Jonathan Dehn
WWE Smackdown
05/31/2013
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Seth Rollins w/ Roman Reigns vs. Kane w/ Daniel Bryan
Kane hits a shoulderblock. Rollins floats out of the corner but eats a big boot. Kane hits a stalling suplex for two. Rollins fights out of a chinlock but takes a BAAAACK bodydrop for one. Rollins counters the running dropkick with a dropkick to the knee. This match is a bit sloppy and disjointed as Rollins works on the knee.
Kane tries to fight back, but Rollins goes back to the knee. Rollins goes to the second rope but gets a thrust to the throat. They tease the chokeslam, but Rollins comes back with a tornado DDT for two. We come back from the break with Rollins applying a half Boston crab to Rollins. Kane powers out and hits a power slam. Rollins gets the boot up on a charge but gets hit with the sideslam for two.
Kane goes for the clothesline but gets caught by Rollins. Seth goes down and then eats the clothesline from the top. Reigns distracts Kane on the chokeslam and Rollins hits the enzuigiri, but Daniel assists Kane shortly thereafter and the chokeslam defeats Rollins. The duo complain after the match and we slide into…
Daniel Bryan w/ Kane vs. Roman Reigns w/ Seth Rollins
Reigns beats on Bryan to start off but Bryan fights back with a drop toehold and kicks the ropes. Bryan gets brutal with a leglock and forearms to Reign’s face. Bryan continues with a dragon screw legwhip. Reigns answers fire with a rough elbow and knee to the midsection. We hit another break.
Reigns is in control as we come back from break. Bryan gets turned inside out with a shoulder block. Reigns misses a splash and Bryan recovers and hits the dropkick into the corner. The running dropkick again into the seated Reigns gets two. Reigns ducks the buzzsaw kick and hits a headbutt into Bryan’s midsection.
Bryan flips out of the corner and turns a crucifix into the No Lock. Rollins pushes the rope to help Reigns break the hold. Kane retaliates with a big boot to Rollins. Then, Reigns delivers a cheapshot from the ropes. Kane slugs Reigns in view of the referee and Reigns wins by disqualification. Team Hell No argue afterwards. Kane tries to tell Bryan that he’s the best in the world, but Bryan is convinced that he’s still the weak link.
Final Thoughts: The even booking here is definitely needed for Team Hell No and to make them look strong against Reigns and Rollins. Seth’s work on Kane’s knee was decidedly sloppy and the match seemed to grind to a halt during this. However, it picked up in the second half. Bryan and Reigns was a lot of fun for the short stretch that we were able to watch, with them stiffing each other and moving quite well together. We learned that, once again, The Shield is vulnerable in singles matches. Still, Kane and Daniel Bryan come out of this looking stronger.
-Damien Sandow is back in the ring this week to fool the masses. Simply, he was going to ask people to track the ball between three cups. Sheamus is, of course, out to interrupt. Sheamus is out to beat Sandow at his own game. “Choose, but choose wisely,” says Sandow. Sheamus fails at this game and renews his idiot license for another year, according to Sandow. He gives Sheamus a chance between two cups. Sheamus fails again and is suspicious of Sandow. The crowd chants “Show Your Balls!” and the two adlib nicely. It turns out that Sandow The Magician removed the ball anyway. Sheamus tosses the table out of the way and hits The Brogue. I hope they play Connect Four next week.
Sin Cara vs. Curtis Axel w/ Paul Heyman
There’s no mention that this is a return match from last week. Heyman and Axel pat themselves on the back before the match as they walk down to the ring with a microphone. Axel says that when you’re a “Paul Heyman Guy” life is perfect.
Axel hits a backbreaker to start and follows with a dropkick. Cara fights back and hits the arm drag, following with the hurricanrana and an arm drag from the corner, as he is a luchador. Cara hits the crossbody but gets clotheslined in the back of the head while attempting the springing elbow. The tidy Perfect-Plex finishes Sin Cara.
Final Thoughts: The promo before the match was just fine, with Axel’s delivery improving since his “Genesis of McGillicutty” promo on NXT a few years ago. The squash was well done, with Cara getting less offense than last week, and going to the Perfect-Plex is a fine idea.
Alberto Del Rio w/ Ricardo Rodriguez vs. Big E Langston w/ AJ Lee
Four televised matches in two weeks for these guys. Yep. Langston gets two after dropping ADR onto the ropes. Del Rio fights out of the reverse bearhug but takes a stomach buster for two. Langston puts Del Rio on the top turnbuckle but eats a dropkick. ADR hits a couple of clotheslines, but gets hit with a belly to belly after Langston reverses the backstabber.
ADR reverses The Big Ending into The Backstabber, then. ADR misses the corner enzuigiri but reverses afterwards and hits a German Suplex. Si Kick gets two. Big E powers out of the cross armbreaker and runs through ADR for two. AJ distracts Del Rio and Big E tosses him into the ring post and finishes with The Big Ending for the win. Big E needs to wrestle Kofi Kingston in order to make that finisher look good.
Final Thoughts: This match was just fine, but with it being the only match in the last couple of weeks for this championship feud, it’s already very stale. They might as well have Big E have to team up with someone like Heath Slater and let Ricardo work with Del Rio to create something a bit different. Orton doesn’t seem to be doing much of note.
Ryback vs. Kofi Kingtson
Ryback enters with a blue ambulance, now. What an unnecessary attention to detail. Kofi hits a dropkick early and follows with a European uppercut. Kofi springs from the ropes and hits a dropkick for two. Kofi hits The Boom Drop. Ryback catches Kofi on a Trouble in paradise attempt but then takes a crossbody for two. Ryback finally takes control with the Meathook and hits Shell Shocked for the win.
After the match, Ryback puts Kingston through a table with a powerbomb. That’s not enough, and Ryback brings out another table. He does it again. Ryback sets up a third table, now. Kofi gets folded up after going through the third table. I guess Smackdown doesn’t have enough staff to escort out of control people from the ring. There’s just one extra person to help Kingston out of the ring. They might as well put him on a stretcher, right?
Final Thoughts: Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, Zack Ryder, and Justin Gabriel are just a few of the guys that could have taken this beating. Instead, they sent their former U.S. Champion out there to get squashed. That’s a poor decision. If you hate Kofi Kingston and want to watch him be thrown through tables, this match is for you.
-Chris Jericho is backstage and lists all of the ailments one can get from being around Paul Heyman. Jericho is emphatic about mange.
Chris Jericho vs. Cody Rhodes
They work through some reversals to start before Jericho hits a dropkick and clotheslines Cody outside. Chris comes outside with a baseball slide. Back in the ring, Cody hits a boot and drops Jericho over the ropes for two. Cody pummels Jericho in the ropes before Jericho returns fire with chops. Jericho misses a charge and is down for two following a kick to the stomach. Rhodes follows up with a hammerlock.
Jericho comes back with a couple of shoulderblocks and comes off the top with a double axe handle. Jericho hits the bulldog and goes for the Walls of Jericho. Cody counters but gets chopped. Rhodes nails Jericho with The Alabama Slam, which excites JBL. That gets two. Rhodes goes up but gets punched in the stomach and scoop slammed. Rhodes gets the knees up on the Lionsault. Rhodes rolls up Jericho on the Walls attempt but then Chris reverses the Disaster Kick into the Walls for the win.
Final Thoughts: This was a fine little match that helps remind people that Cody Rhodes can still wrestle. There was some slight confusion just before the ending, but the two covered it up well. Jericho gets some momentum before his date with Punk at Payback.
-We get another look at the Bray Wyatt vignette. Please, and thank you.
Randy Orton vs. Dean Ambrose
The two stare each other down to start. Ambrose slugs him in the corner and finishes with a choke. Dean drags Orton’s face along the ropes and drags the forearm before Orton returns fire with a slam and a ten punch in the corner. Orton hits the European uppercut but Ambrose comes back with more boots.
Orton gets the Thesz Press and Ambrose bails, with Orton meeting him outside. Orton hits the back suplex off of the barricade, rams Dean’s head into the apron and tosses him back inside. Ambrose retreats again to the outside, where Orton continues advancing before being sent into the stairs. We hit the break following an Ambrose clothesline.
Ambrose is back in the ring and in control following the break. Ambrose gets two following a knee to the midsection. Dean stomps on Orton’s wrist before more stomps in the corner. Orton fights back, but gets caught in the sleeper hold. Orton answers back with a back suplex. They slug it out for a while before Orton hits the clotheslines and powerslam.
Ambrose fights out of the rope hang DDT and heads up, where Orton meets him. Orton gets dumped, but hits the dropkick for two as Ambrose jumps down. Ambrose gets planted with the rope hang DDT and Orton signals for the RKO. Ambrose bails and The Shield attacks.
Team Hell No come out and Daniel Bryan singlehandedly takes out the entire Shield with a flourish of everything in his arsenal. This was like watching a college basketball star hit ten three pointers in a row. The crowd erupts with the “Yes!” chant with Bryan as Kane and Orton look on in awe.
Final Thoughts: This match wasn’t that great from a performance aspect. It seemed like a wild brawl wanted to break out but never did. However, the sequence after the match was tremendous after Daniel Bryan hit the ring and went into a zone that left The Shield down on the outside and Kane giving him a standing ovation from the middle of the ring. Usually, when one man can take down multiples, it looks weak. However, with Daniel Bryan precisely chaining together so much of his moveset, The Shield was taken down with precision and didn’t just walk into a row of finishers as if a set of inept ninjas.
–Once again, The Shield and Team Hell No carry this show. If ever there was a reason to do War Games, it would be because of the feud between these guys. Add in CM Punk, The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, and over thirty minutes, and you’ll have yourself a MOTY. As for the rest of the show, it wasn’t too memorable. Jericho’s promo was alright, and he got to list off a bunch of ailments. I like lists. Sheamus looked like a complete idiot for a moment, but The Brogue Kick finish to his segment with Sandow was just more of the same. I’d rather Cody come out from under the ring to lead to a beatdown on Sheamus. Sandow was golden in the segment, however. Ryback destroying Kofi was stupid, unless they plan on having Kofi hit Trouble in Paradise on Ryback at the PPV to have him lose the first fall. So, there’s plenty of good in this show, but it’s just in the first twenty, and last twenty of the show.
DVR MARKERS
0:00 – Seth Rollins vs. Kane & Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns – Recommended
1:32 – Chris Jericho vs. Cody Rhodes – Slightly Recommended
1:45 – Randy Orton vs. Dean Ambrose – Recommended
