WWE SmackDown Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights From May 31

WWE SmackDown Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights From May 310 of 5

SmackDown.WWE

Welcome to Bleacher Report’s live coverage of WWE SmackDown on May 31.

This week’s show featured a ceremony to officially crown Nia Jax as the Queen of the Ring after she successfully defeated Lyra Valkyria in the finals of the tournament on Saturday.

We saw Tonga Loa and Tama Tonga in action this week when they battled Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins in Loa’s official in-ring debut for WWE.

Andrade was also looking to build some momentum when he took on Apollo Crews in singles competition.

Let’s take a look at everything that happened during Friday’s episode of SmackDown.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Austin Theory1 of 5

After a recap video from King and Queen of the Ring, Nick Aldis welcomed us to the show and brought out Jax to celebrate winning the Queen of the Ring tournament. She demanded Bayley come to the ring and the champion was all too happy to oblige.

Before Bayley could even get down the aisle, Piper Niven and Chelsea Green attacked her. They told Jax it would be Niven facing Jax at SummerSlam because she is going to win the title from Bayley. Jax ended the segment by saying she would beat whoever she faced.

The first match of the night was booked before the show in a backstage segment. Johnny Gargano accompanied Ciampa to the ring to take on Theory, who had Grayson Waller by his side.

This was a pretty standard match. Both men hit a few signature moves, the guys at ringside got involved a bit, and they both came close to winning once or twice. Ciampa ended up using Waller’s distraction to his advantage to pin Theory and score the win.

While both of these men are fun to watch, it was hard to be invested in the outcome because no matter what happened, we all know DIY is going to get a title shot soon.

Result: Ciampa defeated Theory

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

The crown fits perfectly on Jax’s head this time. It didn’t fit so well at the PPV but having her hair up helped. AJ Styles was shown asking Aldis for some time on the mic. He looked emotional and was obviously teasing a retirement announcement. Theory’s neckbreaker looks good when it hits but looks way too awkward to set up with his opponent. Andrade vs. Apollo Crews2 of 5

The next matchup saw Crews take on Andrade, who declined an offer from Legado Del Fantasma before the show.

These two have had several matches in NXT and on the main roster over the years, so they came into this bout with established chemistry.

The great thing about both men is they are two of the more powerful high-flyers working today. Both men are built like tanks but can do a moonsault with almost no effort, so this match had some fun exchanges.

Angel Garza showed up at ringside and cheered on El Idolo as he picked up the win with a little bit of help. The rest of Legado Del Fantasma came out on the stage but Andrade walked right past them. Garza looked worried and assured Santos Escobar he could fix this.

Result: Andrade defeated Crews

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

During a backstage segment, Aldis granted Naomi and Bayley a tag match against Green and Nive, and LA Knight was shown asking about Logan Paul. Poor Crews. Andrade landed right on his face after hitting a dropkick. Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Street Profits3 of 5

Kevin Owens came out for a promo to talk about how Randy Orton didn’t really lose his KOTR match, but since The Viper wasn’t there, he was going to focus on The Bloodline instead.

Heyman came out and tried to convince Owens to back off for his own safety. Heyman ended up having a bit of a meltdown and almost caused KO to attack him. The Bloodline showed up but The Street Profits came out as backup. A huge brawl broke out. Solo and KO fought to the backstage area while everyone else was fighting in the ring.

This led into the tag team match between Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Street Profits match that was already scheduled to take place.

Heyman and B-Fab were both watching from ringside as Ford and Dawkins controlled the pace against Tama. The longer the match went, the more competitive it became. Nobody ever had control for too long, so there were plenty of back-and-forth sequences.

Even though WWE didn’t make a big deal out of his debut, Loa was victorious in his first outing alongside his brother.

While this was a good match, it was hard to look past the fact that Loa’s in-ring debut didn’t feel like a big deal because WWE didn’t do enough to hype it up. GOD should feel more important but so far, they are just muscle for Sikoa until something interesting happens.

Result: GOD defeated the Profits

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

Heyman was shown trying to talk to Solo Sikoa backstage before the segment. He wanted Sikoa to focus more on strategy and less on violence. Tama and Loa would make great X-Men with those outfits. Naomi and Bayley vs. Chelsea Green and Piper Niven4 of 5

This week’s main event was the tag match set up earlier in the show with Bayley and Naomi taking on Green and Niven.

This was a high-energy and fast-paced match that allowed all four women to show off a bit. Naomi was definitely one of the bigger standouts,

In a somewhat surprising outcome, Green and Niven were able to get the win over Naomi and the women’s champion when Green pinned Naomi after Niven did all the work.

Result: Green and Niven defeated Bayley and Naomi

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

Niven looks like she has been getting more agile. She seems to move around a bit quicker than she used to. Naomi’s athleticism is insane. She doesn’t get enough credit for how precise she is with a lot of her moves. AJ Styles Speaks and the Final Word5 of 5

Friday’s SmackDown ended with the promo Styles asked for during the show. Before he went to the ring, he hugged Cody Rhodes backstage and whispered something in his ear.

Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows were with him but Mia Yim was not present despite being asked about all of this by Kayla Braxton before the show.

Styles talked about seeing his son graduate high school and he said a moment hit him when he realized he had missed a lot of moments like that. He asked Rhodes to join him in the ring. He called his match with Rhodes one of his best ever.

They traded some kind words and hugged. They posed for the crowd several times before Styles put him down with a clothesline in what is one of the most predictable turns we have seen in years. The way they were milking this announcement made it clear from miles away that Styles would do this.

He delivered a Styles Clash from the steps to the floor to end the show. This was a down-the-middle episode of SmackDown. We saw some decent action, but this was a show you could catch up on through social media and not miss a thing.

Grade: C+