Smackdown Live Review 06/05/2018

Hello Misfits. It is time for this weeks Smackdown Live review. There is only two weeks from Money in the Bank and all the participants for the match have been named. I mean we still don’t know which member of the New Day will participate but we know one of them will be involved. I’m sure we’ll see them get involved with each other tonight to continue to build Smackdown’s involvement in the match. Also, it was announced last week that Charlotte will be taking on her best friend Becky Lynch tonight and that Jimmy Uso and Naomi will be facing Lana and Aiden English. It was announced earlier today that AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura will be having a contract signing as well. I’m sure we’ll get more from the Big Cass/Bryan rivalry as well as Carmella and Asuka. Lets see what how it all went down.

Smackdown comes to us live from the American Bank Centre in Corpus Christi, TX.

–  Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton and Corey Graves are on commentary.

Carmella
Carmella demands everyone to shower her with the praise she deserves. The crowd boos mercilessly. Carmella says today isn’t about her it’s about her MITB opponent Asuka. Carmella instructs everyone to take a look at the ‘Tron so she can show us the Asuka we think we know. Highlights of all of Asuka’s career is shown. Carmella says that gave her chills. Isn’t Asuka incredible? Asuka used to be. Carmella tells us that now she is going to show us who Asuka really is. Footage of Asuka tapping out to Charlotte and various other low lights are shown. Carmella says Asuka’s loss at WrestleMania broke her. Carmella doesn’t fear Asuka. The age of Asuka is over. Asuka was undefeated but now she is just defeated. Now everybody is ready for Asuka.
Carmella tells everyone who is ready for Asuka to raise their hand. Asuka’s music hits and she struts down the ramp. Asuka gets in Carmella’s face. Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville join the fray. Rose says she was a second away from beating Asuka. Rose says she wants Asuka for herself. Deville says tonight it’s her turn. Carmella asks Asuka if she is going to face them both. Paige comes out and says no one speaks for her. Paige makes the matches around here. Paige asks Asuka which one she wants. Asuka grabs the mic from Carmella and says she wants both. Paige books the match.
Opinion
I am never going to complain about Carmella being on my TV so this was great. I love how she’s playing it up that Asuka isn’t a threat. I wasn’t shocked to see this lead into a match because thats how most of these shows roll but it was featuring different stars than we usually get to kick off the shows spotlighting the women’s championship feud.

Asuka def. Sonya Deville & Mandy Sacs
Carmella was on commentary for this match where she even danced on the announcers table. In a solid match Asuka defeated Sonya Deville and Mandy Sacs when she made Deville tap out with Asuka lock.
After the match, Carmella gets in Asuka’s face. Rose tries to attack Asuka from behind. Asuka obliterates Rose with a spinning back fist. Carmella attacks Asuka from behind hitting her with a belt and then Carmella kicks Asuka in the face.
Opinion
This was a solid way to kick off the show. Carmella is content entertainment. I think it was good use of Sonya and Mandy. I would have rather had Carmella interfere to cause a non-finish to protect Sonya from tapping out but this way showed that Asuka was still dominant. I worry that if Carmella keeps standing tall prior to the PPV that she might be dropping the title.

-Backstage, Miz is interrupted by Mr. Bootyworth. New Day walks in and apologizes to Miz for what they have done the past few weeks. Big E. asks Miz to help them pick which one of them will be in the MITB ladder match. Miz goes to reach into the New Day’s hat to pick a name but Woods tells him he has to be blindfolded. Miz agrees. Big E. switches the hat with the numbers with a hat filled with pancake batter. Miz sticks his hand in the pancake batter. Miz goes nuts and storms off.

Karl Anderson w/ Luke Gallows def. Luke Harper w/ Erick Rowen
In a quick match, Karl Anderson picks up a shocking victory over Luke Harper with a roll-up.
Opinion
This was surprising. I was expecting a quick match but not going that way. It wasn’t a dominant victory but it was a win regardless. I wish it wasn’t with a roll-up but it’s a clever way to make it look like The Club could get one over the Bludgeon Brothers.

– Backstage, Naomi says she is going to snatch Lana bald. Jimmy Uso says they are the number one wife/husband team on SD Live.

Jimmy Uso & Naomi def. Aiden English & Lana
In a super fun mixed tag match, Jimmy Uso and Naomi defeat Aiden English and Lana after Jimmy Uso hits a super kick on Aiden English.
Opinion
This was fun. I feel like since the mixed match challenge, they realized how fun and entertaining this mixed tag matches can be. This was also a way to get Lana on TV while hiding her limited ring skills. I agree Lana has a presence and we enjoy seeing her but she isn’t the strongest wrestler yet. Its always great to see the husband and wife pair of Jimmy and Naomi win too.

AJ Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura Contract Signing
Backstage, Paige is with Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles to sign the contract for their last man standing match. Paige says she can assure everyone that there will be a winner. Styles says he understands why Nakamura does what he does. Styles knows Nakamura knows he can’t beat Styles. Styles says it doesn’t matter what Nakamura does. Styles is going to walk out of MITB the same way he walked in. The WWE Champion. Styles signs the contract. Nakamura goes to sign but he says his pen is out of ink. Nakamura asks Styles if he can please borrow his pen. Nakamura says Styles pen is broken and he tosses it at Styles. Styles goes off. Styles slaps Nakamura. Officals pulls Styles away. Nakamura signs the contract and says last man standing and walks away.
Opinion
This was surprising to me too. I think its been since the early 90s since we’ve had a contract signing fully be done backstage and not in the ring. The last one that comes to mind is the one between Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior. I enjoyed it. Styles slap to Nakamura was funny and memorable. Heel Nakamura is quality entertainment and I’m looking forward to what must be their blow-off match.

Becky Lynch def. Charlotte Flair
In a competitive match between two friends, Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte Flair by making her tap-out to the disarm-her.
Opinion
This was a great match between two woman who know each other very well. This Smackdown was full of surprises because I wasn’t expecting Charlotte to take the L here, but it’s a big deal for Becky Lynch who really hasn’t had that BIG win in a while. I mean she qualified for the Money in the Bank, but beating Charlotte just seems bigger than that. It also creates more tension between the friends going into a match where they are forced to be opponents.

– Dasha Fuentes is backstage with Samoa Joe. Joe immediately cuts her off and asks what she sees when she looks at him – a vicious man, maybe a man who has the conscious of a rabid dog, or a moral compass so backwards that he will stop at nothing to get what he wants? Joe says The New Day will find out those things are true tonight. Joe goes on and says people will see him as a man who made a promise and kept it – he promised he would put Daniel Bryan to sleep. He also climbed the ladder and got the briefcase last week, which terrified the locker room because they saw the truth. Joe goes on and says whoever will call himself WWE Champion will be labeling himself a marked man. Joe says with him, what you see is what you get and everyone will get it, very soon. We go to commercial.

Big Cass Interview
Back from the break and Renee Young is near the stage. She brings out Big Cass for an interview.
Renee asks about Cass facing Daniel Bryan at Money In the Bank and he starts bragging about his height, knocking Bryan for his size. Cass shows us what happened last week after Samoa Joe put Bryan to sleep. Cass says he almost feels bad for Bryan but Bryan brought it on himself by asking to come back to WWE and asking to get back into the ring. Cass says little did Bryan know that he would have a 7 foot shadow following him everywhere he went. Cass says Bryan has never been in the ring with someone as big as him, as educated as him, with someone that’s a star like him, with someone that holds a grudge like he does. Cass says that’s why he will do everything he can do to dismantle Bryan at Money In the Bank, to beat him down and embarrass him. Fans boo Cass.
Cass says he will take Bryan’s scrawny little arms, rip them off his body and beat him with them. Cass is going to snap Bryan’s little legs so he can’t walk and can’t put the heel hook on him again. Cass goes on and says Bryan needs to go back to doing what he does best – playing a little garden gnome on Total Bellas. Cass says a battered Bryan will look in the mirror after MITB and come to the slow realization that a pathetic little man like him will never survive in this big man’s world.
Opinion
Why does it feel like the WWE was going old school tonight? This interview on the stage is so 80s and early 90s. I really enjoyed the concept of this interview and it was good way to continue to build the angle with Cass and Bryan without Bryan being there. It was very old school booking and I enjoyed because I appreciate that stuff.

– Backstage, Zelina Vega berates Sin Cara for thinking he is friends with Andrade Almas. Vega tells Sin Cara that Andrade asked her to get a match booked against Sin Cara next week. Andrade Almas attacks Sin Cara from behind.

The New Day def. The Miz, Samoa Joe & Rusev
In an awesome main event that was better than I expected, The New Day defeated Miz, Joe and Rusev after Joe and Rusev abandon The Miz after he accidentally threw pancakes in their faces which allowed Kofi and Big E to finish Miz off with a midnight hour.
Opinion
I was kind of shocked when this was the main event but it was better than I expected. The New Day did some stuff that really made go “holy crap” during this match. For example that springboard where Kofi looked like he was gonna leap forward into the ring but he leaps backwards instead onto his opponents totally caught me off guard. The finish made sense because the heels shouldn’t be getting along just cause they’re heels when they’re also going to be opponents in the MITB match.

Final Thoughts
This episode was full on surprises with things that shocked me. There were a lot of names missing again that I would have loved to have seen but then again this is a two hour show and we make those sacrifices. Less is more too because the next time we see Bryan, Hardy, Orton or the IIconics we’ll get excited because we didn’t see them the last week. It was a fun show and it went by fast because it was entertaining. Definitely check it out and Smackdown continues to be on a roll since the superstar shake-up.
Rating – 6.5/10