WWE SmackDown Live Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for May 9

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WWE.com

Lana Vignette

We get the latest clip teasing Lana’s debut. It still had “coming soon” on the graphic.

Charlotte and Naomi Backstage

Charlotte and Naomi argue over why Becky Lynch lost. Lynch says they won’t stand a chance if they’re at each other’s throats. She brings up a six-woman tag match idea for Backlash.

I like Charlotte playing a tweener. It’s difficult to have her transition from being a ruthless heel to a babyface overnight, so this is working well.

Fashion Files II

The latest, greatest edition of the Fashion Files is here. Breezango are inspecting a paint spill in the hallway and drop a half-dozen fantastic references.

Breezango enter a small room with the Ascension raging for no reason. They say the Ascension file is reopened.

The Fashion Files is probably the highlight of Tyler Breeze and Fandango’s careers. It’s golden comedy, something WWE is surprisingly hitting well lately (see Total Bellas Bull**** from March). More of this, please.

Luke Harper vs. Erick Rowan

Result: Erick Rowan defeated Luke Harper via pinfall.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

A random match between Harper and Rowan. It would have been nice to see a feud with these former Wyatt Family members, but it doesn’t seem WWE’s interested in that.

Not having Bray Wyatt around Harper and Rowan is going to take getting used to, as well. We’ll see how far these two can go without him for the first real time in their WWE careers — not factoring in their brief singles runs in late 2014 and early 2015.

Harper and Rowan work well together, which can somewhat be attributed to them being around each other for the past five years. They could use another match in an extended feud to keep things going.

Perhaps the most surprising part is Rowan winning. He rarely receives singles wins, but is WWE about to start taking him seriously?

As for Harper, WWE missed the boat on him during WrestleMania 33 season. He had a chance to break out with momentum, but being thrown into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal did him in, along with having a minor presence on SmackDown Live since the Superstar Shakeup.