WWE SmackDown preview (May 6, 2022): This new plan for Roman Reigns doesn’t make sense

SmackDown airs tonight (May 6) with a live show from Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. This is the final SmackDown episode during the five week build towards WrestleMania Backlash on May 8.

WWE’s new plan for Roman Reigns doesn’t make sense

The Usos and RK-Bro had a contract signing one week ago to make their tag team title unification match at WrestleMania Backlash official. The only problem is that Roman Reigns interrupted the proceedings and tore up his original plan to bring all the gold to the Bloodline. Instead, WrestleMania Backlash is now a six man tag team match (Drew McIntyre & RK-Bro vs. The Bloodline) with no championships on the line.

Up to four different titles could have been up for grabs in this match. At the very least, WWE could have stuck with Roman’s plan of unifying the Raw tag team titles with the SmackDown tag team titles. If they wanted to spice things up beyond that, they could have added on Roman’s WWE Universal championship for good measure. But as of right now, none of those titles will be defended in this six man tag team match. WWE only has one episode of television (tonight’s SmackDown) to do something about this and raise the stakes for WrestleMania Backlash.

If WWE does nothing about it, then the current lineup for WrestleMania Backlash only includes one title match. In some sense, WWE’s decision to finally add Roman Reigns to the Backlash card actually makes the lineup worse because there was some interest in seeing the tag titles unified. That appears to be off the table now, and I’m left scratching my head as to why WWE planned a title unification match in the first place just to yank it away. That decision doesn’t make sense right now.

RK-Bro is likely crashing SmackDown yet again tonight for one final angle with the Bloodline ahead of the six man tag match at WrestleMania Backlash. Perhaps WWE has a killer angle in mind that will make the late change and extra confusion all worth it.

The rest of the title scene

Ronda Rousey proved to be superior to SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair in an “I Quit” Beat the Clock challenge last week. Flair blamed her failure on Drew Gulak, who didn’t ring the bell fast enough for her liking. So she kicked his ass, but probably not as quickly as Ronda would have. With all of that nonsense out of the way, tonight is a go-home show, so I expect Rousey will have a live mic in her hands tonight. Oh boy!

Intercontinental Champion Ricochet successfully retained his title against Shanky last week. The relationship between Shanky and Jinder Mahal was on shaky ground in the aftermath. Is Ricochet done with these two heels for now? Is it time to feed him to Gunther yet?

Sasha Banks and Naomi will defend the Women’s tag team titles next week on SmackDown against Natalya and Shayna Baszler. Before that happens, though, Banks and Baszler will go at it one-on-one tonight. Baszler lost last week against Naomi but left her laying with a brutal attack after the match. Sasha is looking for some payback.

Other stuff to keep an eye on

- Will any other Raw stars like Cody Rhodes or Seth Rollins show up tonight for one final angle before WrestleMania Backlash?

- After (probably) turning heel two weeks ago, Xia Li didn’t appear on SmackDown last week. That sounds about right considering how she’s been sparsely booked ever since she made her SmackDown debut in December.

- Where’s BUTCH?

- Sami Zayn fought against Drew McIntyre on each of the last four episodes of SmackDown. I think the guy deserves a break, but the conspiracy against Sami probably won’t allow him to relax tonight.

- Raquel Gonzalez Rodriguez made her in-ring debut on the main roster last week with a win over a jobber. Will she feed on another jobber tonight?

- Did Lacey Evans wrap up her inspirational(?) life story last week? It probably makes sense to wait until after WrestleMania Backlash before she shows up live in the ring.

- Madcap Moss crashed Happy Talk last week to stop Happy Corbin from demolishing his Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal trophy that he cares so deeply about. But the heel has to get one over on Madcap on the last show before their PPV match, right?

- Shinsuke who?

What will you be looking for on SmackDown tonight?