Smackdown Review 05/22/2020

Smackdown Review 05/22/2020

Hello! Welcome back to this weeks Smackdown review. Tonight’s show coming to us from the WWE performance center is sure to entertain with such a stacked line up, including two intercontinental championship tournament matches as Jeff Hardy takes on Sheamus and AJ Styles takes on Shinsuke Nakamura. Also, finally, Otis and Mandy Rose will team up to take on Sonya Deville and Dolph Ziggler in the culmination of months of back and forth. Plus, a Champion vs. Champion match will take place when Smackdown women’s champion; Bayley goes head to head with NXT women’s champion; Charlotte. All that and more, so, let’s get into it!

Live from the WWE Performance Center

We kick off with a salute to the troops. Happy Memorial Day weekend!

The Dirt Sheet
Michael Cole & Corey Graves go over what’s to come tonight before we head right into The Dirt Sheet. Miz and Morrison are already in the ring and they start off by running down Otis. Similar to last week, they talk about how Otis doesn’t deserve the money in the bank, but they quickly move on to Braun Strowman, saying he doesn’t deserve the universal title. Miz says that one of them should’ve gotten the match against Goldberg at WrestleMania, but alas, it was Braun who didn’t deserve it. They then go into a little segment talking about puppets who Bray would rather have than Braun, showing dumb sock puppets on the screen who make fun of Braun. Of course, the universal champion interrupted this segment and made his way down to the ring. Braun jokes around and thanks them for letting him on their show. He talks about Bray Wyatt, saying that he conquered him at MITB, and he beat Miz and Morrison last week. Morrison then stood up to Braun and asked if he thinks he’s a bad ass for beating them in a tag match, Braun says yes, but Morrison doubts he could beat them one on one. So, Morrison offers up Miz for a match, who did not look like he wanted to participate, but Braun accepted and now we have a match. Alright.
My Thoughts:
That segment was not good. It kept no pace of conversation and was everywhere. They started off by talking about Otis and terribly Segway’d into Braun and Bray and puppets and now we have a match, it felt like they were just trying to get the segment over and smash a bunch of content into just a few minutes. A cluster is the best way I could describe this as.

Braun Strowman vs. The Miz
The match started off as all Braun as he just whipped Miz around the ring and controlled the hell out of him. But, while the ref was checking on Miz, John Morrison kicked Braun in the head, which gave Miz the upper hand. Miz tried to take control of Braun, but it didn’t last long at all, he tried for a DDT, but Braun reversed it and threw him half way across the ring. He followed it up with a power slam, and finished it off. That was quick. After the match, John Morrison grabbed a mic and challenged Braun Strowman to a handicap match at backlash for the universal championship, and Braun accepted.
My Thoughts
Well, that match was super quick so not much to say. But, the challenge after the match is interesting. I figured we would get Bray vs Braun again, but I guess not. A nice change of pace for the PPV I guess.

⁃ They announce that AJ Styles has officially been traded to Smackdown for superstars they will name later.

AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (Intercontinental Championship Tournament)
Both men battling for control from the start with no man getting the upper hand for quite some time, nice brawling mixed with some wrestling back and forth, once you think one man is in the drivers seat, the other turned it around. It stayed like this up until the commercial break, where right before, Nakamura hit a sweet sliding belly to back Suplex, sending AJ down hard on the back of his neck as we go into commercial break. Upon return, AJ Styles was battling back to get in control, Nakamura threw a big kick but AJ moves and hits a sweet pele kick, taking both men down. Exhaustion starts to creep in as both men try to get up to their feet, once they do, AJ turned on the jets and started firing up, even hitting a brutal looking clothesline on Nakamura but he couldn’t put him away. Styles tries the calf crusher to try to keep Nakamura down, but he got to the ropes to break the hold. Styles kept the pace up, hitting a sliding forearm, but even that couldn’t keep the king of strong style down. AJ seemingly started to get frustrated, and Shinsuke caught him with a Michinoku driver to turn the tide in this match. Shinsuke hits a sliding knee, but only gets a two count on a cover. He then sets up for a kinshasa, but a Styles reverses it. He tries for a Styles clash, but Nakamura reverses it into a triangle choke. AJ seemed like he was started to fade, but had the wherewithal to pick up Nakamura and hit a modified Styles clash, but it couldn’t keep Nakamura down. This is getting wild now. Both men trying to catch the other off guard, but in the closing moments, Styles was able to get a last effort enziguri, then followed it up with a phenomenal forearm for the win. What a match. AJ advances to the second round.
My Thoughts
I loved that match, they really turned it up here and had me on the edge of my seat. I had a feeling Styles would win, but a few times I thought maybe Nakamura had it in the bag, especially when he kicked out of the Styles clash. Really good stuff. Also, with AJ Styles officially on Smackdown now, they did point out that someone is going to Raw in exchange and this is not apart of the brand-to-brand invitational. This is a legit trade. Interesting.

⁃ Sasha and Bayley are backstage together, Bayley tells sasha that she doesn’t want her in her corner for her match. She wants to prove to everyone that she can win without banks. Sasha agrees and sends her good luck wishes. Bayley vs Charlotte is next.

Bayley vs Charlotte
The match was all Charlotte at the beginning. She manhandled Bayley, all while talking trash to her the entire time. That’s one thing I enjoy about these empty arena shows, you can hear all the shit talking they do and it’s great. But, Charlotte maybe spent too much time talking because Bayley caught her off guard and rolled her up for a pin, she wasn’t successful, but close. Charlotte then realized she needed to her on her game against the Smackdown women’s champion, and she became more focused and serious, almost immediately. They brawled to the outside where Charlotte tossed Bayley over the barricade. She then grabbed a mic and told Sasha to come out so she could kick both their asses. This sent us into break. As we return, Charlotte was in control, and they showed Sasha watching the match on a monitor backstage. So, she did not come to the ring. Bayley began to battle back against the nxt champion and suddenly the match became even. Both women jockeying for control, with no women getting the real upper hand. A slow back and forth finally started to pick up as Bayley gained momentum. She had Charlotte reeling, and went for the elbow drop off the top, but Charlotte reverses it. Charlotte tried to then finish off Bayley, but was unsuccessful, and Bayley took back control. She tried for a elbow drop again and got it, but couldn’t put Charlotte away. Bayley then got a little too cocky and tried for the figure four leg lock on Charlotte, but Charlotte got out of it. A weird little cluster of moves at the end led Bayley to roll up Charlotte for the win. Bayley was holding the ropes, but the ref never saw it. Bayley defeats Charlotte without Sasha like she said she would.
My Thoughts
Solid match here, nothing outstanding though, just felt like your typical run of the mill match. I am surprised Sasha actually didn’t come out though, and Bayley getting a Pinfall win over Charlotte is interesting, I figured it would end in a DQ, but i was wrong. I wonder if this is the end for these two? We will have to wait and see.

⁃ Bayley was backstage with Sasha, Bayley says she knew Sasha believed in her. That’s why she didn’t need her, but she got it done. They hug and celebrate.

Sonya Deville & Dolph Ziggler vs. Mandy Rose & Otis
Dolph and Otis kick the match off. Otis started off hot and was in control, but, Ziggler quickly ran to his corner and tagged in Sonya. This causes Mandy to come in, and they just start brawling from the start. Suddenly, Otis and Ziggler start brawling on the outside, which ends with Ziggler sending Otis shoulder first into the steel steps to send us to commercial. We come back to Sonya Deville all over Mandy, just beating her down and not letting up. This continued for a few good minutes until Sonya started to gloat too much, and Mandy caught her with a knee. Mandy was able to make a tag to Otis, who came in like a train speeding on a track, running through Dolph Ziggler. Otis got Ziggler right where he wanted him, but Sonya make a blind tag. Mandy then came in on fire, while Dolph and Otis once again brawled to the outside. Meanwhile in the ring, Mandy went for her angel wings slam, but Sonya reverses it into a nasty running knee to pick up the win. After the match, Otis was checking on Mandy when Ziggler super kicked him from behind and laid him out.
My Thoughts
Solid match, we finally get the payoff to what has felt like a year long feud, but not the outcome everyone was expecting and with Ziggler and Sonya winning, it makes me wonder if this is just the beginning. Maybe another match at backlash? I guess we will see in the coming weeks. Overall not bad though.

⁃ Jeff Hardy is backstage cutting a promo about how all the positive vibrations he’s sent out has landed him into this tournament. He says his first singles title was the intercontinental title and he wants it back. Tonight he will run through Sheamus.

⁃ WWE gives a memorial graphic for Shad Gaspard. Rest In Peace, Shad. Thoughts and prayers to the family and friends.

⁃ Forgotten Sons are backstage cutting a promo about how they will get blood on their hands. But never said who, assuming this just means the tag division.

⁃ We see highlights from Braun Strowman on the dirt sheet and his match with Miz from earlier on. The handicap match for backlash is now official.

⁃ Renee is backstage with Miz and Morrison. She asks if they think they can really defeat Braun. They said yes, and cow to make his life a living hell. They then sing their “hey hey ho ho” song.

⁃ They run a promo for the Jeff Hardy and Sheamus feud that has been going on.

Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus (Intercontinental Championship Tournament)
Jeff Hardy takes Sheamus down and controls him right away on the mat with a headlock, seemingly slowing down Sheamus before he could even get started which is interesting. Eventually Sheamus got back up to his feet and took charge, beating down Jeff Hardy and even yelling “trying to squeeze the head off me there?” As Sheamus drove him down to the mat. Jeff tried to fight back but both men ended up on the outside, where Sheamus slammed Hardy hard as hell on the announcers table as we went to break. We come back to see Sheamus still dominating Jeff Hardy. Cole even mentioned that Jeff just looks a step off tonight as. Just couldn’t get in control. Every time he tried, Sheamus shut him down and punished him. Sheamus kept the pace up, but when he went for a corner spear, Jeff moved and Sheamus went shoulder first into the ring post, and suddenly Jeff Hardy is feeling himself. Sheamus tried to get out of the ring to gather himself, but Hardy chased him down and sent him shoulder first into the post once again. Hardy was moving fast now, he had Sheamus back in the ring right where he wanted him. Jeff Hardy went for the Swanton but Sheamus got the knees up. He tried for a pin, but was unsuccessful. Suddenly Sheamus was back in control and set up for the brogue kick, but when he went for it, Hardy reverses and catches Sheamus in a roll up pin for the win. Jeff Hardy steals one to advance in the tournament where we know he will face Daniel Bryan next. Hardy stands tall to end the show.
My Thoughts
Good match, Sheamus really dominated the entire match almost up until the very end. But it told a good story in the ring of Jeff Hardy just being a step behind, but in the end overcame Sheamus. I enjoyed it and I look forward to the rest of the tournament.

My Overall Thoughts
Smackdown was alright tonight. I certainly enjoyed it more than some of the episodes in the recent past. But, still not perfect. I feel that Smackdown really needs to rearrange their women’s division because it’s getting really stale and it seems like we see the same things every single week. The tag division is at a stand still it seems and now one of the main tag teams are in the universal title picture. Random is the word best used to describe Smackdown for me. But, at least the few legit feuds we have like Sheamus and Hardy, Mandy/Otis vs Sonya/Dolph are consistent, as well as the intercontinental title tournament has been pretty entertaining. Next week we know now that we will have Jeff Hardy vs Daniel Bryan and Elias vs AJ Styles. Also, i have to mention that Styles was traded to Smackdown tonight, to which they said they would announce who was traded to Raw, but they never did, so maybe we will see that on Monday. Also, we didn’t see the hacker tonight which is interesting. So, maybe next week. There’s a few things to look forward to for next weeks Smackdown so I will see you then. Thanks for reading!