What’s Up Toledo? – Smackdown Live Recap – May 23, 2017

Smackdown Live comes to you from Toledo, Ohio.  I don’t know anything about Toledo, and we’ll keep it that way, but I’m doing this one live, so follow along as the night carries on.  It’s Tuesday bitches, so let’s get straight to this.

Here Comes The Money –

The evening kicks off with Jinder Mahal coming to the arena with a motorcade, but the actual show starts with money man Shane O’Mac.  He informs the audience that in one month’s time, when WWE Money in the Bank takes place, Randy Orton will use his rematch clause to take on Jinder Mahal in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri.

He then introduces us to the five participants in the Money in the Bank ladder match.  AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Sami Zayn and Dolph Ziggler make their way to the ring.  Kevin Owens is the next guy that heads down the ramp, but Shane reminds him that he’s not in the match.  Instead, he invites out the fifth man, The King of Strong Style, Shinsuke Nakamura.

Kevin Owens accuses Shane of favoritism, so Shane puts him in the MitB match as well.  So now there are six men in the ring, three on each side of the ring with Shane McMahon representing the dividing line between the faces and the heels, so you can rest assured, Playa, it’s time for a six man tag team match.

Each man has the opportunity to present their case, with the exception of Ziggler who gets cut off by Shinsuke Nakamura.  I’m not going to lie to you, I actually see them letting Corbin get this one.  They don’t actually do a six man tag match, but Corbin and Sami will have a rematch of Sunday night, and Owens will team with Ziggler against Shinsuke and The Champ That Runs The Camp.  Man, I can’t wait to watch them work together.

The Meaty Parts – 

• Natalya & Carmella vs Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch – It’s the fall out episode, so I guess you’re going to get some repetition.  So we’ve taken Tamina and Naomi out of the picture here for some traditional tag action, though both, as well as James Ellsworth, are at ringside.  I do like that Carmella is getting ample television time, as she’s good in the ring even if she is normally the one that takes the beating so she can make the hot tag.  She was really great when she was aligned with Enzo and Cass.  Something about Jersey Shore types running in packs made sense to me.  Well, the women are in the ring, so it’s time for a commercial break:

Buy Tapout gear, now available at JC Penney, or you’ll never ever be jacked like John Cena.  You’re probably never going to be this comfortable with yourself though.

• Women’s Action Continued – Charlotte works a hot tag like freaking crazy.  It’s like when Ambrose used to tag in Roman Reigns, both during and after The Shield.  Tamina made an effort to interfere with Charlotte attempting the moonsault, but was taken out by a Naomi cross body.  Eventually, Becky Lynch defeats Carmella via submission with the Dis-Arm-Her.
• Baron Corbin vs Sami Zayn – Sami Zayn won the match in about 20 seconds via a roll up.  Corbin proceeded to beat the ever loving hell out if him.  So, if there’s some scenario where they wanted someone else in the Money in the Bank match, either Shane punishing Corbin by removing him from the match or Zayn having a storyline injury and opening a spot is now on the table.  I’ll assume that next week he has to face Rusev and the winner gets the Corbin spot in that match.
• ITS THE FASHION FILES!!!!!!!! – They’ve set up the “precinct” in that backstage area where Shane does his face to face segments with talent.  They’re turning over their badges, water guns, disguises, to the Commissioner, Shane O’Mac, who must have shaved his mustache.  The Fashion Police is still on the case, as Shane convinces them they’ve earned their place, so they’re in singles action tonight against each Uso.  This will be cool, as it’ll give people a chance to see both Breeze and Fandango do their thing in the ring, which I’m always thankful when they get TV time to do so.
• The Maharaja gets his Punjabi Celebration – Because stereotypes are still very much perpetuated on WWE television.  I guess it makes sense though, as the fire in his promos comes from a place where he legitimately does get booed by a number of the fans simply because of his nationality……Canadian.  So play into it for some heat.  Why the hell not?

• Some part of me worried in choosing that .gif that it could be taken the wrong way, then I realized that anyone who actually watched the last segment will realize that it was as close as I could get to what was just televised during a wrestling event.
• Uso #1 vs Tyler Breeze – So apparently, Day One is still H, but Tyler Breeze got a win quicker than Sami Zayn with a roll up.
• Uso #2 vs Fandango – Fandango’s Fashion PoPo wrestling pants are the awesome, as is Fandango picking up a second roll up victory here as Breeze distracted with his grandma wig.  They’re kind of my favorite thing going on in pro wrestling right now.
• Breezango vs The Usos for the Tag Team Championship – Following two singles wins in about a minute and a half, Breezango challenged for the Tag Team Titles which The Usos, for the sake of pride, would not be able to decline.  Shane McMahon informed the official via weird headset in the timekeeper’s area (that I have never seen used before) that the match was going to take place.  It got started during a commercial, with the split screen thing going on.  It is always weird when they decide to actually use this.  Just go to commercial like normal and start the match after, or let the match start and then go to commercial once it’s underway.  Fandango hit that Tornado DDT again, and it looked just as amazing as it did on Sunday night, only this time he also hit a soccer style kick on the side of the other Uso’s head to pick up momentum.  Fandango missed a blind tag and The Fashion Police have once again lost a tag team title opportunity.  The Usos win with a blind tag into a frog splash.
• A backstage segment involving all the ladies not holding the title bickering about being the number one contender leads to Shane scheduling a fatal five way elimination match to determine who will face Naomi at Money in the Bank.  #AtLeastItsNotSixWomanTag

The Main Event –

AJ Styles will team with Shinsuke Nakamura to take on Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler.  As could be expected in the “man, can’t you imagine how awesome this Money in the Bank match is going to be” match, each competitor in this match got their time in the sun.  Kevin Owens did a little bit more trash talking and gloating than usual.  Nakamura took a good beating at both the hands of Owens and Ziggler.  The crowd in Toledo was definitely behind Styles, even in a match that featured Nakamura.  Styles has earned that, so it’s good to see.  Of each of these guys, Owens was definitely in control of this match more than anyone else.  That facebuster move that AJ has started using pretty regularly is freakin’ awesome, as if you needed to be told it was or would be.  As you could have imagined, Owens carrying the match foreshadowed that he would be eating the Kinshasa in the end.  Nakamura and AJ Styles via pinfall over Kevin Owens following a Kinshasa.  

That’s it for Smackdown Live this evening.  Was a good show.  Thanks for following along.  Now watch 205 Live, damn it.