Friday Night SmackDown Review - May 6, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey Brawled

Flair was originally supposed to go one-on-one with Aliyah after what happened in last week's Beat the Clock Challenge. However, this turned into a brawl with her and Rousey instead. This was actually one of the better things these two have done since this storyline started earlier this year. This actually felt like it had energy to it. I'm hopeful they can have a good match at WrestleMania Backlash, but I am ready for this rivalry to be over.

Shayna Baszler def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Sasha Banks

It's a shame I didn't really care about this match coming into the show considering it felt like an attraction at one point. WWE ruined any appeal Banks vs. Baszler had by completely marginalizing Banks the last two years. This was solid stuff but was nothing out of the ordinary. Baszler and Natalya getting heat ahead of next week's WWE Women's Tag Team Championship clash made sense.

Madcap Moss Confronted Happy Corbin on Happy Talk

This feud has been extremely basic so far and I haven't been able to bring myself to give a shit. Both men are playing their roles well, but as I've said several times already, Moss is not going to get over in the long haul with the dumb jokey gimmick. Moss basically bullied Corbin here and that was it. In other words, it was a stupid segment. Moss getting the better of Corbin week after week has left me thinking Corbin could very well walk away with a win on Sunday after all.

Gunther def. Drew Gulak

Gunther was Gulak's mystery opponent. Hopefully this means Gulak is back to being a regular on the ring. Not because I'm looking forward to him having more matches (the days of him being taken seriously are long gone) but rather because the storyline with him trying out other roles got old after a few weeks. This was total domination as it should have been. It was nice Gunther beat someone on the roster for a change.

Sheamus and Ridge Holland def. The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) in a Tables Match

In past Tables matches, you had to put both members of the team through tables, but apparently that wasn't the case here. For as boring as this feud as been, I have to give all four guys their credit here as this was very fun and they worked with a sense of urgency. The heels have lost a lot lately, so this was a necessary win for them. Butch aided them to victory, so it looks like the three of them are back on the same page.

Lacey Evans Was Introduced

Normally I wouldn't include a paragraph on someone appearing on the stage for 60 seconds, but I haven't taken the time to talk about Evans' vignettes over the last month, so I'll make an exception for this. They've been really well done, and although almost of them were sad and depressing, I appreciate that she told her story and finally let the audience in her on her life before WWE. I hope she can get over in this role and eventually find work her way toward the SmackDown Women's Championship.

Sami Zayn def. Shinsuke Nakamura by Count-Out

Amazingly, this was only the third match these two have had against each other in WWE. The first was their famous clash at NXT TakeOver: Dallas in April 2016 and the second was only a few months ago when Zayn beat Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship. Needless to say, this was the weakest of their three WWE encounters, but it was still a quality contest. I'm all for Zayn winning more, but considering he's lost a majority of his matches this year, Nakamura losing to him isn't a positive sign. Plus, didn't they just tease he had unfinished business with Roman Reigns? 

Drew McIntyre and Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro Attacked The Bloodline

This was hyped throughout the night but only ended up being a few minutes long. Then again, WWE has been known to do that sort of thing in the past, so I shouldn't have been surprised. This was well done as the crowd was into the brawl and the babyfaces standing tall was the right call. I just wish the six-man tag team match at WrestleMania Backlash had actual stakes so this meant more.

Overall Show

Coming out of this episode, I am no more excited for WrestleMania Backlash than I was previously, and I'm someone who's going to be there on Sunday. It was as bad of a show as it's been in recent weeks, but it was certainly far from great. There just doesn't seem to be anything of importance happening, and if there is, it's not very compelling. Stuff progressed this week, but not in very effective fashion. The two hours continue to be a chore to sit through.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews