WWE SmackDown 6/5/2026: 3 Things We Hated & 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show that saw two members of The Judgment Day advance to the semifinals of the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments! The WINC staff ... sort of have thoughts about that, to the extent that we have thoughts on the King of the Ring brackets overall and Kiana James turning on Giulia after taking the pin in her tournament loss. We also have some thoughts on other things, like Talla Tonga vs. Royce Keys and Ricky Starks vs. Carmelo Hayes!

Of course, we don't have thoughts on everything that went down, because "SmackDown" is still three hours long for another month and that's not what this column is for anyway. If you want comprehensive coverage, you're looking for the "WWE SmackDown" 6/5/26 results page. This column is for our opinions, and what's more, our opinions on the things that stood out to us the most, either in a positive or a negative way. Which is just another way of saying — here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 6/5/26 episode of "WWE SmackDown!"

Three world champions were all present during this week's show and all left with only marginal progress in what it is they have going on right now. And what they have going on right now leaves much to be desired.

Cody Rhodes and GUNTHER continued their back-and-forth in the aftermath of Rhodes' controversial win over the "Ring General" at Clash in Italy. Only, this time Sami Zayn came out to continue his issue with Rhodes and bemoan him and GUNTHER for doing him wrong and all that other stuff about him being the last good guy in wrestling.

This is all they have for the title that traces its lineage back to the '60s, the first and grandest title in company history. The need to present GUNTHER and Cody Rhodes as anything short of a marquee match, weaving in asterisks and turns in the tale week in and week out with little resolve, is truly mind-boggling.

The shift in Zayn's character to this whiny man that just cannot get out of his own way negates all of the progress he had made from the last time he played a whiny man that could not get out of his own way. And as GUNTHER said, this has literally nothing to do with him. But the most egregious of it all is that there was no clear direction on where this is all going by the end of the show. More water treading and it's because the title isn't really deemed to be important at the time being.

Rhea Ripley retained her title over Jade Cargill at Clash in Italy, so one might be forgiven for thinking she was headed to the back of the line. Alas, Cargill emerged alongside B-Fab and Michin as Charlotte Flair made clear that she wanted the title, as well as Women's United States Champion Tiffany Stratton. Rather than set up a number one contender's match for the title, the progression from that was a tag team match between Cargill and Michin against Flair and Stratton.

Ripley's title really seems to be on hold while the Queen of the Ring tournament is going on. And speaking of a women's world title on hold while the Queen of the Ring tournament is going on, Liv Morgan appeared on Friday to support Dominik Mysterio in their joint quest to become King and Queen of the Ring at the same time. So really, her title is also on hold while the King of the Ring tournament is going on.

Three world champions on a show and not a single outcome determined for their titles moving forward. Everything will be determined at a later date, so this show doesn't matter.

Written by Max Everett

Typically, I don't really like waiting weeks upon weeks to see WWE split up two superstars from one another. It ends up feeling incredibly dragged out, and makes my interest in the break-up wane quite a bit more than if they had. While Giulia and Kiana James have been paired up with one another for quite a while, they actually did pull the trigger on splitting them up a little faster than I thought they would after teasing it last week and it ended up working quite well in their favor.

Yes, it could be argued that it's perhaps a bit of a stretch for James to automatically assume that Giulia was the one to push her feet off the ropes because she was standing there when there were three other women at ringside who could've done the same thing. With that said, I thought it was a different way to do a split from what WWE typically does and really ramped up the tension between the two women. I'm pretty notorious for not being the biggest fan of James, but I thought she did some great heel work here by berating Giulia after the match to create some good emotional investment from the fans to gain sympathy for Giulia as a face. Their brawl may have also been short, but it was effective and didn't really feel like it needed to be much longer. For a turn that I really didn't think I would care that much about, this one ended up being a really pleasant surprise on an episode of "SmackDown" that overall pleasantly surprised me in its quality compared to most other weeks.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Every week, I wish more and more that WWE would just get Royce Keys away from Solo Sikoa and the MFTs. It's already gone on far too long, and with the loss of some of the members of the MFTs, I don't think the stable overall is as effective as it previously was, and, even then, it wasn't great. Keys' loss to Talla Tonga tonight, presumably continuing his feud with Sikoa, especially after a backstage segment where Sikoa continued to try and recruit him, does not give me confidence that he's going to emerge victorious from his King of the Ring four-way match against Finn Balor, LA Knight, and Jey Uso next week.

Or, later in the night in a backstage segment along R-Truth, Keys made it seem like he could be starting a feud with Priest. While I certainly don't want to see heel Priest again, I guess that would be a little more interesting than Keys and Sikoa. Either way, Keys wasn't exactly thrust into the main event scene, or even in the United States Championship picture, like he probably could have been, and I'm just not sure he fits in as a mid-carder, either. This all isn't working for me.

I actually thought Keys' match against Tonga wasn't too bad. It was a pretty good big man match, especially for an episode of "SmackDown," but of course, with Sikoa and Tama Tonga ringside, you knew that the finish wasn't going to be clean, or at least not in Keys' favor.

Keys hit Tonga with the powerslam, but Sikoa distracted the referee on one side of the ring, with Tama distracting Keys. Tama swept Keys' legs out from underneath, getting him out of the ring for a quick brawl, which Keys ended swiftly when he took out what looked like an attempted Superman punch off the stairs from Tama. Keys got back in the ring off his game, and Talla hit him with the Talla T Bomb for the victory. I just think it all made Keys looks so lame.

The interference and numbers game would have made a bit more sense when there were still four members of the MFTs. Sure, Talla and Tama are no slouches, but maybe, just maybe, you could have made Keys look like a dominant powerhouse here. He could have taken out both men, then stared down Sikoa, leading to a match between them, which would get us one step closer to this being over. That way, neither Priest or Truth would need to get involved. They have the tag titles, and like Priest said in yet another backstage segment, they need to be focused on those once Truth is medically cleared.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Carmelo Hayes is perhaps the most consistent, best thing on "SmackDown," whether or not he has the United States Championship. He was off TV for around a month since he wasn't on the WrestleMania 42 card, and while he was missed, he hasn't missed a beat since returning, and him not floundering around while the 'Mania storylines were going was probably beneficial. Now, he's putting on bangers against Ricky Saints, and after tonight, the former NXT Champions are tied at one win a piece, meaning we're guaranteed for that rubber match. Which sounds like an extremely solid Saturday Night's Main Event (at Madison Square Garden) bout to me, hopefully to determine the number one contender to Trick Williams' US title, and I wouldn't be upset about that, even if it takes over a month to get there.

This feud continuing, especially tonight with Williams busy in his own King of the Ring qualifier, is good for both men as that tournament goes on. Hayes is out after losing on Monday in a match where Oba Femi advanced, and it doesn't seem like Saints is going over the likes of Seth Rollins in their match against Je'Von Evans and Talla Tonga. Giving these guys something to do, showcasing their skills and making sure Hayes stays in front of fans, is extremely helpful to help beef-up a still way-too-long "SmackDown" with quality matches. The matches between them are exactly what we'd be getting with Hayes still doing the US Championship open challenge, so I really can't complain that Williams, a heel, isn't doing one of his own with the gold.

Hayes scored the first victory in their series, and both men were counted out in their bout last week. Tonight's match was just as good as their first, and their second, until the ending, and I liked seeing Saints have some fire underneath him, going after Hayes before the bell could even ring. Hayes hit a nasty DDT at one point, and it reminded me how good at selling Saints is, too. These guys never faced each other in "WWE NXT," but they're certainly finding their motion with one another.

At one point, Hayes barely beat the 10-count, with Saints looking for the count-out victory. I like that this feud is doing a lot to establish Saints as a dastardly mid-card heel; Saints rolled up Hayes with a handful of tights tonight, and I thought that was the perfect way to get the one-and-one. I'm excited to see their next match, and I hope it's on a bigger stage with stakes.

Written by Daisy Ruth

It may sound strange to say there were no good losers of tonight's King of the Ring quarterfinal match, but if you think about how there were three good winners, it makes more sense. Only one guy in there was meant to take the fall tonight, and ended up doing so, though, it sucks that it was kind of obvious it would be him. I'm sadly talking about Damian Priest, who was the only competitor I expected to lose this match and eat the pin in the bout involving United States Champion Trick Williams, AAA Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio, and World Tag Team Champion Bron Breakker.

While I can't say I expected Mysterio to get the victory here, I guess it makes the most sense, as the winner of this match was always going to have to take on Oba Femi in the semi-finals. Mysterio hasn't been doing anything at all since his WrestleMania 42 match against Finn Balor. So, while that was part of the reason why he needed to win this match to move on, it was also a good choice to keep Williams and Breakker protected. With the reports about frustration surrounding Mysterio's creative, it may only get worse if Femi straight up squashes him.

Breakker did not look good throughout this match with quite a few rough spots, including when he tried to military press Priest over his head, but Breakker ended up dropping Priest on his own head, making for a nasty spot where Breakker looked like he squished his own neck, and, ouch. Even though he didn't look great, if you take Femi out of the equation, Breakker desperately needed a victory.

It sucks for Williams to lose as the most over guy in the match, but again, at least he was protected by not taking the pin. However, he may have been the best choice to go against Femi. The pair showed they can have great matches together on "WWE NXT," and it would have been something cool to show the main roster audience, but Femi's just being built quite differently and even more dominant compared to his "NXT" days.

Overall, I didn't hate the main event match for most of the in-ring action, but the problem with the King of the Ring tournament overall is WWE putting in a lot of guys against one another who shouldn't be losing at this point, due to their current stories, how over they are with fans, or how they've recently been booked. Seems odd to complain about how fans are spoiled with talent, but, in WWE, they seem to never be booked right or put over at the right time.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Week in and week out, the belief that the entire show should be dedicated to Danhausen and whatever it is he is trying to create in his pop-up backstage laboratory is emboldened. Galvanized by the sheer dopamine that one little segment manages to conjure compared to the other two and however many other hours of beige water-treading TV.

This week, the Miz was on video call with his sidekick, Kit Wilson, as he attempted to figure out what it is that Danhausen is doing in the backstage area, shown to have been causing power cuts that cost Miz his match against Axiom. 

Danhausen appeared at that moment to tell Miz not to touch anything. Miz being Miz, continued to touch things, specifically those that he was told not to touch, until eventually he went a touch too far; touching some device that then electrocuted the Miz as Danhausen left him floored and Wilson on the other end of the phone calling for him.

That was it, and yet the only complaint about the segment is that there's not more of it. The Miz, Wilson, and Danhausen continue to be able to lean into the goofy, random fun that they excel at. It even manages to get great reactions from the crowd watching the backstage segment themselves. 

It's just the better part of "SmackDown" that doesn't take itself too seriously and leans into the oddity of professional wrestling. And as said, I truly wish there was more of this and less of everything else that's been going on.

Written by Max Everett