WWE Friday Night SmackDown comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (May 24, 2024) with a taped show (spoilers are here) emanating from Jeddah Super Dome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, featuring the final build to the King and Queen of the Ring premium live event that’s scheduled for tomorrow, also in Saudi Arabia.
Advertised for tonight: The semifinal round of the Queen of the Ring tournament concludes with Bianca Belair vs. Nia Jax.
Also on the card: Bayley vs. Chelsea Green, AJ Styles has a meeting with General Manager Nick Aldis, the King of the Ring tournament continues with Randy Orton vs. Tama Tonga, and more!
Come right back here at 8 pm ET when the SmackDown live blog kicks off once the show starts on FOX. It will be below this line here. (Note: Links to illegal streams are prohibited. Pics and GIFs are allowed.)
WWE SMACKDOWN RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR MAY 24
I realize that if ever there was something alive in you, something I could love, that thing must now be dead. I asked if I can come visit her in her living grave, the place where she and her circ*mstantial husband stay to whisk her away or at least shake things up, but instead I’m liveblogging this here pro wrestling show for you, folks.
Bianca Belair vs. Nia Jax (Queen of the Ring Semifinals)
Collar and elbow, Jax shoves her down, throwing her around with biels, Belair with a sleeper hold in the corner and Nia rams her into the corner for the break! Into the opposite corner, back elbow, backflip up and over, getting her licks in, off the ropes, pouncing Jax into the corner!
Clubbing blows in the corner, Nia takes her down with an Iconoclasm! Bianca posts her into the corner, slingshot plancha takes her out and takes us to break!
Back from commercial, Jax in control, Belair blasts her with kicks, headbutt in return! Stretch muffler applied, Bianca floats over, crucifix pin, cover for two! Samoan drop connects, Bianca kicks out! Belair with a diving crossbody, her knee bothering her on the landing, cover... NOPE!
Bianca gets under her, big powerbomb... SO CLOSE! Looking for a backbreaker rack, her knee gives out, chop block, Nia just posting her knee hard into the mat, snapping the leg back, but Belair gets under her in the corner... AND HER LEG GIVES OUT AGAIN! Nia off the ropes, senton connects, in the corner...
Nia Jax wins by pinfall with a Banzai Drop, advancing to the Queen of the Ring finals tomorrow afternoon.
Post-match, Kayla Braxton interviews Nia while Bianca gets medical attention in the corner.
Jax calls Lyra Valkyria (who is sitting at ringside) out and says she just buzzed through Bianca Belair the same way she did Becky Lynch, and she’s going to win tomorrow and then win the title at SummerSlam.
We see A-Town Down Under backstage and we go to break.
Back from comercial, Bianca Belair is icing her knee when Tiffany Stratton does a drive-by taunt on her.
Byron Saxton arrives to interview Bianca and says she’s disappointed because she really wanted that crown—
Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell roll up wtih terrible audio quality to tell Bianca she deserved it.
Jade Cargill arrives, her abs shining through her Saudi-mandated bodysuit, and tells the heels off and says she’s gonna go get a match.
A-Town Down Under are in the ring, set up for the Grayson Waller Effect.
Grayson welcomes us to the show and Austin Theory hypes up “one of the most talented, entertaining” men on the roster, and—
Enter Carmelo Hayes.
He says he came out because it sounded like they were talking about him, and he hypes himself up. A-Town Down Under decide to just switch things so that Carmelo is their guest instead of stupid LA Knight. Theory laughs about Bobby Lashley only giving Street Profits advice on how to lose, and Melo says guys like Bob are selfish, jealous, egomaniacs.
Hayes segues to talking about LA Knight, saying nothing is worse than a veteran who hasn’t accomplished anything but who wants to talk. (Hey, he was a TNA World Heavyweight Champion, that ain’t nothing!)
Enter, of course, LA Knight.
He gets in the ring and throws about a third ofthe set out of it and to the floor, He says they’re poking a mean dog with a sharp stick and soon enough he’s gonna bite the hell out of them and then they’ll figure out whose game this is.
He goes to leave and Melo attacks him from behind but Knight punches him back into the ropes until A-Town Down Under save their guy! STREET PROFITS MAKE THE SAVE! Babyfaces clear the ring and we go to break!
A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory & Grayson Waller) & Carmelo Hayes vs. LA Knight & Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford)
Back from commercial in time for the bell, Hayes and Ford to start, working wristlocks, tag to Dawkins, taking it to Melo, tag to Knight and HIM tags all the way out! Knight wrenching wristlocks on Theory, whip reversed, float over, Waller runs interference, blind tag and LA is on the wrong side of town!
Heels in control and we go to break!
Back from commercial, Dawkins fighting for a tag, finally Knight gets it and clears house! BFT on Hayes blocked, Codebreaker takes him out, match breaks down into “everybody do something cool” territory! It all climaxes with Ford off the top...
LA Knight & Street Profits win by pinfall with a frog splash from Montez Ford on Grayson Waller.
We get footage of Logan Paul giving Michael Cole his brass knuckles to guarantee he beats Cody Rhodes fair and square.
Cody is shown walking backstage and running into Randy Orton to send us to break.
Back from commercial we get a hype reel for a two-night SummerSlam in 2026.
Cody Rhodes makes his entrance, but before he can speak—
Enter Logan Paul.
He walks down the aisle and speaks, saying he’s gonna win Cody’s title tomorrow and he backs it up with “facts” about how he’s smarter than Rhodes. Cody fires back that Paul is just afraid people are going to see him as a YouTuber cosplaying as a wrestler, but truth is he doesn’t believe that, he’s see how good he is.
But he’s also seen Logan’s case of impostor syndrome, and experience would lead him to believe he’s got another set of knuckles on him right now. Paul begs off and says there are no extra knuckles and he is not a liar. Cody says if he’s a man of his word, referee Ryan Tran is right here to give him instructions and do a quick check.
Logan begs off and then tells Tran to do Rhodes first, every crevice. He does so, and then he pats Logan down and clearly finds something in his right cargo pocket on his pants, and pulls out a pair of knucks. Paul says these aren’t even his pants, they’re his brother’s pants, c’mon!
Paul admits he’s not being totally truthful and tells Cody to keep ‘em and prevaricates about how he promised not to use them in the match and they’re illegal so police come here or whatever and he doesn’t need them to beat Cody anyway! Rhodes says okay and has one more thing— the knucks are the difference between the two of them, and he doesn’t need crutches like that.
The title is his whole life, all he ever wanted to be, every ounce of blood, drop of sweat, and he believes that Logan Paul is a pro wrestler, but until he dedicates his heart and soul to the ring they’re standing in, he will never, ever be on his level and he will never win the title, and tomorrow he’s gonna beat him so bad, kid, that he’ll regret ever stepping foot in the ring with him.
Byron Saxton interviews Randy Orton backstage.
Orton says Tama Tonga has proved he’s vicious and unhinged and unpredictable, but unfortunately for him he’s Randy Orton and he’s built his entire career around those traits and overcame the odds, and tonight will be no different when Tama sees it coming and gets hit with that RKO.
We see Bayley walking backstage, title over her shoulder, when she runs into Nia Jax.
Nia tells her to keep the title clean for her and Bayley goes to make her entrance to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Street Profits are interviewed backstage and #DIY roll up to talk about how optimistic they always are and that they’re here to take the titles, and Tommaso Ciampa pours their cut out and tells them it’s empty.
Bayley vs. Chelsea Green
Green with a right hand out the gates, putting Bayley in the corner, up top, missile dropkick... NOPE! Chelsea picks her leg on a slide out to the floor, swings her around, big boot takes the Role Model down as we go to break!
Back from commercial, Bayley on the comeback, Saito suplex connects, Green to the apron, Stunner blocked! Jumping side Russian legsweep, Chelsea feeling herself, Rough Ryder... SO CLOSE! Bayley catches her...
Bayley wins by pinfall with the Roseplant.
Post-match, Piper Niven hits the ring and tries to beat Bayley down! Bayley puts up a valiant fight but eventually Piper plants her with a Black Hole Slam and follows it with a couple of sentons!
AJ Styles goes to Nick Aldis and asks for one more chance against whoever wins the title tomorrow before he gets desperate and does something somebody regrets. Aldis considers it and tells Styles he knows how much respect he has for him and if this were personal, 100% yes any day of the week. Professionally he can’t do it, though, he needs to earn it and that takes time.
AJ says Nick knows he doesn’t have time, and Aldis says he can’t help him and apologizes.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get an Andrade el Idolo hype reel about how his journey hasn’t been easy but he controls his destiny, and he’s going to show everyone who he is.
Legado del Fantasma are backstage seething about Andrade but Elektra Lopez and Santos Escobar have cooler heads.
Paul Heyman is backstage with Solo Sikoa, reminding him that Tonga Loa isn’t here tonight because they couldn’t get him across the border, and until Roman—
Solo says until Roman Reigns comes back, he’s in charge, and it’s Heyman’s job to fix any problems until then. Paul starts talking about the problem with Tama Tonga, and Tama is right there! He says he’s here because he’s that dangerous, and tomorrow a new king comes back by orders of the Tribal Chief.
Randy Orton makes his entrance and we go to break.
Randy Orton vs. Tama Tonga (King of the Ring Semifinals)
Orton in control early, big fallaway slam, posting Tonga, uppercuts in the corner, to the floor and Tama takes control by throwing Randy knee-first into the steel steps and we go to break!
Back from commercial, Tonga working Orton’s leg over in the ring, wrenching him around, Randy gets away and goes for the hanging DDT but the leg leaves him crumbling and Tama takes advantage! Crossface strikes into a sleeper hold, the Viper struggling, Tonga readjusts as the life slips out of Orton.
Back suplex breaks the Apex Predator free but he can’t do much but clutch his knee in agony! Hanging DDT denied a second time, back body drop sends Randy to the floor and Solo Sikoa orders him to finish it! Orton with a thumb to the eyes, back suplex into the announce desk! A second one into the Saudi announce desk!
Back into the ring, Orton fends off a leg pick, catches him into a front chancery and swings him around for the hanging DDT! Going to that special place, RKO denied, elbow clobbers Solo off of the apron, schoolboy... NOPE! Second try lucky...
Randy Orton wins by pinfall with the RKO, securing a spot in the King of the Ring finals tomorrow afternoon.
Post-match, Orton has a staredown with GUNTHER at ringside and Sikoa blindsides him and puts boots to him— KEVIN OWENS MAKES THE SAVE! Solo blocks the Stunner and flees!
That’s the show, folks.
