WWE SmackDown Smacks/Downs: Braun Strowman receives a chilling threat

With one last show before tomorrow’s Money in the Bank event, how did WWE SmackDown garner interest for their respective matches?

What came of the first face-to-face encounter between Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt since this feud began? Here are the “smacks” and “downs” for the May 8 episode of WWE SmackDown.

As advertised, last night wasn’t a bad card for a go-home show considering most of the matches at WWE Money in the Bank are already finalized.

Still, there were three bits of intrigue heading into last night’s show. First, after weeks of what I feel has been the best build for a match at MITB, did the face-to-face between Universal Champion Braun Strowman and challenger Bray Wyatt work to bolster interest, detract from it, or keep it level?

Second, who would be the mystery partner to join Daniel Bryan and Drew Gulak against the trio of King Corbin, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Cesaro?

Third, Jeff Hardy returned! With Sheamus having so many issues with the timing of Hardy’s comeback videos the past month, did Sheamus do anything to spoil “The Charismatic Enigma’s” return?

We received answers to all three questions last night, but what about the other happenings from the show? What garnered a “smack” or “down” from me as we head towards a pay-per-view on Mother’s Day?

An aside since I don’t have space here, but give me more of “Daddy Deville” and Mandy Rose. It shouldn’t be surprising they have great chemistry in the ring, and giving Deville cheap victories over Rose will ultimately lead to Rose’s shining victorious moment.

As a reminder of my criteria, I’m not going to run through each match/segment. Rather, I will identify a couple of segments that either worked (“smack”) or didn’t for whatever reason (“down”).

My criteria include quality of match/segment and how it starts and/or builds stories. After all, we watch partly to be caught up in the stories. If a great work-rate match happens with no context or bearing on the stories, it’s going to be a miss.

Also, just because something is a hit/miss doesn’t mean it was an overwhelming choice. The selection could be 51 percent hit, 75 percent miss, and so on.

There are other subtleties to my criteria, but those are pretty much the parameters.