Smackdown – May 14, 2019: Three Ain’t Enough Man They Need Five
IMG Credit: WWE
Smackdown
Date: May 14, 2019
Location: 02 Arena, London, England
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton
It’s the second of two nights in London and that means we get to see how close to four names WWE can bring in from Raw this week. This is also the go home show for Money in the Bank so it’s time for the brawl between Kofi Kingston and Kevin Owens. Throw in the required build towards the ladder matches and we could be in for a nice little show. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Here’s Roman Reigns to call out Elias, but first he wants the Miz out here. After sucking up to the crowd, Miz talks about how he has five days until Shane McMahon is trapped in a cage. Shane attacked Miz’s father and that is not acceptable, so it’s time for payback. It’s also time for Shane and Elias with Shane saying that Miz isn’t a Wild Card because he’s just disgusting. Therefore, Miz is banned from the building tonight.
Elias doesn’t like Reigns calling him a wedding singer and Reigns has underestimated him. At Money in the Bank, Reigns will find out what WWE stands for. Shane wants to get rid of Miz and Reigns right now so here are Rowan and Daniel Bryan to help. The beatdown is on so it’s the Usos for the save.
Post break Shane makes himself, Rowan, Bryan and Elias vs. Reigns/Usos. If Miz interferes, the cage match is off.
Randy Orton vs. Andrade vs. Ali vs. Finn Balor
Non-title. Before the match, Orton says he’ll win the briefcase on Sunday and make RKO the dangerous letters for the WWE Champion. Zelina Vega promises a spoiler for Sunday, which means Andrade wins the briefcase. Joined in progress with Ali holding his leg but being able to roll Orton up for two. The snap powerslam drops Ali but he comes back with a dropkick for a breather.
Orton teases the RKO out of the corner so Ali hangs on and takes Orton down instead, meaning it’s Andrade coming in for the save. Andrade runs Balor and Ali over, setting up the running knees in the corner. Instead of covering though, Andrade listens to Vega and throws a ladder in. Said ladder is superkicked back into his face by Ali, who dives into another ladder shot from Andrade to take us to a break.
Back with Balor hitting a Sling Blade on Andrade and dropkicking him into the corner. Ali hits the rolling X Factor on Balor but misses the 450, instead rolling into the RKO. Balor takes care of Orton though and we’re down to two for the moment. Andrade is back up and sends Balor into the steps, setting up the hammerlock DDT for the pin at 9:58.
Rating: C+. Gotta pin that champ! It’s another match where there were more options to take the fall but instead of going with Orton, which would mean more and hurt him less. I doubt this is going to go to another title match between Balor and Andrade, though it would make sense to give Andrade the title at this point after pinning Balor twice.
Post match Andrade climbs the ladder but here’s Ricochet to springboard onto the ladder and punch him down. Ricochet grabs the briefcase, more or less guaranteeing that he won’t do it on Sunday.
Carmella says she’s the favorite this Sunday and is going to threepeat.
Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston fire each other up.
Here’s Charlotte for a chat. She talks about her historic rivalry with Becky Lynch, which will end on Sunday with her as the Smackdown Women’s Champion. We get a video history of their feud, dating back to NXT. They met in the main event of Wrestlemania and now they’re doing it again here. It is quite the feud, but I could go for something else already. The problem though is the lack of challengers for Lynch, which has been the case for awhile now. Charlotte didn’t need to be in the ring for this.
Lacey Evans promises to make Becky Two Belts Becky Black Eye. On the other hand, she’ll go from Lacey Evans to Lacey Evans: Raw Women’s Champions.
Aleister Black talks about appearances being deceptive and how no one likes the place they try to venture into when they try to accomplish their goal. He tries to hide his villainy with old odd ends, stolen from various places, when most he plays fade to black. I think I need an English degree to understand what he just said.
Shane McMahon/Daniel Bryan/Rowan/Elias vs. Roman Reigns/Usos
Jimmy and Bryan start things off with a basic sequence, including Bryan hitting a shoulder block. Jey comes in and gets taken into the corner for some chops from Elias as the villains take over. Something off the top bangs up Jey’s knee and it’s off to Shane for some elbows to the new target. Bryan comes in to add a running dropkick to the knee. Jey gets shoved off the top for a hard crash into the barricade as we take a break.
Back with Jey in trouble and Elias slamming him down for some near falls. An enziguri finally takes Shane down so Reigns can come in to clean house. Reigns fires off clotheslines in the corner to keep Bryan in trouble but an Elias distraction lets Bryan get in a kick to the ribs. Rowan comes in so Elias immediately tags himself in, much to Rowan’s annoyance. A jumping knee to the face gives Elias two, followed by an elbow from Rowan as we take a break.
Back again with Elias getting caught in a Samoan drop so Jimmy can come back in to pick up the pace. Bryan misses a superkick but all of his teammates take one, followed by Jey tagging himself in for some double superkicks. Everything breaks down and Rowan knocks Jimmy to the floor. Reigns comes off the steps with a Superman Punch to Rowan, leaving Jimmy to take the Coast to Coast for the pin at 19:12.
Rating: C-. Gotta keep Shane strong, just in case being the top heel in the company isn’t enough. This one is a lot less annoying than Balor taking a fall though as Shane has a brighter present than Andrade and possibly even a better future. As much as I cringe saying that, at least Shane vs. Miz should be done on Sunday, a mere six and a half months after it started.
Post match Miz comes in and cleans house with a chair but Shane escapes unscathed.
Here’s this week’s Firefly Fun House, which seems to be the start of Wyatt’s return to the ring.
Ember Moon says she’ll risk it all to win it all.
Bayley says Sunday is a chance to show what she can be.
Pay per view rundown, which doesn’t look bad.
Asuka/Kairi Sane vs. Sonya Deville/Mandy Rose
The IIconics are on commentary but before the match, Paige officially names Asuka and Sane…the Kabuki Warriors. The fans don’t care in the slightest so here are Mandy and Sonya to make fun of the name with some Royal Baby jokes. After Mandy is Ms. Money in the Bank, they’re coming after the Women’s Tag Team Titles. Asuka (not sure if she’s Kabuki or the Warrior) hits a running hip attack on Sonya to start and Sane adds a kick to the face and we take a break.
Back with Sane getting two off a crossbody to Rose, who nails a Kiss of the Rose to take over. Deville’s running knee gets two but Mandy misses a running boot in the corner. It’s back to Asuka to clean house with the Asuka Lock getting broken up by Sonya. That’s enough for Sonya to come back in for some kicks to the chest and a spinebuster. Mandy wants the pin though, allowing Asuka to roll her up for the fast pin at 8:46.
Rating: D+. This show is dragging and this was another case of the same. The ending was a quick one though and a way to make Sonya think that she might have made the wrong decision by letting Mandy have the spot. At the same time, Kabuki Warriors? They really spent time and came up with that?
Video on Lars Sullivan.
Lars Sullivan has nothing to say.
Kevin Owens can’t wait to interview Kofi Kingston and isn’t worried about the rest of the New Day. He talks about the various things he could do to hurt Kofi but New Day’s entrance cuts him off.
We come back from a break with Kofi sitting in the KO Show chairs with no Owens in sight. Kofi says he accepted an invitation to come onto the show and asks where Owens is. Owens pops up on screen to say that Kofi is on his own for the first time in eleven years. After he loses the title, reality sets in. That reality is that Kofi doesn’t win the title without New Day and on Sunday, he’s facing the most dangerous man in WWE. We see a video on Owens rising to the top of WWE, starting with laying out John Cena on his first night on the main roster.
Owens finally comes out but stops in the aisle, meaning Kofi charges out to go after him. Cue Sami Zayn to jump Kofi from behind, I guess confirming that the Usos only count as one Wild Card entry, because WWE STILL CAN’T MAKE SENSE OUT OF THIS STUPID RULE! Woods runs in for a failed save attempt so Owens shouts about how he has help and Kofi doesn’t. The Cannonball misses and the Helluva Kick only hits rope. Trouble in Paradise takes Sami down and Kofi shouts at Owens to end the show.
Overall Rating: D+. It felt like they had been on tour for a long time and now they’re just running on fumes. Tonight’s show actually felt long for a change and that hasn’t been the case for Smackdown lately. The lack of a major focus on the ladder matches helped though as I’m liking the Kofi vs. Owens story more and more every week. They’ve got a little something with Kofi being on his own and Owens knows just how to exploit it. Not a very good show here, but it could have been worse. Oh and they still can’t count to five (spare me about the Usos being one Wild Card as that would be stretching it even for WWE).
Results
Andrade b. Finn Balor, Randy Orton and Ali – Hammerlock DDT to Balor
Shane McMahon/Rowan/Daniel Bryan/Elias b. Roman Reigns/Usos – Coast to Coast to Jimmy
Kabuki Warriors b. Mandy Rose/Sonya Deville – Rollup to Rose
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The Usos are a Tag Team which means they count as one. Kinda like when they got moved over to RAW in the Shakeup as one single move. Come on KB i know you realize this.
I realize that saying four superstars can come over and then counting two of them as one is the latest way to try and make this work when it’s a mess. I fully believe they’re trolling us with it though.
It’s crazy that we’re in 2019 and Shane McMahon is still an active in-ring competitor at the top of the card. This was dumb in 2003, it was dumb in 2009… why are we still doing it??
Tired of Shane keeps hogging spotlight and they even make Bryan and Rowan to be Shane’s stooge when they should stay away from Shane. They already broke Wild Card Rule as expected with The Usos, The Miz, Lacey, Ricochet, Sami on Smackdown.
Now there’s no other teams other than Asuka & Kairi, Mandy & Sonya and The IIconics after they broke up Boss & Hug, Riott Squad. Who knows if Alexa and Nikki Cross as a team last longer. Kabuki Warriors? Vince must have see some Xbox game so he gives them this name.
After MITB, we may see Balor/Andrade IC title feud and Ali/Murphy feud and even merge into Fatal 4 Way IC title match at Stomping Ground. And hope for Aleister/Orton feud soon.
Becky’s WWE 24 documentary including a moment of her victory in Winner Takes All Mania main event will air right after MITB, so if Becky loses even one of the titles at MITB, especially SD women title back to Charlotte, then this documentary looks like a waste of time and pointless when Becky no longer double champ. When they can let Kofi beat more than 2 guys in Gauntlet match 2 times, why can’t they let Becky win 2 matches in one night, when they choose to make her double champ so they should let her hold past one PPV and lose one of the titles latest at Stomping Ground next month. Moreover they just done Alexa cashed in on the same night last year, so this year Miss MITB may hold the briefcase longer, probably latest until Summerslam.