Smackdown Recap and Reactions (May 10, 2024): Prime Time

This week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown He wasted no time in telling us who will face Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship at King & Queen of the Ring later this month in Saudi Arabia.

It’s Logan Paul.

They didn’t even bother to have SmackDown Manager Nick Aldis tell us why the current United States Champion was showing up, instead just announcing it and letting him get in the ring with Rhodes to talk some punches.

Paul’s angle was to say that they made their WWE debut in Wrestlemania A few years ago at the same time, Paul had become a bigger star and had more to offer. How can Cody finish his story when his story isn’t here?

The champion responded by dramatically putting Paul in his place, emphasizing his accomplishments, showing that he is indeed a worthy competitor. This is what he has to do, after all. He also attacked Paul as disrespectful, full of bullshit, and a cheater who has to use brass knuckles to succeed.

He will learn his place in the hierarchy in a couple of weeks.

Finally, this was as good as it could be, considering how little time they had to put something together. I can only assume Saudi Arabia asked for it, which is good because Paul has proven time and time again that he will be successful in big spots.

It doesn’t get much bigger than this.

Paul Heyman asked to spend a minute alone with Solo Sekoa backstage, and told him he knew where he was. He’s a wiseguy, Roman Reigns.

Sequa was upset with him because he took Reigns out of the WWE draft, relegating The Bloodline to the third round. He compared this to Heyman trying to take food out of his family’s mouths, saying it cost them a lot.

Oh, and was Heyman trying to point something out to Jey Uso when he walked by him last week?

Meanwhile, there is another development in the story – Sekoa claimed that he spoke with the tribe’s leader, and under his orders, Solo will now assume his responsibilities as leader of the group in Reigns’ absence. This includes Heyman being the referee now.

Of course, we’ll just have to take Sequa’s word here. In fact, when he called Heyman in for a hug and said “I love you, Wiseman,” he was looking at Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa next to him. It’s pretty clear that there’s more than meets the eye here, and they’re doing a lot of work to set up a big money moment for later.

What role are we in now?

I hardly care. They have me fully invested in The Bloodline again.

The King and Queen of the Ring tournaments continued on this week’s show.

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• Baron Corbin got his first chance to show off the new version of his character, saying he’s found himself now and will go to the top now that he’s back (to the main roster) and better than ever. Naturally, he promptly lost that first round match to the promising Carmelo Hayes, who used a roll-up to steal the victory. It’s worth noting that this is how it was presented, with Corbin looking strong but being taken out from under him.
• As previously mentioned, Solo Sikoa now takes charge of The Bloodline and the group finds their footing once again in massive numbers together as a team. That meant running through The Street Profits to ensure Tama Tonga defeated Angelo Dawkins to advance in the tournament.
• In the main event of the show, Randy Orton and AJ Styles came together in a WWE main event style match between two mega stars. It was a back-and-forth battle of attrition, as expected, but Orton managed to get to the ropes after a massive forearm. However, Styles was unable to get out of RKO. This was a really great TV main event match with stakes. If only we could have this every week!

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• Nia Jax defeated Naomi in a tough match that saw the latter throw everything she could at the former before ultimately coming up short. Jax is still presented as the big badass
• Jade Cargill had a tough test in Piper Niven, and she delivered the goods, both in terms of winning the match and how she looked doing so. She was asked to sell out, and she did well there, and she was asked to deliver some tough offenses to a bigger wrestler, and she did well there, too. This was very good.
• Bianca Belair did the same thing as her tag team partner, winning her first round match against Candice LeRae. They weren’t given much time to work with, and despite Belair being sold a knee problem all the time, he managed to get through the issue without too much trouble.

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• We now get brilliantly produced video art packages by Shinsuke Nakamura on the blue brand, as he promises to change everything on SmackDown. This almost certainly won’t happen but I still like the style of these videos.
• He also gets a brilliantly produced video package by Andrade, who also claims that his era has begun and will soon come. It should be fun, but there’s only so much room at the top.
• Hey, another video package! This time it was for Blair Davenport, who says she looks for the fragile and sensitive parts in her opponents and breaks them. It shows that your heroes are actually pathetic. Anyone can be celebrated but will be feared. certainly.

This was a solid enough show, with some Bloodline storyline progression surrounded by a bunch of championship matches and news on the next challenger for the WWE Champion. Couldn’t ask for much more than that.

Grade: B+

Your turn.