Welcome to Wrestling Inc.’s live coverage of “WWE SmackDown” on May 12, 2023, coming to you live from the Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee!

Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns will be making his long-awaited return to programming tonight to address what’s on his mind. Although issues within The Bloodline continue to grow, The Usos and Solo Sikoa managed to score a victory over Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, and Matt Riddle in a Six-Man Tag Team match at WWE Backlash last Saturday.

Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez will be defending their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship against Damage CTRL’s Bayley and Dakota Kai. Bayley and Kai managed to pick up a win over Morgan and Rodriguez when the two teams battled it out in a non-title match a couple of weeks ago on “WWE Raw”, despite the tensions that have risen between Damage CTRL over the past few weeks.

Seth “Freakin” Rollins secured his spot in the finals of the World Heavyweight Tournament at Night of Champions on May 27 during this past Monday’s “Raw”. His opponent for the upcoming Premium Live Event will be determined tonight as United States Champion Austin Theory will go head-to-head with The Brawling Brutes’ Sheamus and Bobby Lashley while AJ Styles of The O.C. will take on WWE Hall of Famers Rey Mysterio and Edge in two first round Triple Threat matches. The winners of those contests will then go one-on-one later in the show during the Semi-Finals.