WWE SmackDown Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from May 5

WWE only has three weeks to build the card for Extreme Rules, which means the easiest way to feature established feuds is to have several rematches from Payback occupy the May 22 pay-per-view.

We already know AJ Styles will get another shot at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns, and Natalya will face Charlotte for the Women's Championship.

After what happened at Payback and the following night on Raw, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn will likely be lumped into an Intercontinental Championship Fatal 4-Way match with The Miz and Cesaro.

Since Enzo Amore was injured during the No. 1 contenders' match of the tag team tournament, The Vaudevillains have been awarded a shot at The New Day's WWE Tag Team Championships. Rusev earned a shot at Kalisto's United States Championship by winning a Battle Royal on Raw.

Every champion has a challenger, but there is still room on the card for a few other bouts. Let's see whether this week's episode of SmackDown gave us any signs of what else will be added to the PPV.

Highlight Reel

This week's show opened with Chris Jericho hosting another episode of the Highlight Reel. As expected, Y2J bragged about taking out Dean Ambrose by smashing his new best friend, Mitch the plant, over his head.

He brought out Sami Zayn as his guest for the evening and played a clip that showed Zayn taking out The Miz and Kevin Owens on Raw, calling him a dirty thief for holding the IC title above his head.

Before Zayn finished explaining why he grabbed the belt, The Miz and Maryse came out to yell at him for sticking his nose where it didn't belong. After Jericho got upset and left the ring, Zayn and The Miz exchanged some insults before the show went to a break.

Everything about this segment was textbook, but that doesn't mean it wasn't entertaining. Jericho and The Miz are excellent in their respective roles, and Zayn did a great job antagonizing the latter without being annoying.

Grade: B-

Notes and Highlights

• I'm glad people started mocking Jericho for always wearing a scarf when he's inside a building. It's like wearing sunglasses at night—unnecessary.
• It was a cheesy line, but Mauro Ranallo saying, "Ambrose found out payback is a Mitch," made me laugh.
• This was one of the most heavily edited segments SmackDown has had in quite some time. The camera was constantly cutting to the crowd, and it sounded like the "You suck!" chants were being piped in through the speakers.
• It was great to see The Miz talk about how he has survived being in the ring with some of the biggest names in the business. He doesn't get enough credit for being a skilled veteran, especially when it comes to how much he has improved over the years.

The Miz vs. Sami Zayn

This match was made official during the break, which gave the ringside crew enough time to get the speakers, stools and carpet from the Highlight Reel out of the ring.

It took all of two minutes before Kevin Owens decided to come down to watch from the commentary table. As usual, KO was hilarious while insulting everyone in the ring and at ringside, with the exception of Jerry Lawler, someone he seems to like.

Owens and Zayn have a great storyline going, but it would be nice to see one of them have a match without the other getting involved. After Owens caused a disqualification, Cesaro ran to the ring and cleaned house before grabbing the IC title and celebrating with the crowd.

The first half of the match was good, but the second half was all about interference and setting up a Fatal 4-Way for Extreme Rules. We saw this exact same situation on Raw, with the only difference being the identity of the last man standing.

Grade: C

Notes and Highlights

• The only reason a brand split would be a good idea is so SmackDown could have an actual authority figure. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon rarely appear on the blue brand, so it always looks like the wrestlers can just make matches whenever they want.
• Zayn's athleticism is incredible. He makes jumping up onto the barricade and hitting a perfect moonsault look easy.
• I hope Maryse sticks around for a long time. She adds so much to Miz's character. They attract a lot more heat than The Miz can on his own.

Blood vs. Bullets

Earlier in the show, AJ Styles was shown explaining to Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows why he hesitated to hit Roman Reigns with a chair on Raw. They convinced Styles he needed to step up his game in order to defeat the champ at Extreme Rules.

This storyline is interesting because it blurs the line between heel and babyface. Styles is a good guy, but his friends are bad apples. Reigns is making a slow turn to the dark side while The Usos remain loyal without abandoning their morals.

Many feuds have made us question which Superstar we should be cheering for, but it is rarely pulled off with this many moving parts. The creative team deserves credit for making this storyline intriguing and somewhat unpredictable.

Styles confronted Reigns later in the evening to ask what role he would be playing in the main event, and the champ said he can do whatever he wants since he's the man. It was a short but effective segment.

WWE didn't upload any of this to YouTube, so you can watch more ridiculousness from Goldust, Fandango, Tyler Breeze and R-Truth instead.

Grade: B

The Vaudevillains vs. The Social Outcasts

The Vaudevillains faced Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel in a tag match that made little to no sense. Both teams are heels, so the fans in attendance had no idea which Superstars to root for.

This was a quick bout meant to make Simon Gotch and Aiden English look dominant, but the crowd needs someone it can get behind or everyone will lose interest in what's happening in the ring.

The match was too short to be anything special, but the post-match fight gave everyone something to cheer for, so it worked out in the end.

Colin Cassady came out and made a Sherlock Holmes joke before rushing the ring and taking out both Vaudevillains and Axel. 

Everyone can agree Enzo Amore is a much better mic worker, but Big Cass is holding his own better than expected while he waits for his partner to heal up.

Grade: C-

Notes and Highlights

• Simon Gotch and Aiden English did what Kizarny failed to do a few years ago: They have made a carnival gimmick entertaining. In fairness, Kizarny wasn't given much of a chance to succeed.
• Gotch needs to start wearing knee pads. They offer so much more protection than most people realize. 
• Some might question the logic behind having Big Cass take out both No. 1 contenders for the tag titles, but it makes his team look good while Amore is out of action. This is also a chance for Cass to prove how valuable he is on his own, and he is taking the opportunity and making the most of it.

Natalya and Becky Lynch vs. Emma and Charlotte

The only two storylines in the women's division were combined into a tag team match, with Emma and Charlotte battling Becky Lynch and Natalya.

This was a physical contest featuring four talented competitors. Each has her own unique style, and they meshed well to produce what was the best match to this point in the show.

They were given two full segments to perform, so the pace was quick but never felt rushed. Ric Flair interfered (like he always does), but his involvement was kept to a minimum.

In the end, Natalya made Emma tap out to the Sharpshooter to get the win for her team while Lynch kept both Flairs at bay.

Grade: B+

Notes and Highlights

• If WWE ever decided to make Women's Tag Team Championships, Emma and Charlotte would make a great pair. They both pull off the cocky heel gimmick well.
• After reading some comments on a few articles, it appears a lot of people are upset Sasha Banks hasn't been used lately. WWE can't feature everyone at once. This is just a slow period before she eventually wins the title. Have patience.
• There was a moment when Natalya tripped Charlotte, and it looked like she actually smacked her face on the mat pretty hard, but she didn't let it slow her down one bit.

The Quest Begins

Darren Young gave a promo in which he talked about looking for a life coach, and it turns out the man for the job is Bob Backlund.

Older fans might be excited about this pairing because Backlund has always been a solid performer, but younger fans might not get what Backlund's gimmick is all about.

It didn't help that this segment was presented in a weird way. They were talking to each other in a split-screen format as if they were in two different places for no reason. It would have been better had they just been standing next to each other, which they probably were despite the way it looked.

Backlund said he was going to make Young great again, which is clearly a play on Donald Trump's "Make America great again" campaign slogan. 

This is a peculiar direction for WWE to take Young's character, but let's reserve judgment until we see how it plays out. Maybe Backlund can make Young great again. Only time will tell.

Grade: D+

Rusev vs. Zack Ryder

After being the last two men in the ring during Monday's Battle Royal, Rusev met Zack Ryder for a singles match to prove his dominance.

You would think Sheamus or Alberto Del Rio would have received the first post-breakup push after The League of Nations disbanded, but The Bulgarian Brute looks like he is being given priority for the time being.

Long Island Iced Z got in some good offense early in the match, but his aggression was quelled by Rusev's insane power and speed combination. Ryder ended up tapping to The Accolade in less than three minutes.

It's hard to get excited about quick matches, especially when someone as entertaining as Ryder looks like a jobber, but this was effective in making Rusev look like the monster he was when he first debuted in 2014.

Grade: C

Notes and Highlights

• It will be interesting to see whether Lana wrestles again. It looked like she was going to start competing more often after WrestleMania 32, but nothing ever came of it.
• Kalisto attacked Rusev after the match and then ran away. It kind of made him look like a coward, but someone his size has to fight smart, so it actually made sense to do it this way.
• Lana was better as an uptight manager. The militant persona worked for her better than whatever she is supposed to be now.

The Usos and Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson

The Usos were supposed to wrestle Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows in a standard tag team contest, but after Reigns and Styles got involved and several officials had to break them up, it turned into a six-man match.

We saw this exact same bout on Raw, but it didn't feel like a pointless repeat. The crowd's "let them fight" chant while everyone was being separated showed they were into it, so there was no point in letting them down.

Reigns always looks intense when he wrestles, but he looked more like the Reigns we knew from The Shield here. It's hard to pinpoint what it is, but there was something different about him in this match. Maybe having two partners to help carry the weight of the performance had something to do with it.

After a fast-paced, physical showdown, Reigns nearly broke Anderson in half with his trademark Spear to pick up the win.

Grade: A-

Notes and Highlights

• It's funny how nobody cared about Gallows when he was part of The Straight Edge Society, but after spending some time in Japan, the WWE Universe is fawning over him. He has improved, but it's not like he completely changed his wrestling style.
• Who else laughed when they saw Anderson's foot slowly come into the shot before he kicked Reigns in the face from the ring?
• Reigns needs to call Gallows "Festus" at least once during a promo. It would get a big laugh from the crowd.

Final Thoughts and Predictions

There was a lot to like about this week's SmackDown. A few matches may have been shorter than many would like, but most of the Superstars featured on Thursday's show pulled their weight and then some.

The women's tag bout and the main event were the biggest highlights, but the opening segment with Jericho, Zayn and The Miz provided some good entertainment, too.

Maybe this is the start of a new era in WWE. Most of the storylines are interesting, and the majority of Superstars being used regularly are making the product fun to watch again.

Things usually slow down a bit after WrestleMania, but that doesn't seem to be happening this year. Hopefully the company can keep up this level of quality going forward.

Since WWE hit the ground running after Payback to set up the next event, all of this week's predictions will be about stipulations or matches being added to Extreme Rules.

Predictions

• A Texas Tornado stipulation will be added to the tag title match.
• Rusev and Kalisto's U.S. Championship bout will be a Last Man Standing match.
• Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson will face The Usos in a Falls Count Anywhere match.
• Becky Lynch will face Emma at Extreme Rules.
• The pre-show will feature some kind of match involving R-Truth, Goldust, Tyler Breeze and Fandango.

What did you think of this week's SmackDown?

Thanks for reading, and follow me on Twitter: @BR_Doctor.