this man the Universal Title!

E says that Kofi was “this close” to becoming a double champion, just like Becky Lynch did at WrestleMania. This, of course, is in reference to Kofi’s match against Seth Rollins on the Raw after WrestleMania, which was interrupted by Sheamus and Cesaro.

https://twitter.com/WWEUniverse/status/1115768003663032320

Xavier Woods spoke about what it meant to meet Kofi Kingston when he first got into WWE, and he said that it was meeting a hero. Big E then spoke, stating that the win was an opportunity to reshape culture and reshape history. And that’s exactly what Kofi has done.

Kofi’s family is at ringside, and my eyes got misty as he spoke to them…

…And of course The Bar decided to interrupt just then…

Cesaro and Sheamus try to spin their interference last night, getting “STFU” chants, stating that they “saved” Kingston from losing the WWE Championship to Seth Rollins. Sheamus doubles down on the “B+” rhetoric and says that Kofi can only win with The New Day.

He proposes a six-man tag match against New Day despite only having two people there, but they say that they have “a friend” they met on Raw.

That friend?

Drew McIntyre! We didn’t see him on Raw last night, but here he is on SmackDown Live, and some fans will hope the switch becomes permanent at next week’s Superstar Shakeup.

Sheamus, Cesaro, and McIntyre vs. Woods, Kingston, and E should be one heck of a tag match!

Grade: A+, Words can hardly describe how much Kofi’s title victory means, nor can they do justice to the bond between the three members of The New Day.