5 Mistakes WWE made on SmackDown after Clash in Italy (June 5, 2026)

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Two more stars advanced in the King and Queen of the Ring Tournament. WWE made the next five mistakes on the SmackDown following Clash in Italy.

#5. Going to the well with factions over the rest of the WWE roster

The Judgment Day has dominated RAW for the last five years. They continue to do so, but since two of their members were in qualifiers on SmackDown, the group was heavily featured. Doing so on RAW is more than enough.

Bringing it to SmackDown takes time away from others. Despite always booking them to look like threats, the MFTs also show up multiple times per episode. Solo Sikoa still wants to recruit Royce Keys for “war,” which can only mean squaring off against Roman Reigns for the hundredth time in WarGames.

R-Truth isn’t medically cleared in storyline, but has been beaten up over the last two weeks. The Bloodline now dominates RAW since Reigns is the World Heavyweight Champion.

Factions are fine and a necessary mechanism in wrestling. When the same groups continue to overrun programming, however, it reveals a lack of ideas for the rest of the stars, other than standing up to them.

#4. A fake injury stalls the WWE Tag Team Titles

R-Truth winning the WWE Tag Team Championships with Damian Priest was a fine moment for what it was, but the experiment is well past its expiration date. The tag divisions are barren, but squads like Fraxiom and Los Garza still exist.

Despite that, Priest is competing in King of the Ring while Truth gets beaten up despite being injured in storyline. Ilja Dragunov, Rey Fenix, Shinsuke Nakamura, and others could be in the tournament instead of a current champion.

Every week that passes without those belts being defended against a legitimate team only devalues them. Unless Sami Zayn starts teaming with a catatonic Johnny Gargano, the once prestigious belts might be doomed.

#3. Raquel Rodriguez advances in Queen of the Ring

Raquel Rodriguez defeated Kiana James, Jacy Jayne, and Bayley to make it to a second-round showdown with IYO SKY in the 2026 Queen of the Ring Tournament.

Instead of giving a boost to a newcomer like Jayne, making her someone to watch, bookers opted to have a woman who wasted Stephanie Vaquer’s reign move on instead. Raquel faced and lost to La Primera five times.

She had plenty of opportunities, so it would have been more beneficial for Jayne to win. They’ll tease the Judgment Day connection with Morgan likely to advance as well, but there are other stars on the roster.

Even Bayley could have used a big win since WWE officials have made her bounce between wins and losses over the last year.

#2. Tiffany Stratton is pinned in tag team action

Stratton begrudgingly teamed with Charlotte Flair against Jade Cargill and Michin. Stratton is the Women’s United States Champion, so she shouldn’t be pinned so many times in matches not focused on that belt.

That’s precisely what happened as The Storm overpowered her rival to hit Jaded for the win. Instead of having Flair or Michin take the pin for their side, officials opted for the one person in the match who was a champion to be pinned.

Cargill wasn’t going to look weak after losing to Ripley again. WWE once again sacrificed a prominent female performer for Flair, Ripley, and Cargill’s sake.

#1. Does the Judgment Day really need this type of push?

Liv Morgan hasn’t put her Women’s World Championship on the line once since capturing it from Stephanie Vaquer at WrestleMania 42. The top women’s prize on RAW hasn’t been defended once since April 18th.

It’s nearly six weeks later, and summer is about to begin. Instead of finally proving she’s one of the greatest champions of all time, WWE put her into the Queen of the Ring Tournament.

She’ll face Becky Lynch, Chelsea Green, and Alexa Bliss next week. Roxanne Perez lost her qualifier on RAW, but Raquel Rodriguez advanced over Kiana James, Jacy Jayne, and Bayley.

If that wasn’t enough, Morgan proved her loyalty only to herself and Dominik Mysterio by accompanying Dirty Dom to the ring for his King of the Ring qualifier. Thanks to interference from Morgan and JD McDonagh, Dominik defeated Damian Priest, Trick Williams, and Bron Breakker.

He gets a second-round showdown with Oba Femi. While Femi should destroy Dominik on paper, the interference is a certainty with the Judgment Day. Jayne winning would have been more interesting and given Fatal Influence some momentum.

Instead, after Jayne lost, they attacked Paige and Brie Bella. Just like with the Bloodline, we’ve seen the Judgment Day with all the gold and ruling over a brand. It’s been done. The WWE roster is too talented and loaded to do it again with the same two groups.