WWE SmackDown Results: Biggest Winners, Losers and Moments from May 1

It's been an exciting and action-packed month in WWE with WrestleMania 34 followed by the Superstar Shake-up and Greatest Royal Rumble. The final stop on this long ride will be Backlash on Sunday. The May 1 edition of WWE SmackDown Live was the go-home show for this latest pay-per-view.

With SmackDown Superstars involved in six of the eight matches on the card, it was always going to be a packed night with many stars trying to find a spot at the event or make a final impression whether their Backlash opponent was around or not.

Shelton Benjamin started the night off wrong by getting beat down and losing any leverage he had for a United States Championship opportunity. Big Cass looked bad after beating up on a small person dressed up as his Backlash opponent, Daniel Bryan.

Sheamus was also embarrassed after trying to take a cheap victory off The New Day and failing, while Samoa Joe made sure he will soon get a WWE Championship opportunity no matter what happens on Sunday.

The night ended with Asuka re-establishing herself among the elite women in WWE with a dominant showing alongside Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair.

All these wrestlers tried to use this important night as an opportunity to raise their standing, but only the winners proved their worth before Backlash.

Loser: Shelton Benjamin

Credit: WWE.com

What a difference a week can make. Benjamin picked up a huge win over Randy Orton last week, and it looked like he could be in position for a future United States Championship match. However, his victory was played off as an afterthought this week.

The Gold Standard came storming out to demand respect only to be knocked out of the ring before taking both an RKO and Swanton Bomb in the following tag match with The Miz. Rather than being a potential challenger, he was revealed to just be a footnote in a bigger rivalry.

Jeff Hardy just became U.S. champion, and he's likely to hold the title for a while. His rivalry with Orton will help establish Hardy's title run. Perhaps when that is over, Benjamin can get a shot at the championship if he has not fallen into the background again.

It is still difficult to pin down exactly what The Gold Standard's role on SmackDown is. He started as a tag team star only to have his pairing with Chad Gable fall flat. Now he is back in the midcard title scene, but it is hard to believe in him as a real threat to a star with the standing of The Charismatic Enigma.

There are not many established stars around Benjamin, either. Most of the SmackDown roster below the top stars are paired off in tag teams, with only the soon-to-debut Andrade "Cien" Almas coming off as an immediate challenger on arrival for Hardy.

Loser: Big Cass

With Bryan off for the week to nurse his injuries from Greatest Royal Rumble, Big Cass was left to finish the build to his match with The Beard all on his own. Unfortunately, that led to a dud of a segment that involved him making fun of a local little person.

Playing on Cass' statements last week about hating anyone of short stature, the seven-foot performer hired a short talent to play Bryan in a joke that WWE should have grown beyond years ago. Even if it made sense, it was tasteless and did nothing for Cass.

This feud is a major part of SmackDown and should be treated as such. After great development in Saudi Arabia, this was a woeful step back that made Cass come off as a generic big man, who will fall quickly to Bryan for underestimating him.

If WWE is looking to make Cass a major player this year, he cannot just mock everyone for being shorter than him especially when it involves actively embarrassing those born of short stature. He is meant to take up Baron Corbin's role on the brand, but he cannot do that as a one-note heel.

Winner: Samoa Joe

While AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura potentially are reaching the final stage of their rivalry, Samoa Joe did not wait to make clear he wants to be next in line for the WWE Championship. Interrupting Styles' interview, he promised to defeat Roman Reigns and stake his claim to SmackDown's top title.

One of the biggest benefits of moving to SmackDown was that The Samoan Submission Specialist quickly moved to the top of the card. While Raw is likely to be dominated by Reigns and Braun Strowman, there's more free space for Joe to quickly slip into contention.

The only obstacle for Joe would be Nakamura winning the title, complicating his bid for the championship. If Styles wins, Joe would be next in line on the spot, setting up a match worthy of headlining any WWE PPV between two true veterans of their craft.

The Destroyer will need a big match to bounce back from a highly likely loss to The Big Dog at Backlash, which is why his announcement on Tuesday night was so important.

Win or lose, Joe is going after gold next, far away from Reigns.

Loser: Sheamus

Credit: WWE.com

The New Day have already renewed their rivalry with Sheamus and Cesaro.

Apparently, time away has made The Bar forget how formidable Kofi Kingston, Big E and especially Xavier Woods can be, given Sheamus tried to take an easy win off him and failed.

The Celtic Warrior dodged a match with Big E intentionally, clearly treating Woods as the weak link and easy win among New Day. However, a slew of distractions allowed the trombone-playing star to steal a victory with an inside cradle.

This feud is likely only beginning once more, with both sides in this rivalry set to take losses and wins along the way, but this was not the best first impression for Sheamus and Cesaro on a new brand. This elite tag team has had a bad month and needs to stop the skid quickly.

Unfortunately, a feud between New Day and The Bar does not sound like the right direction for SmackDown at the moment. Even if both teams have evolved since the last time they faced off, this comes as a delaying tactic rather than a legitimate rivalry.

The SmackDown Tag Team Championships are held by two dominant monsters who need rivals after defeating The Usos once again. The Bar have no experience with Harper and Rowan, so they could have slipped right into contention.

Winner: Asuka

Both Asuka and Lynch took a loss last week, and it clearly affected them. The previously undefeated Japanese played it cool, but she was unleashed in the main event, running through Peyton Royce before making her tap out to the Asuka Lock.

There was never any doubt Asuka would start regaining victories, but this performance truly made The Empress of Tomorrow look like the star of the women's division for the first time since losing to Charlotte. The entire match built to Asuka's climactic domination of the heels.

The focus of the bout in theory should have been Charlotte vs. Carmella—the SmackDown Women's Championship match for Backlash—but the two rivals were kept away from each other for most of the match. Even though they had a staredown at the end, it still felt like Asuka was the focus.

This could be a hint that Asuka will be the next in line if Charlotte fails to reclaim her title from Carmella, which would make sense. The Japanese striker would quickly erase the memory of her title loss by winning the championship she was after at WrestleMania.

Until then, SmackDown has seemingly established the division will be all about The Queen and The Empress, with The Irish Lass Kicker playing the unfortunately underused sidekick.