WWE SmackDown: 3 shockers & surprises from this week’s episode (April 30, 2019)

While Raw struggled to continue their build towards the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, it was SmackDown once again which had their complete focus on the event.

Not only did we get to watch a good match between Becky Lynch and Bayley, but the events after that also continued to build-up towards the SmackDown Women’s Championship match for the event.

Kofi Kingston and Kevin Owens were involved in two separate segments to begin and end the night, with the WWE Champion laying down a challenge to The Prizefighter.

SmackDown also got their share of the Money in the Bank Ladder Match contenders, while Roman Reigns and Elias further built towards their match for the event.

At the end of the night, there were quite a few shocking moments which we’ll look at on in this article and try to make out what they might mean for the future.

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#3 Mustafa Ali standing tall

SmackDown's participants in the men's Money in the Bank ladder match on May 19 came together Tuesday for a star-studded tag team encounter.

The babyfaces, Ali and Finn Balor, aligned to take on Randy Orton and Andrade. The first surprise was seeing Finn Balor be a part of the MITB Ladder Match while holding the Intercontinental Championship, which shows that WWE doesn’t really have a competitor for him on the blue brand yet to defend his title at the event.

After Ali delivered a 450 splash and picked up the victory, Orton came from out of nowhere to drop Balor with an RKO.

Ali answered with a superkick to Randy Orton before standing tall. This was quite surprising and odd as WWE logic states that the man standing tall after a big match usually goes home empty-handed after the main match.

What was more surprising was to see a babyface stand tall at the end of the night rather than someone like Andrade which would have opened more possibilities for the creative.

#2 Roman Reigns the Babyface

Shane McMahon has been a very busy man since Crown Jewel last year. His work has almost doubled since losing the SmackDown Tag Team Championships alongside The Miz and has been working double duty on Raw and SmackDown now.

On Raw, Shane has been busy feuding with the man whose father he’d attacked, while on SmackDown he has been feuding with the man who attacked his father.

This week on SmackDown, Shane stacked the odds against Roman Reigns by booking him in a handicap match against SmackDown’s toughest team and former Raw Tag Team Champions, the B-Team. On top of that, he revealed Elias would be the special guest enforcer for the bout.

The match was no different than any other match involving the McMahons and their need to stack the odds against the babyfaces, but what was surprising was that Roman Reigns stood tall at the end of the match.

WWE should have ended the match in a no contest rather than allow Reigns to overcome the B-Team and Elias before Money in the Bank.

Shane’s choice of a tag team to face Reigns was also a bit questionable, as SmackDown has much better heel teams working who would have made the competition more realistic.

#1 The Hardy Boyz

While all the other things in this list happened in kayfabe, this segment was the only one which took place due to a real-life occurrence and shocked many at home.

The Hardy Boyz returned just a couple of months back and managed to take away the SmackDown Tag Team Championships from The Usos in a dream match before The Usos were drafted to Raw.

This week, after a video package recapping Lars Sullivan's brutal assault on him, Jeff Hardy was joined by brother Matt as he announced a serious injury requiring surgery that will keep him out of action for a long time.

This was shocking and saddening as the babyface crowd favorite tag team had to give up the SmackDown Tag Team Championships.

After the real-life drama ended, kayfabe returned as Sullivan's music played and The Freak walked towards the squared circle. He attacked Matt and staved off a steel chair assault from R-Truth before delivering a Freak Ending and a powerbomb to leave the WWE Universe wondering why Shane McMahon chose Elias and the B-Team to get back at Roman Reigns instead of this guy.