WWE SmackDown advertised quarterfinal action from the King and Queen of the Ring tournament including Bianca Belair vs. Tiffany Stratton, Jade Cargill vs. Nia Jax, Tama Tonga vs. LA Knight and Randy Orton vs. Carmelo Hayes. SmackDown also advertised a contract signing between Cody Rhodes and No. 1 Contender Logan Paul.
Last week’s broadcast of SmackDown garnered 2.128 million viewers, the lowest viewership of 2024.
WWE SmackDown Results | May 17, 2024
- Bianca Belair def. Tiffany Stratton | Queen of the Ring Quarterfinal
- Tama Tonga def. LA Knight | King of the Ring Quarterfinal
- Nia Jax def. Jade Cargill by DQ | Queen of the Ring Quarterfinal
- DIY def. Legado Del Fantasma
- Randy Orton def. Carmelo Hayes | King of the Ring Quarterfinal
WWE SmackDown Ratings
- May 10, 2024 | 2.128 million
- May 3, 2024 | 2.148 million
- April 26, 2024 | 2.14 million
- April 19, 2024 | 2.3 million
- April 12, 2024 | 2.4 million
WWE SmackDown Ticket Sales
- WWE SmackDown Venue: VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena (Jacksonville, Fla.)
- WWE SmackDown Tickets Distributed: 9,880
- Available Tickets: 256
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WWE SmackDown Winners And Grades
Bianca Belair Def. Tiffany Stratton
Amid a week of social media controversy involving Tiffany Stratton, and even Bianca Belair, there were simultaneous chants of “EST” and “Tiffy Time.
WWE talked up Bianca Belair’s knee injury from last week, which immediately signaled this could be the out for babyface Belair to lose to Stratton in what would be the biggest win of Stratton’s career. More importantly, a Stratton win protects the likely WrestleMania main event of Jade Cargill vs. Bianca Belair.
Belair let out an excruciating scream after a blow to the leg as her left knee injury quickly became the story of this match.
Stratton and Belair seemed to be no two entirely different pages during some points, but they overcame a few miscues to have a pretty good match.
There was a great nearfall, that probably should have been a three, and the Tiffany supporters were furious.
Bianca Belair won this match with a one-legged KOD. Stratton and Bianca received much-deserved “this is awesome” chants.
Tiffany Stratton vs. Bianca Belair Grade: B+
Tama Tonga Def. LA Knight
Backstage, and prior to his match against LA Knight, Tama Tonga let out what Wade Barrett described as “guttural, animalistic growls.”
LA Knight was massively over, but fans also chanted “we want Roman.” Fans continued to chant “we want Roman” coming out of the break when Tonga took control.
Tonga is now being referred to as “The Butcher of the Bloodline,” which is a great nickname.
Fans chanted “BFT” as LA Knight got back into this match. After a brief distraction from Solo, Tama Tonga won the match with a Lie Detecter and fans were shocked.
Tama Tonga vs. LA Knight Grade: B-
Cody Rhodes Vs. Logan Paul Contract Signing
There was an interesting exchange between Logan Paul and LA Knight, that hinted toward a future match. I continue to have a fleeting feeling that there will be a non-finish if Paul vs. Rhodes is, indeed, Title for Title. This would set up LA Knight to win the United States Championship.
Logan Paul walked out flanked by his entourage, including his lawyer who beared a striking resemblance to Vince McMahon.
Cody Rhodes—the most over man on this show—mentioned how much he loves Jacksonville, for obvious reasons. Cody also acknowledged the 32-year anniversary of one of the greatest WarGames matches of all time.
Logan Paul’s lawyer, Jim Gillery, finessed the contract to where this won’t, in fact, be a Title vs. Title match but rather only Cody Rhodes’ WWE Undisputed Championship will be on the line.
Cody Rhodes referenced the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight, saying in “eight days,” a WWE Hall of Famer would knock out Jake Paul. The fight is on July 20, Rhodes meant eight weeks.
The segment ended with Cody Rhodes power-bombing “Broccoli Hair Guy” from Paul’s entourage through a table.
Cody Rhodes vs. Logan Paul Contract Signing Grade: B+
Nia Jax Def. Jade Cargill By DQ
The moment of this match came when Nia Jax went right up to Jade Cargill’s daughter and said “your mom sucks!”
Jax’s comment to Jade’s daughter led to Jade losing her cool, grabbing a chair and getting herself disqualified. Fans chanted “bulls—t,” which was silenced on the live broadcast.
I have no problem with Jade Cargill being ousted via DQ. Jade vs. Bianca will be the WrestleMania 41 main event, it’s too early to give it away next week with no build.
Nia Jax vs. Jade Cargill Grade: C
DIY Def. Legado Del Fantasma
A-Town Down Under were on commentary, and Grayson Waller accused DIY of “cosplaying as their bosses.”
To continue to play up this feud, Waller referred to DIY as the guys who peaked in college. When asked if he went to college, he hilariously said they don’t have college in Australia yet, but they’re working on it.
Corey Graves continued to call Gargano the Mechanical Marvel, which was also a nod to Gargano cosplaying as X-Men’s Wolverine.
DIY won with Meet me in the Middle shortly after Elektra Lopez and Santos Escobar were yeeted from ringside by Jessika Carr.
After the match, both Barrett and Graves publicly addressed the QR codes.
Backstage, AJ Styles hinted at possible retirement amid back-to-back losses to Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton.
DIY vs. Legado del Fantasma Grade: B
Randy Orton Def. Carmelo Hayes
Carmelo Hayes had multiple segments with LA Knight backstage, including a scuffle after Hayes trolled Knight over a loss. I really like WWE booking WWE Superstars to have multiple feuds simultaneously, similar to the Attitude Era.
Orton autographed a little girl’s sleeve, only for her to leave him hanging when he went for a fist bump. Orton’s pre-match shenanigans continue to be GOAT
Randy Orton donned white tape over his left leg in a male version of the Bianca Belair situation.
There was a huge size disparity between Carmelo Hayes and Randy Orton. Hayes then disrespected Orton by slapping him in the back of the head, prompting chants of “you f—ed up!”
Unsurprisingly, Hayes got back into this match by going after Orton’s injured left knee.
Orton hit an athletic RKO to a mid air Hayes, setting up a potential upset loss to Tama Tonga and a Jey Uso vs. Tama Tonga King of the Ring final.
