Smackdown Review – 05.08.26

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It’s Friday and that means it’s time for Smackdown. Tonight’s show comes to the USA/Netflix airwaves from the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, FL. (WAS DAILY’S PLACE NOT AVAILABLE HUNTER?) The announcing team for tonight’s show consists of Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett on match calls and analysis, Mark Nash on ring introductions, and Cathy Kelley on backstage interviews and breaking news segments. Let’s watch some wrestling!

Tonight’s show is In Memory Of Ted Turner, 1938-2026

Then, Now, Forever…..TOGETHER

Some folks are arriving for work, and they include: WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, Fatal Influence, Solo Sikoa and Talla Tonga, and Damian Priest. There’s a lot of extras getting a paycheck as Smackdown GM Nick Aldis glad-hands a bunch of them at THE FUNERAL OF GINGERBREAD MAN.

Here’s a look at the current white-hot feud involving Jacob Fatu and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns. Fatu has started using the Tongan Death Grip and I’m not sure Reigns has an answer for a family member who won’t fall in line.

Here’s Jacob Fatu out to a a sizable pop to chat about Backlash, presumably. (Did you know it’s Saturday night from Tampa and it’s being broadcast on ESPN? WELL NOW YOU DO BROTHER.) Fatu says he’s not fighting Roman Reigns for the title, he’s just taking the title. Fatu mentions that Reigns has always been “the future” while no one saw anything in him. Fatu talks about being told to fall in line and how Fatu has seen this behavior before. Fatu tells everyone that this is just a way to protect Reigns. Here’s Big Jim and Main Event Jey Uso out with no yeeting this evening other than some folks in the crowd. Jim says they aren’t out there to try to change Fatu’s mind and he respects Fatu because he knows what it means. Jim says he knows Fatu needs the win tomorrow, but he wonders if he’s considered what happens if Fatu loses tomorrow night. Jey says he knows what’s going to happen at Backlash and basically it’s “Tribal Chief gon’ beat that ass”. That’s not the worst part, though, says Jey, because Reigns will break you down emotionally and physically and do it right in front of Fatu’s family. Jim says Fatu’s wife and children will end up having to acknowledge the Tribal Chief. Jim and Jey puts ones in the air, but Fatu says hell no. Fatu says he is not losing because he can’t lose. Fatu also mentions that Jey has never beaten Reigns and tells Jim that tomorrow night is for his family. Fatu says the one thing his family will see is Fatu winning the title because he’s willing to put everything on the line. Fatu says there’s one more thing and it’s that if the Usos think about interfering at Backlash, Fatu will burn the whole [goddamn] family tree down.

Yep, another money promo to really push this thing into the heat it needs with such a short build. I don’t think Fatu is winning but I think there’s going to be a major angle coming out of it, but regardless, they’ve done the work to get this thing to nuclear-level in just a few weeks. Well done to all.

Tessitore asks Barrett what he thinks about the title match, and Barrett mentions Fatu’s focus being the thing that might just lead him to the victory tomorrow night.

Here’s some highlights of Ricky Saints debuting on Smackdown by losing to WWE Men’s World Champion Cody Rhodes and the subsequent attack from GUNTHER on Rhodes. Cathy Kelley is backstage with Smackdown GM Nick Aldis and mentions that GUNTHER is on the way and he’s still on Raw, for now. Here’s Ricky Saints in for a word about having to face “QB4” tonight. Here’s Matt Cardona in to call him “Rookie Saints” and that he’s not going to run his mouth, he’ll deal with Saints in the ring. We go to commercials.

Here’s Jacob Fatu dapping it up with Nick Aldis, and Aldis tells him to get some rest before tomorrow night. Fatu leaves Aldis and runs into Royce Keys. Keys tells Fatu failure isn’t an option, and Fatu agrees, and Keys reminds that Fatu has never been afraid of any man. They hug it out, and Fatu leaves. Here’s Keys running into Solo Sikoa who knows Keys is upset about last week, and Sikoa reminds Keys there’s still a place his family for Keys but he needs an answer soon.

Chelsea Green offered some words from her hospital bed wishing Tiffany Stratton good luck tonight and that she’s looking forward to getting martinis with her later tonight.

WWE Women’s United States Championship: Tiffany Stratton vs Kiana James

Giulia is out with James. James goes behind and grabs a side headlock, and Stratton immediately reverses it. They go to the mat and Stratton hits some acrobatics before walloping James with a lariat. Stratton misses a charge but dumps James to the apron when she charges in response. Stratton tries a shoulder tackle, but James slips it and kicks Stratton in the chest. James trips Stratton up and rams her left knee into the ring post a few times. Stratton tumbles to the floor and we go to commercials.

James puts Stratton in a single-leg crab when the show returns, but Stratton makes the ropes to break it up. James kicks Stratton to the floor and Giulia just gives her some verbals. James was hoping for more from Giulia, apparently. Stratton fires up with some clotheslines and a back handspring elbow. Stratton hits a handspring stunner and a shotgun dropkick before covering and getting a LONG two. James goes back to the knee and then waffles Stratton with a high boot. James hoists Stratton up for a Death Valley Driver and covers her for two. James starts firing big right hands and then rams Stratton into a corner for some shoulders. James misses a charge and smashes her shoulder into a ring post. Giulia goes to the apron when Stratton hoists James, but James slips off and rolls up Stratton while the ref is barking at Giulia. James is frustrated and Stratton uses all this to blast Giulia from the apron. Stratton hits a rolling senton on James and then ascends. Stratton crushes James with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever and covers her for three.

They’re sowing the seeds for a James-Giulia break-up and with the big Italy show coming up soon, this is not surprising. What will be interesting to see is if James maybe aligns herself with Stratton and Giulia possibly turns babyface for the Italy show. Either way, I thought this was decent in both execution and payoff so no major complaints from me. 3.25*

Winner AND STILL WWE Women’s US Champion – Tiffany Stratton (Prettiest Moonsault Ever)

Post-match sees James and Giulia trying to work things out while Stratton retreats with a big smile on her face.

Here’s Sami Zayn looking a bit grumpy at THE FUNERAL OF THE GINGERBREAD MAN. Nick Aldis tells him that everyone just needs some closure, and here’s R-Truth to offer Zayn a red rose and telling Zayn how much of a family resemblance he sees with the Gingerbread Man. Truth wipes a kiss on Zayn’s face and blows one towards the Gingerbread Man. Truth leaves and Zayn is infuriated. We go to commercials.

I wouldn’t say we’re off to a roaring start with GINGERBREAD MAN: THE FUNERALING but perhaps things will get better as we go along.

CHIME Presents: A Look At Fatal Influence and the havoc they’ve released in their two weeks on Smackdown. Here’s Cathy Kelley with Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, and WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley. Kelley asks for thoughts ahead of their six-woman tag match with Fatal that’s coming up, and Ripley mentions Fatal wanting to make an impression, which they did, but they attacked the wrong people. Flair mentions getting their hands on Fatal together, and Ripley wonders why Flair constantly pushes her and then point blank asks Flair if she trusts Ripley. Flair says Ripley isn’t the only one out there looking for REVENGE and Ripley wonders if there’s going to be a problem. Bliss steps in between them and tells them both to stop acting stupid, they’ve teamed before and there weren’t problems. Flair and Ripley promise to be good but still keep sniping at each other as Flair and Bliss make an exit.

R-Truth approaches his tag team partner and chats about Sami Zayn weeping over the Gingerbread Man. Priest isn’t interested in that because he has to lock in on beating Talla Tonga and doesn’t want the damaged Truth out there with him. Truth wants to come out with Priest because they’re partners, and Priest admits he’s glad to be the tag champs with Truth. Priest asks Truth to trust him that he knows how to handle these dudes on his own, and Truth is finally cool with it.

Talla Tonga makes his entrance accompanied by Solo Sikoa. We go to commercials.

WWE Men’s Tag Team Champion Damian Priest vs Talla Tonga

Priest attacks prior to the bell and blasts Tonga to the floor with a flying right hand. Priest blasts Tonga with an elbow off the apron and then looms over a terrified Sikoa. Tonga cuts the flurry off with a knee but Priest no-sells it and blasts Tonga with a superkick. Tonga no-sells that and yanks Priest up to slam him into the ring post. Tonga fires off an uppercut and then mashes Priest face-first into the apron. Tonga yanks Priest up and slams him across the announce desk. We go to commercials.

Tonga is still abusing Priest when the show returns but he misses a big elbow drop and Priest tries to fire up. Tonga misses a charge and Priest fires off some right hands. They slug it out and Tonga misses a charge. Priest fires off some kicks and then claps Tonga’s ears. Priest hits one more roundhouse kick and Tonga bails to the floor. Priest goes out and smashes Tonga with a double sledge off the steps. Priest blasts a sitting Sikoa to the floor, and then ascends after running Tonga back in. Priest hits a flying lariat and covers Tonga for two. Priest drops the straps and here’s Tama Tonga down to jump on the apron. Of course Priest turns and gets dropped by his neck over the top rope by Sikoa. Talla Tonga smashes Priest with a discus lariat and covers him for a LONG two. Priest goes to the floor where he’s surrounded by Sikoa and Tama, and here’s R-Truth out to start fighting both Sikoa and Tama. Sikoa wants the Spike but Priest intercepts it and sends Sikoa into Tama. Talla uses this distraction to mangle Priest with a high boot. Talla runs Priest back in and hits him with a giant chokeslam before covering him and getting three.

I enjoyed this more than I was expecting to. I do need to point out that Priest slipping down the card has maybe caused him to not be as careful about his conditioning because he was looking a bit chonky out there, but he’s still a good performer who is always where he needs to be match-wise. This told the exact story they wanted to tell, in that Priest told Truth to stay back because they would use him to get to Priest, and that’s exactly how it played out when the match occurred. That’s good work by creative and agenting and I will always point that out when something actually makes sense and gets followed up on. 3*

Winner – Talla Tonga (Chokeslam)

Post-match sees Sikoa and the Tongas surrounding Truth and Priest but here’s Royce Keys out to back off the Samoans. Sikoa makes sure Keys sees him calling the Tongas off from further attacks, and we move on to Tessitore and Barrett.

Here’s highlights of Danhausen and his confrontation with The Miz and Kit Wilson last week that lead to the MYSTERY PARTNER TAG MATCH at Backlash. Danhausen is confronted backstage by Miz and Wilson as he’s tending to his TAG PARTNER SIGNUP SHEET. Wilson says there’s no names on the list because Danahausen is TOXIC. Danhausen says he’s got plenty of friends including Papa Shango, Curry Man, and Bob from Catering. Wilson holds up a mirror and says that the only person stupid enough to team up with Danhausen is DANHAUSEN. Danhausen seems to like this idea and zooms away.

Here’s Paul Heyman thinking twice about knocking on Nick Aldis’s door. We go to commercials.

Gingerbread Man has been inserted into a bunch of classic WWE photographs and I’m so glad we’re destroying the planet for this crap.

Paul Heyman is with Nick Aldis, and Aldis hands Heyman a contract and says everything is in the contract per their discussion. Here’s GUNTHER entering to Heyman handing him the contract. Aldis reminds GUNTHER that what he did last week was unacceptable, but he’s happy to have GUNTHER on the blue brand. GUNTHER asks Aldis if that’s really how he wants to talk to his future WWE Champion. “Kingdom” kicks off in the background and GUNTHER seems nettled. GUNTHER hands the contract back to Heyman and says he doesn’t do business like this.

Here’s WWE Men’s Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes out for a chat. Rhodes shiner is still apparent but it’s definitely fading. Rhodes gets a big pop when he says the name of the town and does the DUVAL chant. Rhodes brings up the attack from GUNTHER and says he guesses that’s GUNTHER’s way of saying he’s next in line. Rhodes wants GUNTHER to come out and do just that, but here’s contract-in-hand Paul Heyman out to announce that his name is Paul Heyman. Heyman is here to solve the problem and he’s got a contract for a title match, but Rhodes stops him to ask if Heyman is now an advocate for GUNTHER. Rhodes says he’s cleared, and we don’t need any paper, they can do it right now. Heyman says he’s not an advocate, he’s fulfilling his favor that he owes GUNTHER. Heyman says he’s an enormous fan of Rhodes and reminds him that he should have a contract for a big title match. Rhodes invites Heyman into the ring after some fan chanting. Heyman says the contract for the match is not for Jacksonville, and it’s not for the USA. The fight with GUNTHER will be in Torino for Clash In Italy (A “U-S-A” chant breaks out here and uh…..) and Heyman says his duties have been fulfilled by giving the contract to Rhodes. Rhodes asks about Brock Lesnar retiring on Heyman, Roman Reigns and CM Punk discarding Heyman, and Rhodes wants to know if Heyman is now “out of options”. Heyman says he’s not the one running out of options, and sooner or later, they all need the Wise Man. Here’s GUNTHER charging in from behind and Rhodes sees it coming. GUNTHER manages to get the drop on Rhodes anyway and slaps on the sleeper. Rhodes manages to dump GUNTHER to the floor and he nails him with a forearm when GUNTHER tries to charge back in. GUNTHER keeps charging and Rhodes keeps blasting him off the apron. Rhodes picks up a mic and bellows that he doesn’t sweat GUNTHER and doesn’t care about him beating Goldberg, AJ Styles, and John Cena. Rhodes hits his “easy to find, hard to beat” catchphrase and tosses the mic down furiously. GUNTHER retreats to the back as “Kingdom” plays again.

Solo Sikoa is chatting with Tama Tonga who says that Royce Keys is a problem that needs to be dealt with. Sikoa disagrees and says he’s a perfect fit for the family. Tama says that Keys has embarassed them and he’s going to handle business. Sikoa holds off Talla Tonga from going after Tama, and tells him that if Tama wants to go out to the ring on his own, he can find out on his own.

Matt Cardona makes his entrance as we go to commercials.

We need to look at highlights of the Rhodes-Heyman-GUNTHER segment that just happened when the show returns. I will lose my mind if Rhodes can find a relative of Johnny Weaver to help him fight off the sleeper problem.

Ricky Saints vs Matt Cardona

Cardona offers a clean break but Saints decides to shove him in the face in response. Saints trucks Cardona down and poses, so Cardona responds in kind and then drives Saints down with a clothesline. Cardona bullies Saints in a corner but then gets dropped onto a turnbuckle when he charges. Saints bullies Cardona with his boot and some chops, but Cardona responds with a flying forearm and a Flapjack. Cardona fires off a lariat but Saints bails to escape further punishment. Cardona hits Saints with a between-the-ropes dropkick and a frustrated Saints kicks the barricade. We go to commercials.

Cardona grabs a jackknife roll up for two when the show returns. Cardona lifts the knees when Saints charges, and then pounds Saints head into the mat. Cardona bullies Saints in a corner and then hits the Broski Boot. Cardona covers and gets two. Cardona wants the Unprettier but Saints reverses and hits a Cross Rhodes on Cardona that gets two. Saints yanks Cardona up but Cardona reverses into a back body drop. Saints bails and trips up Cardona when he comes over. Cardona fires up with the Ruff Ryder and that gets two. (The crowd is very much not paying attention to this in the slightest as you can see a bunch of people paying attention to something happening in the stands.) Saints yanks Cardona into the Revolution DDT and then pulls him up for the Rochambeaux. Saints subsequent cover gets three.

This match could have been an email. I crack myself up. I mean, these are two seasoned professionals and the crowd just DID NOT CARE at all here. “Arrogant” is not something you can build a whole character around, and I think Saints has a long road ahead of him to become something. Cardona is a fine jobber at this point, he gets his stuff in and his opponents always look good hitting theirs. 2*

Winner – Ricky Saints (Rochambeaux)

Royce Keys vs Tama Tonga is official for later. There’s still the big six-woman tag coming up as well. GINGERBREAD MAN, WE HARDLY KNEW YE is still going on as Sami Zayn is chatting with Sad John Wrestling. Candice LeRae comes in to badger Gargano about not moving, and here’s Rey Fenix in to pay his respects. Zayn says this whole thing is insulting to him and everyone is supporting it for some reason. Fenix tells Zayn that this isn’t the place to have a tantrum, and Zayn says that’s right, it’s not the place.

Here’s WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Paige and Brie Bella backstage when a ladder falls behind them. Danhausen sprints by and appears to take a lock of Bella’s hair. They shake all that off and head towards the ring as we go to commercials.

Here’s a vignette on Blake Monroe when the show returns. Monroe is COMING SOON.

Here are Paige and Brie Bella out to to a decent pop. (Paige’s entrance music is still a banger.) They watch the highlights of last week’s defense against The Irresistible Forces, and Bella mentions that there’s a lot of teams lined up but it won’t be easy to take the titles off her and Paige. Paige says she heard what the Judgement Day had to say about their “nostalgia tour” and Paige says that usually indicates has-beens trying to hold on to faded glory. Paige says that’s not the case with her and Bella because they’re the best they’ve ever been. Here’s Fatal Influence out and Jacy Jayne says she’s heard enough and says that Paige and Bella are in over their heads. Jayne says the Judgement Day are not who they should be worried about since Fatal left them laying two weeks ago. Fallon Henley says that Fatal is taking over Smackdown and part of it means taking the tag titles. Lainey Reid says there’s plenty of gold to go around and Jayne will soon be the Women’s champion. Jayne tells Bella and Paige to leave so they can see how a real team gets the job done. Here’s The Irresistible Forces out to have a chat and admonish Fatal for trying to skip the line. Lash Legend says this isn’t NXT and Fatal aren’t in charge. A “Whoop That Trick” chant breaks out and Nia Jax calls all three members of Fatal “tricks” and then calls them “knock off Mean Girls”. Legend and Jax then punch Bella and Paige before Legend yanks up Bella for a Lash Extension. Fatal wave the Forces off and they make their exit, but here’s “Demon In Your Dreams” firing up with the emergence of WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley. Ripley and Legend go eye to eye and then Legend gets backed off by Jax. We go to commercials.

GINGERBREAD MAN, DEATH OF A TITAN continues on with more AI slop photos.

Six-Woman Tag Team Match: WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss vs Fatal Influence (Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid)

Bliss will start with Henley and Henley drives Bliss to the mat by her hair. Bliss fires up with a flurry of offense and then mocks Henley’s cowgirl dance. Bliss hits a leg whip and then mashes Henley along the ropes. Bliss hits a jumping knee drop and a rolling tackle that gets two. Bliss kicks a charging Reid and Henley takes advantage to drive Bliss back down to the mat. Henley yanks Bliss to the Fatal corner and Jayne tags in. Jayne drives a boot under Bliss’s jaw and then tags in Reid. Jayne fires Reid into Bliss and then Reid does the same thing to Jayne. Reid yanks Bliss up and drops her onto her shoulders while fully mocking Flair’s “queen’s crown” gesture. Bliss ducks a Reid charge and tags in Ripley. Ripley smashes Reid around with clotheslines a reverse thrust. Ripley drops Henley off the apron and then whomps a charging Jayne with a fall-away slam. Ripley mashes Reid with a missile dropkick and then charges out to the apron to hit a rolling tackle on Henley and Jayne. Ripley glares at the pile of Fatal bodies as we go to commercials.

Reid drives Ripley down to the mat when the show returns. Ripley has been in during the entire break while Flair has not been in the match yet. Reid snaps off a neckbreaker and then blasts Bliss off the apron but this gives Ripley time to fire up with a Pele kick. Reid tags in Jayne and Ripley finally tags in Flair. Flair runs wild and mashes Jayne with her walkover clothesline. Flair hits a fall-away slam on Reid and then goes to the apron off a Jayne irish whip. Flair drives a high boot into Jayne and then Flair ascends for a cross-body on Reid and Jayne. Flair hits Jayne with Natural Selection and covers her for two. Flair wants the Figure Eight on Jayne but has to kick a charging Reid down first. Flair decides to tag in Bliss and they run into stereo superkicks from Reid and Jayne. Flair gets dumped to the floor and then run over the announce desk by Henley, while Jayne’s Rolling Encore attempt gets pulled into the Sister Abigail position by Bliss. Jayne slips out of that and rolls Bliss up for two. Jayne eats a right but then crushes Bliss with a neckbreaker. Here’s Jade Cargill out to attack Rhea Ripley on the apron and dropping her face-first onto the ring steps. Jayne uses the distraction to hit the Rolling Encore on Bliss before covering her and getting three.

It’s funny how often we as a community talk about the mythical “rocket push” that we think a blue-chipper coming out of NXT should get. With that in mind, think about Fatal’s first three weeks – Jayne barely loses to Ripley on their first night, Jayne pins Charlotte Flair clean-ish the following week, and then they follow it up by beating Ripley, Flair, and Alexa Bliss during week three. Now, obviously they don’t have a title belt, or belts, yet, but I think if you ever wanted to see what a rocket push might look like, this might be it in 2026. Hell, Oba Femi, fresh off retiring Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania, doesn’t have this kind of creative backing yet. 3.5*

Winners – Fatal Influence (Jayne Rolling Encore on Bliss)

Post-match sees Fatal celebrate while Cargill slides in the ring behind them. Fatal back away from Cargill and leave her in the ring. Cargill puts the stink-mouth on a fallen Alexa Bliss, and here’s Michin and B-Fab outta nowhere to attack the now-recovered Flair. Ripley comes flying in with a dropkick that sends Cargill down, and then Ripley smashes B-Fab and Michin down. Ripley turns right into a Cargill pump kick and B-Fab slaps a full nelson on Bliss before driving her down. Michin hits a high boot on Flair, and the heels stand tall. I’m guessing we’ll be seeing another six-woman tag in short order.

Here’s Royce Keys heading out and running into Big Jim and Main Event Jey Uso. Jey knows that Keys has ties to the family, but suggests Keys should stay in his lane or he might catch the eyes of the Tribal Chief when it comes to being buddies with Jacob Fatu.

Tama Tonga makes his entrance along with Talla Tonga and Solo Sikoa (I thought they were staying in the back?) as we go to commercials.

There’s more AI slop when the show returns, as GINGERBREAD MAN: A RETROSPECTICUS continues. I guess that will be your main event segment, while this match is the final in-ring competition tonight. Neat.

Royce Keys vs Tama Tonga

Tonga charges at the bell and mashes Keys with a dropkick. Keys fires up and yanks Tonga up for a running powerslam. Keys crushes Tonga with three clotheslines and covers him for two. Keys punches away at Tonga in a corner and then pulls him up for a vertical suplex. Tonga slips off and clips Keys before smashing him with a short clothesline that gets two. Tonga clubbers away but keys catches him for an overhead suplex. Tonga hits a headbutt and a Flatliner in response, and Keys bails to the floor. Talla Tonga wants to attack but Sikoa holds him off. Tonga drives Keys off the apron but Keys catches the second charge and slams Tonga onto the apron. Keys lines up Tonga and charges but Tonga slips it and Keys runs headlong into the ring steps. We go to commercials.

Keys hits a snapmare when the show returns, and they start slugging it out mid-ring. Tonga drives Keys into a corner and follows with a splash, before mashing Keys with a rolling neckbreaker that gets two. Tonga wants a double underhook but Keys shakes it off and back body drops Tonga. Keys hits THE POUNCE on Tonga and drops the straps. Keys follows Tonga into a corner off an irish whip, and then hits the Davey Boy Smith-style powerslam for two. Tonga slips off Keys shoulders and drops him with a reverse DDT that gets two. Both guys are down but Tonga is up first to boot Keys in the head. Keys fires up off another kick and sends Tonga to the floor with a clothesline. Keys tosses Tonga back in and here’s Talla again being held off by Sikoa who’s telling Talla that Tama needs to figure it out himself. Keys goes back in and runs into a Tonga big boot. When Tonga comes off the second rope Keys catches him and drives him through the mat with the ULTIMATE SPINEBUSTER. Keys cover gets three.

I’m not sure that this deal is doing a whole lot to raise Keys up to a certain level, but perhaps he’s not meant for anything above the mid-card. In my mind, there was nothing functionally wrong with this, it was just kind of boring. Tonga’s offense is crisp but doesn’t really look like it would hurt at all and Keys just sort of lumbers around doing power moves. What I’m saying is that if this is your in-ring main event on a go-home show for a PLE, maybe this should have been earlier and perhaps the Stratton title defense get put here? After two and a half hours, you’d think there’d be more than this match and a funeral for a month-old gimmick to end the show but well, here we are. 2.5*

Winner – Royce Keys (ULTIMATE SPINEBUSTER)

Post-match sees Sikoa and Talla once again eyeing up a wary Keys, who makes his exit.

Here’s Danhausen and a bunch of colorful beakers full of liquids. Danhausen yanks out one of his human teeth and drops it in a blue vial. It doesn’t improve the taste, so we go to EVIL MODE. There’s more experimentation and his CLONING MACHINE fires up so that the Danhausens can presumably take over the world at Backlash. Sadly, the CLONING MACHINE seems to crap out and so we’re left in the dark as to who Danhausen’s tag partner will be. The main event funeral will happen after commercials.

Tama Tonga is grumpy backstage and here’s Shinsuke Nakamura to tell him he’s disappointed that Tama is still with the MFT’s. Talla Tonga comes in to tell Nakamura to stay away from his brother or there will be problems. Nakamura mutters something in Japanese and then leaves. Tessitore runs down the Backlash agenda and card which Tessitore calls “great”.

Here’s WWE Men’s US Champion Trick Williams to meet up with Nick Aldis who tells him that the rest of the broadcast is his. We’re setting up for the funeral in-ring as we go to more commercials.

A FAREWELL TO OUR GINGERBREAD MANS is next, and here’s WWE Men’s US Champion out to a huge “Whoop That Trick” chant. Trick is clad in black tonight instead of his normal glimmering white, and he’s got a cup of some beverage to help him with his grief. Trick pours one out and goes to the coffin containing our GINGERBREAD BABY BOY. There’s a choir in the ring, and Trick has a microphone. Trick hopes he can get through this, and some music fires up. Trick does a verse over the music and gets some help from the choir as you can see Barrett corpsing in the background. Trick wonders if someone can tell him why the GINGERBREAD MAN HAD TO DIE. There’s some more AI crap in the form of a tribute video to OUR GINGERBREAD FRIEND and all the things he did throughout his life. The highlight here is a picture of Yachty, Trick, and GM at Mt. Rushmore. Trick asks for a moment of silence when it’s over and here’s Sami Zayn out to proclaim that this is enough. Zayn says everyone has been putting up with this all night and it’s ridiculous. Zayn is apoplectic over Trick’s usage of television time because it used to mean something to close out a show. Zayn says Trick is making a joke over the title and this character, and wonders how much money Trick is spending on all this after Trick promised he kept his money tight a few weeks ago. Zayn insults the choir and wonders how much the coffin cost because it’s solid oak. Zayn says he’s got too much respect for himself, the show, and the people who spend their money to come to the shows. Zayn says he’s a working class champ who represents the people and his ride-or-die fans. Zayn says Trick has spent all this money and gone to all these lengths, but he’s still Sami Zayn and he’s been with the tippy-top guys all the way down to the bottom and he’s still standing after twenty years in the game. Zayn says Trick did get in his head and got under his skin, but Trick played himself because it’s now very personal for Zayn. Zayn promises to humble, embarrass, expose and disrespect Trick tomorrow at Backlash. Zayn tosses the mic at Trick and then bashes him with a right and some boots. Zayn holds the belt in Trick’s face and says it’s his life. GINGERBREAD MAN does the Undertaker sit-up in the coffin, and shockingly it’s a cackling Lil Yachty beating the crap out of Zayn with a candy cane. Trick lines up a dazed Zayn for the Trick Shot knee, and they pose over the fallen Zayn while another “Whoop That Trick” chant fires up.

The credits roll as Tessitore talks up Backlash, and we’re out.

So this was a go-home show for the PLE and I would tell you that in my opinion, the only match on the PLE card that was helped by tonight was the Fatu-Reigns clash, and that didn’t really need too much more hype. The Danhausen stuff fell a little flat for me tonight, and this funeral at the end felt pretty stupid by the time it was over. This show really needs the two hour window back at the start of June as there’s just way too much filler right now, too many long entrances, and a bit too much backstage stuff. I’d go find the Usos-Fatu confrontation on youtube but you didn’t miss much else if you didn’t see the show.

Thanks for reading and commenting. Enjoy Backlash tonight, and remember that AAA should be streaming after Backlash as well. Have a good weekend.