Triple H Absent From May 12 WWE SmackDown, Who Headed Up Tapings Revealed

WWE

WWE’s Chief Content Officer Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque has led all WWE shows since he took over from Vince McMahon last July, with the exception of the Raw after WrestleMania 39 this year.

However, that was not the case for this past week’s episode of SmackDown (May 12).

Per PWInsider Elite (via WrestlePurists), Levesque was not at last week’s SmackDown show, though it is not known why he was absent from the show.

His absence required someone else to fill in for him at the tapings, and relax, it’s not the person you’re worried about it being.

During Levesque’s absence, Bruce Prichard was the man tasked with heading up the tapings.

The show saw the continuation of the tournament to crow the new World Heavyweight Championship, with AJ Styles and Bobby Lashley winning their respective Triple Threat matches.

Styles then toppled Lashley in the main event to earn the match with Seth Rollins at Night of Champions to crown the new champion.

The show also saw the debut of many NXT names who were called up as part of the WWE Draft.

Here are results from the Friday, May 12 episode of WWE SmackDown:

AJ Styles def. Edge, Rey Mysterio in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament

Bobby Lashley def. Austin Theory, Sheamus in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament

Grayson Waller appeared in a backstage segment with Adam Pearce and announced the winner of the Styles vs Lashley main event would appear on his Grayson Waller Effect talk show next week

Cameron Grimes def. Baron Corbin

Roman Reigns made his first appearance since WrestleMania 39 and said that Solo Sikoa has stepped up, but the Usos are a problem and that they embarrassed him

Paul Heyman then announced Reigns and Sikoa would be challenging Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia

Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez def. Bayley & Dakota Kai to retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship

Former NXT Tag Team Champions Pretty Deadly made their SmackDown debut backstage, setting up a match against the Brawling Brutes for next week

Bianca Belair appeared for a ‘celebration’ in her hometown of Knoxville, but was interrupted by a returning Asuka who spat mist in Belair’s face

AJ Styles def. Bobby Lashley in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament

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• Bruce Pritchard
• Triple H
• Smackdown
• wwe

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