Smackdown – April 15, 2011 – Big Battle Royal and Post Show Edge Speech Not Seen On TV
Smackdown
Date: April 15, 2011
Location: Times Union Center, Albany, New York
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Booker T
Well all of a sudden this is a far different looking show. As of Monday, Edge, the current World Heavyweight Champion, has to retire immediately due to neck problems. Obviously this changes everything for both Extreme Rules and Smackdown as we’re going to have to crown a new champion. I’d bet we’ll find out something about that tonight. Let’s get to it.
This is a version where the commercials haven’t been edited in yet, so when they go to a break the match continues right where it left off so the traditional 3:30 won’t be added. The show also has a long post main event segment which I’d bet is after the cameras went off and since the whole video is two hours, I doubt it’ll air on TV. This is a bonus for you I suppose.
The opening video is of course about Edge and how he has to relinquish the title after retaining it at Wrestlemania. The line used is destiny can change in the blink of an eye.
No theme song this week as Ricardo Rodriquez brings out Alberto. The car of the night is a 1950 Rolls Royce. He says his name but tonight isn’t about him. WWE lost a hero on Monday. He’s held more titles than anyone ever in company history, which is surprising for some reason. It was Alberto’s destiny to be champion but he didn’t expect it like this. He does however think it’s fair that the title be surrendered to him.
After a long delay, here’s Teddy. No one is going to present Alberto with anything tonight. Teddy says that Del Rio did win the right to fight in a ladder match at that PPV and that’s what he’s going to do. The opponent for Alberto will be determined in tonight’s main event: a 20 man over the top rope battle royal. Alberto says it’s a conspiracy. This is in WWE, not TNA dude. Del Rio takes credit for retiring Edge and Teddy says shut up and leaves.
Ezekiel Jackson vs. Kofi Kingston
The rest of Corre is on commentary here. Barrett says he won the title on his own and Slater isn’t sure he agrees. Jackson shoves Kofi away to start and Barrett says Jackson isn’t all that smart. Jackson is a scary looking man. We talk about the battle royal a bit and Barrett says the Corre is going to work together to make sure Barrett gets the title shot. Slater and Gabriel both disagree.
Booker says the back of Jackson’s head looks like a tsunami hit it. Not the best choice of words there former King. We hit the floor and Jackson press slams Kofi onto Corre, wiping them out. Back into the ring, Kofi tries the SOS but Barrett tries to get in. Jackson takes advantage of the distraction and hits his release Rock Bottom (and no I won’t call it a Uranage) to end this at 2:22. Short and mostly dominant here.
Jackson says he’s going to dominate the battle royal tonight. Well according to his own song everything he does in life he dominates.
We see Laycool’s couples counseling with a therapist that looks like Paul Giamatti. Layla is holding Michelle’s hand for some reason and says they’re like Bert and Ernie or Thelmer (yes Thelmer) and Louise. “So now you’re comparing us to two puppets and two characters that drove off a cliff?” The bluntness in that made me chuckle. Layla asks Michelle how her back is and Michelle says it’s hurt since she’s been carrying Layla since day one. The doctor is shushed and Michelle rips into Layla and is a total jerk to her before leaving. Layla was borderline face here.
Back to the arena with Cody in the ring with a hood over his face. He doesn’t feel anything anymore and tonight he’s going to hurt Rey tonight in the battle royal. Rey is a father and there may not be any monsters in his kids’ closets but he wants Rey to become the monster they’re afraid of. He’s going to make sure that happens but here’s Rey to interrupt and start a brawl. 619 misses but Rey eventually manages to get one in the ribs and send Cody running.
Kong vignette which is rather awesome.
Rey Mysterio vs. Drew McIntyre
How in the world did Drew fall so far in just a year? Also I guess the whole Kelly thing is just going to be abandoned? Drew absolutely towers over Rey. He grabs a powerslam for two on Rey as we talk about the battle royal a lot. Booker thinks Drew can be a world champion. That’s so cute. Snap suplex gets two for McIntyre.
Rey fights him off and uses some of his speed/high flying stuff to fight Drew off. The fans really don’t seem to care as we head to the floor. Drew rams him into the railing in a swinging powerbomb motion as we take a break. Back with Drew holding Rey in an armbar. Booker thinks Drew is Wade Barrett for some reason. I thought it was Thomas Tallahassee Jefferson or something but whatever.
Drew counters a headscissors into a backbreaker and we hit the chinlock. Booker messes up the name again and it’s back off to the armbar. Rey avoids a corner charge to send Drew’s shoulder into the post. Seated senton off the top and here comes Rey. Springboard cross body gets two. Big boot nearly takes Rey’s head off for two.
Powerbomb is blocked so Drew shifts to a hot shot. Rey escapes and lands on the middle rope and hits a nice tornado DDT for another two. In a very odd looking finish, Rey reverses a clothesline into a 619 and goes up for the splash. The odd looking part is that Rey jumps for the splash while McIntyre is still on his feet. Drew falls quickly and the splash hits to end this at 9:20.
Rating: B-. This started pretty boring but the stuff after the break had a lot more near falls and better looking moves, making it a better match. I don’t think the ending was ever in doubt, but that’s what the position of jobber to the stars was invented for and that’s exactly what Drew is at this point. That’s kind of a shame too but it is what it is.
Edge is walking to the ring and various people applaud him and hug him. He runs into Kane and gets a handshake, I guess which says “sorry for the whole causing your dad’s death thing. His….3rd death I believe.”
Here’s Edge in his suit and sunglasses to surrender the title. The fans chant thank you Edge and he says he’ll never get tired of hearing that. He says this has made him think about a lot of things, like his entrance and how insane some of the matches he’s been in have been. Wow Edge has been in a lot of gimmick matches. Edge thinks his music is the coolest in WWE and he thanks Alter Bridge for it. He wants to do his entrance one more time. He’s going to go up the ramp and come out to the song one more time. And that’s exactly what he does.
Edge does his full entrance again, complete with pyro and heads back to the ring. Cool moment there. He says he’s out of shape already because that tired him out. Edge talks about how good it was that the doctors caught this early before he got hurt even worse and couldn’t get up. He’s happy about everything he gets to do now, including wearing one of his two suits. He bought it for $100 at JC Penny. Well at least he’s honest.
His first world title came here in Albany so this place is special to him. He also came up with the name Edge in Albany. Edge’s mom is here tonight too. What’s her name? Cliff? The fans chant “Thank you mom” which is rather funny. Edge thanks her for everything and says that without her he wouldn’t be here. Well yeah there was that whole giving birth thing.
He shifts over to the title and says that everyone holds a piece of it. But now it’s time to do what he came here to do: relinquish the title. Edge thanks the fans again and puts the belt down in the middle of the ring before leaving to go hug his mom. That’s a sad moment at first but at the end of the day, it’s for his own good for the sake of his neck and his health. Classy speech too.
That’s What I Am trailer.
Rosa Mendes says something to Edge in Spanish and Edge says he has no idea what she just said but she had him at quiero. Alberto pops up behind him and offers a handshake but Edge leaves.
Kelly Kelly vs. Layla
On the way to the ring we recap the tag match last week with Michelle’s bad back. Josh says he doesn’t buy it and asks Michelle about it. She says no one ever accused him of being smart. Layla goes off on Kelly to start but gets taken down and hammered on. Cole and Michael chat a bit as Booker asks about the back injury. Out to the floor and Kelly rams Layla’s face into the floor. Layla is almost sent through the Cole Mine and is almost counted out before Michelle throws her back in. Kelly gets the easy pin at 2:08.
Laycool argues post match and Michelle drills her.
The Raw Rewind is the announcement of the tag match at the PPV.
Booker wants to know how Cole could be that stupid. Cole apologizes to Jack which I doubt will get him anywhere.
We get the same video from Raw talking about how awesome HHH vs. Undertaker was.
Battle Royal
Big Show, Brodus Clay, Chavo Guerrero, Chris Masters, Christian, Cody Rhodes, Curt Hawkins, Drew McIntyre, Ezekiel Jackson, Heath Slater, Jack Swagger, JTG, Justin Gabriel, Kane, Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio, Trent Barreta, Tyler Reks, Wade Barrett, Yoshi Tatsu
There is a TON of time left for this so it’s getting the big match treatment. Alberto is on the floor also. Kane comes out last when most people came in during the commercial. Booker says someone has to make a pact with someone else. There we go and I’m not going to try to call this for the most part. Show throws JTG out to get us down 5% already. Barreta tries to get Show out and guess what happens. Yeah we’re down to 18.
Something I’ve always wondered: other than the final guys, is there a set order to the eliminations? I mean I know the big stars have marching orders, but for guys like say Chavo (assuming he doesn’t make it to the final few people) is he supposed to stay in for like 8 minutes and then go when he has an opening to be eliminated, or is he told that he goes out say 7th via Trouble in Paradise for instance? I’ve always been curious about that. Anyone know anything regarding that?
Anyway, Show gets the knockout punch to put Slater out and get us down to 17. Slater is a great seller. Show charges at Jackson and BOTH go out! Wow I wouldn’t have bet on that one. Del Rio applauding that is a nice touch. Swagger and Reks can’t get Kofi out as we take a break. We come back and nothing has changed. They’re in the exact same place with maybe 3 seconds of time going by. Ok then. For the sake of timing at the end of the match I won’t be adding the 3:30 for that.
We get to the part of the show where everyone hammers on everyone and nothing is really happening. Kofi fires some kicks at Swagger as Cole sucks up to Swagger. Cody goes over the top but catches himself on the apron, only for Rey to hit him in the face and put him down. Rey doubles up and gets Hawkins out with a forward roll out of an electric chair. Kind of like a victory roll minus the pin.
Brodus takes out I think McIntyre as Chavo jumps on Clay’s back. Chavo is gone and yes it was McIntyre. Kane and Clay have our battle of the monsters and Kane beats him down with ease until like an idiot he tries a chokeslam. Headbutt to the chest stops Kane but the big fried freak manages to fight back and send the big fat tub of goo up and over as we take a break. Nothing changes again so we don’t add in 3:30 here either. That’s really weird to see.
Barrett tries to throw Kofi but Kofi hangs on and tries to skin the cat. I say tries to because he gets tossed out by the IC Champion. We’re down to roughly 8-9 at this point. There goes Reks at the hands of Christian and we are indeed down to eight. The remaining competitors: Swagger, Mysterio, Kane, Christian, Tatsu, Gabriel, Masters and Barrett. As I type that Christian tosses Yoshi and we’re down to seven.
Booker says everyone should go after Kane which isn’t a bad idea. Kane goes after the members of Corre but they manage to toss him to get us to six. They’re the only two standing as well. Barrett goes after Masters who fights back with some valor. Masters is sent to the apron and like an IDIOT puts the Masterlock on while on the apron. Barrett breaks it with relative ease and kicks Masters in the face to eliminate him. Gabriel sneaks up on Barrett and we’re down to four! It’s Christian, Gabriel, Mysterio and Swagger.
Rey vs. Gabriel and Swagger vs. Christian are the pairings. Rey sends Gabriel into the 619 position but can’t connect. Gabriel charges, only to get caught in a headscissors and put out. Christian has put Swagger down but not out and squares off with Rey. Christian is put down but not out and Swagger tosses Rey but Rey holds on. Rey comes back with a rana off the top that sends Swagger into 619 position.
Cole jumps up on the apron and takes the brunt of the move to score points with Swagger I guess. Rey goes after Swagger when he realizes what’s going on and tries what can best be described as a monkey flip position to get him out. Swagger holds on though and tosses Rey to get us down to Christian vs. Swagger. Vader Bomb is countered but Christian can’t shove him out.
Back to Swagger in control as Cole is more or less dead on the floor. They’re both on the apron and Christian tries the pendulum kick, only for Swagger to catch the ankle in the ankle lock for a nice counter. Christian tries to toss him but Swagger kicks him in the chest to break that up with ease. Christian is tossed to the apron but like an idiot heel, Swagger stops looking and Christian gets back up. Del Rio tries to pull Christian off but can’t do it either. Swagger charges and Christian puts him out at 17:00.
Rating: B-. Good match here with Swagger vs. Christian being a nice ending to it. I don’t think anyone doubted who would win but it’s the right choice given who he’s replacing. Battle royals are hard to grade but this one certainly was pretty good. Nothing was bad and it didn’t get boring, so this worked fine.
Edge comes out to celebrate and Del Rio stares them down. This is where I’d bet the show goes off the air. I’m sorry if this is confusing but this is the version I found at the site I use and I can’t watch it as it airs.
Christian gets a mic and it’s time for a 5 second pose! They even do the hands at the sides which is very cool to see. The locker room comes out and everyone, faces and heels alike, applaud Edge. That’s always cool to see. Edge starts crying as he and Big Show hug. Chavo and Rey come in and hug him also. And here comes HHH!
He’s getting the Vince walk going so you can tell he’s waiting to get in charge. The ring clears out other than Edge. He goes to the apron but climbs back in and picks up the mic. He says he didn’t know this was coming and it was the ultimate show of respect. Edge talks about how this is great and he loves being respected by his peers. He especially talks about Taker (not there) and Kane who he calls one of his best friends in the business.
He talks about everyone that sets up the show, down to the production people and the graphic designers and the catering. If he goes into the Hall of Fame he can thank all of them too. He even thanks the writers (yes he said writers) and names a few them individually. He thanks Vince, specifically saying it’s not Mr. McMahon. Vince apparently was the one that thought he could run with the World Title. He’s afraid to thank Booker because it would mean an Edge-a-Rooni which hurt the only time he tried it at Wrestlemania.
The fans chant Hall of Fame and Edge says he wants to thank people he’s worked with over the years. He says Vickie and the people boo. Edge says that’s a sign of how great she is. He thanks Lita for all the fun they’ve had over the years. “Hey get your minds out of the gutters…..even though we did.” And now, he thanks Christian. He talks bout them growing up together and wanting to be tag champions and at Wrestlemania 16, that’s exactly what they did.
Christian has been there all the time for him and Edge wants to see where he goes. The Edgeheads should get behind him if they could. He says he’s said enough and the fans boo slightly. He says he doesn’t have any spears left in him and he’s gotten to live his dream. He has no complaints and he’s had an amazing life and a lot of that is due to the fans. If anyone sees him come up and talk to him.
He’ll always be part of the WWE in some respect so we’ll probably see him again. He’s going off the radar for awhile though so he can be with his dogs. A fan shouts to give his mom a hug and he says like you have to tell me to do that. A huge thank you Edge chant takes us back to Alter Bridge. Edge goes out to thank the commentators and high five some fans. He hugs his family and goes up the ramp, throws his arms up and walks to the back, ending the show. I really hope this is put on DVD somewhere at some point as it’s awesome stuff.
Overall Rating: B. Good show here and the rating isn’t including the post show stuff. They had to throw this together at the last minute due to the injury and we got good stuff out of it. The post show stuff was a nice treat that you should track down as it’s a very classy exit for him. Good show that handled a surprising change very well and left you with a good feeling.
Results
Ezekiel Jackson b. Kofi Kingston – Release Mat Slam
Rey Mysterio b. Drew McIntyre – Top Rope Splash
Kelly Kelly b. Layla – Kelly pinned Layla after ramming her into the Cole Mine
Christian won a battle royal by last eliminating Jack Swagger