{"id":119106,"date":"2023-05-11T14:00:39","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T18:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=119106"},"modified":"2023-05-11T15:03:06","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T19:03:06","slug":"preview-wwe-smackdown-tonight-wwe-smackdown-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2023\/05\/11\/preview-wwe-smackdown-tonight-wwe-smackdown-card\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: WWE SmackDown (5\/12\/23) \u2013 WWE SmackDown Card"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The post-<strong>WWE <em>Backlash<\/em><\/strong> edition of <strong>Friday Night SmackDown<\/strong> is almost upon us and the card is shaping up to be interesting. Last week&#8217;s <em>Backlash<\/em> premium live event was heralded by fans for a combination of the card, the hot Puerto Rico crowd and the certified superstar that is <strong>Bad Bunny<\/strong> and his performance at the event. How will SmackDown follow on from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2023\/05\/04\/preview-wwe-smackdown-bad-bunny-smackdown\/\" target=\"_self\">last week<\/a>? Can this week&#8217;s WWE SmackDown card keep the momentum going? Let&#8217;s dive into the preview and find out!<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Roman Reigns returns to SmackDown this Friday\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bEYxI47jVHk?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<h2>WWE SmackDown Card<\/h2>\n<h3>WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament Continues<\/h3>\n<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-119107\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/05\/WWE-World-Heavyweight-Championship-Tournament.jpg\" alt=\"Promotion for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament taking place on WWE SmackDown card\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/05\/WWE-World-Heavyweight-Championship-Tournament.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/05\/WWE-World-Heavyweight-Championship-Tournament-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/h3>\n<p>Former WWE Champion,<strong> Seth Rollins<\/strong>, is the first superstar to advance to the finals of the tournament to crown the inaugural (is it inaugural? Or does the lineage continue on from &#8220;Big Gold&#8221;?) WWE World Heavyweight Champion. On this week&#8217;s SmackDown, the tournament continues &#8211; with <em>two<\/em> triple threat matches, as well as a semi-final match, set to take place. WWE Hall of Famers <strong>Edge<\/strong> and <strong>Rey Mysterio<\/strong> will be involved in a triple threat match with<strong> AJ Styles<\/strong>, with the winner of that particular match going on to face the winner of<strong> Sheamus<\/strong>, <strong>Austin Theory<\/strong> and <strong>Bobby Lashley<\/strong>. With five of the six being former world champions (sorry, Theory), this is a pretty star studded tournament and difficult to call. Can the young upstart cause an upset? We will find out on SmackDown.<\/p>\n<h3>WWE Women&#8217;s Tag Team Championship: Liv Morgan &amp; Raquel Gonzalez (c) Vs. Damage Ctrl (Bayley &amp; Dakota Kai)<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_119108\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-119108\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-119108 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/05\/Damage-Ctrl.jpg\" alt=\"Io Sky, Dakota Kai and Bayley of Damage Ctrl\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/05\/Damage-Ctrl.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/05\/Damage-Ctrl-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-119108\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This week&#8217;s WWE SmackDown card will also feature women&#8217;s tag team action, as the holders of the WWE Women&#8217;s Tag Team Championship, <strong>Liv Morgan<\/strong> &amp;<strong> Raquel Gonzalez<\/strong>, unite once more to take on <strong>Bayley<\/strong> and <strong>Dakota Kai<\/strong> of <strong>Damage Ctrl<\/strong>. This match comes by result of the contenders last week securing a win over the champions in a non-title match. Liv &amp; Raquel are a good team, as evidenced by their being two-time tag team champions, but Bayley and Kai have the clear experience advantage and can cause some problems. Can Damage Ctrl bring the champions&#8217; reign to a premature end? Tune in to find out!<\/p>\n<h3>Cameron Grimes Vs. Baron Corbin<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_95411\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-95411\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-95411 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/07\/Baron-Corbin.jpg\" alt=\"Broken Baron Corbin\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/07\/Baron-Corbin.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/07\/Baron-Corbin-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-95411\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Cameron Grimes<\/strong> is looking to announce his arrival to the WWE main roster with a big win over <strong>Baron Corbin<\/strong>. Last week, Corbin mocked Grimes for being the very last pick in the WWE draft. Not one to back down from a bit of banter, Grimes retorted that it is better to be picked last than to not be picked at all &#8211; ouch, Baron. This week, Corbin will be looking to make Grimes eat those words.<\/p>\n<h3>Roman Reigns Returns to WWE SmackDown Card<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-119109 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/05\/Roman-Reigns-Returns-to-SmackDown-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Roman Reigns Returns to WWE SmackDown in time for this week's card\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/05\/Roman-Reigns-Returns-to-SmackDown-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/05\/Roman-Reigns-Returns-to-SmackDown-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/05\/Roman-Reigns-Returns-to-SmackDown-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/05\/Roman-Reigns-Returns-to-SmackDown.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The WWE Universe can rejoice! The Tribal Chief is here! <strong>Roman Reigns<\/strong> has not been seen since the post-<strong><em>WrestleMania<\/em> <\/strong>edition of<strong> Monday Night Raw<\/strong> &#8211; where a rematch with<strong> Cody Rhodes<\/strong> was scuppered by what can only be described as a hangry version of <strong>Brock Lesnar<\/strong>. Now, Roman is back. What lies in store for our Tribal Chief? Will he confront The Bloodline, who have so far failed to avenge their <em>WrestleMania<\/em> loss to <strong>Kevin Owens<\/strong> &amp; <strong>Sami Zayn<\/strong>? Will he address Cody Rhodes? The Bloodline storyline has cooled off dramatically recently, so it should be interesting to see what results from this return. Tune into SmackDown this Friday at 8\/7c on FOX!<\/p>\n<h3>More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/h3>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Photo Credits: WWE. Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/span><\/em><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the\u00a0<\/span><\/em><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/watch.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">WWE Network<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><\/em><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Peacock<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The post-WWE Backlash edition of Friday Night SmackDown is almost upon us and the card is shaping up to be interesting. Last week&#8217;s Backlash premium live event was heralded by fans for a combination of the card, the hot Puerto Rico crowd and the certified superstar that is Bad Bunny and his performance at the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2482,"featured_media":119109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,26,4,3],"tags":[145,359,160,183,57,5397,98,2042,8458,217,6991,886,77,76,399,1135],"class_list":["post-119106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-smackdown","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-aj-styles","tag-baron-corbin","tag-bayley","tag-bobby-lashley","tag-brock-lesnar","tag-cameron-grimes","tag-cody-rhodes","tag-dakota-kai","tag-damage-ctrl","tag-liv-morgan","tag-raquel-gonzalez","tag-rey-mysterio","tag-roman-reigns","tag-seth-rollins","tag-sheamus","tag-austin-theory"],"modified_by":"Niklas George","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}