A Royal Mellabration – A SmackDown Live Recap for 5/16/18

Tonight’s SmackDown Live comes to us pretaped from London, England from the O2 Arena.

It’s that time of year where they go to England and put stereotypical British stuff on the sta…wait…they didn’t do that?  Um…ok.  No phone booth?  Really?  Not even a Mini Cooper?  

Alright, so this is just going to be normal episode with just rowdier crowds then.  El Paso this isn’t.

I actually think more significant stuff happened on 205 Live than SmackDown.  Let’s run this down:

• Daniel Bryan, of the above gif, tells Renee Young that he’s here for the WWE Championship.  And yes, the loss to Rusev stung a little.  Either way, he’s here to kick ass.  Big Cass is still mad that Bryan for stealing his thunder.  He cut a long promo and I kind of tuned out for a moment. Speaking of Cass, did you hear that Eric Arndt (aka Enzo Amore) didn’t have charges filed against him after there was insufficient evidence?  It definitely doesn’t mean he didn’t do it.  I wouldn’t hire him…BRYAN IS BEATING DOWN CASS, WORKING THE REHABED KNEE.  Thank god.  I hope that’s the end of this.  I’m sure this is leading towards a forgettable Summerslam match.
• Samoa Joe cut a promo on Cass.  Cass is going to die next week.

• The New Day defeat The Bar to determine an entrant in the Men’s Money in the Bank match.  It was a great match, as it always is, between these two teams.  Woods and E led the New Day efforts.  Woods ultimately hit a sweet elbow drop on Cesaro for the win.
  • According to a WWE.com poll, people overwhelmingly like Kofi for the spot.  My money is on Big E.  He’s due for a single’s push.

And now I just miss Dean Ambrose.

• El Ìdolo, Andrade “Cien” Almas, defeated a local competitor with his Hammerlock DDT.  Vega got on the mic afterwards upset that they weren’t given more of a challenge.  Vega and Almas are taking over the blue brand.  There’s no way the former La Sombra isn’t going to make Vince McMahon a billion dollars.
• And now it’s time for the Royal Mellabration.  Oh, here’s all the stereotypical British stuff.  First you have a town cryer.  Next, you have some of the Queen’s Guard (not Beefeaters like Corey said) unconvincingly marching out with the Women’s Championship.  She proceeds to make fun of the crowd and not…um…celebrate.  That’s the heel way, I guess.  Thankfully, Paige saves us by ending the celebration and by announcing Asuka as her next opponent at Money in the Bank.  The segment was ok.
• Lana further tries to create a rift in Rusev Day, but everyone kind of got along this week.  I still don’t like where this is going.
• Paige further punishes Rose and Deville by putting them in a Money in the Bank qualifier with Becky Lynch.  The teamed up on Becky early on in the match, but eventually turned on each.  Becky took advantage and locked Rose in a Dis-Arm-Her to break her losing streak and head to Money in the Bank.

• Styles and Nakamura fought each other for the right to choose the stipulation at Money in the Bank.  I actually liked this match better than their Wrestlemania match.  Is is just me?  Maybe it’s because this was only an hour into the show instead of 5 days and 13 hours when they had their Mania match.  Styles almost hit the ref with a Phenomenal Forearm.  In the confusion, Nak pretending like Styles hit him with a low blow.  With their history in the last few weeks, the ref was inclined to believe Nak.  While AJ and the ref squabbled, Nak set Styles up for a suplex follwed by a Kinshasa for the win.
  • What stipulation will Nakamura choose?  Personally I hope it’s Judy Bagwell on a forklift.  Sure, it’ll make absolutely no sense, but that’s what I want.