{"id":44394,"date":"2019-04-17T18:35:02","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T22:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=44394"},"modified":"2019-04-18T10:52:22","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T14:52:22","slug":"smackdown-live-highlight-rundown-smackdown-is-now-roman-reigns-yard-4-16-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2019\/04\/17\/smackdown-live-highlight-rundown-smackdown-is-now-roman-reigns-yard-4-16-19\/","title":{"rendered":"SmackDown LIVE Highlight Rundown &#8211; SmackDown is Now Roman Reigns\u2019 Yard (4\/16\/19)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <strong>Superstar Shake-Up<\/strong> rolled on into <strong>SmackDown LIVE<\/strong> as they would have another night live in Montreal, Quebec for a night full of surprises. All the hype would go into the <strong>Vince McMahon<\/strong> announcement where he would introduce the greatest acquisition in the history of SmackDown LIVE. It may people wonder all day long, throw thoughts around in their head and we finally have the answer. So knowing that, let\u2019s get started with the highlights:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>New Day Welcomes Big O<\/strong><\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_44417\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-44417\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-44417\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/04\/017_SD_04162019ej_0444-abd23fb1b4336fa043aa2801419f0aa1-e1555540242329.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-44417\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SmackDown kicked off with the hometown favorite,<strong> Kevin Owens<\/strong>, heading to the ring for his special \u201cKO Show\u201d. He would play to the crowd much like <strong>Sami Zayn<\/strong> the night prior, but this time around he wouldn\u2019t turn his back on them. Owens was clearly loving the hometown reception before his guests were welcomed. Ultimately, it would be announced that his guests would be none other than the <strong>WWE Champion Kofi Kingston<\/strong> and <strong>Xavier Woods<\/strong>. They would get into the ring and it would be a love fest from the start. Owens and the Montreal crowd would give Kingston a standing ovation for finally winning the<strong> WWE Championship<\/strong> at <strong>WrestleMania<\/strong>. The three would quickly discuss the Shake-Up and how Kofi has a new challenger coming, which would lead to Xavier Woods hilariously getting angered about all of his UpUpDownDown friends were sent to Raw leaving him alone, even demanding <strong>Tyler Breeze<\/strong> to be on SmackDown by the end of the night. Owens would then bring up how The New Day was missing a piece of the puzzle here, as <strong>Big E<\/strong> was not there due to injury which had been announced last week. Owens would then offer that he becomes the third member of <strong>The New Day<\/strong>, being known as \u201cBig O\u201d. Kingston and Woods would ask if he was really up to the task, could he dance like E? Throw pancakes? Owens would answer by swiveling his hips, and to the love of the crowd, would become the honorary member for the night and in battle.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kevin Owens wants to join The New Day: SmackDown LIVE, April 16, 2019\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JIfAnyvAVDg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After plenty of antics through the night between the three, Owens would be a temporary member of New Day as they battled <strong>Cesaro<\/strong>, <strong>Rusev<\/strong>, and <strong>Shinsuke Nakamura<\/strong>. Owens would hop on the mic and do Big E\u2019s usually beginning to their entrance, and while it wasn\u2019t as good as the original, it was still impressive.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The match would get underway as the New Day would do their signature Unicorn Stampede even including Owens. As the match would come to a close, Owens would save Kofi who had been locked into a sharpshooter by hitting a superkick, then they would team up to get Owens the chance to hit the Stunner on Rusev for the victory. It was an interesting team up, but one thing is clear, Kevin Owens isn\u2019t going to be going away when it comes to the WWE Championship.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kevin Owens &amp; The New Day vs. Cesaro, Shinsuke Nakamura &amp; Rusev: SmackDown LIVE, April 16, 2019\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/N8kTokI4o7I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Big E also wasn\u2019t too happy about it:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"qme\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SDLive?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#SDLive<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/O9MfRK6sxU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/O9MfRK6sxU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ettore \u201cBig E\u201d Ewen (@WWEBigE) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWEBigE\/status\/1118326356453003266?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 17, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What can this lead to is the real question. Some problems in New Day after all this time?<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><strong>Reigns Shuts Down Vince and Elias<\/strong><\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_44418\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-44418\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-44418\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/04\/145_SD_04162019ej_2502-ecbe9170642a9c2e6ffccd619f445480-e1555540222625.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-44418\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vince McMahon finally was out at the end of the show to welcome the biggest acquisition in SmackDown LIVE history to the show. He\u2019d say how he was going to bring SmackDown to new heights, change the game completely. And without any more lead up, he would introduce<strong> Elias<\/strong>. Elias was officially on SmackDown LIVE and brought up how he questioned many decisions in the past couple weeks since he continued to get interrupted, but after everything he said he\u2019s happy to hear it. He would try to bless the Montreal crowd by having them Walk With Elias, but before he could, the true biggest acquisition in SmackDown LIVE history occurred. <strong>Roman Reigns<\/strong> was officially a part of the blue brands roster after being on Raw for years, letting everyone know this was his show now. He would hit Elias with a Superman Punch, and even the boss with one for good measure. He would declare SmackDown as his yard now, and would leave his mark big time. He would finally hit Elias with a thunderous Spear and it was certainly a sight to see \u201cThe Big Dog\u201d on SmackDown LIVE. What can the future hold for him? We will certainly see.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Roman Reigns decks Mr. McMahon with a Superman Punch: SmackDown LIVE, April 16, 2019\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oolcIll-dhE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong>SmackDown LIVE MVP: Asuka &amp; Kairi Sane<\/strong><\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_44420\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-44420\" style=\"width: 390px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-44420\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/04\/D4UzUSgX4AkyNly-e1555540407683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"390\" height=\"600\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-44420\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For a long time now, SmackDown has been missing a true women\u2019s division. Sure, <strong>Becky Lynch<\/strong> and <strong>Charlotte Flair<\/strong> as your top two is never a bad thing, however after that there was a lot to be desired. The Shake-Up allows new possibilities however, as Becky 2 Belts stood in the middle of the ring, a line of challengers would come out to make their name known. First, it would be the returning <strong>Ember Moon<\/strong>, making the move from Raw ready to step up after not getting the opportunity prior. Following Ember would be <strong>Bayley<\/strong>, who said she\u2019s now a singles competitor and is leaving the hugs behind on Raw. The WWE Women\u2019s Tag Team Champions, <strong>The IIconics<\/strong>, would join the fold again, bringing up how they took those championships from Bayley and <strong>Sasha Banks<\/strong> at WrestleMania. Finally after a week of waiting, <strong>Paige<\/strong> would make her way out to introduce her new team. As we all got prepared, it would be&#8230; Fire N Desire? The former Absolution members <strong>Sonya Deville<\/strong> and <strong>Mandy Rose<\/strong> would come out right as Paige was ready to introduce her group. Paige would laugh it off and say that isn\u2019t my team. She would first introduce former NXT Women\u2019s Champion and former <strong>SmackDown Women\u2019s Champion<\/strong>, <strong>Asuka<\/strong>. And then, to everyone\u2019s happiness, <strong>Kairi Sane<\/strong> would make her main roster debut as Asuka\u2019s partner and directed by Paige. They would head to the ring which would all lead to an 8 women tag.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Paige introduces the team of Asuka &amp; Kairi Sane: SmackDown LIVE, April 16, 2019\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p07uMdMnkkI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tag as always was a mess, but as the match came to a close, it showed how much of a force Asuka and Sane would be together. Kairi would take out <strong>Billie Kay<\/strong> with a devastating spinning back fist. Asuka would do the same on <strong>Peyton Royce<\/strong> and for the first time on SmackDown LIVE, Kairi Sane would hit her signature InSane Elbow for the three count and the victory, pinning the Women\u2019s Tag team Champion in the process. SmackDown\u2019s women division just took a big-time upgrade and should be fun to see.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Asuka, Sane, Bayley &amp; Moon vs. The IIconics, Rose &amp; Deville: SmackDown LIVE, April 16, 2019\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ei7OLERUXmc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Superstar Shake-Up certainly changed the game in the WWE. Here is the full list, per WWE.com, of who SmackDown added last night:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; Roman Reigns (<strong>Raw<\/strong>)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; <strong>Finn Balor<\/strong> (Raw)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; Elias (Raw)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; Bayley (Raw)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; Ember Moon (Raw)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; Kairi Sane (<strong>NXT<\/strong> call-up)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; <strong>Lars Sullivan<\/strong> (NXT call-up)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; <strong>Buddy Murphy<\/strong> (<strong>205 Live<\/strong>)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; <strong>Liv Morgan<\/strong> (Raw)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; <strong>Chad Gable<\/strong> (Raw)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; <strong>Apollo Crews<\/strong> (Raw)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; <strong>Mickie James<\/strong> (Raw)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211;<strong> Heavy Machinery<\/strong> (NXT call-up)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The moves done on both brands truly shakes up the shows and brings a good dynamic as we head into life after WrestleMania. Looking at this, besides the obvious, it\u2019s fair to think that Buddy Murphy should excel now that he is away from 205 Live and a main competitor. Plenty of matchups to be excited for.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We are on to next week when both rosters can really kick it into high gear and stories can be made. Be sure to come back for the Raw Rundown on Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Superstar Shake-Up rolled on into SmackDown LIVE as they would have another night live in Montreal, Quebec for a night full of surprises. All the hype would go into the Vince McMahon announcement where he would introduce the greatest acquisition in the history of SmackDown LIVE. It may people wonder all day long, throw [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2921,"featured_media":44419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,26,3],"tags":[509,229,160,163,552,514,1703,400,1444,403,1775,119,111,701,1428,73,553,1440,217,1752,333,194,513,77,202,106,159,118,148,354,739,714,4715,223,860,241,396,1939,430,551],"class_list":["post-44394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-smackdown","category-wwe-universe","tag-apollo-crews","tag-asuka","tag-bayley","tag-becky-lynch","tag-big-e","tag-billie-kay","tag-buddy-murphy","tag-cesaro","tag-chad-gable","tag-charlotte-flair","tag-elias","tag-ember-moon","tag-finn-balor","tag-heavy-machinery","tag-kairi-sane","tag-kevin-owens","tag-kofi-kingston","tag-lars-sullivan","tag-liv-morgan","tag-mandy-rose","tag-mickie-james","tag-paige","tag-peyton-royce","tag-roman-reigns","tag-rusev","tag-sami-zayn","tag-sasha-banks","tag-shinsuke-nakamura","tag-smackdown-live","tag-smackdown-womens-championship","tag-sonya-deville","tag-superstar-shake-up","tag-the-iiconics","tag-the-new-day","tag-tyler-breeze","tag-vince-mcmahon","tag-wrestlemania","tag-wwe-champion","tag-wwe-championship","tag-xavier-woods"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2921"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}