Smackdown
Date: June 21, 2013
Location: Nutter Center, Dayton, Ohio
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

We’re past Payback now and the main story is the double turn by Ziggler and new world champion Alberto Del Rio. That’s the best outcome as Del Rio was only working to an extent as a face while Ziggler was getting over more and more as a good guy. Other than that we have Bryan vs. Orton tonight in a continuation/rematch from their stopped match on Raw. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the results from Payback. That’s one thing I liked about WCW: other than the main events, they made sure to not tell you who won a lot of the matches until the replays were off PPV. Now you have clips of the endings to most of the matches, leaving no reason to buy the replay.

Here’s Daniel Bryan to open the show. Until Monday, he had never had a match stopped due to injury in his entire career. The doctor asked if he could continue and he said YES, but the company line was that they were worried for his health. Realistically though, they stopped the match because they think he’s the weak link and not tough enough.

The worst person in all of this was Randy Orton and we get a clip of Orton helping Bryan up after the match. Bryan says that if Orton thought he was the strong link, he would have begged for the match to keep going. The match should have kept going, but Bryan’s YES chant is cut off by Randy Orton.

Orton comes to the ring shaking his head and mouthing the words “you’re wrong.” Randy says the match was stopped for Bryan’s well being, not because anyone thought he was weak. Bryan kept coming during the match and that made Orton respect him even more. When Orton helped him up, it was out of respect, not pity. Bryan yells that Orton is patronizing him after giving Bryan respect for beating Shield last week. Orton says fine, if Bryan wants a rematch he can have one tonight. This time though, Bryan will be carried out.

Sheamus vs. Cody Rhodes

Cody drew the long straw to get this match tonight. Sheamus gets two off a quick suplex but Cody elbows out of the fireman’s carry roll. Cody goes to the middle rope but gets snapmared down before rolling to the floor. Rhodes sends Sheamus into the barricade before stomping away back inside. A running knee to the head gets two for Cody and it’s off to an armbar.

Sheamus fights up but misses a charge into the corner, giving Rhodes two off a rollup. The slingshot shoulder is countered into a Fujiwara Armbar but Cody just lets it go. Sheamus shrugs all of the offense off and hits a sledge to the Cody’s face. The fireman’s carry slam looks to set up White Noise but Cody rolls out, only to be pulled into the Cloverleaf for the tap out at 5:37.

Rating: D. This was bad even by this pair’s standards. The total lack of selling of the arm by Sheamus was surprising as Cody worked on it for a few minutes before Sheamus just fought back like it was nothing. The main problem here though is the same we’ve seen with every one on one match between the Scholars and Sheamus: the winner is never in doubt.

Sandow jumps Sheamus post match.

Wyatt Family promo.

Intercontinental Title: Curtis Axel vs. Wade Barrett

The title looks good on Axel. Miz is on commentary for this rare heel vs. heel match. Axel grabs a headlock to start but Wade forearms him down for two. Curtis comes back with a good looking dropkick to take over and drops some elbows to the chest for two. Wade grabs a quick suplex for two of his own as the announcers debate if Barrett should have gotten his rematch on Monday. Barrett hits his big boot to send Axel out to the floor and another big boot hits for two back inside. Axel avoids a middle rope elbow and hits a Hennig necksnap followed by the McGillicutter to retain at 4:40.

Rating: D+. This was an 80s punch/kick for the first few minutes until Barrett turned things up a bit at the end. Axel pinning Wade clean is an important step for him as now he’s pinned the former champion without any help at all. It would appear that Miz is next but hopefully there’s more to the title after that match.

Post match Miz gets in the ring to stare down Axel but Heyman gets the champion out of the way.

Video on Mark Henry’s fake retirement and attack on Cena from Raw.

AJ Lee vs. Natalya

Non-title. Natalya immediately takes AJ down but can’t hook the Sharpshooter. Instead she puts on a strange looking leglock where Natalya’s knees are between AJ’s knees and stretching them apart with both girls on their backs. AJ makes the rope and puts on a quick sleeper…..as we take a break? In this match? Back with Natalya getting two off a snap suplex and a clothesline. Natalya shouts that AJ has no respect but AJ counters a slam into the Black Widow for the pin at 2:20 shown of 4:50.

Layla and Kaitlyn are watching in the back when Aksana comes up and calls Katilyn trash. Kaitlyn snaps and beats Aksana up before pouring trash on her.

Chris Jericho vs. Alberto Del Rio

Non-title again. Jericho takes him into the corner to start and chokes Del Rio on the middle rope before getting two off a knee to the back. Del Rio gets a boot up in the corner to drop Jericho but misses a running kick and falls out to the floor. Jericho hits the springboard dropkick to drop Alberto again. A Ricardo distraction lets the champion get in a cheap shot to take over as we take a break.

Back with Del Rio sending Chris back to the floor and whipping him into the barricade. They head back inside and Alberto misses a charge into the post to shift momentum again. The top rope ax handle looks to set up the Walls but Alberto spins out and kicks Jericho in the head for two. The corner enziguri misses though and Jericho hits the running bulldog and Lionsault. Jericho loads up the Walls but Del Rio counters into the cross armbreaker which is countered into the Walls but Chris has to go after Ricardo. Jericho puts Rodriguez in the Liontamer but Ziggler runs in for the DQ at 5:34 shown of 8:04.

Rating: C+. The sequence right before the ending was good but I’m not wild on the ending. It wouldn’t hurt Jericho to lose here and make Del Rio look good, even if it was by cheating. The Ziggler vs. Del Rio feud is getting good in a hurry and the match should be a solid blowoff. This was fine for a TV match though and could have been better with more time.

Del Rio runs off and Jericho gives Ziggler a Codebreaker post match. Jericho leaves and the champion comes back to pick the bones with a hard kick to Ziggler’s head. The audience sounded like they were looking at a heel turn by Jericho but I don’t think it was meant to be one.

Drew McIntyre vs. Christian

Christian sends him to the floor and hits a baseball slide to take Drew down. Back in and Christian tags him with an uppercut but dives into a spinning sitout Rock Bottom from McIntyre for two. Not that it matters much as Christian takes out the other Band members and hits the Killswitch for the pin at 1:50.

Post match Christian says it feels great to be back here for one more match. Cue Shield to lay Christian out with the TripleBomb.

Video on Brock Lesnar.

We recap the events of Raw with Punk splitting with Heyman and fighting Del Rio in the main event. Alberto walked out on the match and was jumped by Ziggler, only to have Lesnar come out and attack Punk.

Heyman doesn’t want to talk about the Punk issues so he turns the interview around on Renee Young, asking her a lot of personal questions about topics like her father and her ex-fiance. Heyman suggests that next time, she should talk about Curtis Axel.

Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan

Bryan charges right at Orton and they slug it out in the corner. Orton throws him to the mat and stomps away but Bryan gets up and fires right hands. It’s rare for Bryan to throw punches and they’re better than I expected. Randy knocks him right back down but misses a knee drop to the face. Bryan kicks away and hooks a leg lock, only to have Orton counter into a headlock. Orton blocks the NO Lock and hits a backbreaker to finally give them a breather. The first few minutes of the match were continuous punching and holds.

Orton drapes Bryan ribs first onto the top rope and suplexes him over the top and out to the floor as we take a break. Back with Bryan fighting out of a superplex and dropping Orton with a missile dropkick. Daniel fires off the kicks in the corner and hits a running dropkick for two. Bryan moonsaults over Orton out of the corner but walks into the snap powerslam for two. Orton gets caught in a backslide for two and Bryan fires off the kicks to the chest and head for a two count.

Bryan goes up again but gets crotched and superplexed down for a very close two. The Elevated DDT connects but Bryan rolls to the floor to avoid the RKO. Orton drops Bryan back first onto the barricade but Bryan shoves him into the barricade. The flying knee off the apron sets up the FLYING GOAT and Bryan beats the count back in at 10:36 shown of 13:06.

Rating: B-. This was a nice back and forth match and they did a good job of making Bryan look strong after last week’s big win over the Shield.  The idea of Bryan being able to get back in at the alst second kept both guys look strong which is a good idea for Orton going forward.

Bryan wants the match restarted but Orton just stares at him as the show ends.

Overall Rating: B-. This was another good show as we had some solid action and nothing bad on the entire show save for a dull Sheamus vs. Rhodes match. Bryan continues to be so over it’s unreal and the Ziggler face push is coming quickly. The WWE is starting to get on a roll which is a good sign after a very dull spring.

Results

Sheamus b. Cody Rhodes – Cloverleaf

Curtis Axel b. Wade Barrett – McGillicutter

AJ Lee b. Natalya – Black Widow

Alberto Del Rio b. Chris Jericho via DQ when Dolph Ziggler interefered

Christian b. Drew McIntyre – Killswitch

Daniel Bryan b. Randy Orton via countout

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Starrcade from Amazon for just $4 at:

Smackdown
Date: June 14, 2013
Location: Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

It’s the go home show for Payback tonight so hopefully we can get to some more interesting stuff soon after this. The main story tonight is the continued rise of Daniel Bryan in his war against the Shield. Other than that Dolph Ziggler is back and will be in the ring on Sunday, meaning we may get a warmup match for him tonight. Let’s get to it.

The opening recap focuses on Ziggler returning in a tag match with Langston to face Jericho and Del Rio. We also focus on Shield vs. HELL NO/Orton in a six man tag tonight.

Here’s an upset Daniel Bryan to open the show. If you had asked him when he debuted in the WWE if he would be world champion, he would have said YES. If you had asked him if he would lose the belt in 18 seconds, the answer would be NO. YES he could win the tag titles with anyone, but NO he didn’t think he’d spend nine months teaming with Kane. Either way, HELL NO is one of the best tag teams in WWE history, so Bryan asks kane to come out here.

Kane says all he cares about is the six man tag tonight. Bryan thinks they need to get everything out in the open because the last nine months were awesome. They’ve become a better team and better friends over the last few months, but on Sunday they’re not going to be teaming together. After that, they’re not going to be a team anymore because Bryan is going to win the tag titles with Randy Orton to make Team RK-NO!

Kane doesn’t see why Bryan is getting this excited because no one can beat the Shield and Bryan and Orton can’t get along. Bryan says he’ll prove he isn’t the weak link because he and Randy will do something that HELL NO could never do. Kane asks if he’s the weak link but Bryan won’t answer. He finally admits that Kane is the weak link and is grabbed around the throat. Cue Orton to keep Kane from killing his partner. If Kane chokeslams Bryan then it’s going to cause an RKO.

Bryan gets mad at Orton for meddling in his business but Orton says he’s just helping his partner. Kane goes to leave so Bryan says go run off like you always do. All three are about to fight when Shield shows up on screen and tells them to keep fighting. They’d be fighting too if the Shield had beaten them up for six months. Ambrose asks if they believe in the Shield after every super team has been beaten. Orton and HELL NO argues a bit more in the ring.

Sheamus vs. Antonio Cesaro

Cesaro gets the jobber entrance in case there were a few people that thought he had a chance. Before the match Sandow comes out to say that he’s already humiliated Sheamus physically and intellectually, so Sunday will be Sheamus’ Irish wake. Cesaro takes Sheamus into the corner and slaps him in the face before hiding on the floor. Back in and Sheamus pounds on him in the corner before taking him down with a clothesline. A tilt-a-whirl powerslam gets two on Antonio as Zeb Colter rants on the WWE App.

Cesaro comes back with the gutwrench suplex and a big forearm sends Sheamus to the floor. Sheamus catches a diving Cesaro coming off the apron and rams him into the barricade as we take a break. Back with Sheamus getting two off a backbreaker before they head to floor. Cesaro rams him into the steps before hooking a chinlock back inside. Sheamus fights up and hits some running forearms, only to be taken down by a European uppercut for two.

A double stomp to the chest gets two for Antonio but Sheamus sends him to the apron for the ten forearms to the chest. The Irish Curse gets two back inside but Cesaro comes back with the modified Angle Slam (looked more like an AA here) for two. Cesaro shoves Sheamus into the corner but the Celt comes out with the Brogue Kick for the pin at 7:26 shown of 10:56.

Rating: C. Cesaro has the same problem that Rhodes, Sandow or almost anyone else that faces Sheamus runs into: Sheamus hardly ever loses so it’s hard to get into the matches as a result. The Brogue Kick out of the corner looked good but it’s supposed to set up a match on Sunday that no one cares to see.

Post match Sandow jumps Sheamus from behind and lays him out.

The Wyatt Family is still coming.

CM Punk is returning on Sunday.

Teddy Long plugs Hardee’s for sponsoring the show tonight. Ziggler and company come in and make fun of Teddy for his poor handling of Smackdown. Langston steals the burger.

Great Khali vs. Heath Slater

McIntyre is in different attire tonight. Khali pounds away to start but has to swat away the other Band members. Slater gets in some shots in the corner but gets caught with the big chop. Khali has to go after the other Band members again, allowing Slater to hit a DDT for the pin at 2:20.

Alberto Del Rio/Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler/Big E. Langston

Del Rio wants to start with Ziggler but gets Langston instead. Big E. takes him into the corner and pounds away with shoulder blocks, only to have Del Rio come back with a running enziguri. Off to Jericho to pound away on the big man and hit an enziguri of his own. Langston takes him down and brings in the world champion for the first time in over a month. Dolph drops an elbow drop for two and brings in Langston to face Del Rio. A backstabber puts Big E. down and it’s back to Dolph who immediately runs away.

We take a break and come back with Jericho sending Langston into the steps. AJ interferes with a slap to Chris’ face, allowing Langston to run Jericho over. Back in and Ziggler drops Jericho with a neckbreaker for two. Ziggler misses a charge into the corner and it’s hot tag off to Alberto. Everything breaks down Langston runs Alberto over. A dropkick puts Alberto down but he rolls up Ziggler for the pin at 8:10 shown of 11:40.

Rating: C+. This was a fine return for Ziggler but the feud was built up enough for Sunday without having Ziggler lose in his comeback match. I get the idea of Del Rio pinning the champion, but he didn’t need to do it. Jericho was just kind of there but he’s perfect for filling in a spot like this.

We recap the opening segment.

Jericho says he’s going to be ready for Punk on Sunday and goes over his history in Chicago. Heyman comes in and says that Jericho can claim to be the best in the world until Punk pins him or makes him tap out at Payback.

Video on Kaitlyn’s secret admirer being revealed on Monday.

Kaitlyn vs. Aksana

Kaitlyn goes right at her and pounds away before the bell. The referee tries to pull her off and takes a quick beating as well. Aksana finally runs away so no match.

Recap of Ryback vs. Cena over the last few weeks with a focus on the events of Raw.

Curtis Axel vs. Wade Barrett

Non-title of course. Before the match, Barrett wants to have a businessman to businessman with Heyman. He doesn’t know why this match is happening as he could injure Axel on Sunday, thereby taking away his title shot. Wouldn’t it make sense to save this until Sunday? Cue Miz to say really a lot and make some thinly veiled gay jokes. Barrett pounds away to start but gets caught by a dropkick for two. They head to the floor where Axel blasts Miz in the face for no apparent reason. As they come back in, Axel hits a horrible looking McGillicutter for the pin at 2:05.

Post match Miz lays out Axel.

Video on the Wyatt Family with Bray quoting the Bible and talking about the riddles of your mind.

Shield vs. HELL NO/Randy Orton

Rollins starts with Bryan and pounds him down into the corner, only to have Bryan come back with kicks to the chest of his own. Kane comes in with a low dropkick and suplex for two each. Off to Orton for some headbutts to Ambrose in the corner before it’s back to Bryan. Rollins comes in and fires off elbows to the head before Ambrose gets the tag for a dragon sleeper. Bryan hits some knees to the head and one to the ribs to escape before bringing Orton back in to clean house.

Ambrose and Rollins break up the Elevated DDT before Rollins hits an enziguri for two. We take a break and come back with Orton being elbowed down for two. It’s back to Reigns who pounds on Orton’s head but gets caught in the Orton backbreaker to give Randy a breather. Reigns misses a charge into the post and it’s off to Kane vs. Ambrose with the big man getting two off a side slam.

Kane misses the top rope clothesline and stumbled into the hot tag to Bryan. Daniel hits the springboard missile dropkick on Ambrose and gives Reigns and Rollins a dropkick each. FLYING GOAT puts the tag champions and Rollins takes a pair of dropkicks in the corner for two. Bryan kicks the tag champions down again but can only get two on Seth.

Ambrose delays the swan dive and allows Rollins to roll away at the last minute. Kane and Ambrose go to the floor but Reigns spears Orton down. Kane avoids a spear from Roman and chokeslams Dean onto Reigns on the floor. Rollins hits the buckle bomb but Kane shoves him off the top into the RKO. Bryan throws on the NO Lock and THEY DID IT! Rollins taps out at 13:48 and the Shield loses for the first time ever.

Rating: B+. The ending was INSANE and a great bit of storytelling as HELL NO and Orton finally learned from their past mistakes and made the adjustments to beat the Shield. That is a huge win for Bryan as he is looking more and more like a star every day. They had to lose eventually and while I’d question doing it on Smackdown, the moment was awesome and the place went nuts at the ending.

Lillian announces it as the first time the Shield has ever lost a six man tag as the winners celebrate to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This is the kind of wrestling centered show that Smackdown needs to be. Tonight was about longer matches which built up the matches on Sunday. I’m not sure on having Shield lose here, but it certainly launches Bryan up the charts and gives him his biggest win in a very long time. Payback is going to do horrible numbers due to the lame build, but tonight was a good show.

Results

Sheamus b. Antonio Cesaro – Brogue Kick

Heath Slater b. Great Khali – DDT

Alberto Del Rio/Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler/Big E. Langston

Curtis Axel b. Wade Barrettl – McGillicutter

HELL NO/Randy Orton b. Shield – NO Lock to Rollins

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Starrcade from Amazon for just $4 at:

Smackdown
Date: June 7, 2013
Location: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

We’re coming up on Payback with the big story at the moment being the rise of Daniel Bryan. Since HELL NO lost the tag titles Bryan has been on a rampage to prove that he isn’t the weak link, which has provided some very entertaining moments from him in the past few weeks. Other than that we have Orton teaming up with whomever he can find to fight the Shield. Let’s get to it.

The opening recap is a video of the contract signing for Jericho vs. Punk at Payback. We also see Bryan yelling at Orton about not being the weak link.

We open the show with MizTV with guests Randy Orton and HELL NO. Bryan thanks Kane for being the best partner he could ask for and not helping him in the match against Ryback on Raw. Miz talks about Bryan cleaning house of the Shield last week and we get a loud YES chant. Bryan thinks people still look at him like a goat faced vegan troll so Orton and Kane think that Bryan’s head is a bit messed up.

Kane insists that everyone respects Bryan although Orton is getting tired of Bryan whining about respect. Bryan blames Orton for the loss to the Shield on Monday, so Orton says we’re back in crazy town. Kane tries to get Bryan out of there but Bryan yells that Kane should have his back. Kane says he always has Bryan’s back but he’s tired of Bryan not trusting him.

Bryan wants to know why he should trust Kane. That’s a good question given Kane’s history. He also wants to know why Kane doesn’t come to his aid more often and thinks Kane is only teaming with him because there’s no one better for Kane to hook up with. Kane bails and Miz thinks we just saw the breakup of HELL NO. Bryan says yeah we did but NO he is not to blame for this. Teddy Long comes out and makes Orton/Bryan vs. Shield for later. Pretty solid opening segment actually.

Chris Jericho vs. Curtis Axel

On the way to the ring, Heyman brags about Axel beating HHH and Cena twice with Axel saying that Jericho will learn what it means to be perfect. Paul jumps in on commentary as the guys in the ring run the ropes a bit. Jericho takes him down with a dropkick and chops away at the chest. They head to the floor with Jericho ramming Axel into the announce table before heading back inside. We take a break and come back with Axel chopping Jericho for two and hitting the Hennig Necksnap for two more.

Axel hooks the chinlock as Heyman guarantees that Punk will be in Chicago for Payback. Jericho elbows his way out of the hold and drops him with a top rope ax handle. Axel kicks out of the Walls but Jericho takes him down with a quick bulldog. The Lionsault misses and Curtis hits the McGillicutter for two.

Jericho gets up an elbow in the corner and hits a top rope cross body for two of his own. The Walls go on this time but Axel gets to the ropes before too much damage can be done. Jericho dropkicks him to the floor so Heyman shouts IT’S CLOBBERIN TIME! Punk’s music hits and the arena explodes, but it’s a ploy allowing Axel to roll Jericho up for the pin at 7:05 shown of 10:35.

Rating: C. This was fine and it’s a pinfall win for Axel which is what he’s been needing for awhile. Jericho is still perfect in his role as the king of the jobbers since he’s never going to fall down the card because of losses. It sets up the Punk match even better and we get some credibility for Axel. Even if it wasn’t an entirely clean pin, Heyman can spend a week bragging about another world champion losing to Axel.

Post match Jericho charges back into the ring and hits Axel with a Codebreaker.

Ryback comes up to Kane and brags about beating Bryan last week. A match is made for later tonight. Ryback says he rules, but Kane says he’s tombstoned a priest and buried his brother alive, so the rules don’t apply to him.

The Wyatt Family is coming.

Video from Raw on the McMahon family drama with Vince and Stephanie trying to talk HHH out of fighting anymore.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Heath Slater

Well at least it’s not Langston. All three members of the Band jump Del Rio but he fires off kicks to throw them out. There’s the armbreaker on Slater but I don’t think the bell ever rang to start the match. Del Rio and Ricardo clear the ring with Ricardo hitting a dive off the top to take out Mahal and McIntyre.

With Alberto still in the ring, Ziggler pops up on screen and says he’ll be back on Monday.

Ryback vs. Kane

Ryback shoves him into the corner to start and tells Kane to do something about it. Kane comes back with an uppercut but Ryback runs him over with a shoulder block. Kane clotheslines him down and hits the low dropkick for a quick one count. Ryback comes back with a gorilla press in a very impressive display of strength. Kane no sells a kick to the chest but can’t chokeslam him down. The side slam gets two for Kane and a clothesline puts Ryback on the floor.

They head outside with Kane being pulled into the barricade with Ryback ramming the masked head into said barricade over and over. It’s table time but Kane comes back with uppercuts to slow Ryback down. Back inside and the top rope clothesline misses but Ryback takes too long walking around and Kane hits the chokeslam for two. Now Kane gets the table but Ryback rakes him in the eye and powerbombs Kane through the table for the DQ at 5:45.

Rating: D+. This was a decent power brawl and much like Jericho, Kane doesn’t lose anything by losing the match here. Having Ryback powerbomb anyone he can find through a table is a decent enough idea to set up the 3 Stages against Cena. If nothing else they can use the people he’s attacked as the lumberjacks to get revenge on him.

Here’s Sandow to talk about the mental challenges he’s been giving Sheamus lately. Sandow insults the people of Long Island, saying that they’re a bunch of checker minded people living in a chess world. The only thing that can match Sandow’s intellect is a supercomputer, so meet Deep Blue, a computer which won a major chess match several years back. The computer tries to talk but is quickly silenced by Sandow. Damien is going to recreate the chess match against Kasparov (one of the best chess champions ever) right here for us tonight, as long as there is SILENCE!

The computer compliments Sandow for his opening move but Sheamus interrupts the game. Sheamus says he’s going to interrupt the chess match (Sandow: “That is obvious. Baby steps Sheamus, baby steps!”) and thinks he can beat Deep Blue in one move. Sheamus can’t figure out what move to make so he Brogue Kicks the computer. Damien gets in a cheap shot and actually lays Sheamus out before sending him into the computer’s table. He rams Sheamus’ head into the table over and over and stands tall. I still don’t get why they’re wasting Sheamus in this feud.

Fandango vs. Zack Ryder

Miz is on commentary. The triple threat title match is announced for Payback with Wade Barrett defending against Miz and Fandango. The place goes NUTS for Ryder who is growing his hair out for the first time in years. Fandango pounds Ryder down to start and hits a hard European uppercut. Miz says Skittles Boy needs to quit looking at him before he makes Fandango taste the rainbow of a Skull Crushing Finale. Ryder comes back with a middle rope dropkick and the Broski Boot for two. The Rough Ryder is countered into a powerbomb and the guillotine legdrop gives Fandango the pin at 2:17.

Miz and Fandango stare each other down.

Video on Ryback destroying Bryan and Cena from Raw.

Kaitlyn and Natalya are in the back. The secret admirer are going to show up on Raw but Natalya isn’t as happy as Kaitlyn thinks she should be. The meeting should be private instead of on national television because the guy could be a creep. Kaitlyn thinks if he was a creep, he would be texting Natalya instead of her.

Seth Rollins/Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan/Randy Orton

Non-title again here. Daniel’s arm is taped up after the attack on Raw. Bryan starts with Rollins and fires off those hard kicks to the chest. Off to the surfboard with the double stomps to the back of Rollins’ legs to keep Seth down. Bryan cranks on the arm and drives some knees into Rollins’ ribs for extra damage. Rollins fights up and brings in Reigns to pound on Bryan in the corner. Reigns whips Rollins into Bryan for a splash and clotheslines Daniel down for two.

Roman hooks a headlock as Seth talks trash from the apron. Bryan fights up but is almost immediately stomped down in the corner to stop his momentum. Reigns misses a charge into the corner and it’s hot tag to Orton for some house cleaning. The Elevated DDT hits Rollins and Shield bails to the floor as we take a break. Back with Rollins taking Randy down before bringing Reigns back in for a chinlock.

Orton quickly fights up with a belly to back suplex but Rollins breaks up the tag to Bryan. Reigns is quickly back in but misses a charge into the corner, allowing for the hot tag to Bryan. Daniel comes in with a double dropkick off the top before kicking both guys in the chest for two. Reigns is sent to the floor and Bryan backflips over Rollins to hit a German suplex.

Shield heads to the floor and the FLYING GOAT takes them both down. Back in and the flying headbutt gets two on Seth. The RKO takes Reigns down but Bryan accidentally dropkicks Orton in the corner. There’s the NO Lock on Rollins but Ambrose runs in for the DQ at 9:00 shown of 12:30.

Rating: B-. Solid tag match here which has become the norm for the Shield. Usually people would get tired of the same bit where the team gets close to getting pinned but only gets DQ’ed etc, but the Shield matches are so good that no one seems to mind. This was another solid match as you can pretty much take any two top level guys and throw them against Shield for the same result.

Post match Orton hits the RKO on Bryan, likely setting up a Payback match.

Overall Rating: C+. They did a good job of setting up Payback this week and thankfully Ziggler will be back on Monday to further the feud with Del Rio. It really is amazing how much more entertaining Smackdown can be than Raw without all the hammer fisted drama and the stupid WWE App nonsense you have to sit through. Good show this week.

Results

Curtis Axel b. Chris Jericho – Rollup

Kane b. Ryback via DQ when Ryback powerbombed Kane through a table

Fandango b. Zack Ryder – Guillotine Legdrop

Daniel Bryan/Randy Orton b. Roman Reigns/Seth Rollins via DQ when Dean Ambrose interfered

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Starrcade from Amazon for just $4 at:

Smackdown
Date: May 31, 2013
Location: Rexall Place, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Josh Matthews

It’s the final show of the Canadian tour and the main story tonight is of course Shield vs. whomever they can find to face tonight. Other than that we’ve got Ryback trying to get people to care about his feud with Cena and the three guys fighting for the Intercontinental Title. Right now is a pretty lame time in the WWE as they’re in a very slow mode so tonight’s show probably won’t change much about that. Let’s get to it.

We open with a list of names that Shield has taken down in the last week. Tonight Shield is in singles matches against various people.

Seth Rollins vs. Kane

Rollins pounds away on Kane to start but all the speed only gets him taken down by a shoulder. Seth jumps over Kane in the corner but gets kicked in the head for two. A delayed vertical suplex gets two more for the big man and it’s off to the chinlock. The fans are really into Kane here for some reason. Rollins finally gets in a shot and goes after Kane’s knee with some solid kicks and elbow drops. Kane comes back with some right hands, only to have his knee kicked out again.

Rollins cannonballs down onto the knee but has a leg lock blocked before it can go on. Seth goes to the middle rope and kicks away a chokeslam attempt before hitting a tornado DDT for two. Back from a break with Kane slugging Rollins down and hitting the top rope clothesline. Reigns gets on the apron, only to be shoved to the floor. The distraction lets Rollins hit a dropkick, but Reigns’ distraction lets Bryan shove Rollins off the top and a chokeslam ends this at 9:22.

Rating: C-. For a nine minute match, this was pretty overdone. Rollins losing a singles match is fine because Shield is always about the team mentality. I’m not sure if they need to keep going with HELL NO vs. Shield at this point, but it’s not like there are any other teams worth fighting right now.

Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan

This starts immediately after the previous match ends. Bryan sends Reigns into the corner and kicks away at the arm to take over early before tying his legs into Roman’s and dropping forearms to the face. The fans also love Bryan which isn’t all that surprising. He fires off more kicks in the corner before hooking a dragon screw leg whip to put Roman down again. Roman hits a hard clothesline to take over as we take a break.

Back with Bryan trying to speed things up but getting caught by another clothesline for two. Bryan gets all fired up and hits a hard set of kicks to the chest followed by a running dropkick in the corner for two of his own. Reigns drills him in the stomach to slow Bryan down but Bryan hooks the NO Lock out of nowhere. Reigns crawls over to the ropes but only gets there with Seth pushing the rope towards him. Kane goes after Rollins but hits Reigns for the DQ at 9:20.

Rating: C. This was a better match than the opener, but that’s likely because the smaller guy as the face is an easier formula to work with. Bryan’s kicks get more awesome every week and it’s very wise of him to use those as his main strike. I mean, can you imagine him throwing a convincing punch given his size? Kicks are far better for a guy like him.

Post match Bryan yells at Kane for costing him the match. Bryan is completely right here but Kane walks off anyway. Bryan follows, shouting that he doesn’t need Kane’s help.

Here’s Damien Sandow with something to say. He says that last week he proved that his mental strength is superior to Sheamus’ physical strength. Apparently Canada has limited mental strength because they gave away Wayne Gretsky. When it comes to intelligence, Sandow is the real Great One. To prove his intellect, he has a simple challenge in the form of a shell game. There are three cups and a ball on a table. The idea is to put the ball under a cup and shuffle them around. It should be easy to win, but here’s Sheamus to interrupt.

Sheamus congratulates him for tricking him with the knot last week, but now Sandow is out here playing with his little balls. Sandow lets Sheamus play the game and shuffles the cups pretty slowly. Sheamus guesses wrong, thereby renewing his idiot license for another year. Sandow allows him to try again with just two cups but Sheamus gets it wrong again after a lot of thinking. Sheamus wants to see the ball under the third cup but Damien seems reluctant. Fans: “SHOW YOUR BALLS!” There’s no ball but Sandow says it was magic, earning himself a Brogue Kick. Are we really building towards a big match between these two?

Curtis Axel vs. Sin Cara

Man they drop the level of competition for Axel on Smackdown. On the way to the ring, Heyman says that he always tells the truth about his clients. In his first two weeks, no one has accomplished what Axel has done. Axel says that Cena and HHH have 26 world titles between them, but in two matches he’s made HHH refuse to continue and made Cena get himself counted out. When you’re a Paul Heyman guy, life is perfect. Cole: “That was cute.”

Axel hits a quick backbreaker and dropkick to take over before ripping at the mask a bit. After a quick chinlock Sin Cara comes back with some kicks of his own, followed by a springboard crossbody. A Tajiri elbow is countered by a forearm to the back of the head though and a PerfectPlex ends Cara at 2:00.

Big E. Langston vs. Alberto Del Rio

Langston pounds him into the corner to start and fires off some shoulders, but Del Rio comes back with a kick to the ribs. Big E. drapes him across the top rope and Del Rio is right back down. Del Rio comes back with more kicks and a running clothesline, only to walk into a belly to belly for two. The Backstabber staggers Langston and a German suplex puts him down again.

A hard kick to the face gets two more for Alberto and there’s the armbreaker but Langston picks Alberto up to escape. Langston runs him over for two but gets caught in the armbreaker over the ropes. Del Rio falls to the floor and gets posted after an AJ distraction, allowing the Big Ending to finish Albert back inside at 4:50.

Rating: D+. This match is firmly in the category of matches we don’t need to see for a good while. They’ve fought something like four times in two weeks now, which is way more than any pair should be going at it. The match was nothing special either as they didn’t have time to go anywhere with it.

We look at Cena’s challenge for a 3 Stages of Hell match from Raw.

Kofi Kingston vs. Ryback

Kofi charges right at him and pounds away in the corner before getting two off a springboard dropkick. There’s the Boom Drop but Ryback catches trouble in Paradise in mid air. Kofi rolls through that as well and hits a middle rope cross body for two. Ryback blocks a kick in the corner though and slams Kofi down to take over. The Meat Hook sets up Shell Shock for the pin at 2:48. This was better than I expected, although Kofi injured his elbow somewhere in there and will be out 4-8 weeks.

Post match Ryback powerbombs Kofi through three tables.

Jericho talks about all the diseases Punk has from sleeping with dogs like Heyman.

Chris Jericho vs. Cody Rhodes

Jericho starts fast and takes Cody to the floor, only to walk into a front suplex onto the top rope for two. A boot to the face gets two more for Cody and it’s off to an armbar. Jericho comes back with a top rope ax handle but the Walls are broken up. An Alabama Slam gets two for Cody but he jumps into a right hand to the ribs. Cross Rhodes are countered into a Walls attempt which is countered into a small package for two. Now the Walls get the submission at 4:46.

Rating: C-. My goodness Cody Rhodes matches are hard to sit through anymore. It’s not that they’re bad or anything because Cody is really good at making his matches work, but there’s no reason to believe he’s got a chance. Cody hasn’t won a match of note in months now and it’s hard to care about watching him lose to anyone at all.

Wyatt Family video. These guys are awesome.

Randy Orton vs. Dean Ambrose

Dean takes it to the corner to start and goes Anderson by raking Orton’s eyes across the top rope. Orton comes back with right hands of his own in the corner, only to have Ambrose fire off some knees to the chest to take over again. They head to the floor with Orton dropping him on the barricade, only to be sent into it himself as we take a break. Back with Ambrose in control with knees to the back followed by stomps in the corner.

Randy comes back with a quick suplex to get himself a breather and they trade headbutts and right hands. Orton gets the advantage but has the Elevated DDT countered by Ambrose. Dean goes up but jumps into a dropkick followed by the Elevated DDT. Ambrose bails to avoid the RKO and here’s the Shield for the DQ at 11:55.

Rating: C-. Not much here but they were getting a nice flow going right at the end. The good thing about Shield is they’ve attacked so many people that you can swap in any combination and have a good match with them. Not a bad match at all and thankfully you never can tell if Shield is going to run in or not, meaning the endings aren’t obvious.

Post match HELL NO comes in for the save, with Bryan down almost all of the work himself, and Shield is sent running. A HUGE YES chant ends the show.

Overall Rating: D+. Is there any reason to watch Smackdown anymore? It’s nothing but a supplement to Raw as nothing significant happens here and all the good long matches happen on Mondays as well. The show isn’t even really bad, but rather really uninteresting. I need a little more fresh content than Sheamus playing a shell game with Damien Sandow. Shield continues to be a highlight and there’s some decent stuff in the midcard, but anything with Sandow or Rhodes in it is incredibly dull, although that can’t be blamed on them. Very uninspiring show this week.

Results

Kane b. Seth Rollins – Chokeslam

Roman Reigns b. Daniel Bryan via DQ when Kane interfered

Curtis Axel b. Sin Cara – PerfectPlex

Big E. Langston b. Alberto Del Rio – Big Ending

Ryback b. Kofi Kingston – Shell Shock

Randy Orton b. Dean Ambrose via DQ when Shield interfered

Remember to follow me on Twitter @Kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Starrcade from Amazon at:

Smackdown
Date: May 29, 2009
Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Attendance: 7,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Todd Grisham

We’re nearly two weeks past Judgment Day and Edge is world champion, presumably still feuding with Hardy, who he beat to retain the title at said pay per view. Other than that we’re in the middle of Jericho vs. Mysterio in an excellent feud for the Intercontinental Title. That would be your pairing for your weekly Smackdown main event tag match. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio to open things up. The belt looks huge on Rey’s shoulder. He’s glad to be back in his home state and speaks a lot of Spanish for good measure. Apparently he’s fighting Jericho for the title at Extreme Rules in a no holds barred match. Some say it’s going to be dangerous but Mysterio thinks it’s going to be off the hook because he can do whatever move he wants. He can use a 619, a 232, a 323 or even an 818, whatever it takes to shut Jericho up.

Cue Jericho in a suit as he’s still very serious at this point. Jericho wants to know if Mysterio will think it’s off the hook when he bashes Rey’s head in with a chair, or when he hits Rey in the face with the belt after winning it. Mysterio tells Jericho to shut up because the title isn’t changing hands. Mickey Rourke is here apparently. Mysterio says Jericho’s words are worthless, so Jericho aims his next words at Rourke. Now Jericho wants to know why Rey wears a mask and what he’s hiding. Jericho promises that the mask is going to be Rey’s downfall and the fight is on but Jericho avoids the 619.

Great Khali/R-Truth vs. Dolph Ziggler/Mike Knox

Khali says What’s Up before the match to blow the fans’ minds. Knox has an AWESOME beard and Ziggler is a very low level heel still here. A few weeks back though Ziggler hit Khali in the leg with a chair over and over which was partially what got him noticed. Truth and Ziggler get things going with Truth taking over by out maneuvering Ziggler, which isn’t something you would see today. An armdrag takes Dolph down but Ziggler scampers away when Khali gets the tag.

Instead it’s off to Knox who gets kicked in the face and dragged back to the corner for the tag off to Truth. Knox puts him back down with a clothesline and a knee drop to the chest before it’s back to Ziggy. An elbow drop gets two for Dolph, whose nickname is apparently Mr. Congeniality. Off to a chinlock on Truth which is quickly broken, only to have both guys hit cross bodies at the same time. A double tag brings in the big men but Ziggler gets knocked out of the air by a Khali chop. Khali boots Knox down and Dolph walks out, allowing the Punjabi Plunge to pin Knox.

Rating: D+. This was fine but I don’t think Ziggler vs. Khali is going to go much of anywhere. Ziggler would of course get a lot better in the future while the other three guys wound up doing a lot of nothing. It would take Kofi Kingston showing up on Smackdown to really set fire to Ziggler as they would feud forever over whatever midcard title was on the blue show at the time.

Melina vs. Alicia Fox

Melina is Women’s Champion and the hometown girl but this is non-title. Alicia has Michelle McCool with her, who is the one really feuding with Melina at this point. I keep forgetting how good looking Michelle was. Alicia slaps Melina down but gets kicked in the face for her trouble. Melina does Trish’s Matrix move and kicks Alicia again from there before going outside to stare at McCool. Back in and Alicia gets two off a backbreaker but, say it with me, gets kicked in the head again. Melina mixes things up a bit by kicking her in the ribs for two before hitting a standing legdrop for the pin. Not much to see here other than the girls.

John Morrison thinks Umaga is stupid. Shelton Benjamin comes up and wants to fight Morrison again but John points out how little Benjamin has done in years.

Video on Edge vs. Hardy in their ladder match at Extreme Rules.

Here’s Hardy with something to say. Jeff says people think he’s crazy but this is where he fits perfectly. He talks about being with Edge in the first tag team ladder match and now they’ve taken different paths. At Extreme Rules he’s going to prove that last year wasn’t a fluke when he wins the title again and that’s that.

John Morrison vs. Umaga

Umaga has a leather strap with him which he’ll wear in his match with Punk at the PPV. Umaga kicks the strap to the floor and we’re ready to go. John pounds away to start but gets caught in the chest by a headbutt to put him down. Morrison starts speeding things up by goes after Umaga’s head like a schnook. Umaga misses a charge and falls to the outside, allowing Morrison to dive off the top to take out the Samoan.

Back in and Umaga’s counter to a sunset flip misses, followed by John hitting a running kick to the face for two. A Samoan drop puts Morrison down and out to the floor as we take a break. Back with Umaga holding a nerve hold which apparently messes with John’s brain, as he actually tries a suplex like an idiot. Umaga casually puts him on the apron and kicks Morrison out to the floor as Morrison deserves.

John gets back in and has his head taken off by a clothesline as Umaga is dominating at the moment. We hit the nerve hold again to make Morrison scream for mercy. Morrison comes back with an enziguri, only to be taken down by a spinning Rock Bottom for two. John tries to fight back and grabs a running DDT out of nowhere to put both guys down. Now Morrison gets smart and goes after the knee, only to be hit square in the throat to put him down. John gets back up for the Flying Chuck (Cody Rhodes’ Disaster Kick) to send Umaga back to the floor where he picks up the strap and blasts Morrison for the DQ.

Rating: C+. This was getting going by the end as they were doing the David vs. Goliath/power vs. speed formulas to a pretty effective degree. Both of these guys had good potential but never quite reached the highest point they could have, due to either drugs or drugs and Melina. Decent match here that would have been better with a good ending.

Post match Umaga hangs Morrison with the strap until Punk comes out and blasts Umaga with his MITB case to send him to the floor. Punk says at Extreme Rules he has no strategy as is his custom. He talks about how many things he’s done that no one said he could do, so why can’t he drag Umaga to all four corners?

World’s Greatest Tag Team vs. Cryme Tyme

For those of you who forget, this would be Charlie Haas/Shelton Benjamin vs. JTG/Shad Gaspard in a match set up because Cryme Tyme cost the other two a match last night on Superstars. Charlie and JTG get things going with Charlie quickly taking it to the mat and pounding away. JTG comes back with a quick Fameasser for two before bringing in Shad for some big generic power. Shad charges into a pair of knees in the corner and it’s off to Benjamin for a slugout.

Shelton tries a go behind but Shad easily powers him into the corner before taking Shelton down with a shoulder block. Gaspard launches JTG onto Shelton in a splash for two but Haas interference lets the actually challenging team take over. We take a break and come back with Charlie getting two before bringing Benjamin back in. Oh and before I forget: Haas and Benjamin are officially “the team formerly known as the World’s Greatest Tag Team.” I for one certainly care am more interested in them now.

Shelton hooks on a neck crank for a few moments before it’s back off to Charlie. He drives some knees into JTG’s shoulder while talking a lot of trash. Back to Shelton who pounds away in the corner but misses a splash. JTG goes for a tag but gets caught in a sweet German suplex for two. Charlie comes in again but gets kicked in the knee and taken down with a spinning clothesline, allowing for the hot tag to Shad. A big powerslam gets two on Shelton as everything breaks down. Benjamin counters a backdrop and hits Paydirt (jumping downward spiral) for the pin on Shad.

Rating: D+. At the end of the day, Cryme Tyme sucked and there isn’t much else to it. The guys just weren’t that talented or interesting at all and it really started to show. How JTG is still employed in the year 2013 is beyond me, especially given that Shelton and Charlie didn’t make it to the end of 2010.

Eve Torres vs. Layla

This is the result of a dance off gone wrong. In 2009 that’s the story of a Divas match. In 2013, it’s the story for continuing a Chris Jericho feud. Wrestling is funny that way sometimes. Layla charges at Eve to start and pounds away before they brawl on the mat. They head out to the floor for more brawling before going inside again for some….what would I call this…..oh bad wrestling. Layla cranks on Eve’s arms before getting caught in a hair drag to the mat. Eve gets two off a sunset flip and rolls through a bad looking cross body to pin Layla.

Rating: D. They look good in their outfits, they look good in their dance offs when they can shake their hips, and that’s about the extent of the good things about this crop of Divas. Layla would hook up with Michelle in a bit to form Laycool which was the best thing to happen to the Divas in YEARS. Also did anyone need two Divas matches in one show?

Jericho and Edge have a mini argument in the back with Jericho saying he’s done and Edge is on his own tonight.

Edge/Chris Jericho vs. Jeff Hardy/Rey Mysterio

Jeff pinned Edge last week, five days after losing to him at the PPV. Before the match Edge talks about Jeff wasting his potential by picking a ladder match. Edge says he has more success in ladder matches than anyone else, but Jeff is in a lot of them too. That’s the difference between them in ladder matches: Jeff always makes the highlight reel but Edge always wins. That’s a great line actually.

Just as Jericho warned, he isn’t here. During Mysterio’s entrance he talks to the fans as he is known to do, but one jumps him and lays Mysterio out, revealing himself to be Jericho. Hardy makes the save when Jericho goes for Rey’s mask, but Mysterio is taken to the back. Apparently we’re going to have a handicap match.

Jeff quickly takes Jericho down and loads up the Swanton but has to dive on Edge instead. Edge is sent to the floor and taken out by a plancha but Jericho catches Jeff with a springboard dropkick to send him back to the floor. We finally get down to a regular match with the world champion coming in to take over on the beaten down Hardy. A clothesline gets two on Jeff and we hit the chinlock.

Back up and it’s off to Jericho for a splash over the top for two. Hardy tries to fight back but misses a dropkick, only to get his knees up on the Lionsault. Back to Edge who gets clotheslined down and sent into the corner for the slingsthot dropkick, getting two. Edge is sent into Jericho to give Jeff two off a rollup and a Whisper in the Wind takes the Canadians down. Jericho botches the selling on a Twist of Fate but the spear is enough to pin Hardy.

Rating: C-. What were you really expecting here? At the end of the day there’s no way to have Hardy look like a real threat against these two and he barely lasted five minutes. This is a good way to let Edge get one over on Hardy without making Jeff look bad because there’s no way Hardy could realistically win here. Not much of a match but at least it was short.

Post match Edge crushes Hardy in a ladder to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a decent enough episode as the main event and Intercontinental Title stuff was REALLY solid at this point. Umaga vs. Morrison was decent enough too, but the rest of this show just didn’t work for the most part. The tag match and Divas match were pretty lame and felt like they were there to just fill in time rather being good matches. Smackdown was still miles ahead of Raw at this point though so this was the better show of the week by far.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Starrcade for just $4 from Amazon at:

Smackdown
Date: May 24, 2013
Location: CenturyLink Center Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield

We’re past Extreme Rules and the main story is of course HHH. He collapsed at the end of Raw while Curtis Axel was laying in the ring with no one paying a bit of attention to him, so odds are we’ll hear about getting an update on him on Raw tonight. Other than that we have Del Rio confirmed as the #1 contender for Ziggler whenever Dolph is healthy again. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the HHH/Heyman stuff from both Extreme Rules and Raw. We also get a little bit about Shield winning three belts as tonight it’s Kofi vs. Ambrose for the US Title.

Here’s the Miz for MizTV to open the show. Miz says that he’s versatile because he’s going to host this show and then he’ll win back the Intercontinental Title soon after. The guest tonight is Fandango who thankfully brings Summer Rae with him. Before Miz can ask him a question, Fandango stops him for the correct pronunciation of his name. Miz counters with some “reallys” and shows us a clip of the tag match from Raw where Fandango stopped for a dance.

Miz wants to know how obnoxious Fandango is. Fandango threatens to dance all over the face of anyone who comes near Summer before questioning Miz’s own ego. Miz says that Fandango looks like a dancing bag of Skittles which isn’t too far from accurate. The fans chant bag of Skittles, making Miz declare Fandango the new Fruity Pebbles. This brings out Wade Barrett with his horrible new music.

Barrett says he’ll get to Miz in a minute but first of all he’s angry at Fandango for tiptoeing through the tulips instead of being Barrett’s partner. Wade threatens Fandango if he ever does that again, so Fandango corrects his pronunciation. Miz says Barrett needs to focus on him because Miz has a title shot later tonight. Barrett punches Miz in the face and the brawl is on. Fandango and Summer leave as a referee comes out to break it up.

Intercontinental Title: The Miz vs. Wade Barrett

This is joined in progress after a break with Miz challenging. Fandango is also sitting in on commentary. Miz fights out of a chinlock and hits a flapjack, only to be taken down by a back elbow. Fandango says that he had to go to the back on Monday because his glitter was coming off. Barrett puts Miz on the top rope for a kick to the ribs for two and it’s off to a chinlock.

Back up and Miz hits a running knee lift and a bit boot. Fandango asks JBL to hit his music because apparently Bradshaw can do that. It’s time for some dancing as well as for the Winds of Change to Miz for two. Miz gets two of his own off a rollup before hitting a baseball slide to Fandango. A dropkick takes out Barrett’s knee but Fandango kicks Miz in the head for the DQ at 2:56 shown. This was angle advancement and barely a match at all.

Fandango and Barrett double team Miz post match but Barrett hits Fandango with the Bull Hammer as a receipt for Monday night. In something you almost never get to say anymore, Barrett stands tall.

Daniel Bryan is muttering to himself in the back when Kane comes in. He says that they both lost the titles, which Bryan interprets as Kane blaming him. Bryan insists that he isn’t the weak link as his paranoia continues.

Jack Swagger vs. Daniel Bryan

No entrance for Swagger again. Bryan goes right at Swagger and pounds away before sending Jack to the floor for the suicide dive. He fires off kicks to the chest against the barricade before taking it back inside for a near fall off a missile dropkick. Jack takes Bryan down off of a clothesline before putting him in the Tree of Woe for some knees. We take a break and come back with the two of them colliding before Bryan hits a running kick to the face in the corner.

More kicks to the chest have Jack in trouble and a running kick to the face gets two. Swagger finally catches one of the kicks in a high angle belly to belly for two of his own. Daniel rolls out of a gutwrench suplex but gets caught in the Patriot Lock, only to be rolled through for another near fall. The Vader Bomb hits knees and a HARD kick to Swagger’s head sees Bryan not cover but rather stomp Swagger even more. There’s the NO Lock for the tap out at 5:36 shown of 9:06.

Rating: C+. This was pretty decent and it’s cool to see a far more aggressive Bryan. I could go with the idea of him destroying people because he wants to prove how awesome he is in the ring. Also, when is the last time he beat someone with the NO Lock? It also seems that Swagger is back in the midcard all over again, which is pretty much what was expected once this feud with Del Rio died down.

Post match Bryan beats on him even more. The referee mentioned something about reversing the decision but no official announcement was ever made.

We get a package of stills from the last man standing match on Sunday. Cena will be back on Raw.

We also get all the Ryback stuff from Monday with him challenging for an ambulance match and throwing Ryder in the ambulance.

Here’s Damien Sandow in the ring wearing a suit. There’s a table in front of him and as usual, he seems annoyed. Sandow talks about seeing two people compete in a series of stupid competitions, ranging from a tug of war to arm wrestling to a truck pull. Tonight, Sandow wants them to deal with some mental issues. There’s a tied up rope on the table and we hear the story of the Gordian Knot. Sandow has Matt Striker try to untie the knot while making fun of the education system when Striker can’t do it.

Cue Sheamus who makes fun of Sandow’s hobby of playing with knots. Sheamus talks about playing with Rubic’s Cubes as a kid before picking up the knot. He tries to untie it but Sandow gets impatient. Damien pulls out a pair of bolt cutters and hacks it up. Sheamus tries a Brogue Kick but Damien bails to the floor, shouting I KNEW IT! Instead Shaemus offers to teach him about Newton’s Law, which means he throws Striker through the ropes at Sandow. Your lesson of the night: when you get outsmarted, throw human beings.

Chris Jericho vs. Big Show

That’s a pretty fast recovery from Orton’s punt. Jericho charges straight at Big Show for some reason as Matthews compares Jericho to Johnny Depp. JBL: “Johnny Depp never has been been inside a WWE ring and neither has Jay Silverheels or Tonto.” Show shoves him down with ease and catches Jericho in a bearhug. He lets it go for no apparent reason, allowing Jericho to dropkick Show’s knee out and pound away, only to be caught by a spear for two. Jericho escapes the chokeslam attempt and goes up, only to jump into a loud chop to the chest.

Show goes to the middle rope but misses an elbow drop, allowing Jericho to hit the Lionsault for two. The Codebreaker is countered into a sunset flip attempt but Show pulls him up with a chokeslam, only to be pulled down by a DDT for two. The Walls are easily shoved away and there’s the chokeslam but Jericho rolls to the floor. Jericho escapes a ram into the post by sending Show into the post himself. Jericho hits a decent Codebreaker to send Show into the timekeeper’s area which is good for a countout win for Jericho at 6:30.

Rating: C. As usual, there’s only so much Jericho can do with a guy Big Show’s size but they tried. The Codebreaker was better than I would have expected and Jericho managed to not get crushed. This is also a good win for Jericho to bounce back with, as both guys are capable of losing match after match but be just fine.

Post match Big Show picks up a chair but Jericho kicks it out of his hands and beats Big Show with it for fun.

The Raw ReBound is the introduction of Curtis Axel and the match with HHH, followed by HHH collapsing.

Here are Heyman and Axel with something to say. Heyman brags about his success with Lesnar and Punk and now he’s pointing his finger at Axel. Curtis himself gets to speak and says that in one night, he accomplished more than his father and grandfather ever accomplished. He took HHH’s best shot and then left him laying. Curtis says that he won on Monday and says his name a few more times. That was just day one and tonight is day two.

Curtis Axel vs. Sin Cara

This is joined in progress after the break with the stupid lights back again. Sin Cara spines out of a fireman’s carry before firing off some kicks. A standing rana takes Curtis down and there’s the wrist drag out of the corner. Curtis throws Cara to the apron and stomps away in the corner. Randy Orton is talking about Curtis Axel RIGHT NOW on the WWE App. Cara comes back with the Tajiri handspring elbow and a crossbody for two. A top rope version of the crossbody misses though and the formerly known McGillicutter (running one arm neckbreaker) gets the pin on Cara at 3:00 shown.

Rating: D+. Not much to see here but at least Axel got the win. Why he couldn’t have hit that move on Monday and won by countout or something is beyond me, but I’m sure he somehow got a bigger rub by not winning than winning or something like that. Anyway, he looks fine here and while it would be interesting to see him go straight at someone like Orton right away, I can’t picture that happening.

US Title: Kofi Kingston vs. Dean Ambrose

Kofi is challenging of course. Dean goes it alone on this one and seems to have some fans on his side. Kofi fires off some kicks and right hands but gets taken down by a fast shoulder block. Back up and Kofi gets no count off a dropkick before getting taken down by another shoulder. Ambrose chokes with his leg on the mat but Kofi fires off more dropkicks. A middle rope ax handle gets two on Dean but as Kofi goes up top he has to dive on Reigns outside. Roman and Seth come in for the DQ at 2:30.

Post match Shield beats on Kofi until Sheamus and Randy Orton make the save. If you’re a Smackdown fan, you know the drill from here.

Kofi Kingston/Randy Orton/Sheamus vs. Shield

Joined in progress again with Sheamus slamming Reigns down for two. Off to Orton for some headbutts to Rollins and right hands in the corner. Kofi comes in to work on the arm for a bit before it’s back to Randy to crank on the arm as well. Rollins finally gets in a knee to the face and makes the tag off to Ambrose who takes the US Champion down with ease. A knee rake across the face allows for the tag back to Sheamus but Ambrose gets in a shot to the ribs.

Back to Rollins who pounds away in the corner, only to get caught in mid air off a middle rope cross body. Reigns and Ambrose have to save their partner from the ten forearms to the chest as we take a break. Back with Ambrose hitting a knee to Sheamus’ ribs before it’s back to Reigns for stomps in the corner and a lot of trash talk. Sheamus fights out and avoids a charge from Reigns, sending him shoulder first into the post. Hot tag brings in Orton for all his favorites, including the Elevated DDT.

Ambrose bails to the floor to avoid the RKO and Reigns gets in a shot to Orton. Reigns comes up limping though, which is apparently a legit ankle injury. Back in and Rollins pounds on Orton before it’s back to Dean for a front facelock. Rollins comes in again for some right hands to the head as this is basically a handicap match now. Randy gets in a right hand but gets caught in a downward spiral into the middle buckle to put him right back down. Orton comes back with more right hands and snaps off a quick superplex to put both guys down.

The hot tag brings in Sheamus to face Ambrose (Reigns didn’t have his hand out but was instead waving Rollins over to Ambrose) and house is cleaned. Even Reigns takes a shoulder to the ribs before Ambrose is hit with the rolling senton into the forearms to Rollins’ chest. Reigns breaks up White Noise on Dean with a spear but rolls to the floor for an RKO from from Orton. Kofi comes in and gets two on Dean, but it’s Rollins tripping Kingston up, allowing Dean to hit the bulldog driver for the pin at 11:48 shown of 15:18.

Rating: B-. The usual good wild six man tag for Shield here. The fact that Reigns was able to take a shot to the ribs, throw a spear and then take an RKO suggests that the injury isn’t all that bad so maybe he just tweaked the ankle a bit. We also got the ending we needed here with Dean pinning Kofi, so hopefully we don’t have to sit through another rematch on PPV between them.

Overall Rating: B. This show worked well for the most part. We got the potential start of a three way feud for the Intercontinental Title, Bryan being edgier, Axel winning a match and the usual good Shield match. On the other hand, I’m not sure where Jericho vs. Big Show can go that would be all that interesting. Also what was up with that Sheamus segment? I can’t imagine him in a feud with Sandow after how many times he’s beaten Damien up. Also the segment didn’t really tell us anything we didn’t already know, so what was the point of that? Good show this week for the most part though.

Results

The Miz b. Wade Barrett via DQ when Fandango interfered

Daniel Bryan b. Jack Swagger – NO Lock

Chris Jericho b. Big Show via countout

Curtis Axel b. Sin Cara – McGillicutter

Kofi Kingston b. Dean Ambrose via DQ when Shield interfered

Shield b. Kofi Kingston/Sheamus/Randy Orton – Bulldog Driver to Kingston

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my book on the History of the WWE Championship from Amazon for just $5 at:

Smackdown
Date: May 17, 2013
Location: Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita, Kansas
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Josh Matthews

It’s finally the last show before Extreme Rules. On the Smackdown side (assuming there still is such a thing), the main event has been changed over to Del Rio vs. Swagger in an I Quit match due to Ziggler being injured. As for tonight, expect a lot more hype for the major matches on Sunday, including Ryback vs. Cena. Not with Cena around of course as this is Smackdown but you get the idea. Let’s get to it.

We open with the voiceover guy talking about how Ziggler is out of Extreme Rules with a concussion. Also Orton and Big Show will be on MizTV. I believe that was originally going to be the Highlight Reel.

In the arena we have MizTV already set up. Here are Big Show and Orton, complete with clips of both guys being knocked out with the others’ finishers. Their match on Sunday will be an extreme rules match meaning anything goes, but Big Show says he has all the weapons he needs on the end of his arms. On Sunday, it’s not going to be an RKO but a TKO. Orton says that Big Show is crazy if he thinks Show is going to beat him in Orton’s hometown. Randy says this feud is all about trust, so trust him when he says he’s taking down the giant at Extreme Rules.

This brings out Swagger and Colter for some reason. Colter talks about how people are really going to remember Sunday night because Swagger is going to become #1 contender, making his America a reality. This brings out Del Rio and Ricardo who say Alberto is going to win on Sunday. Del Rio also calls Colter Jumanji Man.

Now we get to see Mark Henry who says what’s going to be remembered about Sunday is Mark Henry setting world records for pulling semis. They’re also going to remember him beating up Sheamus within an inch of his life. This brings out Sheamus as we’re running out of room out here. He says why wait until Sunday and pulls out a strap to clear the ring.

Post break, Teddy comes out, six man tag, all is right with the world.

Roman Reigns/Seth Rollins vs. Usos

The Usos actually get their full entrance for the first time in months. Jey takes over on Rollins to start and rams him into the corner before bringing in Jimmy. Reigns gets the tag and runs over Jimmy with a clothesline. The beating carries on in the corner before Reigns spears Jimmy down for the pin at 1:40. Total squash.

Kofi tries to make the save for the Usos but gets knocked to the floor. Kingston grabs a chair and sends Shield running.

Teddy welcomes Miz back to Smackdown when Damien Sandow comes up. Damien says he should have his own show since Miz nearly started a riot. Teddy is offered to be a co-producer, but instead he makes Miz vs. Sandow.

We look at the end of the elimination tag on Monday and Ryback attacking Cena’s leg.

Tons of Funk vs. Prime Time Players

Brodus pounds on Young to start before it’s quickly off to Tensai and an elbow/side slam combo. Young bails to the floor and Titus dives on Tensai as he goes after Darren. O’Neil comes in and runs over Tensai, only to miss a charge into the corner. Hot tag brings in Brodus to splash Young in the corner. A powerslam gets two as Titus makes the save (despite being late and the referee having to pause his count early), only to be thrown to the floor. The double splash ends Young at 2:44.

We look at the dance off or lack thereof from Raw.

Chris Jericho vs. Antonio Cesaro

Feeling out process to start with JBL saying Cesaro is the strongest man in the WWE. When you have another guy on the show earlier who is the strongest man in the world, I have an issue buying that. Then again the WWE Championship is far bigger than the World Heavyweight Championship so it’s hard to say. On the WWE App we see Summer pretending to hurt her ankle in the back. Interesting that they never give the sales pitch on Smackdown at all but we get it shoved down our throats on Raw.

Jericho knocks Cesaro to the floor but Antonio comes back with hard chops in the corner to take over. The Canadian comes back with a missile dropkick off the middle rope to send Cesaro to the floor and the springboard dropkick puts him right back down there. We take a break and come back with Cesaro holding a chinlock. Jericho fights up and hits some shoulder blocks followed by a top rope ax handle. Cesaro kicks away from a Walls attempt but the Lionsault hits knees. He picks Jericho up but gets caught by a quick enziguri for two.

A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two on Jericho as Cesaro stays on the ribs. Cesaro stalks Jericho and puts on another chinlock which isn’t exactly working over the ribs. Jericho fights up and goes up top, only to jump into the European uppercut for two. The gutwrench suplex is countered into the Walls and Cesaro taps at 8:28 shown of 11:58.

Rating: C+. Not bad here but Cesaro’s stock continues to fall. This is his third straight high profile loss on TV since he said he had no competition, which makes him look even lamer than his losses do. The company line seems to be that he’s boring, which clearly couldn’t have anything to do with him losing all the time, thereby giving the fans no reason to believe he could pull off a win. It has to be him just naturally being boring, despite being fed every line he says.

Post match here’s Fandango through the crowd but Jericho catches him. Fandango is run off so Cesaro gets the Codebreaker, just in case he had anyone believing he wasn’t a total loser anymore.

Video from Colter/Swagger on extremism, including stuff about Benghazi and budget cuts.

We look at Langston vs. Swagger from Raw which resulted in Del Rio standing tall.

The Miz vs. Damien Sandow

Cody Rhodes is on commentary as he faces Miz at the pre-show on Sunday. Miz quickly takes him down with a headlock but Damien stomps away in the corner to take over. Miz comes back with a clothesline, only to charge into an elbow in the corner. We discuss Cody’s bromance with Sandow as Damien bails to the floor to avoid a left hand. Back in and Sandow hits him with a knee lift to take over. Cody grabs a mic and says that everyone should get on their feet and show Damien some respect.

Sandow suplexes him down and drops a knee for two. Wade Barrett is talking about Miz on the WWE App. Not that we can hear what he’s saying or anything but you get the idea. Sandow drops Miz throat first on the middle rope before hitting the Russian legsweep. The Wind-Up elbow hits for two and it’s off to the chinlock. We go back to the same overused joke of Cody having a mustache similar to some guy from the 30s (actor Errol Flynn in this case) and no one knowing who that is. Miz comes back with the corner clothesline and the top rope ax handle. After knocking Cody to the floor, the figure four ends Damien at 4:54.

Rating: C-. This was fine for the most part. I’m still not wild on Miz using the figure four but at this point it doesn’t seem like it’s going away. Miz fighting Sandow is the perfect way to set up the match on Sunday against Rhodes so I don’t have many complaints here at all. Not a bad match here but it was pretty dull for the most part.

Aksana vs. Kaitlyn

Non-title here. Earlier today, Kaitlyn got flowers from her secret admirer. Apparently the secret admirer is now tweeting and Josh thinks he knows who it is. Kaitlyn runs Aksana over with a shoulder block but the reverse DDT is escaped. Josh thinks the admirer is Sin Cara because he wears a mask and therefore is ugly and needs to hide in the shadows.

Aksana drives a knee into Kaitlyn’s back as the announcers talk about why JBL should call Aksana. Now we talk about how Josh is poor as Aksana hits a bad Russian legsweep for two. Off to a chinlock on Kaitlyn as the announcers now make thinly veiled references about disgraced Congressmen Mark Sanford and Anthony Weiner, because their scandals were almost two years ago. I’m sure EVERYONE gets what they’re talking about, right? Anyway Kaitlyn hits a hard spear for the pin at 3:34.

Rating: D. The spear and Aksana’s outfit looked good and that’s about all I can say here as far as positive aspects of the match. The commentary here was like a DVD audio track with nothing but stupid jokes and references that almost no one is going to get. I know the Divas are nothing of note, but this is almost all you hear on Raw anymore. It doesn’t make me chuckle but rather makes me want to mute my TV.

Video on Lesnar vs. HHH from Raw.

Mark Henry/Big Show/Jack Swagger vs. Alberto Del Rio/Sheamus/Randy Orton

Lillian introduces Ricardo in Spanish and Ricardo introduces Del Rio in English, which might be a first for him. Del Rio and Swagger get things going here with Jack grabbing a headlock. Del Rio comes back with a hard kick to the back for two before firing off more kicks in the corner. Off to Orton as Swagger is in early trouble. Randy pounds away in the corner but Swagger comes back with a shoulder block to Orton’s leg.

Orton’s leg seems to be just fine though as he snaps off a dropkick to put Swagger down. Back to Del Rio for a dropkick of his own for two. Some forearms to Swagger’s back sets up the Backstabber to send Jack out to the floor. A suicide dive puts Swagger down again but as they come back in, a Big Show distraction lets Jack slam Del Rio off the top. Big Show comes in now and stands on Alberto’s back and fires off some chops in the corner.

Henry comes in and headbutts Del Rio down before bringing Swagger back in. Alberto gets up a boot in the corner to stop a charging Jack, followed by a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to put him down. Show breaks up the tag though and we take a break. Back with Del Rio kicking out of a leg lock from Swagger before sending him face first into the middle buckle. Big Show breaks up another tag and tries the Alley Oop (backwards falling powerbomb) but Del Rio counters into a hurricanrana.

Sheamus finally gets the tag and cleans house before hitting White Noise on Big Show. That is scary power. The Brogue Kick is caught though and Sheamus walks into a chokeslam for two. Back to Swagger who drops some elbows, only to be caught in the fireman’s carry roll to put him back down. Off to Henry who breaks up the attempted tag to Orton. Henry pounds away while shouting about Sheamus taking his beating like a man.

Big Show comes in again and hits rapid fire chops to Sheamus’ chest. Swagger is in again and fires off knees to the ribs and a clothesline for no cover. The Vader Bomb hits for two but as he loads up another attempt, Sheamus catches Jack in an electric chair. Hot tag brings in Orton who goes right into his finishing sequence on Swagger, only to be run over by Henry. Sheamus and Show go to the floor as Del Rio kicks Henry in the head. Swagger tries the Patriot Lock on Del Rio but takes the RKO for the pin at 12:04 shown of 15:34.

Rating: B. Good solid six man tag here which was the right call to set things up on Sunday. The ending was the usual insanity with Orton hitting the RKO for a big pop so no complaints there. I’ve always been a fan of mixing multiple feuds into one match as you can develop each story while giving us some fresh pairings at the same time. Good main event here.

Overall Rating: B-. I liked tonight’s show so much better than anything WWE’s main shows have put out in awhile. First and foremost (long recap aside), tonight wasn’t about the world title match or the cage match. The other, and far more interesting matches, got the spotlight and it made for a much more interesting and entertaining show. It’s also amazing how much easier it is to sit through a show with only one ad for the WWE App.

Results

Roman Reigns/Seth Rollins b. Usos – Spear to Jimmy

Tons of Funk b. Prime Time Players – Double Splash to Young

Chris Jericho b. Antonio Cesaro – Walls of Jericho

Kaitlyn b. Aksana – Spear

Randy Orton/Sheamus/Alberto Del Rio b. Big Show/Mark Henry/Jack Swagger – RKO to Swagger

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my book on the History of the WWE Championship from Amazon for just $5 at:

Smackdown
Date: May 10, 2013
Location: PNC Arena, Raleigh, North Carolina
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Josh Mathews

With only two Smackdowns left until Extreme Rules, the biggest question is obvious: will more furniture be destroyed here tonight? Oh wait this is Smackdown, meaning Lesnar and HHH will never appear here. Anyway tonight we’re likely to get more build up towards the triple threat, meaning some combination of the people are likely to fight each other so that one can look weaker than another. Let’s get to it.

We open with the voiceover and a video on the triple threat stuff from Raw, with Swagger destroying Ziggler and Del Rio with the ladder. It’s Swagger vs. Langston tonight, as well as Ambrose vs. Bryan.

Jericho is in the ring for the Highlight Reel. His guest tonight is Ryback so we see some clips from Raw with Ryback beating Cena down. Jericho says he sees where Ryback is coming from but Ryback doesn’t really care. It’s Jericho’s show though so he gets to talk about what he wants to. Jericho knows about all the times Shield has beaten Ryback down and all the times he’s lost the WWE Championship. He says he’s been WWE Champion six times so he understands what Ryback is going through. That’s a bit confusing as he only held that title once. He’s held six world titles but only one WWE Title.

Anyway Jericho wants to know what Ryback’s Rules are. Jericho has gone through a period with people gunning for him because he had a chip on his shoulder the size of the big show. Ryback doesn’t care so Jericho talks about how the Jericholics are judging Ryback. The fans understand the difference between beating Rock and Austin in one night and beating a one legged Cena in one night.

Jericho tells Ryback to be careful what he wishes for, because no one will respect him if he wins the title. Ryback says Jericho talks to much and threatens to drop him right now. Jericho says he doesn’t think Ryback will do a thing, so here’s Teddy to make this the main event. Does Booker do anything on Smackdown anymore? Ryback lays out Jericho with a right hand.

Mark Henry is going to try to pull two tractor trailers tonight to break a world record.

Kofi Kingston vs. Cody Rhodes

Non-title of course. Cody trips him down but gets caught in a flip over armdrag as Kofi speeds things up. Rhodes gets in an elbow to the face and hits a knee to Kofi’s thigh followed by the front suplex for two. Off to an armbar on the champion but Kofi easily escapes and chops Cody down. A rollup gets two on Rhodes but he rolls through Kofi’s spinning crossbody for two. Both finishers miss but as Cody loads up the Disaster Kick he jumps into Trouble in Paradise for the pin at 3:28.

Rating: C. This was fine given the time constraints. I’m not wild on Cody losing again but he’s way past the point of being a threat on Smackdown. Kofi is still his same old self, having decent to good matches but never rising above the midcard at all. In other words, this was exactly what you would expect from these two.

We look at Lesnar destroying HHH’s office on Raw. Calling it frightening and a workplace invasion over and over again doesn’t make it suck any less than it already did. I don’t know about you, but I have a problem getting upset that Lesnar destroyed a bunch of furniture and a TV that the company probably paid for. Oh wait he also broke a replica belt and some photos. How ever will HHH replace those things?

Colter talks about how Swagger is going to climb the ladder like an AMERICAN, one step at a time.

Big E. Langston vs. Jack Swagger

Del Rio is on commentary. Before the match, he slides in a ladder but Swagger kicks Dolph in the face before he can do anything with it. Langston is knocked to the floor but Ziggler dropkicks the ladder into Swagger’s face. Del Rio comes in and hits the low superkick to Dolph’s face and rams the ladder into his head. Swagger has the ladder thrown at him and Del Rio stands tall atop the ladder. Somewhere in there Ziggler got a concussion and as of this writing, his status is still in doubt for the PPV. No match of course.

Dean Ambrose vs. Daniel Bryan

They slug it out in the corner to start until Bryan hits a running knee to the ribs to take over. Some hard kicks to the back have Ambrose in trouble but he comes back by sending Bryan face first into the buckle. Bryan moonsaults out of the corner and hits a clothesline to set up kicks to Ambrose’s chest. Dean rolls to the floor and there’s the big suicide dive to take both guys out.

We take a break and come back with Ambrose dropping elbows on Bryan before putting on a cross arm choke. Ambrose transitions into a nerve hold and neck crank, giving him the rest hold trifecta. Bryan fights up but gets kneed in the ribs to stop his comeback cold. A running dropkick gets two for Dean and it’s back to the chinlock. Back up and Ambrose misses a charge in the corner, slamming his shoulder into the post.

Bryan fires off the kicks in the corner before putting Dean in the Tree of Woe for even more kicks. A running dropkick to Ambrose’s ribs gets two but he comes back with a quick backslide for two. Bryan kicks Dean down again and goes up top for the headbutt, only to be distracted by Shield. The delay makes him switch over to a missile dropkick for two instead.

Dean comes back with a forward belly to back suplex (he picked Bryan up for a belly to back and snapped him forward onto the mat instead) for two. Ambrose is starting to snap and fires off knees to Bryan’s face. Bryan grabs the NO Lock out of nowhere but Reigns comes in for the save while the referee is watching Kane and Rollins fight. Dean loads up the bulldog driver but Kofi Kingston runs in for the DQ at 9:21 shown of 12:51.

Rating: B-. Good match here as Ambrose continues to look good in the ring. I like the Kofi run in as it’s pretty clearly setting up Ambrose challenging him for the US Title either at Extreme Rules or soon thereafter. The match here worked well as both guys got to look strong and the ending saves both guys from losing while also setting up future stuff. That’s how I like my run in finishes: efficient.

Shield is cleared out post match.

We recap the Highlight Reel, because we can’t remember something that happened 50 minutes ago.

We see a clip from earlier today with Mark Henry attached to a semi truck and pulling it down the road. Apparently that’s a warmup and next he’ll pull TWO of them, which combine to weigh over 110,000lbs.

Clip from Raw of Sheamus getting taken down by Henry and whipped with a belt. The photos of the welts on his body are rather disturbing. The match at Extreme Rules is a strap match, where you have to touch all four buckles.

We go live to the parking lot where Henry is attached to two semi trucks. Before he starts he promises to destroy Sheamus at the PPV. Henry can’t pull it at first but after Striker asks him some annoying questions, Henry gets all fired up and finally pulls them forward. That’s rather impressive looking, whether it was rigged or not. Henry is spent….and Sheamus doesn’t appear. That’s kind of surprising.

The Raw ReBound recounts all of the Ryback/Cena stuff from Raw.

Randy Orton looks at a clip of Big Show knocking him out on Monday. He says that vouching for Big Show got him knocked out twice, which has only made him more venomous.

Big Show vs. Tensai

Tensai pounds away at Big Show and knocks him into the corner with right hands. Not that it matters as Show hits a single right hand and wins in 50 seconds.

Brodus gets speared down by Big Show but before Show can load up the WMD, Orton runs in with an RKO for the giant.

AJ runs into Kaitlyn as she gets another text from her secret admirer. Kaitlyn suggests that it’s Dolph and they get into a catty argument until Natalya comes up to scare AJ off. Khali pops up in a Mysterio mask which is his undercover attire. He takes off the mask to reveal that it’s actually not Mysterio before leaving. Kaitlyn says the mask isn’t really needed and he just needs to keep his ears open. Natalya tells Khali he doesn’t have to dress like Rhodes, as he now has a mustache on.

Chris Jericho vs. Ryback

Ryback shoves him into the corner to start but gets caught by a dropkick to put him down. Jericho is thrown to the floor as Ryback shrugs off whatever Chris throws at him. Back in and Ryback pounds Jericho down as the fans chant for the Canadian. Off to a chinlock by Ryback but Jericho fights up and elbows Ryback to the apron for the springboard dropkick. Ryback starts getting fired up but that might be too interesting for a heel so he stops to think instead as we take a break.

Back with Ryback stomping on Jericho in the corner before working over the leg a little bit. Now it’s off to a body vice as Ryback can’t seem to pick a body part. Jericho fights up but gets caught in a big spinebuster for two as JBL gets annoyed with Josh being an idiot on commentary. Josh: “Ryback will be in the ring with John Cena in ten days.” JBL: “WELL DUH!” Off to a neck crank on Jericho as Ryback mocks the fans chanting for him. Back up and Jericho is sent over the top, only to hold on and go up top for an ax handle to the head.

Ryback slams him down again but misses a splash, allowing Jericho to hit a Lionsault to Ryback’s back for two. As usual, the announcers are surprised that the Lionsault only got two. The Codebreaker is countered into another spinebuster and there’s a jackknife powerbomb to keep the Canadian down. Someone needs to use the powerbomb as a finisher again. It’s been far too long. Josh is totally behind Ryback in this match and criticizes Cole for hanging on to Cena, complete with comparing Cole’s love of Cena to JR’s love of Austin. That’s very odd to hear coming from Matthews.

Jericho makes a quick comeback and tries the Walls but Ryback is just too strong. He kicks Jericho away before catching a cross body in a fallaway slam for no cover. The Meathook connects but Chris rolls through Shell Shock into the Walls of Jericho but Ryback easily gets the ropes. Now the Codebreaker hits but Ryback falls out to the floor. Jericho follows him out but gets thrown into the barricade and crotched against the post…..for a DQ at 11:00 shown of 14:30.

Rating: C+. Not bad here but the ending was kind of lame. I guess the idea was to show that Ryback will be able to do whatever he wants to do at the PPV, but it really fell flat here. Instead the ending could have been beating Jericho down and counting to ten, but again that might make Ryback look too intense and he might be effective as a heel. Also what was with Josh being a Ryback fanboy here?

Post match Ryback knocks Jericho over the announce table to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This wasn’t a bad show but it felt like nothing happened at all. There were four matches and two of them didn’t even make it to three and a half minutes. The Henry thing, which impressive, didn’t do much for anyone, Ryback continues to flounder as a heel because everything that got him over as a face has been taken away because it might make him too interesting. The world title stuff is the same schtick we’ve seen them do for months now. The show definitely isn’t bad but it continues to have Smackdown’s main problem: there’s no need for it to exist.

Results

Kofi Kingston b. Cody Rhodes – Trouble in Paradise

Dean Ambrose b. Daniel Bryan via DQ when Kofi Kingston interfered

Big Show b. Tensai – WMD

Chris Jericho b. Ryback via DQ when Ryback sent Jericho into the post

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my book on the History of the WWE Championship from Amazon for just $5 at:

I’m cheating with this one as this show was taped on the 8th. I couldn’t find anything else from that date though.

Smackdown
Date: May 11, 2012
Location: Roanoke Civic Center, Roanoke, Virginia
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Booker T

We’ve got two shows before Over the Limit and after Raw we have a fatal fourway main event instead of just Sheamus vs. Del Rio which should be a big upgrade over the singles match. Other than that we have very little set up for the PPV on the blue side. The show is going to be a filler show so it doesn’t really need to be that set up. I’m sure we’ll get Show vs. Rhodes again too. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip from the Raw tag match and the post match brawl/announcement in the back.

Sheamus/Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio/Chris Jericho

No car for Del Rio this time. Orton and Jericho get things going. Randy takes him down with a shoulder block and slaps Sheamus on the shoulder to tag him in. Sheamus clotheslines Jericho down and brings Randy back in with a hearty slap on the arm. Off to Del Rio who gets taken down but the knee drop misses. Alberto goes for the arm and drops some knees on it.

Randy gets in a boot as the announcers say there’s no point in trying to predict the fourway. Tag to Sheamus who hits the Regal Roll for two. Jericho low bridges Sheamus to send him to the floor and gets in a shot to the injured shoulder. Jericho comes in legally and puts on a modified Fujiwara armbar.

To give you an idea of the commentary I have to listen to here, this exchange happens: Josh: “I know you can’t predict a winner in the fatal fourway but will Sheamus retain?” Michael: “I don’t think so because it’s almost mathematically impossible. He only has a 25% chance.” After that butchering of both logic and math, Sheamus hits Jericho with the ax handle and tags in Orton. RKO is countered but a dropkick gets two for Orton. Everything breaks down and the referee calls for the bell after about four seconds for the double DQ at 5:19.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t really a match but rather just a backdrop for the double DQ ending. That’s probably a good thing too as there’s no need to have anyone look better or weaker before the PPV. It was just a basic main event style tag match until then and at least we didn’t have to wait long before it got thrown out.

Post break we’re told that it’s Del Rio vs. Orton and Sheamus vs. Jericho later.

AJ vs. Kaitlyn

AJ takes her down immediately and then does it again. She dropkicks the knee and hits a running knee to the head for the pin at 35 seconds.

Post match AJ goes after Kaitlyn again but here’s Daniel Bryan. He says he’s impressed by her ruthlessness and AJ looks like a little lost puppy. Bryan sees her in a new light and is willing to move past all the angst they’ve had. After he becomes WWE Champion at Over the Limit he’s looking forward to moving on. AJ looks at him and Bryan nods, but Bryan says he’s looking forward to moving on to Kaitlyn. AJ looks completely psychotic and leaves.

Daniel Bryan vs. Big Show

Show corners him and chops the chest. Bryan goes for the knee but it doesn’t do much good. Show chops him again but Bryan manages to take him down with a middle rope dropkick. He hooks the YES Lock….and there’s the bell at 1:28. Ace pops up at the timekeeper’s table and says Bryan wins by submission.

Ace makes Show apologize again and Show is humiliated again. Ace says that on Monday Show better give him a real apology. Way to emasculate the good guys WWE! As Ace is leaving he says that at Extreme Rules, Lesnar destroyed Cena and revolutionized the WWE. In nine nights, he’s going to beat Cena and shake the WWE to its foundation.

Heath Slater is in the ring and says that his opponent looks like a caveman with a pea sized brain. The guy he’s facing tonight hasn’t beaten anyone like the One Man Southern Rock Band. Again, WHAT DOES THAT NAME MEAN???

Ryback vs. Heath Slater

Slater actually gets in some offense but before I can make an NXT joke, it’s powerslam, clothesline and MuscleBuster at 1:15 for Ryback’s latest win.

Teddy Long is guest ring announcer for the next match.

Antonio Cesaro vs. Alex Riley

Teddy has to run off a long list of names for Cesaro such as the Swiss Sensation, His Opponent’s Plight and Aksana’s Delight. Cesaro hits a big boot in the corner and a gutwrench suplex. Riley gets in some jobber offense but the spinebuster is broken up. The European Uppercut sets up that Gotch whatever move for the pin at 2:23.

Post match Aksana reminds Teddy they were just friends but Cesaro is her lover. They kiss and Teddy wants to cry.

Video on Cena’s work with Make-A-Wish, which he wrote an article for USA Today about. Love him or hate him, that’s awesome stuff.

Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio

The entrances are cut for some reason. Del Rio controls to start but Orton comes back and hits the slingshot into the bottom rope for two. Alberto drapes the arm over the top rope to take over. Hammerlock slam gets two and it’s off to an armbar. Orton gets up and powerslams Alberto but the elevated DDT is countered. He sends Orton to the apron and hits an enziguri for two.

Orton comes back again with the backbreaker but Del Rio kicks him in the arm. Codebreaker to the arm puts Orton down and he loads up the armbreaker, but Orton kicks him off. Elevated DDT from the top rope hits but Ricardo is on the top rope. He jumps right into an RKO which is good for the DQ at 5:22.

Rating: C. I liked this. The story of Orton using his usual stuff to counteract all of the arm work was working for me and even though there was no way Orton would ever tap to the hold, it was interesting watching him counter all that stuff. Then again I’m an Orton fan so that probably has a lot to do with it. Also anyone jumping into an RKO is cool to see.

Del Rio puts Orton’s shoulder into the post and hooks the armbreaker post match.

R-Truth vs. Jack Swagger

This is due to the tag title match that was set up for the PPV. Truth quickly takes over and hits a dancing legdrop for one. AW and company are watching in the back. Mason Ryan is with them now. Swagger comes back with a wheelbarrow suplex for two. He hits Truth’s back a few times but Truth comes back with a DDT to put both guys down. Swagger tries another wheelbarrow suplex but Truth rolls him up for two. Dolph trips up Truth and gets punched and kicked by the champions. Swagger jumps Truth on the floor but Kofi hits Trouble in Paradise. That lets the Little Jimmy get the pin at 3:20.

Rating: D+. Another short match in an annoying series of them tonight. This is your usual formula to set up a tag team title match and I still have yet to find anyone that cares about this match and feud at all. This match was just ok at best but again, with only three and a half minutes to work with, there’s only so much they could do.

We get a piece of the Cena sitdown interview from Monday.

Santino Marella/Zack Ryder vs. Titus O’Neil/Darren Young

Ryder doesn’t even get an entrance anymore. Titus runs Santino over to start and slams him down. Off to Young who hits a neckbreaker and belly to back suplex. Titus suplexes Young onto Santino and it’s off to a Darren chinlock. Santino escapes and tags in Ryder who speeds things up. He hits his usual stuff and the Broski Boot gets two on Darren. Rough Ryder is broken up by Titus and Santino gets clotheslined down while he loads up the Cobra. Young knocks Ryder off the ropes and the Demolition Decapitator (called the Ghetto Blaster) gets the pin at 2:59.

Titus makes Lillian announce the winners again. They say they’ll be the new champions and make millions.

Damien Sandow says he knows his message is going over everyone’s heads but they have no one to look up to. He’ll be the sword of taste and decency, which concludes the interview. You’re welcome.

Brodus Clay vs. Hunico

Hunico and Camacho jump Brodus before the bell. Camacho is thrown out and Brodus starts smiling. There’s the bell and the beating begins. Suplex and splash end this at 54 seconds.

Post match it’s time to dance.

Video on HHH being attacked by Lesnar and Heyman returning to announce Brock quitting on Monday.

Chris Jericho vs. Sheamus

Sheamus takes him into the corner to start and uses the power to control. Jericho misses a charge into the corner and Sheamus knocks him off the apron into the barricade as we take a break. Back with Sheamus hitting the slingshot shoulder block for two. Out to the apron and Sheamus tries to suplex him to the floor, but Jericho drapes the arm over the top rope to take over.

Sheamus’ arm goes into the post and Jericho puts on an armbar back in the ring. The champ fights up but Jericho dropkicks him down. That gets him nowhere as Sheamus makes his comeback. That gets countered also but the Walls are countered. Irish Curse is broken up as is the Regal Roll. The Walls go on but Sheamus is too close to the ropes. He sends Jericho to the floor where Del Rio pops in and sends Jericho into the steps for the DQ at 5:45 shown of 9:15.

Rating: C. Just like last time this was a pretty decent match for the most part as the two of them had chemistry, but I’d like to talk for a minute about psychology. Sheamus has a bad arm, Jericho worked on the arm all match, and then he tried a back hold. I get that it’s his finisher, but sometimes you need to go with the move that makes sense instead of the finisher.

Post match Del Rio puts Sheamus in the armbreaker but Orton comes out for the save. Del Rio takes all three finishers and Orton stares at Sheamus to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This show did a great job at playing up the fourway with only Del Rio looking weak, which more or less guarantees that he’ll be walking out with the title. The short matches were annoying, but they got TEN matches on one show which has to be way up there on the lists of two hour shows. Not a terrible show but it was more for building up later shows than this one, which is annoying but understandable.

Results
Sheamus/Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho/Alberto Del Rio went to a double DQ
AJ b. Kaitlyn – Running Knee
Daniel Bryan b. Big Show – YES Lock
Ryback b. Heath Slater – MuscleBuster
Antonio Cesaro b. Alex Riley – Gotch Style Neutralizer
Randy Orton b. Alberto Del Rio via DQ when Ricardo Rodriguez interfered
R-Truth b. Jack Swagger – Little Jimmy
Darren Young/Titus O’Neil b. Zack Ryder/Santino Marella – Demolition Decapitator to Ryder
Brodus Clay b. Hunico – Splash
Chris Jericho b. Sheamus via DQ when Alberto Del Rio interfered

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the WWE Championship from Amazon for just $5 at:

Smackdown
Date: May 3, 2013
Location: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Commentators: John Bradshaw Layfield, Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

We’re back stateside for Smackdown now with a main event of Ambrose vs. Kane. I’m liking the idea of the Shield having some singles matches as it’s the next logical step for the group at this point. You can only have so many three man combinations they can fight before the idea gets stale. Also we’re likely to get more on the triple threat title match at Extreme Rules. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the end of Raw with Shield pinning Cena after Ryback walked out on Cena earlier in the night.

Here’s Ryback to open the show. He says he couldn’t tag with Cena on Raw because he knew Cena was hurt. Ryback isn’t Cena’s keeper and it was Cena that lost the match against the Shield. After the match, Cena was hobbling around and in the law of the jungle, the bigger animals like Ryback always eat the smaller ones.

Ryback vs. Daniel Bryan

Bryan fires off some quick kicks to start but gets caught in the corner. Daniel goes back to the kicks to the legs but gets caught in the corner again. A powerslam puts Bryan down but Ryback spends too much time celebrating and gets kicked in the leg some more. Now Bryan is sent to the floor but he suckers Ryback down, allowing Daniel to hit the suicide dive. Back in and Ryback pounds Bryan into the corner but Daniel fires off even more kicks to the leg.

Ryback finally catches a kick coming in and shoves Bryan down. He loads up a suplex but Bryan drives knees upside down onto Ryback’s head to escape. Ryback will have none of that and throws Bryan to the floor as we take a break. Back with Ryback steadily pounding Bryan down, including blocking a sunset flip and slamming Bryan’s head into the mat over and over.

Bryan fires off about his seventh set of kicks to the leg before countering a Thesz Press into a half crab on the weakened leg. Ryback kicks away so Bryan goes with even more kicks to the leg to keep Ryback in trouble. A pair of running dropkicks in the corner stagger Ryback and a missile dropkick takes him down for two. The crowd is getting way into this.

Bryan tries another kick but gets caught in a powerbomb position, only to catch Ryback in a rana out to the floor. Ryback catches Bryan diving at him through and sends him spine first into the post. Back in and Ryback plants him down with a slam followed by the Meathook. Bryan gets Shell Shocked down for the pin at 9:39 shown of 13:09.

Rating: B-. This is what Ryback is perfect for: marching through people after being in some trouble. It makes him look like a monster again and was a completely clean pin. Bryan threw everything he had at him and just couldn’t stop him. That’s the kind of stuff you need from a monster and Ryback looked good in the process.

We look at the triple threat from Monday and Del Rio announcing the triple threat at the PPV to be a ladder match.

Ricardo Rodriguez says a lot of stuff in Spanish very quickly until Del Rio comes up to say calm down.

Fandango vs. Zach Ryder

Ryder takes him down with an armdrag for two but Fandango kicks him in the head to take over. Fandango ties him up in the ropes and fires off some hard forearms to the back of Ryder’s head for two. Ryder gets up a pair of knees in the corner and hits the middle rope missile dropkick for two. The Broski Boot connects for another near fall but the Rough Ryder is countered into a hot shot. Fandango’s guillotine legdrop ends Ryder at 2:20.

Kaitlyn is in the back with a bouquet of roses and has gotten a love text. Natalya and Khali tell her to relax like Khali does.

We recap the Make-A-Wish stuff with Cena from Raw.

Zeb Colter tells “Rhonda” Young that he was sick on Monday when he lost in the triple threat match. Also, Ricardo Rodriguez stole from him on Monday so tonight they have a rematch.

Ricardo Rodriguez vs. Zeb Colter

Ziggler and AJ are on commentary with Langston next to them. In other words, all seven people are here. Colter slaps him to start so Ricardo grabs his beard. Zeb goes to the mat on all fours so Ricardo rides him like a horse for a bit. Colter comes back with some right hands but Ricardo sends him into the corner. Thankfully this boring match is ended with Swagger running in to take out Ricardo for the DQ at 1:50.

Del Rio knocks Swagger to the floor and here’s Teddy to make it a tag match.

Alberto Del Rio/Ricardo Rodriguez vs. Zeb Colter/Jack Swagger

This is joined in progress after the break with Swagger working over Ricardo. The tag brings in Del Rio for the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and Codebreaker onto the arm but Swagger blocks the armbreaker. Not that it matters as Ziggler and Langston run in for the DQ at 1:50.

Now Teddy makes it a triple threat tag match.

Alberto Del Rio/Ricardo Rodriguez vs. Zeb Colter/Jack Swagger vs. Big E. Langston/Dolph Ziggler

Del Rio and Swagger start things off with Alberto dropping him down with a clothesline and tagging in Ricardo. After Rodriguez does little of note it’s back to Del Rio who walks into a dropkick from Ziggler. Off to Langston as our brilliant commentators talk about how Del Rio and Swagger are favored in the ladder match because they’ve both won MITB before. As their short term memory failure melts my brain, Langston runs over Del Rio in the corner and it’s back to the world champion.

Del Rio launches Ziggler into the air and lets him crash down to the mat. He’s too spent to follow up though and Dolph takes him down with a neckbreaker. Back to Langston for more of his power, including ramming Del Rio into the corner. Ziggy misses a splash though and Del Rio gets the hot tag. House is cleaned and it’s Colter left all alone with Alberto. Ziggler makes the save for Colter for no apparent reason and DDTs Alberto for two. Langston runs over Ricardo but gets powerslammed down by Swagger. Alberto enziguris Swagger to the floor and gets rolled up by Swagger for two. The cross armbreaker makes Dolph tap at 4:50.

Rating: D+. Well this was worthless, but at least we got the world champion to lose again! I mean, Heaven forbid he gets to keep the momentum he gained on Monday or something stupid like that. This 50/50/50 booking is doing nothing for anyone as the winner of the triple threat is only going to decide who didn’t lose last, which doesn’t make for much of a champion.

We hear someone getting beaten up off camera followed by Shield popping up. They say they took out Undertaker and after tonight, Kane will believe in the Shield. The camera pans down to show that it was Bryan who was attacked.

Video on HHH accepting Lesnar’s challenge.

Bryan gets looked at in the back.

Randy Orton vs. Damien Sandow

Orton hits a quick shot to the jaw and Sandow is frustrated early. A shoulder block puts Sandow down but he comes back with a knee to the ribs and a knee drop for two. Randy easily fights out of a chinlock (is there a bigger expert on that hold than Orton?) and there’s the powerslam on Damien. The Elevated DDT is broken up with a backdrop to the apron and Sandow guillotines him onto the top rope.

We take a break and come back with Orton suplexing his way out of a headlock. A short DDT gets a delayed two count for Sandow as JBL says Sandow has been in his element these last few months. Is there another modern Genius running around that I’ve been missing? Wind-Up elbow gets two but Orton fires off some headbutts to escape. A dropkick puts Sandow down as does a backdrop, followed by the Elevated DDT. RKO ends this at 5:05 shown of 8:35.

Rating: C. This is another match that we’ve seen over and over again with nothing much coming from it. It’s like everyone has a designated opponent anymore and the winners and losers never change at all. Nothing of note to see here but it was a glorified squash for Orton. When is the last time Sandow won a match anyway?

Post match here’s Big Show to tell Orton that he’s awesome in singles matches, but he’s terrible in a team. When Orton is in a team it’s all about him. At Wrestlemania, if Show had gotten the tag, they might have won and Orton wouldn’t have been knocked out. Sandow uses the distraction to hit the Terminus. Big Show laughs a lot and says that’s nothing compared to what he’ll do to Orton at Extreme Rules. I think that was a challenge.

Kane walks out of the trainer’s room and says he’ll make the Shield pay for what they did to Daniel and Undertaker. He knows he’s going to get beaten up tonight but he’s taking down as many of them as he can with him.

The Raw Rebound is the same thing that opened the show: the end of the six man tag and Ryback reappearing.

Now we get an arm wrestling contest between Sheamus and Mark Henry. On the way to the ring, Cole and JBL drop the names of famous arm wrestlers that no one will remember in a few seconds. Henry of course dominates but Sheamus wants to try it left handed. After a lot of goading, Henry finally agree. The fans chant for Henry as they’re getting ready. As he’s about to lose, Sheamus punches him in the face and lays Henry out with the Brogue Kick. The fans did seem to like the kick.

We get a clip of Shield taking out Undertaker last week.

Video on the European tour.

Kane vs. Dean Ambrose

Reigns has Bryan’s tag title belt. Kane swings his belt to chase the Shield off and throws Reigns over the announce table and Rollins into the crowd. Now we head inside for the actual match and Kane pounds Ambrose down into the corner. They head to the floor where Ambrose is dropped throat first onto the barricade and kicked in the side of the head before they head back in. A running elbow puts Dean down and Kane throws him to the floor again as we take a break.

Back with Ambrose working on Kane’s leg as momentum has shifted. Ambrose snaps the leg down and bends it around the rope. Dean says this is justice as he works over the leg. Rollins and Reigns are back up and talking trash of their own as Ambrose hits a running clothesline in the corner. The bad leg is wrapped around the post but the referee makes Dean let him go.

Back in and Kane fires back before hitting the side slam for two. The top rope clothesline puts Ambrose down and Kane is smiling evily. Ambrose escapes the chokeslam but Kane escapes the DDT. A chokeslam puts Ambrose down but Kane doesn’t cover. Instead we get a throat slit and it’s time for a Tombstone but Kane has to kick Rollins off the apron. They head to the floor and Kane sends Reigns into the steps. Back in and Dean takes the leg out before hitting a falling forward bulldog for the pin at 7:03 shown of 10:33. I really hope that isn’t his finishing move.

Rating: C. This was fine. Kane knew he was in over his head but he gave it everything he had which is the right idea for a match like this. A win over Kane is still worth a little something and the win for the titles will be worth even more at Extreme Rules. I’d prefer they went after the world title instead of the tag titles but I guess any gold is better than none.

Post match Kane tells all of the Shield to come get him and it goes exactly as you would expect it to go. The TripleBomb ends the show and Shield takes both title belts.

Overall Rating: D+. Let’s look at this: similar matches, similar story development, almost nothing new at all. This was a supplement to Raw and that’s exactly what Smackdown doesn’t need to be. Last week was FAR better with good matches and some fun stuf. This was basically there to further what we got on Raw while adding nothing new. That’s not an interesting show and could have been accomplished with a series of video packages, making this show pretty much worthless.

Results

Ryback b. Daniel Bryan – Shell Shock

Fandango b. Zack Ryder – Guillotine Legdrop

Ricardo Rodriguez b. Zeb Colter via DQ when Jack Swagger interfered

Alberto Del Rio/Ricardo Rodriguez b. Zeb Colter/Jack Swagger via DQ when Dolph Ziggler and Big E. Langston interfered

Alberto Del Rio/Ricardo Rodriguez b. Zeb Colter/Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler/Big E. Langston – Cross armbreaker to Ziggler

Randy Orton b. Damien Sandow – RKO

Dean Ambrose b. Kane – Falling bulldog

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the WWE Championship from Amazon for just $5 at: