Welcome to WrestleTalk’s live coverage of WWE SmackDown. As always, Friday Night will certainly feature a heavy dose of The Bloodline. Will the tag team titles be unified tonight?
Here is the full card:
- RK-Bro and The Usos set for Winner Take All Title Unification clash
- Shinsuke Nakamura looks to overthrow the “locker room leader” Sami Zayn
- Xavier Woods set for fight night with Butch
The Tag Title Unification Match...finally
This match was what folks tuned in for. Sadly, it felt like forever to get here. The show hasn’t been bad, but the rest of the show was far less high stakes.
Oh no, during the match, Riddle takes a really hard whip into the corner. It looks like he got whiplashed. The ref does the hand check thingy and Riddle doesn’t grab his hand back. Riddle looks to be hurt. The ref throws up the x and the medical team is in to check on Riddle.
Whatever happened during the break, Riddle appears to be at least good enough to finish the match. Riddle is back in the ring and hits the pump knee before tagging in Orton.
Orton’s hot tag is incredible. He hits Snap Powerslams. He hits a draping DDT. He hits an RKO and Jey Uso barely breaks up the pin on Jimmy Uso. He drags his brother to the corner and tags himself in. Orton’s out.
Riddle unleashes forearms on everyone. Jey Uso hits the Pop-up Neckbreaker. 2-Count!!!
Boo!!! The Usos are the Undisputed Tag Team Champions. I boo because Roman Reigns cheated to win. I just wanted a clean finish. Riddle and Jey Uso were perched on the top rope. Riddle was going for a Super RKO. As he leaped off, Roman held Jey Uso and Riddle landed on his own. Jey Uso hits the Uso Splash.
After the match, Riddle is attacked by Roman. The Usos take out Orton. They set up Riddle on the announcer’s table. Jey Uso hits another Uso Splash on Riddle on the table. Roman locks everyone in the Guillotine. Kids in the crowd are crying. Some guy looks bored. Another kid crying.
It looks like Riddle and Orton will want to get revenge on The Bloodline. How will this move forward?
Acknowledge @WWEUsos!#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/TKiS2DuRDq
— WWE (@WWE) May 21, 2022
Cole is disappointed
Michael Cole says Naomi and Sasha Banks disappointed everyone on Monday. He said they let down millions and millions of fans by walking out of what was supposed to be a 6-man tag match. Cole continued to say they laid down their belts on the desk of the head of talent relations. As such, there will be a future tournament to decide new champions. Well, that was awkward.
Xavier Woods also has declared he has had enough of the 3 on 2 shenanigans. So, next week, he has a 3rd guy and there will be a 6-man tag match. He promises they won’t like who it is. It has to be Drew McIntyre, right?
WOAH! Who does @AustinCreedWins have in mind to match the numbers game alongside @TrueKofi against @WWESheamus, @RidgeWWE & Butch?!#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/nMAMQFJuDR
— WWE (@WWE) May 21, 2022
Butch
When I was a kid, I watched WWE bring out the One Man Gang as Akeem the African Dream, Big Bubba as The Big Bossman, Hillbilly Jim, The Million Dollar Man, and a slew of odd characters each and every week. Now, as an adult, I watch Happy Corbin, Butch, Max Dupri, and Madcap Moss. I guess the choice of odd over the top characters isn’t new, but I’m just old and cranky. I miss Pete Dunne.
Butch of The Brawling Brutes is wrestling Xavier Woods of The New Day. Butch is wrestling a very methodical, aggressive style of offense. Give Butch credit. He’s not phoning it in. He’s giving this gimmick his full effort. Unfortunately, he keeps losing to Xavier Woods.
Woods hit The Backwoods Roll-Up for the win. Butch had unleashed a slew of elbows after drilling a forearm face. It is hilarious to me that Woods has named a roll-up as his finish.
.@WWESheamus, my how you've changed!#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/fdj3QRtpid
— WWE (@WWE) May 21, 2022
Raquel Rodriguez is in action
Before the next segment, RK-Bro cut a pretty typical RK-Bro. They are certainly trying to get over the RK-Bro 4:20 says we smoked your *ss.
We get the recap of Raquel against Rousey. Shotzi and Aliyah are watching backstage. Aliyah is mad because Shotzi locked her in the locker room and prevented from her answering the open challenge. Shotzi is talking trash, but Raquel walks up. Shotzi calls her an absurd Amazon. They’ll be fighting next.
Shotzi keeps on the attack, but Raquel’s power is just too much. She overpowers her at every turn. Hurricanrana attempt. Raquel stops her and slams her. She hits an impressive fall-away slam. She hits a nice top rope move. She hits the one-arm power slam for the win. For some odd reason, during the match, the camera cut to a crew of people watching backstage. Angel Garza was a big fan.
The #SmackDown locker room taking mental notes.@RaquelWWE pic.twitter.com/nQ3lnb7wK5
— WWE (@WWE) May 21, 2022