The WWE Smackdown Reaction for May 19, 2023
Welcome to the Smackdown Reaction, where I offer my take on this week’s show in Columbia, SC with the LWO facing The Usos in the main event.
As always, you can check out John’s full in-depth review here.
We kick things off with Promo Time with Roman Reigns. Reigns takes forever to get to the ring, per usual, and asks the crowd to acknowledge him. Before he can bore us with how he is going to break Hulk Hogan’s title record by not defending the title for the next two years, the Undisputed Tag Team Champions, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, come out. Reigns and Zayn duel promos on each other before Zayn finishes off with Roman and Solo will not be winning the tag team titles at Night of Champions. The Usos appear from outta nowhere to drop Owens and Zayn. Reigns was upset because that wasn’t the plan. Reigns bumps into Sikoa when he goes to leave the ring. This continued to push the story that the Usos are not able to get things right and their eventual split from Roman and Solo.
When we get back from break, Reigns is upset that he wasn’t able to say what he wanted to say to Zayn. The Usos do have a match later tonight against the LWO in our main event.
Our opening contest is tag team action between The Brawling Brutes and Pretty Deadly, making their Smackdown debut. Pretty Deadly did a ridiculous pretape promo before the match started. The match was good and your typical Pretty Deadly match, if you’ve seen them down in NXT. Holland showed off some impressive power in the match. The finish came with Pretty Deadly hitting their finisher while doubling up on Holland while making it look like Price was tied up in the ropes.
There was a nice tribute video played for “Superstar” Billy Graham, who passed away earlier this week.
Asuka takes on the LWO’s Zelina Vega next. This match was surprisingly competitive again. It is great to see Vega get a decent push behind her and I’m hoping it leads to something worthwhile for her. Money in the Bank is on the horizon, just saying. Vega looked great again but Asuka picked up the win after countering Vega into the Asuka Lock. After the match, Asuka refused to let go of the Asuka Lock until Bianca Belair ran down to the ring. Asuka tried to mist Belair again but Belair was ready this time.
The Grayson Waller Effect talk show was up next with host and new Smackdown draftee, Grayson Waller. His guest was AJ Styles. Styles talked about his upcoming World Heavyweight Championship match with Seth Rollins at Night of Champions. Waller picked Rollins to win and that was it. There wasn’t a whole lot of substance to it, despite their history in NXT. Styles did give a shoutout to Rollins for picking up an Avengers movie role.
More tag team action this week with the Street Profits taking on the team of LA Knight and Rick Boogs. Boogs and Knight feel a bit weird given one is a heel and the other is a face. The Street Profits started off slow to get Boogs over a little bit before they took control of the match. Knight looked impressive but the Street Profits picked up the win. I think the Street Profits are about as far as they are going to go without some sort of change, either turning heel or splitting. After the match, Knight laid Boogs out to restore the heel/face dynamic.
Karrion Kross cut a promo on AJ Styles about Styles being the next guy to beat him when they square off in the ring. Remember when Kross was a feared monster in NXT?
The NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions, Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn, are out to face the team of Valentina Feroz and Yulisa Leon. Feroz and Leon are from NXT and could take the titles back with them. Oh yeah, the titles are not on the line and they are just there to be squashed. Why did they get to keep their titles while Indi Hartwell had to give up hers?
And it was announced, sadly, that Liv Morgan’s injury is more serious than originally thought and Vacant is the new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. A fatal four-way in two weeks on Raw will crown new champions between Raquel Rodriguez/a new partner, Ronda Rousey/Shayna Baszler, Bayley/IYO SKY, and Chelsea Green/Sonya Deville. Well, it’s obvious who is winning here. After the announcement is made, Rodriguez is backstage when Bayley and SKY come up to inform us that Dakota Kai is injured yet again and they want to fight her and whomever her partner will be next week on Smackdown.
Promo Time with the United States champion Austin Theory is up next. Theory talks about the people he’s beaten recently before talking about Sheamus. Sheamus comes out, grabs a mic, Brogue Kicked Theory into next week, and leaves with a mic drop. That was an interesting way to start a feud. They square off next week for the United States title.
It’s main event time with the LWO’s Santos Escobar and Rey Mysterio taking on the Usos in tag team action. The match was terrific and proves, yet again, that The Usos can work with anybody and have a great match. There were two stories at play here, the Usos’ ongoing problems with The Bloodline and the newly started push for the LWO. The match was action-packed with lots of close nearfalls for The Usos. In the end, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn showed up at ringside and the Usos focused on them instead and the LWO picked up the win, much to Roman’s chagrin. The LWO celebrated as we go off the air.
John gave this week’s show a 6.75. I think that is a fair rating. The in-ring action was solid, although I did miss last week’s show. I think I’ll give it a 7 myself.
Let’s take a look at tonight’s highs and lows.
The Highs
The Bloodline angle had some good progression to the eventual split of the Usos from Roman and Solo. That should happen at Night of Champions of shortly thereafter. Hopefully, this can carry them until Cody Rhodes gets injected back into the mix.
The Lows
That’s a bummer about Liv Morgan getting hurt and having to vacate the titles. Let’s hope for a full and speedy recovery for her.
Speaking of injuries. If Dakota Kai is legit injured again, this would be her third injury since coming back last year. I’m not sure if she’s been injured more or not since coming back. I think someone is about to get the Injury Prone label.
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