A Room with a Review: SmackDown 06/05/20

It’s Friday night; you know what that means. Wait, you don’t? Oh, well, keep reading to find out!

• Jeff Hardy is backstage hanging with some random crew members. They recap last week’s DUI angle, as if we needed to relive it. Elias has a torn pec and broken ribs as a result of the “accident”. It must be his guitar playing pec. Hardy comes to the ring to explain what really happened. Somebody ambushed him as soon as he got out of his car. Witnesses told the cops that the person had red hair and a red beard. Sheamus comes out to address this accusation. He says that Jeff needs to just admit that he did it and to stop blaming others for his actions. Hardy runs to Sheamus to fight, but gets a Brogue Kick for his troubles. 

• Otis and Mandy are walking backstage when they find King Corbin’s crown sitting in a chair. Otis decides to try it on and walks away wearing it. Corbin comes by a few seconds later and finds his crown is missing. He yells at a PA for letting it happen, then heads to the ring.

• Our first match of the evening is Otis w/ Mandy Rose against King Corbin w/o his crown. Now that Mandy is part of the blue-collar crew, she has gone full denim. Corbin is incensed and goes right after Otis. Corbin hits an impressive spinebuster and the former Golden Gloves boxer starts laying in body shots to wear down Mr. Money in the Bank. Otis powers back and is setting up for the Caterpillar but Corbin rolls out of the ring and grabs his crown. When Otis chases him, the King grabs a chair and hits Otis, resulting in a disqualification.  

• There’s a white van in the parking lot and inside are The Miz and John Morrison. It’s a surveillance van and they are watching as Braun Strowman parks and heads inside.

• Back from commercial, Miz and Morrison are watching a different camera feed. Apparently they will be playing a series of pranks on Braun throughout the night.

• Kayla Braxton is about to interview Shorty G but Mojo Rawley shows up to make short jokes. G is about to say something when Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura pop up behind him and start throwing hands. The New Day runs in to rescue Shorty (and probably set up a 6-man tag match later tonight).

• Lacey Evans is heading to the ring for her match with Sonya Deville when Deville blindsides her and throws Evans into the steel ring steps. After a commercial break, Lacey is able to go and the match begins. Knowing how black superstars fare during Black History Month in WWE, I have a bad feeling about Sonya’s chances here during Pride Month. Lacey goes for a rollup and Sonya gets tangled up with the referee. The ref grabs his knee and asks for help from the back and we get another commercial. The match continues with a new ref, but Deville took advantage of the situation to hit Lacey with a cheap shot and take control. Like I said last week, these two have surprising chemistry in the ring. Sonya looks like a badass and Lacey is bumping and selling as I’ve never seen her do. Mandy Rose pops up on the TitanTron to trash talk Deville (continuing the tradition of WWE good guys doing shitty things for no reason) and Lacey uses the distraction to hit the Woman’s Right and get the win.

• Kayla is backstage interviewing Braun Strowman. Miz and Morrison push a button and Kayla gets green slime dumped on her. Kayla swears and the boys may have just made a new enemy.

• Renee Young is in the ring with the Intercontinental Championship. Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles come to the ring for this verbal sparring match ahead of their actual match next week. Bryan calls AJ out for taking the bye last week after the DUI angle, so Styles says that he’ll give Bryan’s coach Drew Gulak an opportunity tonight. Gulak comes to the ring and immediately jumps AJ.

• After another commercial break, it’s Drew Gulak w/ Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles. No surprise but this match is a banger. Gulak gets the shocking win with an impressive bridging pin. 

• Outside the Performance Center, Miz and Morrison smash Braun’s windshield with various sporting implements.

• Next is the 6-man tag match that we all predicted earlier. It’s the New Day and Shorty G vs Cesaro, Nakamura, and Mojo. A solid back and forth match with the good guys getting the win with the Big Ending.

• Braun goes outside to discover what happened to his car. The security guard tells him that Miz and Morrison are in the van. They lock the doors, so Strowman just goes ahead and flips it. Car-flipping Braun is best Braun.

• It’s Main Event time as Bliss Cross Applesauce (Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross) faces off against the former Boss and Hug Connection (Sasha Banks and Bayley). After some contention between Banks and Bayley, Sasha pins Nikki with a crucifix and we have new Women’s Tag Team Champions! Bayley Two Belts! 

I can’t believe I’m going to say this but that was a great episode of SmackDown. Good matches, a title change, and only minimal instances of good guys acting like assholes. Hooray!

What was your favorite match of the night? Let me know in the comment section below.

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