Winners, News And Notes On May 27, 2022

WWE SmackDown advertised Ronda Rousey vs. Raquel Rodriguez in a rematch of their instant classic from two weeks ago. SmackDown also advertised the New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) and a mystery third member vs. the Brawling Brutes (Sheamus, Ridge Holland and Butch). The New Day’s mystery tag team partner ended up being Drew McIntyre.

As WWE seems to have quietly ended its brand split, Raw Superstar Kevin Owens will appear live for a SmackDown edition of The K.O. Show, just days after SmackDown stars Sami Zayn and The Usos competed on Raw. As fate would have it, Zayn was Owens’ guest on the K.O. Show as the childhood friends briefly reunited before falling out all over again.

Last week’s broadcast of WWE SmackDown garnered 2.031 million viewers with a main event between RK-Bro and The Usos to unify the Raw and SmackDown tag team titles.

• May 20, 2022—2.031 million
• May 13, 2022—1.893 million
• May 6, 2022—1.998 million
• April 29, 2022—1.953 million
• April 22, 2022—1.952 million

• WWE SmackDown Venue: Simmons Bank
  SFNC
  Arena (North Little Rock, Ar.)
• WWE SmackDown Tickets Distributed: 5,920
• Available Tickets: 226

WWE SmackDown Total YouTube Viewership Last Friday: 6,591,254 (Up from 6,559,083)

• Most-Viewed: RK-Bro vs. The Usos (2,921,422 views)
• Least-Viewed: Happy Corbin Destroys Andre the Giant Trophy (151,550 views)
• Median Viewership: 305,903 views

WWE SmackDown Results | Friday, May 27, 2022

The Usos kick off WWE Raw

WWE has done the heel fake-sincere promo to death, so these fans all saw the Usos fakeout coming from a mile away. After “thanking” the fans profusely, the Usos had to wait around for an eternity before fans finally kinda started to chant for them, and then they predictably said they owed their success to “nobody!”

Riddle and Shinsuke Nakamura as a tag team will be great for Nakamura as long as Orton is M.I.A. Riddle has brought out the most entertaining versions of Orton, Pete Dunne and Timothy Thatcher. Working with Nakamura will be a cake walk.

Raquel Rodriguez vs. Ronda Rousey ends in DQ; Rousey and Rodriguez def. Shayna Baszler and Natalya

This match revolved around a series of backstage vignettes where Shotzi tried to manipulate the women’s locker room into attacking Rodriguez. Unfortunately for Shotzi, she was locked out by Aliyah, who sought revenge from when Shotzi did the same two weeks ago.

WWE was wise to cut Rodriguez vs. Rousey short because that rematch really should be built up for pay-per-view.

Los Lotharios def. Jinder Mahal and Shanky

Jinder Mahal and Shanky’s breakup storyline continued as Mahal slapped Shanky backstage prior to the match. Neither Mahal or Shanky are over enough for people to care about a potential breakup.

If anybody should be upset with Shanky, it should be Omos because Shanky completely ripped off the ring gear of his fellow giant.

Shanky put an abrupt end to an argument by putting his giant hand in Mahal’s face. He even received “Shanky” chants before dancing for Samantha Irvin and that guy can move.

The K.O. Show with Sami Zayn

Sami Zayn casually called Kevin Owens “Uce.” I’m not sure he got the stamp of approval from the Samoan culture to use that word.

It felt great seeing Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens bonding over Zayn believing Kevin Owens about Ezekiel. Sadly, this didn’t last long as Zayn chose his vapid loyalty to the Bloodline over his lifelong friendship with Sami Zayn.

Ludwig Kaiser and Gunther def. Drew Gulak and Ricochet

Surprisingly, this match was more of a showcase for Ludwig Kaiser, who got the pin over Drew Gulak but not before Pat McAfee marveled over his “10 pack abs.” If Fabian Aichner ever wants to make it to the main roster, he better start doing some situps immediately. It may be fruitless, however, as he’s already pretty shredded as is.

The New Day and Drew McIntyre vs. The Brawling Brutes

Pat McAfee was hilarious pretending to anticipate Moby Dick after a series of Moby “dick” jokes from the New Day and the Brawling Brutes.

WWE really built up this mystery third man, and it ended up being Drew McIntyre, as has been the case during their live events. As Michael Cole (cornily) put it, “It’s a Drew Day!”

WWE officially announced Money in the Bank would be moving to the smaller MGM Grand Garden Arena during a promo spot. For more on these developments, click here.