7 Ups & 8 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (May 7)
In which SmackDown Live becomes Raw Lite. Thanks, Wild Card Rule...
Only a complete and utter catastrophe could have prevented SmackDown from claiming brand superiority this week, such was the absolute mess WWE made of Raw's Wild Card episode. Regardless, the blue brand's writers didn't exactly ace it last night. This was a messy show plagued by Wild Card-created problems, and while most of the in-ring action delivered, it's hard to see it as anything other than a net negative in terms of content quality.
Raw invaders were guaranteed after the previous night, and the first two came at the top of the show. AJ Styles and Sami Zayn arrived to challenge for Kofi Kingston's WWE Championship, leading to a crowd-pleasing main event that came together in a similar manner to Raw's Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan clash and hit similar notes in the end.
Elsewhere, Shane McMahon delivered on his promise to name new SmackDown Tag Team Champions following The Hardy Boyz' decision to vacate, and while the belts did find new owners, they were made to work for it. There was no sign of Becky Lynch or Charlotte Flair, but Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Carmella, and Ember Moon maintained the women's division's representation with a tag, while Ali and Andrade had what looked like a banger match sabotaged by one of SD's most devious heels.
A sloppy start to life under the Wild Card Rule. Let's hope shows like this don't become the norm...