WWE SmackDown: Results, Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for June 12

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Naomi, Charlotte Flair, Asuka, Becky Lynch, & Lana vs. Billie Kay, Peyton Royce, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, & Carmella

Result: Asuka forced Carmella to submit

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

A couple of weird things about the setup of this match before we get into the action itself. First, Lana is pretty much defined by her entrance, right? So it makes little sense for her to come out during the commercial break. Same goes for Becky Lynch, but for a slightly different reason: Becky is one of the most popular superstars on either roster. Why deprive the television audience of hearing the pop?

Finally, I noticed something about the two briefcases back when Miz was grabbing the green case. Is anyone else catching that the green case for the men is a little bit bigger than the white case for the women?  Maybe people have been talking about this, but I haven’t seen it on line anywhere. Unless WWE is looking at it like watches — men’s watches are typically larger, but not always, especially in the age of the smartwatch — it seems a little off to have the women’s case be about 80% the size of the men’s case.

But once the match got started, it was organized chaos from the opening bell until the commercial break. No let up, just constant movement, quick tags, and fast paced action. It slowed down a bit after the break, but it had to — all build and no release doesn’t give the crowd (live in the building or watching on television) a chance to appreciate what they already saw.

Of course, you can’t have a chaotic match that doesn’t end with chaos, so things picked up in a big way later on. Moonsaults to the outside, blind tags, total team brawls, everything. I want to give a special shout out to Billie Kay and Peyton Royce for their selling — it’s a thing of beauty, and they’ve got a long future in WWE if they keep making everyone look so good.

Asuka withstood everything Carmella threw at her, and forced the champ to tap out quickly to the Asuka Lock to end the match. Then the four participants in the ladder match surrounded the Empress of Tomorrow as they looked up at the briefcase. Um, they do realize that Asuka didn’t win the title yet, right? What a strange ending to a great match.

Next: 5 Potential WWE MVPs at the Midway Point of 2018

Money in the Bank should be a great show, and this week’s episode of WWE SmackDown Live helped the build in a big way. What did you think of this week’s show?