Smackdown Review 05/29/2020
Smackdown Review 05/29/2020
Hello! Welcome back to this weeks Smackdown review. Tonight’s show coming to us from the WWE performance center is looking to be exciting with lots of rumors and matches surrounding the show, including two intercontinental championship tournament matches as Jeff Hardy takes on Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles takes on Elias. Also, with what was seen on Raw and NXT this week, this will be the first Smackdown with a crowd filled with talent, so that should make things a bit more interesting. All that and more, so, let’s get into it!
Live from the WWE Performance Center
Opening Scene
Smackdown kicks off with a Renee Young in the parking lot. We see Elias getting put on a stretcher. Elias was hit by a car, the registration in the car was listed as Jeff Hardy. Braun Strowman was a witness and says a man in a black hoodie got out of the car after and ran. The police then find Jeff Hardy laid out in the back of the parking lot. They ask him if he’s been drinking because he smells like alcohol, he denies as they put him in handcuffs and carry him off, Elias is put in the ambulance and is driven away. This is the wildest start to a Smackdown in some time. We come back from commercial break to the whole Smackdown roster being talked to by Adam Pearce. He tells them all the situation. They’re told that Hardy and Elias can’t compete. Bryan suggests that they find new opponents for Bryan and Styles. They’re all arguing who should get the shot. AJ says he wants his by to the finals. Adam Pearce has a solution. He says Styles gets to go to the finals, and since Bryan wants to compete, there will be a battle royal next, and the winner will face Bryan later on tonight to see who goes into the finals.
My Thoughts
What a wild, very unexpected way to kick off Smackdown. It’s pretty weird personally to me to see Jeff Hardy’s DUI issues be put in a storyline, but here we are. The good news is that more talent are getting a chance to be Intercontinental champion, so we will see how that goes.
Battle Royal to Determine a Finalist for the Intercontinental Championship Tournament
Of course, chaos from the start, exactly what you would expect from a battle royal. The participants are Dolph, Sheamus, Corbin, Lince, Metalik, Gulak, Cesaro, Nakamura, Jey Uso, & Shorty G. The first man eliminated was Lince by Corbin. Corbin then eliminated Gulak. As things started to get less crowded and people spread out, we saw a lot of double teaming and partnering up. Corbin and Ziggler for instance, teamed up to take out Metalik, before they turned on each other, and Corbin eliminated Ziggler, who then turned around and got super kicked by Jey Uso. Corbin has been eliminated. Cesaro was eliminated next by Shorty G and we’re now down to four. Sheamus, Uso, Shorty G & Nakamura. But almost right away, Shorty eliminated Nakamura. While he celebrated, Nakamura tried to get back into the ring, as the ref’s were distracted, Cesaro ran back in and eliminated Shorty G. We’re now down to two. Both men battled back and forth for a bit until both men were out on the apron. They both struggled to stay on, but Uso was driven back into the post, then brogue kicked to be eliminated. Sheamus wins. He will now wrestle Daniel Bryan later on tonight in the semi-finals.
My Thoughts
Fun battle royal. They always go the same way so nothing new or spectacular, but i do like the tease of a Jey Uso solo run and I really thought he would win for a second, but obviously did not. Sheamus vs Bryan should be good later on.
⁃ Sonya was backstage cutting a promo on how she will kick Lacey’s ass tonight, but she didn’t know Lacey was behind her. Lacey shoved her down and told her she will see her in the ring. It’s next.
⁃ Backstage Shorty G was arguing with Cesaro about his elimination and said that he screwed him. Cesaro told him to walk away or step into the ring. Shorty punched him in the face and accepted his challenge.
Lacey Evans vs. Sonya Deville
Lacey made a comment about her not being able to wrestle. She said she would give her a chance, and got down on her knees, in a amateur wrestling stance, to which Sonya took the bait and they scrambled around on the mat. Sonya got the last hit and then mocked Lacey, to which Lacey came firing back a big kick, which then pissed off Sonya, who dropped Lacey with a big right hand. Finally, after minutes of stand-off’s and minimal moves, Sonya took control and started kicking ass. Lacey fought back to the best of her ability as they scrambled out to the floor in an all out brawl. Both women throwing big rights and lefts, ignoring the ref which resulted to a count out. They crawled a little more before Lacey got back into the ring and demanded the match to be restarted, but Sonya denied and left.
My Thoughts
Not a long match at all, fairly short and seemed like they were stalling time up until the chaotic count out finish. And i didn’t like that at all.
⁃ The Forgotten Sons cut a promo backstage about respecting the troops.
⁃ Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross are backstage joking with the New Day. A moment of bliss is next.
A Moment of Bliss
A moment of bliss starts off with the introduction of their guests, the Smackdown tag team champions, New Day. Nikki Cross starts off by giving New Day a present, it’s Scottish Pancakes. To which New Day returns the gift by giving them coffee beans. Alexa didn’t want to drink it so she gave it to Nikki. She got to the questions by asking if there’s any tag teams they seem fit to fight for the championships. Before they really got to answer, Bayley and Sasha Banks interrupt. Bayley says her and Sasha are the best team on Smackdown. Alexa says that there’s five champions in the ring, where is Sasha’s title? Bayley gets offended for her, and talks her up. Sasha says that they put the titles on the map and without them the tag titles wouldn’t even be here. She says if she wanted to they could beat them any time. Alexa says any time any place, but Bayley tells Alexa she will wrestle Sasha right now, of course throwing Sasha into the fire again when she is not dressed to compete. Alexa agreed and drop kicked Sasha out of the ring as we head into commercial break. I guess we have a match.
Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks
That match starts off with Sasha tying her shoes because she is in regular clothing. Alexa tried to get a quick roll up pin but it doesn’t work. Sasha tried to take advantage but fails and Alexa starts beating down Sasha. Alexa gets her in the corner and tries to slap her, but it’s reversed and Sasha takes control. Sasha hits a meteora in the corner, followed up by another one in the center of the ring but she can’t put Alexa away so quickly. Meanwhile, Bayley and Nikki are on commentary and it’s complete chaos with both of them just screaming back and forth the entire time. Sasha gets Bliss back and in the corner and goes for a slap of her own, but Alexa reverses it and ends up sending Sasha face first into the mat. Alexa is all fired up now coming back with clothesline’s and drop kick combo’s. She tries for a corner splash of sorts but Sasha moves and sends her face first into the turnbuckle. Nice short back and forth between the two ends with Alexa hitting a big right hand. She goes for the twisted Bliss, but an interference by Bayley and Nikki causes Alexa to be knocked off the top rope, Sasha takes advantage and does a weird roll up type pin for the win.
My Thoughts
Pretty solid match here. I like that Sasha was in street clothes, really made it feel like Bayley just threw her into the fire without knowing. Sasha also finally picked up a singles win, and it’s been a long time since her last. Overall a nice match.
⁃ We take a look back at everything that happened at the start of the show.
Cesaro w/ Nakamura vs. Shorty G
We start off hot with both men going right at it, no feeling out process. Hard hitting almost immediately with a pace carried by Cesaro. Shorty G continued to fight an uphill battle as every time he thought he could get the best of Cesaro, he couldn’t. Cesaro stayed on Gable with a barrage of nasty clothesline’s and uppercuts. They had a small grappling exchange with both men trying to get pins, but when they stood up, Gable rolled over Cesaro in a code-red type pin for the win. Surprising victory left Cesaro shocked.
My Thoughts
The match started off really hot with Cesaro continuously being hard hitting and keeping the pace hot, but seemingly once it really got going, it ended. Not sure what’s up with all the cheap wins tonight, but Shorty G got it done.
⁃ We see a segment with Mandy and Otis having a date by the pool. Mandy fell asleep and had a dream about Otis in the pool and them making out, but was woken up by Otis doing a cannon ball into the pool. She didn’t seem to mind though, as she then got in the pool and made out with him for real. Weird segment.
⁃ Kurt Angle is backstage and says he is here to announce the future. He says he’s happy to announce that Matt Riddle is coming to Smackdown. We then see a promo for Matt Riddle, showcasing his skills. Coming soon.
⁃ Kayla is backstage interviewing Sheamus. He says that they were talking about Jeff Hardy, now have moved on to Riddle. And while they’re getting all the hype, Sheamus is doing the work. And tonight he will get to the finals in the tournament. Daniel Bryan interrupts but doesn’t speak. Sheamus pokes fun at him, but Bryan kicks him in the shin and leaves. Weird place to kick someone, but alas. Sheamus was mad as the segment ended.
⁃ We see a promo for Miz and Morrison vs Braun at backlash. Next week Miz and Morrison have a message for him. Also, Alexa and Nikki will defend the women’s tag titles against Sasha and Bayley.
Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan – Intercontinental Championship Tournament Semi- Finals.
A good grappling exchange starts it off. Sheamus with a headlock takedown and both men wrestle around for the upper hand on the ground. Bryan ends up gaining control as the stand up to their feet but a good hard couple of strikes from Sheamus get him in the drivers seat. Sheamus yells at Bryan, telling him that he isn’t the only one that can wrestle around here. That fires Bryan up as he starts fighting back, eventually knocking Sheamus out of the ring and hitting a big dive into him as we head to commercial. We come back to Sheamus now in control, beating up Bryan with some nasty elbow strikes to the face, then even getting him out of the ring and tossing him hard into the barricade. Sheamus still talking trash the entire time, which is great. As the match gets back into the ring, Bryan tried to fight back but failed when Sheamus caught him with the Irish curse back breaker, followed by the Texas cloverleaf submission. Daniel Bryan eventually got to the ropes and broke it up. As Sheamus tried to capitalize on Bryan, he couldn’t quite do it. Bryan started to fight back and hit a big drop kick, followed by his yes kicks. Good match up to this point, but every time Bryan started to fight back, Sheamus shut him down. But, when Sheamus set up for the brogue kick, he was distracted by Jeff Hardy who limped down to the ring. Sheamus’ attention was averted, and Bryan hit the running knee for the win. After the match, Jeff Hardy attacked Sheamus and beat him down, then stood tall to end SmackDown.
My Thoughts
Overall I enjoyed that match a lot, very interesting that Jeff Hardy cake back out and attacked Sheamus, i know they’re in a feud, but the attack makes me think that Sheamus maybe caused the entire scene from the start of the show. Maybe we will see next week.
My Overall Thoughts
Tonight’s show was pretty entertaining I’d say. From the wild chaotic start, to the battle royal, that theme really kept the show alive. Interesting that we didn’t see much build for the universal championship aside from a small promo, but it was announced that Miz and Morrison will leave a message for Braun next week. Also, Sasha banks finally got a singles win and it has earned her and Bayley a women’s tag team championship match next week. And for the second week in a row I’d like to point out that we didn’t see the hacker. Which is interesting, they’re really dragging it out if they didn’t drop it. But, the biggest news coming from tonight is that Smackdown once again has picked up a new roster member by the name of Matt Riddle from NXT, and I’m very excited and curious to see where that goes. Overall solid show and hopefully next week’s is even better. Thanks for reading!
