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WWE SmackDown comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (May 15, 2020) with a show at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. There won’t be any fans in attendance, but we will see the Money in the Bank winner Otis appear on Miz TV. We’ll also see the return of Charlotte Flair to the blue brand, the beginning of the Intercontinental championship tournament, and more!
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the SmackDown live blog kicks off once the show starts on Fox. It will be below this line here. (REMINDER: NO GIFS OR PICS ARE ALLOWED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. OFFENDERS WILL BE BANNED.)
WWE SMACKDOWN RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR MAY 15
Cain here filling in for the evening.
SmackDown kicks off with a recap video of the Money in the Bank corporate ladder matches from this past Sunday, with Asuka and Otis winning the briefcases.
Miz and Morrison are in the ring to host Miz TV.
Otis comes out very excited, holding up his MITB briefcase, before Miz can even introduce him. Otis is celebrating his big win like only he can.
Otis breaks the chair that he tries to sit in, so he stands for the remainder of the segment.
Otis said even though MITB was a big win, the biggest win of his career was winning the heart of Mandy Rose. Morrison asks him how he pulled that off, implying that he has large genitals or is great in bed.
Miz is now showing a picture of baby Otis, all 12 pounds and four ounces of him. They go through more pictures from his youth. Miz is insulted that this clumsy mommy’s boy buffoon has the briefcase and the girl. Otis didn’t even have to climb the ladder to win it! Miz can’t believe that Otis is one step away from being the Universal champion.
Miz wants Tucker out there for a tag match, but Otis says Tucker is not available due to having some digestive issues. So Miz invites Otis to find a partner by the end of the show for a tag match against Miz & Morrison. Hmmm...
Miz TV is over, and the commentators now go over the bracket for the Intercontinental championship tourney. The first round includes Daniel Bryan vs. Drew Gulak, Jeff Hardy vs Sheamus, Elias vs. King Corbin, and AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura.
Coming up next is Elias vs. King Corbin in the first round of the tournament, after the break.
Elias vs. King Corbin (First round of the Intercontinental championship tournament)
Elias works Corbin over in the corner with punches. Corbin reverses him but is broken up by the ref. Corbin gets Elias on the ground and goes for a half crab, but Elias kicks him away.
Elias flips Corbin over, but Corbin recovers and holds Elias down on the mat by his arm and jaw. The king now lands repeated elbows strikes into Elias’ chest. Elias slowly works his way to his feet and elbows out of the submission hold. Elias gets Corbin running at him in the corner and hits Corbin with the mule kick, He clotheslines the king over the top rope. Elias climbs up to the top buckle and jumps off, nailing Corbin outside the ring.
Corbin gets the upper hand and drives Elias into the barricade. He rolls Elias back in the ring and goes to retrieve Elias’ guitar, which leaves him vulnerable to a baseball slide. Elias is enraged that Corbin was handling his guitar. Corbin is dumped into the timekeeper’s area, and we go to break.
Back from the break, Elias is working over Corbin’s shoulder in the corner. Elias walks the rope but gets tripped up by Corbin. Elias rolls to the outside after he falls off the rope. Corbin gets him on top of the announce table and rains down royal right hands. He tosses Elias back in the ring, but Elias kicks out of a pin attempt.
Elias takes more punches and is in trouble. Now a knee to the gut, an elbow in the neck, and a right hand to Elias’ face. Elias dodges Corbin, but Corbin does his thing where he runs around the post on the outside and lands a clothesline on the inside. Elias breaks out of the pin attempt.
Corbin is talking trash, saying the title is his. But Elias suddenly counters a clothesline into a spinning neckbreaker, that Corey Graves says he only got 70% of. Elias rips his shirt off and is kicking the hell out of Corbin. He hits some awkward variation of Cross Rhodes, I think, but Corbin kicks out of the pin. Elias goes up to the top again. Corbin dodges him, does the run around the post thing again, and hits Elias with a spinebuster. Elias kicks out of the pin.
Corbin sits Elias up on the top rope. Elias fights out of it and gets Corbin on his shoulders. Corbin escapes and destroys Elias with a massive chokeslam. Elias somehow kicks out!
More trash talk from Corbin as he lays in the punches. Corbin goes to get the guitar again. He breaks it across the ring post. That may have been a huge mistake. Elias is pissed off, knees Corbin in the face, and rolls Corbin up for the win!
Elias defeats King Corbin.
The commentators tell is that we’ll also be seeing the Bryan vs. Gulak tourney match tonight.
Otis is backstage and asks Sheamus if he’ll be his partner tonight. Sheamus feigns excitement and then says “Not a chance, fella.”
Time for a break.
Mandy Rose finds Otis, and he is concerned that he won’t be able to find anyone to be his partner. She suggests that he asks Braun Strowman. He calls her a genius and walks off to find the Universal champion.
A mystery hacker video plays. He is everywhere, watching everyone, and nobody is safe. The truth will be heard. He seems to be watching a lot of clips from WWE Network, so he might need some better hidden cameras.
Back to Otis, he finds Strowman. They congratulate each other on their wins at MITB. Otis asks Braun to be his partner tonight. Braun suspects that Otis is looking for an excuse to get him in the ring to cash in the contract. Otis denies that motivation. Braun respects Otis’ direct approach, and tells him he’ll think about it. Otis seems optimistic about that response.
Time for another break.
Back from break, it’s time to feel the glow. Naomi makes her entrance for a match. Apparently she wants revenge on Dana Brooke for beating her for the spot at MITB.
Naomi vs. Dana Brooke
Naomi takes Dana down with a flying clothesline. Now she charges Dana in the corner. Dana slips behind for a roll up, but Naomi kicks out. Brooke with an elbow in the corner, but Naomi counters the next one. Naomi goes to the top and hits a flying crossbody.
They scuffle for a bit, and then Brooke just kind of falls down on Naomi and holds her down for the pin.
Dana Brooke defeats Naomi.
Charlotte Flair will be up next, after the break.
We return with a video recap of the Becky Lynch pregnancy reveal from Raw, along with superstar reactions on social media.
Here comes The Queen, who is here due to the brand-to-brand invitational.
She calls herself the hardest working woman in the industry. The numbers were crunched and the people want more Charlotte Flair, so that’s why she’s on all three brands. She won five of her 12 titles on SmackDown and is surprised they don’t have a giant poster of her declaring her the greatest, as an inspiration to others.
That brings out SmackDown women’s champion Bayley, and her sidekick Sasha Banks.
Bayley is a role model and doesn’t lie, so she won’t say it’s nice to see Charlotte. Bayley mocks her by saying “Woo!” a bunch of times. The last time she saw Charlotte is when she defeated Charlotte for the SmackDown women’s title. Charlotte says Bayley only got the job done on that night because she got a new hair cut.
Bayley tells Charlotte to go back to NXT or Raw, because SmackDown is Bayley and Sasha’s show. Bayley is the most dominant champion in SmackDown history. Get the hell out of our ring right now.
Flair says that Banks is the only reason that Bayley is the champ. Flair and Banks lock eyes. Flair goes over Banks’ credentials and asks why she’s content being a corner person for Bayley and an afterthought. Bayley says Charlotte would never understand a true friendship like theirs.
Bayley has had enough and is ready for a fight, champion versus champion. Flair accepts.
Flair asks Sasha if she’s her own woman, or if she is just Bayley’s lackey, and happy being an afterthought. Wooo! And with that, Flair’s music hits, and she departs.
We see Braun Strowman backstage, who is still thinking about being Otis’ partner tonight.
And now it’s time for a break.
We come back with a Forgotten Sons promo. They chose to serve their country to fight for something they believe in, but they were then shunned by society. So they are now going to beat the crap out of people.
Renee Young is backstage with Miz & Morrison. Morrison says Braun Strowman is called Braun, not Brain, because he’s stupid, But even Braun isn’t dumb enough to fall for Otis’ obvious cash-in trap. They sing their lame song and then wander off like jackasses (I’m pretty sure these guys are getting those hands).
Up next is Daniel Bryan vs. Drew Gulak, after the break. It sounds like the finals of the tourney will happen on SmackDown on Fox, rather than on pay-per-view.
Daniel Bryan vs. Drew Gulak (First round of the Intercontinental championship tournament)
They shake hands to start things off.
Gulak grabs a wristlock, and Bryan rolls around trying to find a way out of it. He takes Gulak down and grabs his leg, but Gulak rolls over and both men are at a stalemate.
Bryan with a side headlock. Gulak rolls Bryan up but can’t keep him down for a pin. Bryan tries to roll into the Yes Lock, but Gulak makes it to the rope right away to break the hold.
Bryan now holds Gulak around the waist. Gulak suddenly applies his dragon sleeper finisher, but Bryan makes it to the rope to break the hold.
Collar and elbow tie up, Bryan tries to hyperextend Gulak’s elbow. Bryan goes for a double underhook, but Gulak suplexes him over from that position. Bryan locks in an armbar, but Gulak tries to block it. Both men roll into the ropes, forcing a break.
They maneuver their way towards the ropes. Gulak dumps Bryan over the top rope, and we go to a break.
Back from the break, Gulak nails a belly-to-back suplex in the middle of the ring. He follows up with a full nelson, switching into a side headlock. Bryan lifts Gulak up by the knee for a shinbreaker, and then dragon screws his way to the advantage. Bryan is twisting Gulak with an ankle lock and then turns it into a German suplex.
Gulak with a modified Michinoku Driver out of nowhere, but Bryan kicks out of the pin at two. Another full nelson from Gulak. Bryan flips out of it and nails a release German suplex, launching Gulak across the ring.
Bryan goes for the running knee, but Gulak avoids it and rolls him up for two. They trade a few two counts on roll ups, then Gulak locks in his dragon sleeper again. Bryan rolls through and goes for the Yes Lock, but can’t apply it. Bryan executes a wicked dragon screw, then applies a heel hook. Gulak can’t make it to the rope and taps out.
Daniel Bryan defeats Drew Gulak.
Bryan with a promo in the ring. He says he has never gotten another shot at the Intercontinental title since he had to relinquish it when he retired in 2015 (I guess Bryan doesn’t recall that he lost in an IC title match at WrestleMania 36). He wants that title to represent the absolute best wrestler in WWE, and that’s him. Gulak shakes Bryan’s hand and they embrace.
The tag main event is up next, after the break.
Next week will be a mixed tag match: Mandy & Otis vs. Sonya and Dolph. Sonya & Dolph are here with a backstage promo. Sonya mocks Otis’ lifestyle and says Mandy will never be a winner like her. She’s just getting started with ruining Mandy’s life. She calls Mandy a bitch. Dolph just stares on without saying a word.
Miz & Morrison come out for their match, and here is Otis. The heels mock him for having no partner. But here comes Braun Strowman, of course.
Otis & Braun Strowman vs. Miz & John Morrison
Otis starts things off with Morrison, after swiveling his hips a bit.
Morrison uses his agility to run around Otis and kick him in the mid section. Otis feels no effect and puts John down with a shoulder tackle. Then a scoop slam, and he tags in Strowman.
Otis and Strowman just hit a double caterpillar on Morrison, though Braun’s gonna need to practice some more. It turns out they’re pretty much a natural team, and we go to break.
Back from break, and Miz has control of Otis in the middle of the ring. Miz has Otis in the corner and is doing his It kicks. Miz climbs to the top rope and nails an axe handle to the skull. More It kicks put Otis down, but he breaks out of the pin attempt.
Miz applies a chin lock to wear him down further. Otis is trying to make it to his partner, but Miz stops it from happening, and tags in Morrison. Otis suplexes both men and tags in Braun.
Strowman awkwardly slams/throws Morrison and then monster-handles Miz. He does the run-around-the-ring spot and launches into Miz. Morrison gets Strowman back in the ring and hits a flying kick to the face. But Strowman recovers for his powerslam finish, and gets the pin on Morrison.
Otis & Braun Strowman defeat Miz & John Morrison.
The babyfaces celebrate. Mandy Rose comes out and distracts Strowman. Otis teases a cash-in. Braun catches him, and Otis says he was just kidding. There is a second of tension, but then they fist bump, and Otis embraces with Mandy.
That’s the end of the show.
Thanks for hanging out tonight during SmackDown, folks!