WWE SmackDown March 31, 2023 Results & Live Updates
Welcome to the live results blog for WWE SmackDown March 31, 2023, from Crypto.com arena in Los Angeles, CA, just one day before WrestleMania 39.
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns was set to come face-to-face with his WrestleMania Challenger Cody Rhodes. Cody defeated Solo Sikoa in a singles match earlier this week on RAW to hand him his first clean loss. Cody and Roman were not involved in any physical altercation during this storyline. Did that change on this event?
Andre The Giant Battle Royal was also set for March 31 edition of SmackDown. The likes of Bobby Lashley, LA Knight, Karrion Kross and several others were in action. Drew McIntyre and Sheamus teamed up to take on Imperium’s Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci.
What else happened between Rey Mysterio and Dominik, Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair, The Usos and Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens on the final night before WrestleMania 39? Check below to find out with live results from WWE Friday Night SmackDown March 31, 2023 episode along with live updates, winners and highlights.
RESULTS
- Ricochet defeated Montez Ford, Chad Gable & Erik in a fatal 4-way match via pinfall.
- Bobby Lashley won Andre The Giant Battle Royal.
- Raquel Rodriguez defeated Sonya Deville, Sonya Deville & Natalya in a fatal 4-way match via pinfall.
- Drew McIntyre & Sheamus defeated Imperium(Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci) in a tag team match via pinfall.
LIVE UPDATES
Sami, KO & The Usos
The Usos come out to open the show. They talk about this being the last SmackDown before the biggest tag team match of all time at WrestleMania. Sami Zayn’s music hits and he comes out to the stage with Kevin Owens. They walk down the ramp as Sami starts to talk about their match at WM. Sami says they will put an end to all of this once and for all. But tonight, they are gonna make sure that there is nothing left said between them. ‘
Owens says he actually want The Usos to know that he feels conflicted what he is gonna do to them. Owens reminds the Usos that they were the first two to welcome his to WWE when he first started. Owens says that was until they started doing Roman’s bidding. The Usos tried to take away his livelihood, and now he is gonna take their titles at WrestleMania.
Jimmy starts to talk now. He says they welcomed Owens when he arrived to WWE but when they get into the ring, they are only about business. He says Jey and him are blood and they are what Sami and KO wants to be. They are family. Sami cuts him off saying that they continued to talk about blood, but family is not just about blood but also about loyalty. Jey retorts by saying that Sami should not be the one talking about loyalty.
Sami says he was loyal with all of them but they chose blood over loyalty. Sami says Roman never told The Usos that the weight of Bloodline falls on their shoulders and at WrestleMania, he is gonna take that pressure away so that they can return to just being the Usos. Jey stares down and Sami and says this is not gonna happen because Sami and KO will fail just like everytime they fail in their big matches and KO will backstab Sami again. Jey says tomorrow night, they will beat Sami and KO and will cement their legacy.
The Usos leave the ring. The Street Profits make their entrance as they get to the stage.
Montez Ford vs Ricochet vs Chad Gable vs Erik
Gable and Ford fight while Erik takes on Ricochet. Ricochet uses a low bridge to send Erik to the floor. Ford clotheslines Gable out of the ring. Ford and Ricochet counter each other and run the ropes. They come to a stalemate and Ford does a bit of a dance. Gable gets back into the ring to shoosh them and do a little dance. Ford and Ricochet hit a dropkick to send Gable back to the floor. Erik comes back in and easily thrown out by Ricochet and Ford.
Ricochet dances a bit before they go for suicide dive. Gable catches Ricochet while Erik catches Ford to hit an Urinage and a fallaway slam respectively. Gable takes Ricochet back to the ring and slam him to the corner. Gable hits a dragon screw leg on Ricochet. Erik decks Gable on the top turnbuckle. Ricochet fights back and kicks Erik away. Valhalla distracts Ricochet to allow Erik to take down Ricochet. Gable hits him with a clothelines off the top to take us to a break.
Gable has Ricochet on the top rope while Erik has Ford. Ricochet headbutts Gable back to the mat. Erik hits a superplex on Ford. Gable gets back up and hits a superplex on Ricochet. Ford gets up and starts to hit clotheslines and dropkicks. He hits a clothelines from the top. Ricochet hits him with a crossbody. Gable hits a bridging German suplex on Ricochet and Erik has to break the pin. Erik ducks an enzuigiri from Ford and hits him with ripcord knee.
Erik slams Gable on top of Ford but Ford kicks out of the pin. Ford hits an enzuigiri to send Erik to the floor with others. Ford hits a suicide dive on everyone. Ford hits a frog splash on Gable. Ricochet hits a 450-splash on Gable immediately after that and gets the pinfall.
Winner – Ricochet
Backstage, the Usos are in Roman’s room with Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa. They get up when Roman Reigns arrives.
We see a recap of Rhea Ripley winning Royal Rumble and challenging Charlotte Flair for the title at WrestleMania, and the storyline that has followed since.
Andre The Giant Battle Royal
Wrestlers walk out in group for the match. We get a video package for the legacy of Andre The Giant. Lashley’s music hits as he comes out. We are told that Daniel Cormier was giving a pep-talk to Lashley earlier tonight. We cut to a break.
We see a cameraman coming out of The Great Muta’s room. Braun Strowman makes his entrance. The bell ring and Baron Corbin is thrown out by Boogs quickly. The random brawling continues. Dexter Lumis is just standing alone. Lashley was fighting Humberto Carrillo but Top Dolla hits him from behind. Lashley eliminates Top Dolla and Ashante Adonis. Joaquin Wilde is also thrown out. Mace and Mansoor world together to attempt to eliminate Otis but Lumis eliminate them while Otis survive. Otis eliminates Luke Gallows. He ties to eliminate Elias but Rick Boogs instead eliminates Otis. Los Lotharios eliminate Elias as they were attempting to eliminate Boogs. Boogs throws Humberto and Garza out one by one.
Madcap Moss eliminates Dexter Lumis. Karrion Kross eliminates Xavier Woods. Ziggler holds onto the ropes as Ali tries to eliminate him. Ziggler pulls Ali out and both hang onto the ropes. LA Knight knocks out Ali off the apron. Karrion Kross puts on Kross jacket on LA Knight. Lashley puts on Hurt lock on Ziggler. Kross and Lashley start to fight now. Reed eliminates a couple of names. Strowman also eliminates Kross before he faces off with Reed. Lashley eliminates Ziggler before starting a brawl with Reed and Strowman. They all hit each other. Everyone starts to hit big moves one by one. Knight throws out Gargano who hangs onto the ropes.
Escobar hit a hurricanrana on Knight before Gargano hits him with a slingshot spear. Lashley throws out Gargano after hitting him with a spinebuster. Ridge Holland catches Butch as he was thrown out. Strowman throws Butch from the other side. Reed ends up eliminating LA Knight to draw boos from the crowd. Strowman, Lashley and Reed are the final three. Lashley hits corner clotheslines on Strowman. Strowman hits him with a powerslam. Reed throws Strowman to the apron. He knocks out Strowman off the apron. Lashley hits a spear and Reed tries to throw Lashley out but he hangs on. Lashley returns to the ring and throws Reed out to win the match.
Winner – Bobby Lashley
Lashley poses alongside The Battle Royal Trophy to close the segment.
We get a video package for Cody Rhodes now.
Natalya vs Raquel Rodriguez vs Sonya Deville vs Sonya Deville
Natalya throws out Shayna to the floor. Raquel goes the same to Sonya. Raquel and Natalya go back and forth. Sonya hits a running knee on Natalya as she had Raquel in a pin attempt. Sonya beats up Raquel in the corner. Natalya puts Sonya in sharpshooter. Shayna comes in and puts on Kirifuda Clutch on Natalya. Shayna goes and sits on the top rope. Raquel picks both of them up on her shoulders. Sonya hits a chop block on Raquel to drop all three of them. Sonya sends Raquel into the turnbuckle. Sonya goes to the top. Raquel picks her up. Shayna runs in but Raquel hits her with a big boot. Raquel hits one-handed powerbomb to get the pinfall.
Winner – Raquel Rodriguez
Santos Escobar and the rest of Legado Del Fantasma are backstage with Rey Mysterio. Escobar assures Rey that if Judgment Day try to run the number’s game, they will be there to counter. Rey says if they do it, they should do it in style. He hands them out some shirts which are revealed to be Latino World Order shirts.
Drew McIntyre & Sheamus vs Imperium(Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci)
Sheamus comes out to the stage. His announcement is cut-off by Drew McIntyre’s entrance music. Drew walks past Sheamus and we cut to a break.
Drew and Vinci start the match. Drew corners Vinci before Vinci rushes him. Drew drops him with a big shot. He hits a big chop. Kaiser tags in and hits an enzuigiri to Drew. Drew hits a back elbow before Sheamus takes a blind tag. Sheamus beats up Kaiser for a while. Kaiser hits an European uppercut before Sheamus throws him to the apron. Sheamus hits 10 beats of Beltran on Kaiser. Drew tags in when Sheamus was setting up for a Brogue kick. Sheamus and Drew fight within themselves, allowing Imperium to attack them. They are able to send Imperium to the floor to take us to a break.
Imperium are in control as we return. Sheamus hits elbows to Kaiser’s ribs and then hits a backbreaker. Drew throws tantrum on the apron before taking a blind tag. Vinci runs into clotheslines from Drew before belly to belly suplexes. Drew hits neckbreaker on both opponents now. Sheamus takes a blind tag when Drew looks for Claymore kick. Vinci slams Sheamus into Drew. Imperium hits HIgh Low on Sheamus for a near fall. Sheamus hits a pump knee on Vinci. Sheamus hits Brogue kick on Vinci. Drew hits Claymore kick on Kaiser. Sheamus covers Vinci to get the pinfall.
Winner – Drew McIntyre & Sheamus
All Rhodes Lead to Roman Reigns
Cody makes his grand entrance. He take the mic and starts to talk how close we are to WrestleMania. He says we have all seen everything and that he has all his card unfolded and there is no ace up his sleeves. He says he will be the WWE Universal Champion as he is the most prepared he has ever been. But when he is here on the mic, he feels grossly unprepared. Cody says fans have seen them talking but they now want to see them fight.
Cody goes on to sing some lines from 2 PAC’s California Love. He says his crowd has come with him and thanks them for their support. Cody reminds us that Roman said Cody could not be the guy in his own company. So, he wants to remind us that Roman is a product of 11 years of WWE marketing which did not start paying off until year 8. Another thing that Roman said was that everyone thinks he is the guy until they meet the guy. So, Cody wants to introduces himself and says he is Roman’s successor and the next Universal Champion.
Roman’s music hits and he comes out with Paul Heyman. Roman takes the mic and starts to ask them to acknowledge him, but stops midway. Roman turns to Cody who gets into Roman’s face. Roman says its not their turn and asks Cody to acknowledge him. Cody stares him down while Roman raises the title up in the air. The show goes off the air.
