Smackdown Results: Randy Orton and Nia Jax Advance to Finals

May 24, 2024 John Kleinchester NEWS, Show Reports
Photo Courtesy: WWE

May 24, 2024
Jeddah Super Dome – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

By: John Kleinchester

 

Results

  • Queen of the Ring Semifinal Match: Nia Jax over Bianca Belair via Annhilator in 11:16
  • LA Knight & The Street Profits over A-Town Down Under & Carmelo Hayes via From the Heavens in 9:11
  • Bayley over Chelsea Green via Rose Plant in 4:45
  • King of the Ring Semifinal Match: Randy Orton over Tama Tonga via RKO in 11:o7

 

QOTR Semifinal: Bianca Belair vs. Nia Jax

SmackDown kicked off with an airing of the video from yesterday with Paul Levesque confirming that the winners of the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments would receive title shots at Summerslam from Cleveland. From there, we went into our first Semifinal Match in the Queen of the Ring tournament with Bianca Belair taking on Nia Jax. Lyra Valkyria was shown sitting in the front row to watch this match as she would face the winner tomorrow for the title shot. 

Early on in the match, Wade Barrett noted he thought he saw Belair limping a little bit, perhaps an indication that her knee was still affecting her performance. At one point in the match, Belair hit a flying cross-body on Jax and came up holding her knee. Belair then caught Jax in the corner and walked her to the center of the ring for a huge powerbomb to a big pop from the crowd for a near fall.

Bianca then tried for the KOD but couldn’t get Nia up. At this point, Jax started targeting Belair’s injured knee. Belair then tried to execute the KOD, catching Jax on the top rope again but her knee gave out, leading to Jax hitting the Annhilator for the victory. Nia Jax goes on to face Lyra Valkyria tomorrow. After the match, Nia Jax was interviewed by Kayla Braxton and she cut a promo directed toward Valkyria saying she buzzed through Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair and tomorrow would buzz through her.

Backstage after the break, Bianca was icing her knee as Tiffany Stratton approached and said “Better luck next time”. Then Candace LeRae and Indi Hartwell approached making fun of her injury. Jade Cargill then interrupted and said she would go talk to Nick Aldis about a match. 

Grayson Waller Effect: LA Knight

Just as The Grayson Waller Effect was about to begin, a new QR code flashed on the screen. As Waller & Theory were introducing LA Knight, Carmelo Hayes’ music hit and he said it sounded like they were describing him. Waller said that Hayes would make a much better guest than Knight. Hayes said guys like Bobby Lashley and Baron Corbin are jealous ego maniacs. They then moved on to LA Knight saying he was a veteran that hadn’t accomplished anything. This brought Knight out and as he entered the ring he threw some of the Waller Effect ferns out of the ring. Knight did his usual stick and then turned his back to leave the ring as he was assaulted by all three heels. This brought out The Street Profits who joined in and fought off the heels. 

As the show returned from break, it was explained that Nick Aldis made this skirmish into a match as the bell rang. This match was a quick, high-flying affair with LA Knight hitting a BFT on Grayson Waller and then Knight speared Carmelo Hayes onto the announce desk. In the meantime in the ring, Montez Ford hit the From the Heavens Frogsplash for the win. 

Blair Davenport

Another Blair Davenport “Coming to Smackdown” promo aired. 

 

Logan Paul, Knucks, and 2/3 of The Legacy

A video from yesterday at a fan event was shown in which Logan Paul handed over his brass knuckles to Michael Cole saying he would beat Cody Rhodes clean for the title tomorrow. 

Cody Rhodes was walking backstage and ran into Randy Orton who he wished good luck in his match tonight.

After the commercial break, Cody Rhodes came out to a massive pop. Before Cody could utter a single word, Logan Paul interrupted and said that while Cody has more experience, he’s smarter than him and a better athlete. Cody said that Logan had a case of “imposter syndrome” and he bet that Logan had another set of brass knuckles on him right now.  Logan said he wasn’t a liar and Cody beckoned WWE official Ryan Tran to check him. Tran checked Cody first finding nothing, then found brass knucks in his cargo pocket.

Cody then got the knucks and said they were the difference between them. Cody said that he believes Logan is a pro wrestler but he’ll never be champion unless he starts treating this like it’s part-time. Rhodes finished up by saying he would beat Logan so badly that he’ll regret ever having stepped foot in the ring with him.

Randy Orton

Byron Saxton interviewed Randy Orton backstage and Orton said that Tama Tonga will see it coming when he gets hit with the RKO.

 

Street Profits & DIY

Street Profits and B-FAB were celebrating their victory and DIY interrupted and they said they are gunning for the titles so if that means going through them, so be it. Ciampa dumped out the Street Profits’ cup to end the segment.

 

Bayley vs. Chelsea Green

Bayley was walking to the Gorilla position and passed by Michin saying hello to her and then ran into Nia Jax who said to keep the title clean for her until Summerslam. Bayley went to the ring for her scheduled match against Chelsea Green who was accompanied by Piper Niven. Bayley picked up the win in under five minutes with the Rose Planet. After the bell rang, Piper Niven jumped Bayley and left her lying after three big sentons. 

AJ Styles, Out of Time

AJ Styles walked into Nick Aldis’ office backstage and asked for one more chance to face whoever comes out on top between Cody Rhodes and Logan Paul. Styles practically begged, saying he needed this. Aldis said that he has to earn his shot and that it takes time but Styles complained that he doesn’t have time. Aldis responded saying he couldn’t help him. 

 

Andrade Promo, Fantasma Reacts

Another “Coming to Smackdown” Andrade promo aired with him saying that he controls his destiny and he knows what he wants. After it ended, Legado del Fantasma discussed whether or not it was good that he was coming to Smackdown

KOTR Semifinal: Randy Orton vs. Tama Tonga

Before the match backstage, Paul Heyman said that Tonga Loa wasn’t there because he couldn’t get into the country because he was a dangerous person and the reason they didn’t bring these people into The Bloodline is because they’re dangerous. Tama Tonga interrupted saying that he’s the most dangerous and that tomorrow the King comes back to The Bloodline.

As the bell rang, Tama Tonga jumped Randy Orton and gained an early advantage. Orton countered throwing Tonga shoulder-first into the steel post but Tonga regained the momentum as he focused on Orton’s knee – marking the third week in a row (or maybe fourth, I can’t keep track) of two different wrestlers having ongoing knee issues. Gunther was shown watching from the front row as he would face the winner of this match tomorrow. Orton then eye-poked Tama Tonga and then slammed him into both ringside announce tables.

The crowd continually chanted “RKO” throughout and exploded when Orton set up for his finishing maneuver. Tonga countered and pushed Orton into Solo Sikoa who jumped onto the apron. Orton turned around and successfully hit the RKO on Tonga gaining the pinfall. Orton goes on to face Gunther tomorrow.

After the match, Solo Sikoa attacked Orton and Kevin Owens’ music hit, returning after several weeks to help Orton fight off The Bloodline.

Final Thoughts

Much like Lyon, France, what would have normally been a fairly by-the-numbers Smackdown was highly helped by the incredible crowd who was reacting loudly to just about everything. Nia Jax advancing was a bit surprising but she was able to hold her own with Bianca Belair who continues to sell the knee injury. Speaking of knee injuries, Randy Orton continued to also have his knee be a major focus in his matches which seems strange that they would go 3-4 weeks in a row with the same injury for two talents. Both finals tomorrow are fresh, interesting matchups and tomorrow’s show promises another hot international crowd. 

 

Added to King & Queen of the Ring Tomorrow:

  • Women’s Tag Team Championship: Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill vs. Candace LeRae & Indi Hartwell
About John Kleinchester 165 Articles
New Jersey born and raised. Wrestling fan since Lex slammed Yokozuna on the deck of the USS Intrepid. Favorite Wrestler of all time is Owen "The Rocket" Hart.
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