The show began with Talking Smack hosts Daniel Bryan and Renee Young discussing the Randy Orton-AJ Styles matchup and its aftermath, including Orton going to Wrestlemania to face Bray Wyatt for the WWE Championship. Bryan also threw a few jabs at Young for having hosted ‘Raw Talk’ on Sunday, teasing her for being on a bad show.
#1 Alexa Bliss
The SmackDown Women’s champ Alexa Bliss was the first guest on the show, who despite being congratulated by Renee Young, didn’t seem all too pleased with being on the show, alluding to the fact that General Manager Daniel Bryan has scheduled her title defense at Mania to be against every female Superstar on SmackDown’s roster.
Bliss also threw shade at Mickie James stating that the fans don’t care about James and that Mickie should be grateful to her for bringing her back to relevancy. Daniel and Alexa kept going back-and-forth with the champ scoffing at the fact that Daniel didn’t like her Blissertation and Daniel going on to put over Mickie James by mouthing a terrible one-liner
(seriously Daniel?).
Bliss promised to prove that she’s the best at Mania and left, after which Renee teased Bryan about his Mickie James one-liner. The hosts then discussed the Dean Ambrose-Baron Corbin parking lot altercation, with Renee stating that she found Corbin’s beat-down of her real-life boyfriend hard to watch.
She also revealed that Dean had been spitting blood after suffering broken ribs at the hands of ‘The Lone Wolf’. Bryan re-assured Renee whilst simultaneously putting ‘The Lunatic Fringe’ over in a big way, calling him the incredibly tough and a performer who’ll most definitely survive the bumps and bruises.
#2 Apollo Crews and the AJ Styles-Shane McMahon backstage scuffle
Apollo Crews who’s the next guest, announces that he’s officially entering the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at Mania and is pumped about his first appearance on the Grandest Stage of them all. Promising to win the Battle Royal, Crews also helped Bryan with the lyrics of ‘Drop it like it’s hot’.
Crews left and the conversation shifted to Nena’s mixed-gender matchup against James Ellsworth and Carmella, with both Bryan and Renee mocking Mr. Ellsworth and his attire. This was followed by Renee Young stating that they’d just received footage of a backstage altercation between Shane McMahon and AJ Styles.
The segment involved Shane O’Mac, Michael Cole, AJ Styles and a few other staff members, with Styles getting up-close-and-personal with Shane whilst the staff members try to defuse the situation. The segment ends with Styles leaving the backstage area and McMahon absolutely flipping out whilst being calmed down by the others.
The segment that followed this video-display was really hard-hitting, with Bryan stating that he could completely relate to Styles’ backstage-breakdown; citing his own backstage-altercation with Triple H a few years ago after his matchup against Randy Orton was stopped on RAW.
Bryan blamed that Styles’ breakdown on ‘The Phenomenal One’s’ fear that after having wrestled for 17 years outside the WWE, his athletic career may be on its last legs. He once again compared AJ to himself, stating that just like he wrestled in the regional circuits for 10 years before the WWE and had a relatively short career inside the WWE ring, AJ might feel the same way due to the brutal nature of this sport and the toll that it takes on the athletes’ bodies.
#3 The Miz and Maryse
That brings us to the most entertaining part of today’s Talking Smack – The Miz and Maryse segment (PS: You’ve gotta watch this)! Miz and Maryse accuses Cena of being a manipulative person who used his backstage power to book the mixed-gender matchup pitting himself and his real-life girlfriend Nikki against Ellsworth and Carmella.
The Miz was on fire throughout this segment, referring to Cena as a ‘90s White Kid with an Identity Crisis’, stating that Cena is robotic and steals the signature moves of every past pro-wrestling star. Miz also attacked Bryan by mocking his inability to wrestle anymore, after Bryan had called him a WWE shill.
Maryse entered the discussion and stated that Nikki is jealous of her. That when she was Divas champion a few years ago, Nikki was merely a celebrity side-kick who helped RAW’s celebrity guests ‘Get Comfortable’ backstage.
Maryse called Cena and Nikki fake and plastic, and on being questioned by Renee whether she’s jealous of Nikki, Maryse shows off her wedding ring; alluding that the privilege of being married is something that Nikki will never have. Apparently, his pipebomb on the Cena-Bella relationship is based on backstage gossip among other WWE stars.
The Miz and Maryse claimed that next week’s Talking Smack won’t be great because the ‘Mizanin’ duo won’t be on the show, the coming week. Renee then wraps up the show with Bryan biting his tongue, stating that he wishes he could say more.
