WWE SmackDown Results, Highlights, and Grades May 8, 2018

Charlotte Flair vs. Peyton Royce

Result: Charlotte taps out Peyton Royce

Grade: C-

Before the match starts, Peyton Royce and Billie Kay absolutely eviscerate Charlotte Flair on the mic, using her reaction to her loss at Backlash against Carmella as fodder for their insults. At one point, Kay says she wants to bottle Charlotte’s emotions in that moment and sell it as a fragrance called “Disappointment”, which Corey Graves unsurprisingly has fun with later.

Royce is just asking to get her butt kicked by Charlotte, and that’s exactly what happens at the beginning of the match. Flair starts throwing her around like a bad-ass, confidently moving around the ring against her less athletic foe.

Charlotte Flair got her win back after the fluke title loss to Carmella at Backlash, and she did it with the Figure Eight The match itself wasn’t bad, but it was difficult to get interested in it or care about it. At no point did I buy into the idea of Royce winning, and that’s a problem, especially with Kay at ringside. I expected more from these two, particularly Royce, whose offense looked soft. Again, this match wasn’t bad, but if you are pressed for time and are rewatching the show, I would skim over this one. These two are capable of better matches than this, which is honestly fine, since they’ll cross paths again in the future.