WWE Smackdown 5/23 Recap: The Wyatt Sicks Make Huge Return

Both of them delivered but scripted or not, the women’s division should not be expected to turn ‘Twitter beefs’ into sellable storylines in a way or at a rate any different from the men.

SEGMENT OVERVIEW:

• ALEXA BLISS CAME OUT TO CONFRONT STRATTON
• CHARLOTTE FLAIR FOLLOWED BLISS

CONTEXT:

• Last week, after Bliss won her MITB qualifier, she and Flair discussed a previous ‘proposition’ laid out earlier in the evening by Bliss to Flair. Flair was unenthused by the unknown ask and instead informed Bliss that she never considered them “friends.”
• After this brief confrontation, GM Nic Aldis introduced the women to the ‘newest SmackDown signee, Guilia, who was a former NXT women’s champ. The two former women’s champs, Bliss and Flair, were framed in the shot staring down Guilia before it was announced that she would compete in an MITB qualifier.

Survivor Series WarGames: Gen-Z vs. Boomers?!?!

It was clear by the entire tone of this segment that the WWE is setting up a program that will pit ‘the new and upcoming’ women on the roster versus the (NO PUN INTENDED) ‘old guard’ of tried and true superstars in Bliss and Flair. The elements for this feud were strategically placed last week with camera production and subtly as a device. Tonight, however, the script told the rest of the story.

Stratton, ‘from out the gate,’ used ‘Gen-Z’ terms throughout her promo, and even though her character gives “GENERATION TIK TOK” vibes, these pointed phrases were directed at Bliss and used to highlight more than an age or era gap—it pointed to a generational conflict. Bliss ran down her credentials of a former world champion and previous winner of the MITB briefcase, and she remained cordial, considering she made it clear that her intention was to become a ‘two-time’ MITB winner.

By the time Flair entered the fray by feigning her congratulations for Tiff’s win over her at Mania, she had already moved on to admitting to everyone that if she wants the title, then she’ll have to do the “one thing she has never done” in WWE—win a MITB briefcase.

“Charr, you’re ‘lowkey giving’ hypocrite,” Stratton ‘snapped back’ like a couple college kids bored on a Friday night, and this was before she referred to both women as “vintage.” Vintage is a cool word that most of society uses to describe something of value, but in the online community and between women, a younger person never uses that word to describe a more mature woman.

“Yall were the standard, and I am the upgrade,” Tiff said before literally dropping the mic as she figuratively dropped the mic (translation: left the ring).”

Women’s Money In The Bank Qualifiers

Charlotte Flair vs. Guilia vs. Zelina Vega

Result: Guilia wins

After a promo from the world champ warmed up the crowd proper, not to mention gave perspective for what is potentially at stake.

A “northern lights bomb” from the upstart Guilia, who made here NXT debut 8-months ago, was enough to pick up the pinfall victory over Vega. After surfacing on the main brand following Mania, she was only officially signed last week, and she has already qualified for a shot at the briefcase. The push is real with this one; she has not missed a beat yet, though it is still early.

Unfortunately, the narrative of Flair ‘winning her first MITB’ seems squandered—it could have been a very interesting theme to the overall narrative of the eponymous ladder match.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS:

• ZELINA LANDS PICTURE PERFECT MOONSAULT ONTO BOTH WOMEN ON THE OUTSIDE AND SET UP BOTH WOMEN FOR THE 619, ONLY HITTING FLAIR AS GUILIA ESCAPED
• GIULIA MANAGED TO SLAP ONE OF HER FEATURED SUBMISSIONS ON FLAIR, WHO WAS ONLY ABLE TO BREAK IT AFTER IT WAS TRANSITIONED INTO A NEAR-FALL
• FLAIR WAS GIVING IN THIS MATCH, ALLOWING THE YOUNGER TALENT TO ‘SHOW OUT’
• FLAIR WAS ABLE TO PLAY THE ROLE OF VETERAN IN THIS, AND BY DOING SO, SHE CAME ACROSS AS THE VETERAN SOUND IN EVERY FACET OF THE GAME.

THE TWIST:

It is best not to give up on Flair being in MITB, and with Bliss already qualified, their ‘forces joining’ moment could connect to Bliss getting Flair in the match—possibly taking out Perez to replace with Fliar, thus setting up the in-match feud with Guilia at MITB.

Guilia had an interesting moment when she passed Tiff, and the two gave each other a look that suggested tension, which made sense since Guilia was making her entrance to a match that could lead to a potential matchup—and one on terms that Guilia controls. But this could all be a misdirect meant to give us this assumption when, in reality, WWE is gearing up to divide the roster between the proven veterans and the aspiring upstarts.

THE FOLLOW UP:

Later in the evening, the backstage cam caught Flair engaged in Bliss’s dialogue about ‘why it is important to have friends.’ It seemed like Bliss was attempting to convince Flair that she could have benefited from a ‘partnership’ in her MITB qualifier match, but, as it turns out, Bliss was really speaking to Lilly—her doll that talks to her and prints money.

Men’s MITB Qualifiers

LA Knight vs. Aleister Black vs. Nakamura

Result: LA Knight wins

MATCH/SEGMENT OVERVIEW:

The best work in this one came from seeing Nakamura and Black exchange and the hope that a potential feud comes out of this considering Knight is the one moving on to MITB. Knight vowed earlier in the night to return to the city that ‘made him,’ Los Angles, and after a terrific U.S. title reign, he could be primed for a briefcase reign.

Solo Gives The Squad The Play, Fatu Gives J.C. The Mug

Last week’s promo was cut short by L.A. Knight, so we did not get to hear his thoughts on J.C. Mateo joining the faction. This week, though, Fatu did not miss his chance to break it down for ‘the boys.’ Even though he initially asked Solo to speak privately, something Solo should have probably obliged, Jacob decided to ‘let it fly’ right to J.C. with Solo as the onlooker.

Jacob said he did not trust J.C. and he was ‘definitely not family,’ and Solo used that opportunity to break down his ‘grand plan.’ Solo admitted he wanted to bring Jimmy Uso back into the fold, but he needs Fatu and J.C. to take out anyone who would team with Jimmy—in tonight’s case, Rey Fenix.

THE MATCH:

REY FENIX & JIMMY USO VS JACOB FATU(c) & J.C. MATEO

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS:

• FATU AND MATEO COME FACE TO FACE AT THE START OF THE MATCH, TURNING UP THE TENSION TO BEGIN THE MATCH
• SOLO TRIED TALKING TO JIMMY DURING THE MATCH, PUTTING A NARRATIVE IN HIS EAR THAT HE NEEDS THE FAMILY AGAIN
• C. LOOKED GOOD TONIGHT. STILL WORKING HIS WAY BACK FROM MONTHS OFF BECAUSE OF INJURY AND LACK OF WWE CREATIVE
• THE MATCH WAS SLOWER THAN MOST FENIX MATCHES, BUT HE SHOWED HE CAN CREATE DRAMA WITH A SLOWER PACE. THE STORYTELLING FROM FENIX IN THE MATCH SHOWED ANOTHER LAYER

MATCH/SEGMENT OVERVIEW:

J.C. picked up another pinfall victory, this time in tag action, pinning Jimmy. The finale of the match saw Jimmy on top of the turnbuckle ready to deliver the splash, but with Solo on the apron feeding him the ‘come back to us’ narrative, Jimmy looked conflicted for a moment before declining Solo’s invitation— a decision that led directly to his loss.

Another interesting tidbit is that Solo showed off more of his comedy chops tonight than he ever has before, and this is in line with his post-tribal chief character. He is really good in the ‘funny role.’

CONTEXT:

This is ‘turning season,’ and the list of potential faces and heels in position to swerve us continues to grow in both numbers and interest. Between Sami and Jimmy, Austin Theory and Dom Mysterio, and even Jacob Fatu himself, deception is around the corner in WWE. For Sami and Jimmy, though, both have individually valid reasons to consider a darker shift, yet the two are still interwoven in a larger dynamic.

Later in the evening, GM Aldis informed Jacob Fatu he would be in next week’s final MITB qualifier. This news could only serve to further divide Fatu from the group.

R-Truth Finds ‘The Power’

R-Truth got an in-ring promo tonight ahead of his match against John Cena(c) at Saturday Night’s Main Event in Tampa, Florida, but it was without an appearance from Cena. The Cena-less segment was not an excuse for Truth, who still managed to deliver his patented ‘deadpan humor.’ He said that Cena was corrupted by power before challenging the champ’s ego.

“You stopped having fun, and now you get mad when someone else wants to have a good time,” Truth said. “I don’t like who you’ve become, John. I don’t believe you’re happy.”

Truth confessed Cena is the ‘greatest of all-time,’ a sentiment that the crowd booed, but then vowed to ‘bring back Cena.’ That is when Truth broke into the most genius angle of the feud (possibly Cena’s entire retirement run):

“You want to ruin wrestling.

“So if I want to save wrestling, I have to save you.”

This was one of the best moments in Cena’s latest run, and Cena was not part of it.

SEGMENT HIGHLIGHTS:

• Truth ended the segment by saying: “If Cena wins, we riot,” a turn of phrase that was used by ECW fans during Cena’s championship match against RVD at “One Night Stand” in June of 2006.
• Truth turned this program into a battle for the ‘right to have fun.’ This was a brilliant way to highlight a theme in this match that offers more stake.

Main Event: Street Profits(c) vs. Fraxiom

RESULTS: FRAXIOM WINS BY DQ, STREET PROFITS RETAIN

MATCH OVERVIEW:

The career highlights continue for Nathan Frazer and Axiom as they battled for the tag team titles. This was another amazing match in wrestling’s premier tag division: SmackDown. We did not get the clean finish this match deserved, and, instead, DIY came out to interfere, but that is when MCM came out to help with the numbers.

Unfortunately, the numbers got greater after the lights went dark and the entire Wyatt Sicks was standing in the ring when they returned. They caused the DQ and the schmoz was on for basically everybody that was out there (eerily enough, there were 13 bodies by my count).

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS:

• EASY TO SAY THE ENTIRE MATCH, BUT THE TAG TEAM SPECIALTY WORK WAS A STRONG EMPHASIS IN THIS MATCH.
• FRAZER BACKFLIPPED OFF THE TOP BUCKLE WHERE FORD WAS SITTING, AND THIS LED TO A COMBINATION OF A TOP ROPE SUPERPLEX INTO ANOTHER GROUND-LEVEL SUPERPLEX WITH A SUPERKICK FROM AXIOM TO BOOT
• PROFITS PLAYED MORE OF THE POWER ROLE THAN TYPICAL, BUT THEY HIT A HUGE ‘ELECTRIC CHAIR’ THAT WAS SAVED BY FRAZER SPRINGBOARDING OFF THE TOP ROPE FOR THE BREAKUP—HE GOT MORE SPEED ON THAT THAN ANYONE EVER HAS.
• SPANISH FLY-PHOENIX SPLASH COMBO FROM FRAXIOM ONTO DAWKINS, FORD BREAKS IT UP ONLY TO GET SUPER KICKED INTO OBLIVION

OTHER TIDBITS/IN-RING ACTION

• McINTYRE’S DEMONS NEED A PRIEST

It was a powerful segment with the minimalist of dialogue. Priest attacked McIntyre backstage, and the brawl eventually made its way ringside— underscoring the fact that they will be trapped in a steal cage during their SNME matchup. This match will likely be the feud’s blowoff, but all credit to the two men that turned a feud that felt meaningless into the best post-Mania work in terms of quality and consistency. Priest has really impressed the ‘suits’ in the back and creative higher-ups, so a win could be in the cards for him tomorrow after losing at Mania. That said, this program has been one that produced one winner but exceled both men’s statuses in the company.

• WORLDS COLLIDE BOOKING: LEGADO DEL FANTASMA VS EL HIJO DE DR WAGNER JR, PSYCHO CLOWN & PAGANO

The first ‘on TV’ promoting took place for “Worlds Collide” and it was done in a traditional Lucha storytelling style with thematic elements similar to the ‘Tela Novela’ production we see from Mexico promotions—and, more notably stateside, Lucha Underground. Legado Del Fantasma was the focal point of the vignette, and that is because they are the WWE talent facing AAA talent in a six-man tag match (Lucha rules). The show, available on Peacock, will be produced in both English and Spanish on YouTube.

• MOTOR CITY MACHINEGUNS’S CHRIS SABAN VS DIY’S TOMASO CIAMPA

After weeks circling each other following earlier tag team bangers, MCM were finally able to corner DIY, well, at least one-half. It can be easy to forget that Saban is a decorated singles competitor because of his generational talent as part of the iconic Motor City Machineguns.

They put on a show worthy of being on original black and gold branded NXT programming. While it was unfortunate that Saban lost the match to Ciampa, the good news was that they have finally paired Candice LeRae with her husband, Johnny Gargano and Ciampa after she “assisted” Ciampa to victory. The interference win will also likely set up another tag team match between the two teams, and that is a guaranteed 4-star at the start of the bell.

• B-Fab and Michin defeated Chelsea Green’s “SHE-CRET SERVICE” in tag action with the help of Zelina ringside.