{"id":97467,"date":"2020-05-15T13:06:11","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T18:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=97467"},"modified":"2020-05-15T13:06:11","modified_gmt":"2020-05-15T18:06:11","slug":"wwe-smackdown-primer-5-15-continued-money-in-the-bank-fallout-ic-title-tournament-begins-the-queen-pays-a-visit-oh-yeah-otis-is-on-miz-tv-mandy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/05\/15\/wwe-smackdown-primer-5-15-continued-money-in-the-bank-fallout-ic-title-tournament-begins-the-queen-pays-a-visit-oh-yeah-otis-is-on-miz-tv-mandy\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER 5\/15: Continued Money in the Bank Fallout, IC Title Tournament Begins, The Queen Pays a Visit, Oh Yeah Otis is on Miz TV Mandy!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3650646910\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><h3>WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER<br \/>\nMAY 15, 2020<br \/>\nORLANDO, FLA. AT THE WWE PERFORMANCE CENTER<br \/>\nAIRS ON FOX NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EDT<br \/>\nBY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH SPECIALIST<\/h3>\n<p><em>Announcers: Michael Cole, Corey Graves<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Top 10 Moments from Last Week<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Top 10 Friday Night SmackDown moments: WWE Top 10, May 8, 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lZN6xCbpLIQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Money in the Bank Results Pertinent to Smackdown<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Jeff Hardy defeated Cesaro on the Kickoff Show. Here\u2019s Hardy in a WWE exclusive:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jeff Hardy promises the best is yet to come: WWE Exclusive, May 10, 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-x4No5u-8g0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>New Day (Big E &amp; Kofi Kingston) retained the Smackdown Tag Team Championship by defeating Miz &amp; John Morrison, Lucha House Party (Lince Dorado &amp; Gran Metalik), and the Forgotten Sons (Steve Cutler &amp; Wesley Blake with Jaxson Ryker) in a fatal four-way match. Here\u2019s New Day in a WWE exclusive:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The New Day hydrating at a championship level: WWE Exclusive, May 10, 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zRNZBD_HLwg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bayley (with Sasha Banks) defeated Tamina to retain the Smackdown Women\u2019s Championship. Here\u2019s Bayley and Sasha in a WWE exclusive:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bayley and Sasha Banks are tired of the questions: WWE Exclusive, May 10, 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LowKQbJ-0mI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Braun Strowman defeated Bray Wyatt, portraying his Firefly Funhouse character, to retain the Universal Championship.<\/li>\n<li>Otis won the men\u2019s Money in the Bank ladder match when King Corbin and A.J. Styles couldn\u2019t hold onto the briefcase and it fell into Otis\u2019 hands.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We move away from Money in the Bank and head towards Backlash which we learned will take place on June 14. On Raw this past Monday, WWE Champion Drew McIntyre issued the first \u201ccross-brand invitation\u201d to King Corbin for a match. Tonight, NXT Champion Charlotte Flair pays a visit to Smackdown. Technically, she\u2019s still a member of Raw. Here are the items advertised by WWE for tonight:<\/p>\n<p>Intercontinental Title declared vacant; tournament to begin<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Queen comes to Smackdown<\/li>\n<li>Otis to get his Mr. Money in the Bank close-up on \u201cMizTV\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Tournament to Begin for Vacant Intercontinental Championship<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This week on WWE Backstage, it was revealed that the Intercontinental Championship will be vacated due to Sami Zayn being \u201cunable to compete.\u201d Here\u2019s a tweet from WWE on Fox making announcement as well as a retort from Sami:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BREAKING NEWS:<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SamiZayn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SamiZayn<\/a> is unable to compete and defend the Intercontinental Championship, therefore <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WWE<\/a> has declared the title vacant. A tournament to crown a new Champion will begin on Friday Night Smackdown on FOX. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5qZgUyL9rC\">pic.twitter.com\/5qZgUyL9rC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWEonFOX\/status\/1260416575057747973?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 13, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I disagree with this decision and no matter what anyone says, I am still undefeated and therefore still the Intercontinental Champion. -SZ <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SUFsBFeRDB\">https:\/\/t.co\/SUFsBFeRDB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Sami Zayn (@SamiZayn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SamiZayn\/status\/1260603218758860801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 13, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>WWE hasn\u2019t announced the participants for the tournament as of this writing. According to Wikipedia, the last time a tournament was held for the vacant title was 2010. Only four participants were involved and one of them was Cody Rhodes. Kofi Kingston beat Christian to win the vacant title. We start the journey to crown a new IC Champion tonight.<\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis: The tournament I remember most fondly for this title was won by the late WWE Hall of Famer Mr. Perfect in 1990. The title was vacated by fellow late HOFer Ultimate Warrior because of his winning the WWE (then WWF) Championship at WrestleMania 6. I like the idea of tournaments, especially during these shows without crowds. At least the matches have consequences. As far as an early favorite, I don\u2019t have a strong feeling about anybody. Jeff Hardy could be a candidate since he just came back. Drew Gulak has been doing good work alongside Daniel Bryan, who\u2019s also a candidate. We\u2019ll see when we learn of the participants. I don\u2019t rule anybody out.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>NXT Champion Charlotte Flair Appears<\/h3>\n<p>As I mentioned earlier, WWE Champion Drew McIntyre invited Smackdown\u2019s King Corbin to Raw for a match. The cross-branding \u201cvalve\u201d is apparently opening as NXT Champion Charlotte Flair will make an appearance tonight. Charlotte was a member of Smackdown from April 2017 until October of last year when she was drafted to Raw. She won the 2020 Royal Rumble and defeated Rhea Ripley for the NXT Championship at WrestleMania. Since then she\u2019s appeared on Raw defeating Liv Morgan, as well as NXT defeating Mia Yim both in non-title matches. She retained the title over Io Shirai last week, however lost the match via DQ.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not clear why she\u2019ll be on Smackdown tonight, but of course we will find out why tonight!<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2433566364\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis: Given the current global situation, and the fact that they let go of so many people recently, I could see why WWE would want to flexibility to move their wrestlers from show to show. I think they can do that wisely without an official roster split, but that\u2019s a whole different conversation. I\u2019m not sure Charlotte will bring a ton of viewers to Smackdown, but some people may be intrigued enough to tune in. If they treat \u201croster crossings\u201d as a big deal and emphasize the fact that it\u2019s being done, it could be a positive. I\u2019m not holding my breath.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Miz TV: Guest is Mr. Money in the Bank Otis<\/h3>\n<p>In a shocking turn of events, Otis of Heavy Machinery won the 2020 Money in the Bank. King Corbin and A.J. Styles simultaneously unhooked the briefcase and fought over it, but as A.J. wrestled it from Corbin he lost control and it feel into Otis\u2019 hands making him the winner. Rey Mysterio, Aleister Black, and Daniel Bryan also took part in the match. Corbin and Bryan were previous Money in the Bank winners.<\/p>\n<p>Tonight, Otis joins another previous MITB winner in the Miz on an episode of Miz TV. According to WWE.com he will be \u201crevealing his plans.\u201d Here\u2019s Otis and Mandy Rose talking to Charlotte Wilder of Fox Sports as well as Otis on WWE Backstage with CM Punk, Booker T, and Renee Young.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;The sooner the better. Let&#39;s get this cashed in.&quot;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/otiswwe?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@otiswwe<\/a> &amp; @WWE_MandyRose sat down with their biggest fan, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheWilderThings?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TheWilderThings<\/a>, to talk about <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MITB?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MITB<\/a>, WrestleMania 36 kiss, and more! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JuSElqW1sb\">pic.twitter.com\/JuSElqW1sb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWEonFOX\/status\/1260702459887890432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 13, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/wwe_mandyrose\/status\/1260742480515006466?s=21<\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis: I\u2019m not sure what fumbling the briefcase into Otis\u2019 hands does, but seeing as he couldn\u2019t climb the ladder since it was breaking with every step, I\u2019m guessing they needed a way to have him win. Also, if Otis even could climb the ladder, I don\u2019t think they wanted him defeating the other participants in a clean way. That\u2019s just my guess. I wouldn\u2019t have booked Otis to win myself, but because the match was so rooted in comedy it probably made sense.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Other Match Results and News Items from Last Week:<\/h3>\n<p>Sonya Deville defeated Mandy Rose. Here\u2019s Sonya in a WWE exclusive:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sonya Deville just getting started in plan to ruin Mandy Rose: SmackDown Exclusive, May 8, 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hFfVjvINJPw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Miz and John Morrison and the Forgotten Sons defeated Smackdown Tag Team Champions New Day and Lucha House Party.<\/li>\n<li>Jeff Hardy returned and was interviewed by Renee Young. Sheamus interrupted and they went at it, with Hardy ultimately giving him a Twist of Fate and Swanton.<\/li>\n<li>Universal Champion Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt went \u201cface-to-face\u201d in the run-up to their match at Money in the Bank.<\/li>\n<li>Tamina &amp; Lacey Evans defeated Smackdown Women\u2019s Champion Bayley and Sasha Banks.<\/li>\n<li>King Corbin, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Cesaro defeated Daniel Bryan, Drew Gulak, and Otis.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n<p>I was Zack Heydorn\u2019s guest on the PWTorch VIP exclusive podcast &#8220;On the Canvas,&#8221; breaking down the \u201cdual\u201d Money in the Bank ladder match. It was interesting to break down considering we hadn\u2019t seen anything like it in the history of WWE viewing, the Boneyard and Firefly Funhouse matches notwithstanding. I encourage you to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorchvipinfo.com\/\">become a PWTorch VIP member<\/a> to listen to the show as well as to get all the great VIP exclusive content, ad-free podcasts, and ad-free website viewing.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"vLy5aREvSe\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/pwtorch-vip-membership-information\/\">PWTorch VIP Membership Information<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;PWTorch VIP Membership Information&#8221; &#8212; \" src=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/pwtorch-vip-membership-information\/embed\/#?secret=qayshZ4COG#?secret=vLy5aREvSe\" data-secret=\"vLy5aREvSe\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Questions and discussion are welcome. Thank you for reading!<\/em><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3878127934\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-996184287\"><div id=\"pwtor-2732793225\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER MAY 15, 2020 ORLANDO, FLA. AT THE WWE PERFORMANCE CENTER AIRS ON FOX NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EDT BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH SPECIALIST Announcers: Michael Cole, Corey Graves Top 10 Moments from <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/05\/15\/wwe-smackdown-primer-5-15-continued-money-in-the-bank-fallout-ic-title-tournament-begins-the-queen-pays-a-visit-oh-yeah-otis-is-on-miz-tv-mandy\/\" title=\"WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER 5\/15: Continued Money in the Bank Fallout, IC Title Tournament Begins, The Queen Pays a Visit, Oh Yeah Otis is on Miz TV Mandy!\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,52,4403,27,5893,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-opnionandanalysis","category-smackdown-primer","category-specialists","category-tvprimers","category-news_wwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/05\/Screen-Shot-2020-05-15-at-1.00.01-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97479,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97467\/revisions\/97479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}