WWE SmackDown Live: May 22 2018 News in Brief

SmackDown Live was a really good show this week. Here’s what happened.

Shinsuke Nakamura announced the stipulation for his Money in the Bank match with AJ Styles in a fine segment. At first he jokingly said it would be a pillow fight. Then he tried to cheap shot AJ and they brawled at ringside until Shin knocked the WWE Champ out with a Kinshasa. Then Nakamura counted 10 over the fallen Styles and stood on the commentators’ table to announce the stip. This was a creative way to announce the stip and it succeeded in making yet another Styles-Nakamura match actually seem important.

The Miz welcomed all three members of The New Day onto Miz TV and tried to get them to announce which of them would appear in the MITB ladder match. They just played games with him and refused to answer. They eventually said it would be Big E, but then told Miz they meant Big E was challenging Miz to a match tonight. Miz refused so the New Day threw pancakes in his face and said ‘Shame!’ This was hilarious. Miz left but Paige was waiting for him backstage and told him to go back for the match.

The Miz then beat Big E with the Skull Crushing Finale after The Bar interfered. There was a fan chucking pancakes at the heels during the bout. So much for encouraging fans not to throw things at the wrestlers.

The Good Brothers earned a MITB Tag Team Title match against The Bludgeon Brothers when they defeated The Usos after the Magic Killer.

Lana beat Billie Kay to earn a spot in the women’s MITB match. Aiden English was out with Lana. There was no dissension whatsoever. The ‘weak link’ comment of a few weeks back has been completely forgotten, or put on hold at the very least. He got the crowd to chant “Lana is the best. Lana number one’. The IIconics came out and their facial expressions had me in stitches. They tried to sing. This was fantastically annoying. The match was kept short which was probably for the best because the two moves they did, didn’t look great. English was out there with a “LANA DAY” placard which annoyed Royce. Lana took her out of the equation then pinned Kay after an X Factor. The fans loved Lana’s win and chanted “LANA DAY!” Could we actually see a Mr and Mrs Money in the Bank?

Daniel Bryan pinned Jeff Hardy to earn a match with Samoa Joe where the winner gets into the MITB Men’s match. This was because Big Cass is injured so couldn’t fight Joe as scheduled, so Bryan and Hardy got another chance to qualify. Great match as you’d expect. Afterwards Joe warned Bryan he was coming for him next week. Daniel Bryan vs Samoa Joe on SmackDown Live. It’s happening!

Carmella was wearing Asuka’s mask. She cut a quality promo where she said she’s actually twice as good as Asuka, because she beat Charlotte twice. And Mella is Money.

Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas beat that always dangerous opponent Local Competitor.

Naomi pinned Sonya Deville to qualify for the women’s MITB match. Meh.

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• The Good Brothers
• The Bar
• billie kay
• Jeff Hardy
• The Usos
• aiden english
• Carmella
• AJ Styles
• big e
• andrade cien almas
• charlotte
• The Miz
• the new day
• Samoa Joe
• the bludgeon brothers
• Lana
• Shinsuke Nakamura
• peyton royce
• Big Cass
• Daniel Bryan
• Asuka

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