The May 30th edition of WWE SmackDown was presented from the Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee. The final build-up of the Money in the Bank ladder matches took place at the show, with the last spots of the blue brand stars occupied alongside a huge return, some interesting superstar appearances, and other stellar matches.
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The main event of the night saw the face-off between John Cena and Cody Rhodes for the first time since their match at WrestleMania 41. Both of them brought surprises for the fans with the segment ending in a huge brawl.
Quick Results
- Naomi defeated Jade Cargill & Nia Jax in a triple-threat Money in the Bank ladder match qualifier.
- J.C. Matteo defeated R-Truth in a singles match.
- Los Garza defeated Je’Von Evans and Rey Fenix in a tag team match.
- Zelina Vega defeated Alba Fyre in a non-title singles match
- Andrade El Idolo defeated Jacob Fatu & Carmelo Hayes in a triple-threat Money in the Bank ladder match qualifier.
Best Match
The best match, which was evident from the loud cheers of the fans, was the triple-threat Money in the Bank ladder match between Jacob Fatu, Andrade El Idolo, and Carmelo Hayes. It was one of the most exciting and thrilling contests for the blue brand. The action spilled all over the ringside with major spots and jaw-dropping moments.
The final moments saw Solo Sikoa and J.C.Matteo coming down to the ring and encouraging Jacob Fatu to hit more moonsaults when he delivered one and was about to score the pinfall. The distraction, followed by Jimmy Uso’s appearance to attack Matteo and Sikoa, led to Andrade hitting his finisher on Carmelo Hayes to pick up the win and qualify.
Worst Match
The worst match of the night was R-Truth battling J.C. Matteo. Apart from Truth’s exciting entrance, it was a one-sided squash match to put over Matteo as a dominant heel.
Noteworthy moments
The biggest highlight of the night was John Cena and Cody Rhodes’ face-to-face inside the ring. Rhodes first came out to speak about his WrestleMania 41 defeat and the time he took to recuperate. He then brought a surprise in the form of his MITB partner, Jey Uso. John Cena came out and brought his own partner, Logan Paul, out, leading to an exchange of words between both sides. The show ended with a brawl between them, as Rhodes and Uso sent their opponents packing to close out SmackDown.
Another noteworthy moment was the return of the hometown hero, Bianca Belair, to WWE SmackDown, who led a song with the crowd upon her entrance. Naomi interrupted her and informed her that she had found her way into her home, as nobody was present. This led to some heated tensions, which were broken after Jade Cargill came down to the ring to brawl with her before their scheduled match.
The next highlight followed right after the opening segment. The triple-threat Money in the Bank qualifier saw a stellar match between Naomi, Jade Cargill, and Nia Jax. Following a spectacular showdown, Jax attempted to hit the Annihilator on both competitors, who were stacked on top of each other, but only hit Cargill. Naomi rolled up Jax for the win and qualified for the ladder match.
The last major highlight of the night was the involvement of top WWE NXT stars Je’Von Evans and Ethan Page. Evans had his first main roster match on WWE SmackDown this week, teaming up with Rey Fenix against Los Garza while Page was on commentary. The new NXT North American Champion got involved, taking out Fenix and hitting Evans, who fell to a tag team combo move by Los Garza to lose the match.
Holy Sh!@ Moments
One jaw-dropping moment that the fans were not expecting at all was Cody Rhodes bringing Main Event Jey Uso to WWE SmackDown this week as a surprise. The crowd erupted as the music hit and YEETin took over the entire arena. Moreover, Uso demanded a replay and YEETed with the fans twice.
Another Holy Sh!@ moment saw an ominous and cryptic vignette by Uncle Howdy following his and The Wyatt Sicks’ appearance in the segment involving the tag team division, where they laid out the entire field.
Lowlights
Zelina Vega facing Alba Fyre in a non-title match on WWE SmackDown was a lowlight. It was a lackluster affair except for the last spot where Chelsea Green removed her protective mask to hit Vega, but instead got her own cohort, Piper Niven. This led to Vega connecting with the Code Red on Fyre to win the match.
Another lowlight was Damian Priest’s promo following his Steel Cage win over Drew McIntyre at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event. He revealed that he was moving on from McIntyre after applauding his performance in their match. Before exiting the ring, Priest made it clear that his eyes were on the WWE United States title. As he was leaving, he had a staredown with the champion, Jacob Fatu, who was heading for his match.
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