SmackDown Live Summary
With tonight’s SmackDown Live sure to feature more Money in the Bank (MITB) qualifying matches, it’s sure to be a great night. With the news of SmackDown moving to Fox days before, it will be interesting to see if any mention is made of this and if any more details will be released. Either way, it should be a great night.
Join us as we break down the Smackdown Summary for May 22nd.
Opening Segment
The show starts with MizTV. The Miz announces the New Day as his guests. The Miz asks the New Day who will compete in MITB. The trio offers Miz an ambiguous answer and somewhat dodge the question. The Miz runs down the options for the New Day. The New Day evade the question further, however, and a match is made between Big E and the Miz.
Big E vs. The Miz
With the other two members of New Day at ringside, the match has a bit of a comedic kick as the two combatants go back and forth. We come back from break to find the Miz in control. Late in the match, the two go back and forth until The Miz hits a Skull Crushing Finale following a distraction from The Bar. The Miz pins for the win.
Billie Kay vs. Lana
This match was announced as a MITB qualifying match. Before the match, we get some pre-match antics, with The IIconics arguing with Aiden English. Lana takes out Royce then proceeds to throw Kay in the ring, hits her with the Jumping Roundhouse Kick and pin for the lightning quick win.
Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas vs. Local Talent
Alams takes out his opponent quickly and continues to dominate the match until he ends it early with the Hammerlock DDT.
AJ Styles – Shinsuke Nakamura Segment
The two get in the ring and we get a recap of how Nakamura won the match last week. AJ pesters Nakamura for the stipulation, but Nakamura continues to be ambiguous, evading the question.
The two men go after it outside the ring with Nakamura winning the fighting and then begins counting AJ out. Shinsuke announces that at MITB, the match will be a Last Man Standing match.
The Usos vs. The Good Brothers
The two teams trade barbs before the match until the Usos take out the brothers. We come back from break to find Karl Anderson in control. The two groups go back and forth for most of the match. In fairly quick fashion, The Good Brothers hit the Magic Killer for the win and move onto MITB where they’ll face the Bludgeon Brothers for the Smackdown Live Tag Team Championships.
Naomi vs. Sonya Deville
Early in the match, the two women go back and forth. Midway through, the two trade kicks and at one point knocking each other out. Naomi rolls up Deville and gets the 1-2-3 for the win.
Daniel Bryan vs. Jeff Hardy
Samoa Joe is at ringside on commentary. The two superstars go back and forth early. We come back from break to find the trend continue as the two men trade blows. Later, the two men trade finishers and false finishes. The match ends when Bryan slaps on the Kneebar and makes Hardy tap.
Conclusion
We saw plenty of buildup for MITB, and with a few more weeks left, we might find tonight to be a pivotal night in the most rivalries. The matches were great, and even though there were not a lot, the promo segments were pretty great as well.
Overall, a great night.