WWE Smackdown Synopsis for 5/8/20

Tonight’s show will lead us nicely into this Sunday’s Money In The Bank PPV. It will be refreshing to leave the Performance Center for the first post-Wrestlemania PPV show. This is the 5/8/20 edition of WWE Smackdown Synopsis. For this evening, we remain in Orlando before packing our bags and heading North to WWE headquarters this Sunday. Tonight we have six-man and an eight-man tag matches, the Universal Champion faces off against the challenger for his title and much much more.


Mandy Rose vs Sonya DeVille

WWE Smackdown Synopsis for 5/8/20

Our two-hour journey into suspended reality will not start with a slow hand nor an easy touch. Mandy Rose and Sonya DeVille are ready to settle their hostilities. Both receive prematch encouragement, Mandy from Otis and Sonya from Dolph Ziggler. Five years of pent up anger is about to explode.

Mandy Rose begins auspiciously with a flying knee, in no time DeVille goes to work on Rose’s injured right leg. DeVille pounds on the woman she feels betrayed by cathartic and sadistic joy. Rose would strike back with a clothesline. Outside the ring, she thrashes DeVille just like she was only seven nights ago. Back inside the squared circle, a flying knee was neutralized by DeVille and converted into a roll-up and a quick count of three. A classic case of winning the battle but not the war.

Winner – Sonya DeVille

The New Day & Lucha House Party vs The Miz/John Morrison & The Forgotten Sons

WWE Smackdown Synopsis for 5/8/20

We continue with an unannounced eight-man tag team affair. The New Day joins the Lucha House Party. Their adversaries are The Miz and Morrison as well as The Forgotten Sons.  Things got out of control early with all eight men in the ring. While expecting the match to be thrown out, that was not the case. The heel contingent took to the outside while we to a commercial break. Before heading off, Kingston, Metalik, and Dorado simultaneously dove to the outside.

Upon our return, Blake is taking on Kofi and Big E successively, holding his own. The House Party tag themselves in and administer a nice litany of splashes. No three count insight, this match carries on. The New Day would re-enter the fray but Kofi found himself in a world of trouble. He was isolated in his opponents’ corner and double teamed by Miz and Morrison. Outside, Kingston was struck by an impressive Suicide Dive by Blake.

That brought us to another break.

Little has changed, Kingston is being pounced on by Miz and Morrison. The Luchador pair are like the quiet party guests who isolate themselves in a corner. They were however tagged into the match by Kofi and seized the momentum immediately. Spectacular moves followed. A Double Springboard Stunner and a 450 Degree Frog Splash were administered but the Forgotten Sons would break them up right before the three count.

After John Morrison swung the match in his foursome’s favor, he missed with Starship Pain landing on his feet. Great for a cat but not for a tag team wrestler. He did manage to tag in The Miz who struck paydirt with a Skull Crushing Finale. Sudden yet not stolen victory. Morrison and The Miz jelled fluidly with the Forgotten Sons. Memories are short in this game, especially with championship gold on the line. Sunday will be a whole new story.

Winners – The Miz/John Morrison & The Forgotten Sons

King Corbin is backstage and is very confident about Sunday’s MITB encounter. When asked about his opponents, he says of Otis that he will…”clog up the elevators as he does to his own arteries”. Corbin predicts he will become King MITB.

The much-hyped return of Jeff Hardy is next.

Renée Young is in the ring and set to interview the highly decorated high flyer. Hardy stresses that while having hit rock bottom many times, he has always bounced back impressively. He adds that even in an empty studio, he can still hear the roar of the crowd.

Sheamus mocks Hardy backstage and heading towards the ring. He delivers a great set of lines featuring…”Who in the hell still cares about you…. people are tired of your suspensions, firings and no -shows….Everybody but Jeff Hardy knows that his next failure is coming soon.”

Speaking of himself, Sheamus states that he has been putting out the weakest flames in the WWE and that Hardy’s is next. An in-ring confrontation ensues and the Celtic Warrior is dazzled by a Willow in the Wind, a Twist of Fate and for good measure, a Swanton Bomb. Sheamus is furious as he makes his way to the back.

This orchestrated feud is very much on!

The much anticipated Braun Strowman – Bray Wyatt face to face is up next. The Universal Champion enters the ring first. He declares that Bray Wyatt didn’t make him and that Wyatt was afraid of him back then, and certainly should be now. Bray retorts by saying that it’s a shame, all he needed to do was to apologize. He blames the belt for being the cause of Strowman’s stubbornness and says that…”You need to come home.” He adds, our journey is just beginning.

“I am home” replies the champion only to be emplored to come home by those engaging Funhouse characters. Not easy to resist the pleas of Ramblin’ Rabbit. Wyatt has the last word. He ends by saying… “I tried, I’m sorry”. This looks to be a long feud. Something we will all benefit from. One point not to be overlooked, the huge discrepancy in Wyatt’s acting skills versus those of Strowman.

Backstage, Daniel Bryan and Drew Gulak have a “chance” encounter with Otis. This pretty well let the cat out of the bag as to who they will join forces with later on.

Lacey Evans & Tamina vs Bayley & Sasha Banks

WWE Smackdown Synopsis for 5/8/20

More teasing and table setting for Sunday as Lacey Evans and Tamina face off against Bayley and Sasha Banks. Indecision is costly for the latter pair at the start of the match. Not agreeing on who will enter the ring first allows for Tamina to handle both opponents with ease. That would reverse itself quickly. Bayley managed to take Tamina down with a Chopblock. Sustained double team action on Tamina afterward. That would change when Tamina thwarted a second rope Knee Drop by Bayley with a stinging right hand.

Tamina and Evans are now in control. Sasha Banks though would land a Basement Dropkick on a distracted Evans. The role model best friends once again with the upper hand. Frequent tags and double teaming are the soup of the day.

Tamina attempts a splash from the top rope only to be countered by Bayley’s knee. Then, an outburst from the champion. A Belly to Belly Suplex and a wonderful flying Elbow Drop from the top rope. All that and only a count of two and three quarters! Tamina though countering with a Superkick and a Samoan Drop and the count of three. Tamina’s momentum is ablaze heading to Stamford.

Winners – Lacey Evans & Tamina 

As Dana Brooke and Carmella bubble with confidence as to their chances on Sunday.

We once again are contacted by the mysterious and philosophical hacker. The smallish hooded individual with the obscured face tells us…”The thing about anger is that you can hear it before you see it. The truth will be heard.” Not quite what we were taught in Physical Science, the speed of light being faster than the speed of sound.

Main Event
King Corbin/Shinsuke Nakamura/Cesaro vs Daniel Bryan/Drew Gulak/Otis

WWE Smackdown Synopsis for 5/8/20

Ending the night off, the six-man tag team encounter. King Corbin joining up with the Artists Collective. Daniel Bryan and Drew Gulak joining forces with Otis to round out their team.

Non-stop action from the opening bell. While Bryan and Corbin were the first to pair off, Drew Gulak and Cesaro were soon to follow. As they did on the pre-Wrestlemania show, the pair matched up well and performed beautifully. We saw each draw early counts of two.

Otis then found himself in the ring with Nakamura and the lovestruck big man was dominant. The trio of heels were all thrown from the ring as Bryan, Gulak, and Otis standing tall before they went to break.

Upon our return, we saw a momentum shift followed by a series of crisp and convincing strikes by Gulak. This rapid-fire move set providing the best wrestling of the night. Corbin eventually hit Gulak with a Deep Six and that would procure the “W’ for his team.

Winners – King Corbin/Shinsuke Nakamura/Cesaro

A pier six-Esque brawl took place afterward though. Corbin, ever the opportunist stood alone in the ring and attempted to climb a ladder to symbolically grab a briefcase. Daniel Bryan emerged in the nick of time to thwart this attempt. Otis attempted to climb the ladder himself. In doing so, he broke the first two rungs. That’s a swing and a miss.

The third time was the charm for Corbin. His climb was fruitful, the briefcase his in a symbolic fashion, as the show fades to black.


A strong and impressive show taking us into Money In The Bank this Sunday. The wrestling action was solid throughout. It was especially evident, in the six and eight-man tag team bouts. What I noted is that you can have a highly entertaining and impressive action without having to resort to an overabundance of choreographed spots. One could easily enjoy a twenty-minute plus match with Drew Gulak in singles action.

It was a Perfect comedy-drama. This was evident with the contributions by Bray Wyatt, Sheamus, the mystery hacker, and the in-ring banter of Sonya DeVille. All grounds covered on a nicely packaged pre-PPV tantalizer.