5 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (2 May - Results & Review)

1. LA Knight & Damian Priest Deliver

Delivered on the mic and inside the ring.

It would've been easy for their pre-match promo battle to sink, but LA Knight and Damian Priest believably jabbed one another for respective losses at WrestleMania. Knight was especially annoyed that Priest caused Drew McIntyre to win via DQ against him on last week’s SmackDown, and all that verbal sparring led to one hell of a match between the pair to kick things off this week.

There's something so pleasing about babyfaces acting like real human beings who don't just become fast friends because they're both good guys. Knight and Priest acknowledged that there's respect between them, but they want to be winners. That gave the segment an edge, and it clicked neatly into place as a sub-story to Jacob Fatu's United States Title reign.

Everybody's coming for that gold, probably including Jacob's so-called ally Solo Sikoa. He ran in on Knight vs. Priest to cause the stoppage, but don't let that ruin your enjoyment of what LA and Damian produced here. They were cooking right up until the interruption, so hopefully this isn’t the last time they go one on one.

Triple H just found babyface opponents who can make that trope work.

Bonus points go to the writers for making sure that Fatu got to look dominant by the end yet again. That's kinda his thing, and it works for the new US Champ. If you only check out one full match from this week's episode, make it Knight vs. Priest. Ignore the typical TV ending, because the main meat of the match is worth seeing regardless.

What did you think of this week's WWE SmackDown? For more wrestling content, check out WWE Black Wednesday Releases 5 Years Later - Where Are They Now? and 15 Wrestlers WWE Debuted In The WORST Way Possible!