Welcome to Wrestling Inc.’s live coverage for “WWE SmackDown” on May 15, 2026, coming to you live from the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina!
WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley joined forces with Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair in an effort to score a win against Fatal Influence during last Friday’s episode of “SmackDown”. They were ultimately unsuccessful in doing so when Jade Cargill (who had been dethroned by Ripley as titleholder at WrestleMania 42) blindsided Ripley during the match and her allies Michin and B-Fab joined Cargill in the ring to continue beating down Ripley, Flair, and Bliss. Not only will Cargill be making an appearance on tonight’s show with something on her mind to share, but Michin and B-Fab will be squaring off against Bliss and Flair in a women’s tag team match.
United States Champion Trick Williams will be appearing in his hometown with something on his mind to share. As Williams said goodbye to his good friend The Gingerbread Man last Friday, Sami Zayn crashed the funeral to voice how ridiculous he thought the whole thing was. To Zayn’s surprise, The Gingerbread Man rose out of his casket to reveal himself as Williams’ Lil Yachty and cracked a candy cane kendo stick across Zayn’s spine repeatedly.
Ricky Saints will be going one-on-one with former United States Champion Carmelo Hayes. Although Saints came up short to Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes on the May 1 episode of “SmackDown”, he emerged victorious against Matt Cardona last Friday. Meanwhile, this will mark Hayes’ first match since unsuccessfully challenging the aforementioned Zayn for this then-United States Championship on the April 3 episode of “SmackDown”.
After scoring a win against MFT’s Talla Tonga in singles competition last Friday, one half of the World Tag Team Champions Damian Priest will be going head-to-head with Talla’s stablemate Tama Tonga. While Priest and the other half of the World Tag Team Champions R-Truth were supposed to originally take on Tama and Talla, “SmackDown” General Manager Nick Aldis announced on his X account that Truth “is not medically cleared to compete tonight”.
Additionally, GUNTHER will be making an appearance on tonight’s show after setting his sights on the aforementioned Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE Championship.
We are live! Wade Barrett and Joe Tessitore greet audiences at home before throwing it to a video recapping the events of WWE Backlash.
Trick Williams, Lil Yachty, and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks mascot Cocky then makes his way to the ring.
We Hear From Trick Williams
Williams voices his excitement for being back in his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina and recalls eating local chicken wings at Kiki’s Chicken and Waffles standing up with sauce that dripped onto his lemon pepper steppers. He says he had a lot of good days and some not so good ones playing for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, then points out his parents in the crowd.
The Miz’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring alongside Kit Wilson. He says Cocky looks like a rejected mascot for his daughter’s birthday party and says he looks like Sesame Street, but Yachty cuts off The Miz to defend Williams and reminds him that he’s cursed.
Wilson reads a slam poem dissing Williams, Yachty, and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks but Yachty responds with a rap dissing The Miz and Wilson. The Miz raises his hand and says when his hand goes up, everyone else’s mouths go shut. He mocks Columbia and says he’ll beat down Williams in front of his mother.
Williams lands an open palm strike on Wilson to level him and sends him crashing out of the ring before sending The Miz out to join him.
Trick Williams (w/ Lil Yachty) vs. The Miz (w/ Kit Wilson)
The bell rings and the two lock up. Williams sends The Miz crashing into the mat, but The Miz lands a jawbreaker on Williams and lands a knee on his midsection. He follows it up with a knee to the back of Williams’ neck, but Williams catches The Miz with a jumping neckbreaker and fires off stomps on him in the corner.
Wilson catches Williams with a flying back elbow on the outside as the referee is distracted by The Miz. Yachty gets in Wilson’s face on the outside, but The Miz gets in Yachty’s face. He sends Williams crashing into one of the barricades during the commercial break, then wears down Williams right in front of his parents.
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