Smackdown Results: Rhodes & Uso face off with Cena & Paul

May 30, 2025 John Kleinchester NEWS, RECOMMENDED, Show Reports
Photo Courtesy: WWE

May 30, 2025
Thompson-Boling Arena – Knoxville, TN

By: John Kleinchester

WWE Smackdown Results

  • Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Naomi over Nia Jax & Jade Cargill via Roll-Up in 15:20
  • JC Mateo over R-Truth via Tour of the Island in 2:21
  • Los Garza over Rey Fenix & Je’Von Evans via MTY in 12:17
  • Zelina Vega over Alba Fyre via Code Red in 11:05
  • Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Andrade over Jacob Fatu & Carmelo Hayes via The Message in 20:27

 

Welcome Home, Bianca 

Smackdown from Tennessee kicked off with Knoxville’s own Bianca Belair, who still had her fingers taped up, leading the crowd in a “Rocky Top” sing-along. Belair said she wasn’t 100%, but she was doing everything to get back to the ring. This brought out Naomi, who asked for Bianca’s forgiveness. Naomi then revealed that she had let herself into Bianca’s parents’ house and gone through their photo albums. Belair rejected the apology and said that it would be great if Belair were in a wheelchair, just like her mother. This brought out Jade Cargill, who dispatched Naomi and had a brief staredown with Belair. Nia Jax was out next, and this led into our first match of the evening. 

Money in the Bank Qualifying Match

With Belair announcing that she wasn’t ready to compete just yet, our three competitors in the opening Money in the Bank Qualifying Match were Jade Cargill, Nia Jax, and Naomi. Naomi immediately took a powder and watched Cargill and Jax pummel each other, getting in cheap shots on Jade when she could. At one point, Jax hit a second rope leg drop onto Naomi for a massive near fall. After a commercial break, Jax and Naomi briefly teamed up against Cargill, but that quickly fell apart. Cargill then hit Jaded on Naomi, but Jax broke up the pin attempt. Jax then hit the Samoan Drop off the second rope on Naomi, but Cargill hit a splash from the top to make the save. Jax then stacked both Cargill and Naomi for the Annihilator, but Naomi moved so Jax only landed on Cargill, and Naomi rolled Jax up to qualify for Money in the Bank.

Backstage, Solo Sikoa, JC Mateo, and Jacob Fatu ran into R-Truth in the back, who was seemingly speaking to Lil’ Jimmy. R-Truth asked if Mateo was Sikoa’s “husky” son and said that he was going to ask Nick Aldis for a match against him tonight.

After the break, Chelsea Green and Secret Hervice approached Nick Aldis with Green wearing a mask to cover her broken nose from Saturday Night’s Main Event. Chelsea demanded Zelina get reprimanded for her actions, and Aldis said no, but liked the idea of Alba Fyre taking on Vega later tonight.

Elsewhere backstage, Byron Saxton interviewed WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton, who was interrupted by Naomi, who said that if Stratton thought Nia Jax was a problem, she hadn’t seen anything yet. Alexa Bliss then appeared and said she was going to win, not Naomi. 

Jeff Cobb Mateo’s Singles Debut

Next, R-Truth was granted his request for a match with JC Mateo. Mateo debuted his own theme, which, upon first listen, sounded halfway decent, especially compared to other recent themes. Truth hit the Five Knuckle Shuffle and then went for the AA but collapsed under Mateo’s weight. Mateo then hit Tour of the Islands for the win in just over two minutes. Mateo and Sikoa then started beating down Truth after the match, which prompted Jimmy Uso to emerge, wielding a chair. Sikoa tried to convince Jimmy to join them, but Mateo jumped Jimmy. This upset Sikoa, who said he was trying to talk to Jimmy. 

Copy/Paste from Last Week

The WWE Tag Team Champions, The Street Profits, were out next. The Profits started going over how many tag teams were out for their titles, which brought out Fraxiom. The Profits said they had Fraxiom beat last week before the Wyatt Sicks got involved. Fraxiom suggested they run it back, and that brought out Motor City Machine Guns, who also wanted a title shot. That, in turn, brought out DIY with Candice LeRae, who said that there was a conspiracy to hold them down in the tag division. This, of course, brought out the Wyatt Sicks, who took everyone out. They basically just repeated last week, but with more teams. 

Los Garza vs. Fenix & Evans

Next up was Los Garza taking on Rey Fenix and Je’Von Evans. At ringside for this match was the new NXT North American Champion, Ethan Page, who was there to scout Evans and Fenix, who he would be facing along with Laredo Kid at Worlds Collide. Je’Von Evans impressed early on, but Los Garza took control and dominated going into an ad break. Afterwards, Rey Fenix got the hot tag and hit his flurry of offense. The action went back and forth until Ethan Page got involved, attacking Fenix and Evans behind the referee’s back. Los Garza hit MTY and picked up the win, mainly thanks to Page.  

After the match, an Uncle Howdy video aired, saying that they won’t stop until they get what’s owed. 

Zelina Vega vs. Alba Fyre

After a commercial break, United States Champion Zelina Vega was in the ring (and didn’t even have her music played, only the Smackdown theme was heard) for her match against Alba Fyre, who was wrestling her first main roster singles match since August of 2024. As expected, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven got involved in the match behind the referee’s back throughout. At one point, Green took off her face mask to hit Vega with it, but accidentally hit Piper Niven with it instead. This allowed Vega to hit Code Red on Fyre for the win. 

 

Backstage, The Miz was berating Carmelo Hayes, saying that he’s given up so much to give Hayes this opportunity. Miz said that if they win, “they” will be Mr. Money in the Bank, but Hayes said no one told him to do that, and he’s where he is because of his talent. This upset Miz as he said no more and nodded with a wrought smile on his face. 

A Giulia promo package aired where she said she would conquer everything on Smackdown and asked who could stop her. Straight from there, they cut to Zelina walking in the back when Giulia approached her, saying that she sees Zelina but sees her title more. 

Damian Priest Sets His Sights on Fatu

Damian Priest, sporting a black eye from his Steel Cage match with Drew McIntyre this past Saturday, talked about how his and Drew’s feud went for over a year. Priest said that he had unfinished business with Jacob Fatu, whom he said he was proud of, but he didn’t respect his crew. Priest was eyeing Fatu’s United States Championship. This brought out Fatu for his Money in the Bank match, and the two had a brief interaction on the stage. 

Money in the Bank Qualifying Match

Next up was Jacob Fatu taking on Andrade and Carmelo Hayes in the second Money in the Bank Qualifying Match of the evening. The Miz got involved earlier on helping Hayes take down Jacob Fatu, but Fatu returned the favor by hitting the hip attack on Miz on the barrier. 

Fatu gained control and went for the jump up moonsault only to be thwarted by Andrade, who followed up with his always-miss-the-first moonsault and always-hit-the-second-one. Fatu then attempted to hit the hip attack on both Andrade and Hayes on the barrier, but both moved, and he went through the barrier himself instead. Andrade and Hayes continued the match in the ring until Fatu recovered, hitting a Swanton on Andrade for a near fall as the crowd incessantly chanted that they wanted tables. Solo Sikoa and JC Mateo then made their way down to the ring and seemed to distract Fatu as Andrade and Hayes traded pinfall attempts. Fatu hit the Jump-Up Moonsault on Andrade and Sikoa, and Mateo immediately jumped up on the apron, telling him to do it again. Jimmy Uso then showed up, attacking Mateo, and in the confusion, Andrade hit The Message on Hayes for the win.  

LA Knight was interviewed backstage and said he was going to win Money in the Bank as it was his third year in a row in the match.  He was then interrupted by Aleister Black, who said his Qualifying Match win was partially his and concluded by saying, “You’re welcome”. 

Jacob Fatu was going nuts backstage, destroying stuff, when Solo Sikoa approached and said he was just trying to help. Fatu said, “For the last time, I don’t need your help.”

Main Event Face-to-Face

The final segment of the show was the face-to-face between Cody Rhodes and John Cena. Rhodes was out first and went through his year as Champion, finishing with John Cena, noting that he will never hesitate with him again. Rhodes then brought out Jey Uso, much to the delight of the Knoxville crowd, as the show went to commercial during Jey’s entrance. While in ad break, the mic caught Wade Barrett and Joe Tessitore standing up and turning around to look at the crowd Yeet’ing and Barrett exclaimed “You gotta see this behind us, look at this shit.” 

After the break, John Cena came out and called Jey and Cody “professional wrestling’s John Cena wannabes”. Cena then introduced Logan Paul and said he was the one other person in WWE who embodied hustle, loyalty, and respect. Paul then ran down the crowd and said he should be the World Heavyweight Champion. Paul called Jey and Cody “Nepo Babies,” who were born on third, thinking they hit a triple. The four were about to brawl when Cena and Paul couldn’t get on the same page and got into each other’s faces briefly. Cody then interjected, asking if Paul was going to go to the back and “polish his Peacemaker”. Groan. The four then started brawling, with Cody hitting the Cody Cutter, which Joe Tessitore called the “Code D,” and the faces dispatched the heels as the show went off the air. 

About John Kleinchester 234 Articles
John Kleinchester is a wrestling reporter from New Jersey, covering the sport since 2022. He is a graduate of Ithaca College and can be reached at [email protected].
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