Let’s Get Caught Up – Smackdown, 205 Live, NXT Recap – May 30-31, 2017

You’ll have to forgive me, it’s been a long week.  In addition to attending Monday Night Raw in Greenville, SC (a beautiful little city, I highly recommend it), I was present as Smackdown and 205 Live made their way to Atlanta, GA, which is where I live and somehow still felt like it took the same amount of time to get to.

Anyway, let’s get all of this caught up, so we can get to Extreme Rules completely informed about the week that was.

Smackdown Live – May 30, 2017

• Preshow Dark Match: You’ve probably seen the footage of Luke Harper and Aiden English backstage following this matchup, but prior to the start of Smackdown, Mojo Rawley teamed with Tye Dillinger and Luke Harper to take on English and The Ascension.  The good guys won handily.
• We opened with another episode of Highlight Reel 2.0, which ended up being Kevin Owens and Baron Corbin beating on Shinsuke until Sami Zayn makes the save.  This was at least a moderately creative means of getting to a tag match between four of the six MitB match, which is how creative runs every week until the PPV for things like this.  Shinsuke pins Kevin Owens with the Kinshasa.
• Fatal Five Way Elimination match doesn’t actually start, because we needed a way for Shane to come out (yep, I got Shane live!) and announce that the five women would have another five woman match and it would be the first ever Women’s MitB match.  I’m excited, mostly because I’ve been calling for this forever.  The women’s division on both shows needs a shot in the arm, and this is going to add some depth to what creative can do going forward.
• Fashion Files Noir – Watch this segment.  It ends up leading to a match where Breezango defeated The Colons (yes, the Puerto Rican tourism board), but it’s worth watching because I need people to continue demanding this, because it keeps Tyler Breeze on television and Tyler Breeze is really good and deserves that.  Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
• Randy Orton talks crap about Jinder, and how he’ll reclaim his belt in his hometown.  Jinder does a video screen response (Even though he was in attendance.  They had a match after 205 Live ended, which Randy Orton won because the belt wasn’t on the line.  I was actually kind of surprised by the astounding number of Jinder shirts in the audience and just how much the crowd popped for him, especially in Red State Hell here).
• The Usos cut a long promo that I couldn’t understand, because they can’t speak without drowning in their own spit or something now, and thankfully they were cut off by the return of THE NEW DAY in Xavier’s hometown.  Wow that place got loud.  I’m really excited to have them back, mostly because I know for a fact they’ll get those belts back and hopefully the Usos disappear for a while.
• Dolph Ziggler def. AJ Styles because when you’re in your hometown, you have to lose, it helps forward a heel character.  Also doesn’t bode well for Randy Orton.

205 Live – May 30, 2017

• Noam Dar def. Rich Swann – Unfortunately, they’ve found a way to ruin this whole thing by making it more about the Cat Fighting between Sasha Banks and Alicia Fox.  Dar and Swann deserve better, Sasha Banks deserves worlds better.  Fuck the way this whole feud has gone.
• Cedric Alexander def. Corey Hollis – I like that Corey Hollis consistently gets the call when they are in the area.  He works a great match with pretty much everyone they put him in the ring with.  Cedric is getting the rebuild, and wins with the Lumbar Check.
• Drew Gulak def. Mustafa Ali – I was glad to hear all the love Mustafa was getting from the crowd.  I love that guy.  Unfortunately, Gulak rolls through on a cross body and gets the win via roll-up.
• Austin Aries comes out, ends up in a back and forth conversation with Neville, gets jumped from behind by TJP.  He ends up in the Walls of Saturn, passes out, never gets help from Gallagher because we don’t value consistent storytelling on every level.  Aries will finally take the belt this Sunday.

NXT – May 31, 2017

• NXT has a new opening.  Thank God.  That other song sucked.  They still use the music from it for their “matches happening later” screens but it isn’t the theme.  The new song isn’t great, but the opening is a hell of a lot better.
• Tommoso Ciampa is not an afterthought – The explanation presented for Ciampa jumping Gargano is that he was frustrated that the online community was building to a dream partner for Gargano if he was unable to compete at Chicago.  Following the loss, he saw the same thing in Gargano’s eyes and knew he had to get the better of the situation.  He was in Birmingham this week for significant knee surgery.  Won’t be back for about a year.
• Pete Dunne def. Danny Burch – This was another damn fine match from the UK Division.  Pete Dunne is great, and they actually let him get some microphone time after this one, and it was a good promo.  Burch is a great competitor, a little boring from the personality side but in ring he’s damn good.
• Cezar Bononi def. Andrade Almas – Continued focus is placed on Almas’s extracurriculars and perceived lack of work ethic throughout about 3 minutes of in ring action, when he loses the match on a roll up for the “upset”.  It’s only an upset if you’re not paying attention.
• Roderick Strong & Kassius Ohno def. Sanity (Young & Wolfe w/ Dain at ringside) – This match played about like expected, some good wrestling intermingled with interference from Dain, drawing the return of No Way Jose to even the numbers game.  Roddy gets the pinfall on Young.  I learned from this match that if you end up written into a feud with Sanity, just settle in because you’re fucking stuck there forever, sometimes you’re even written out just to be brought right back in, like Jose.

Anyway, now you’re all caught up.  Time to look at Extreme Rules.