Last week on SmackDown, GUNTHER made one of the dumber decisions I can recall in kayfabe when he didn’t sign a contract for a WWE title match against Cody Rhodes on May 31 at Clash In Italy.
The Ring General doubled down on that stupidity on tonight’s (May 15) episode, which opened the door for Royce Keys to take the title shot away from him. GM Nick Aldis set up a SmackDown main event match of GUNTHER vs. Keys, with the winner getting to sign the contract to fight Rhodes in Italy.
GUNTHER ultimately
didn’t pay for the price for being a big dummy. That’s because Solo Sikoa showed up late in the match and slid a steel chair to Royce after a ref bump. Keys used that moment to decline Solo’s offer to join MFT by throwing the chair right back in his face. That distraction was all GUNTHER needed to get the jump on Keys and put him away with the powerbomb.
WWE commentators emphasized that this result means it’s Rhodes vs. GUNTHER for the championship in Italy. GUNTHER got up in the camera shot to direct some trash talk at Cody, but the man himself showed up from behind to lay out the Ring General with Cross Rhodes.
Do you think GUNTHER will become the new WWE champion in Italy later this month? Give me your best guesses in the comments, Cagesiders.
Catch up on all the results from SmackDown in our live blog right here.
