After a brief bounce back in both ratings and viewership last week, the May 12 edition of “WWE NXT” fell in both categories, drawing less than 500,000 viewers and earning the show’s lowest viewership in not just 2026, but in the previous two years, since the show made the jump to the CW from the USA Network.

According to Wrestlenomics, with data from Programming Insider, “NXT” drew 498,000 viewers this week, dropping 22 percent from the previous week’s 641,000 viewers. The show drew a 0.06 rating in the ever-important ages 18-49 demographic, falling 15 percent from the previous episode’s 0.11 rating.

Compared to this time last year, the episode was down 14 percent from the May 2025 average of 666,000 viewers. The show was also down 43 percent from the average rating of 0.14 last year.

The May 12 show saw Kelani Jordan become the number one contender for Lola Vice’s NXT Women’s Champion in the main event with a victory over Kendal Grey. The opening match saw “NXT” newcomer Lizzy Rain join forces with Women’s North American Champion Tatum Paxley to defeat the team of Nikkita Lyons and Zaria, and Paxley granted Rain a title match for next week.

Elsewhere on the episode, Will Rook became an official member of the roster with an in-ring contract signing segment with “NXT” General Manager Robert Stone. NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo tried to address the man who attacked him twice in recent weeks, but was taken out from behind by Kam Hendrix. Former NJPW star EVIL also made his in-ring debut as Naraku in a victory over Lince Dorado.

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.

Judge James K. Bredar ordered that the plaintiffs in the Maryland lawsuit against Vince McMahon, Linda McMahon, and WWE may continue under anonymity for the time being. 

The plaintiffs sued the defendants, for their alleged role in covering up the child sexual abuse they endured as WWE ‘Ring Boys’ at the hands of senior staff like Mel Phillips and Pat Patterson, under the Child Victims Act of 2023 allowing historic child sexual abuse survivors to seek reparation that had previously been unavailable to them. 

While the case is being litigated before a decision is made to go to trial, the McMahons opposed an order granting the plaintiffs anonymity, citing that they were unduly prejudiced as public figures while they went on unknown to the public. The judge rejected those arguments and believed that the risks are not great enough to outweigh the risk to the plaintiffs if they were to have their identities known to the public. 

Per the order, the issue may be litigated if and when the case goes to trial. It was acknowledged, as the McMahons had argued, that it may be harder for the defense to find witnesses with knowledge damaging to the plaintiffs’ case. But the judge deemed that the disadvantage was less severe than they had argued. 

It was also agreed that the plaintiffs would be at risk of significant harm if their names were known to the public, and Bredar was convinced by the assertion that there would be a significant risk of re-traumatization, considering many closest to the plaintiffs have not even been informed of the trauma they alleged to have been subjected to. 

In response to Vince McMajon’s request as to a series of conditions if the court allowed anonymity to continue, Bredar directed all parties to discuss and jointly submit a protective order within 30 days accepting some of those. A request to bar the plaintiffs and their attorneys from making public statements was rejected. 

One half of the WWE Tag Team Champions, R-Truth, is reportedly not cleared to compete, and has been pulled from Friday’s edition of “WWE SmackDown.” Truth and Damian Priest were previously set to face Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga.

According to “SmackDown” General Manager Nick Aldis on X (formerly Twitter), Truth is not medically cleared to compete, so Priest will take on Tama Tonga in a singles match. Aldis did not elaborate on Truth’s injury. Priest and Truth last defended their titles on the May 1 episode against Fraxiom, and Priest was defeated by Talla Tonga last week.

As noted by PWInsider, as well as Cory Hays, formerly of BodySlam, the previous graphic for the tag match featured Priest and Truth going up against Tama Tonga and the released JC Mateo. Mateo and Tanga Loa’s departures from WWE were reported alongside Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston’s on May 2. The graphic is likely old, as Priest and Truth defeated Mateo and Tama Tonga on the April 24 edition of the show.

Also announced for “SmackDown” on Friday is a segment where GUNTHER must decide if he wants to join the brand to challenge Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. Former WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill is set to address WWE fans, and United States Champion Trick Williams is set to return to his alma mater, the University of South Carolina, for a victory celebration. Elsewhere on the show, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss will face off against Michin and B-Fab.