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SMACKDOWN MAY 17, 2024
CONTRACT SIGNED
Cody Rhodes & Logan Paul made their WWE Championship match official. Paul introducing his own contract was a good way of explaining why the US title will not be on the line, and getting Paul over as a heel. Although, I’m not a huge fan of champion vs champion matches in situations like this. Cody’s promo was excellent, and despite only having a couple of weeks to build the match, they are doing the best they can. Maybe this will be an initial meeting between the two, that leads to a bigger match down the line. Logan Paul needs to stop bringing his friends to WWE events, because every time he does, another one gets wiped out.
MELO MAKING MOVES
Carmelo Hayes continues to be the cocky newcomer stepping up to the biggest names on the block. It began with Cody, and tonight he was in the face of LA Knight, which seems to be the start of a programme with the two. His match with Randy Orton was really good and told an excellent story of the arrogant Hayes, trying to wind up Orton, but the veteran Orton was too smart, even using his knee injury from last week to lure Hayes in at times. The surprise RKO was a great finish as Orton advances in the tournament, and Hayes continues to establish himself by mixing it up with top level names.
JADE & BIANCA
Jade Cargill is out of the Queen of the Ring tournament. Her match with Nia Jax, ended up not really being a match at all, it was an angle to get Jade out of the tournament, without her having to take a loss. Which begs the question, why was she included in it at all? This will be looked at in one of two ways. A good way of keeping Jade strong and starting a few between her and Nia, or a very cheap way to take her out. The angle involving Jade’s daughter, was a good idea on paper, but in execution I don’t think Jade sold it well enough to really make me believe she was pissed off at her daughter being taunted. For me the fire and anger just wasn’t there from Jade, so we ended up getting a weak brawl that lacked the intensity it needed.
Meanwhile, Jade’s tag team partner, Bianca Belair had an outstanding match with Tiffany Statton. Both Bianca & Statton are freak athletes, so it was great to see them in the ring together. Tiffany wrestles like someone with many more years of experience than she does. They are obviously going to hold off on a clash between Jade & Bianca for much further down the line.
KING TAMA?
Tama Tonga is one step closer to doing what his father did many years ago, and winning the King of the Ring tournament. The presentation of Tama Tonga has been great so far, as he is coming across as an unhinged and dangerous maniac. His cartoon noises backstage added to that. The distraction finish helped protect LA Knight, and Tama is using the Complete Shot as a finish, which isn’t the strongest looking finisher, but we will see how it gets over in the weeks to come. There was no new storyline development from The Bloodline here tonight, just as there wasn’t much else newsworthy from this episode of Smackdown.
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