13 hours ago 1

WWE SmackDown results, highlights (May 2): Jacob Fatu's first title defense set for Backlash

"WWE SmackDown" in Des Moines, Iowa, was all about rounding out the rest of WWE Backlash in St. Louis, Missouri, next weekend.

The United States and WWE Women's Championships occupied the spotlight with Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena getting a night off on his farewell tour. That meant finding out who Jacob Fatu and Tiffany Stratton's opponents would be — or at least getting a better idea. It was a long, long night, folks.

👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑

Let's start immediately with the goods. Scratch that: The greats. Randy Orton is the best promo in WWE right now.

Orton was solo for his mic time on this "WWE SmackDown," and it didn't matter. He speaks, you listen. The legendary 14-time world champion forces engagement with how believable every word he says is. Whether it's promising to punt John Cena's Lego-shaped head at WWE Backlash, or somehow backhandedly burying WWE's own lofty merch prices. The crowd loves, and everyone should at this point. There's no sugarcoating with Orton, and while I'm happy we're getting a Cena revisit, I wish we had more regular weekly interactions and build for this great role reversal. Here's to hoping their match is just a 25-minute callback marathon to all their past matches.

Is Vince back?

I was out last week, so I didn't get to express my thoughts on the revisit between Tiffany Stratton and Nia Jax. But seriously, it's such a Vince McMahon thing to just throw this feud back together right after WrestleMania for no good reason. Then Jade Cargill and Naomi's rivalry continues despite nothing interesting left for it — unless Naomi stands tall at the very end, which she should have at WrestleMania. After it's finally all wrapped up, she needs to go back to Bianca Belair.

However, Stratton against anyone new is the right approach for her next feud. So, as teased, either Naomi or Cargill would be good. The WWE Women's Champion is far too good to be treading water with Jax. It's absurd, and Jax spewed nonsense Barbie comments in her brief mic time before Stratton came out and looked like a strong, confident champion. Thankfully, Jax at least needs to win a match to get a Stratton rematch, as she'll face Cargill next week. I don't have faith that Naomi won't spoil that one for Cargill, but we can dream.

Ultimately, "WWE SmackDown" ended with Stratton and Cargill beating Jax and Naomi in a tag-team match — specifically, a Cargill powerbomb on Jax. The match was fine, but the finish made Jax's inclusion in all of this even worse, or more confusing. Now, I have to think we might be headed for a Fatal-4-Way after whatever happens next week.

Modern throwback

An LA Knight promo was a surprising but refreshing start to "WWE SmackDown." His opponent for the night, Damian Priest, quickly met him, and the two exchanged words. They essentially pointed fingers about their situation last week when Knight's match against Drew McIntyre was ruined.

Ultimately, this felt like a nod to the olden days of a classic back-and-forth promo battle before a match to start the night. Priest came off a wooden chump on the mic compared to someone like Knight, but the match was excellent. Then, you know. It ended with a stupid interference from Solo Sikoa to force a DQ win for Knight. It's clockwork, ladies and gentlemen.

Triple H has no creativity regarding weekly show finishes, and I hate it.

After the Knight vs. Priest match, Jacob Fatu joined the ending festivities with Sikoa. He doesn't feel like a champion at all yet, and seems to have drifted away from the Sikoa dissension. That's all a problem, and I was afraid of it as soon as Fatu won the title without anything involving Sikoa. Monster characters like him never need titles to work, and often don't. (Not anymore, at least.) As a result, Fatu will make his first defense in a Fatal-4-Way match at WWE Backlash next weekend against Knight, Priest and McIntyre.

So, that's where it should happen. Sikoa, jealous of his exclusion, will screw over or "accidentally" cost Fatu the match without Fatu eating a pin. I love Knight, but putting the belt right back on him feels like a death sentence. Crown McIntyre and let him work his magic.

👍FRIDAY NIGHT FIRE👍

1. The Miz was incredibly aggressive with his offense in his match against Aleister Black. It was almost like he was trying to prove a point against the returning former House of Black frontman. This match did one thing very well, and that was making Black's versions of Aleister and Malakai feel entirely different. He rightfully got the win and can hopefully move toward something significant for a change. But a Carmelo Hayes match before then is certainly welcome.

2. Remember how good Jimmy Uso was when he enhanced Jey Uso's Gunther feud in the final two weeks? Well, yeah. He's still great, even if it's only for silly comedy bits like a backstage passing with R-Truth. I'm starting the "Justice for Jimmy" movement now.

3. Naomi's new entrance still needs some getting used to, but as the metalhead I am, I'm all the way here for it.

🤷SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN🤷

1. There's no telling what the long-term ideas are for Rey Fenix or Penta. They've been having incredible matches and winning much more often than not, but they're all competitive showcases. That's totally fine, and fun to watch. They just haven't felt like they're going anywhere. Even with Penta's Intercontinental title involvement, it just kind of happened. At this point, I'm starting to want the Lucha Brothers in this loaded tag team scene on "WWE SmackDown." However, that might be too much. "WWE Raw" could use them more. Either way, they need to get some deeper routes planted soon. Until then, Fenix and Santos Escobar put on a good one, ending with a Fenix super meteora.

👎DOWN & OUT👎

1. Fraxiom looked great as always in their win over Pretty Deadly. Elton Prince suffered a nasty-looking cut on his chin, though. That looked like it might have altered the finish, obviously, giving a non-kick out before what looked like another miss-count.

2. Everything after the inaugural Women's United States Championship match has been pretty funny. Well, Chelsea Green has been funny and entertaining, more specifically. Other than that, it's all been bad, and unnecessary, substanceless rehashes, as seen with Zelina Vega's win over Piper Niven.

3. This show was a serious slog. You could feel every bit of the three hours. That's never a good thing.