Jonathan Dehn
WWE Smackdown
05/10/2013
Raleigh, North Carolina
PNC Arena
-We begin our show with Chris Jericho’s highlight reel. His guest will be Ryback. It would have been a good idea to not have him dress like Goldberg did in his WWE run. Perhaps they could have given him some kind of badass duster. They replay highlights from Raw, and Ryback is pleased at his actions.
Jericho has empathy for Ryback and his frustrations, and compares Ryback to himself from once upon a time. Once again, Jericho brings up his amazing night of defeating Austin and Rock in December 2001. Chris finishes with warning Ryback of losing his fans entirely if he beats Cena. Ryback threatens Jericho, and Chris turns on the serious and the two stare at each other until Long makes the main event match. Ryback leaves the ring after delivering a cheap punch to Jericho.
Kofi Kingston vs. Cody Rhodes
They lock up to start and trade hip toss attempts before Kofi takes control with a couple of arm drags. Rhodes takes over and pulls down the kneepad and drives the exposed knee into Kofi’s stomach. After some stomps against the ropes, Cody locks in hammerlock. An arm drag shakes Cody off and Kofi comes back with a couple of clotheslines and a sunset flip for two. Rhodes kicks Kingston in frustration. Kofi goes for a crossbody and Cody rolls through for two. After a quick reversal of finishers, Kingston hits Trouble in Paradise and picks up the win.
Final Thoughts: They made a note during the match that Cody Rhodes had been voted the most underrated wrestler in WWE. There’s something behind that. It was sad that he began working the midsection and they had to break away from it, since they only had three or four minutes for the match. It’s worthless to watch as they didn’t have time to build a memory.
-We recap Brock’s visit to WWE HQ. The fans in Tulsa get to witness HHH and Lesnar having a confrontation on Raw. I hope that WWE doesn’t freak out when the crowd cares even less than usual.
-Zeb is back on the microphone again. “We all know about Del Rio’s experience with ladders,” is our racist comment of the night. Colter says that Swagger is going to beat Big E Langston tonight because that will also lead towards taking the country back, or something.
Big E Langston vs. Jack Swagger
Alberto Del Rio is joining us on commentary. Ricardo is out and injured following Swagger running him into the barricade with a ladder on Monday. ADR looks to get a measure of revenge now, sliding a ladder into the ring for Langston and Swagger to fight with. Langston gets dumped before the match and now Dolph takes control with the ladder, dropkicking it into Swagger’s face, and then following up with a baseball slide into Zeb’s fingers. Zeb already has arthritis in those digits, you monster.
Del Rio enters the ring and gives Ziggler the Si kick. Ziggler then gets a taste of the ladder. Not satisfied, he goes outside and lays out Swagger, as well. This non match ends with Del Rio at the top of the ladder, in the middle of the ring, holding the belt.
Final Thoughts: The match never happened, but the angle was just fine. I enjoy Alberto Del Rio when he’s a fiery guy who stands up for his friends and kicks ass. That would have been a nice character for them to stick with. Still, this was a great segment for Alberto….but, potentially, a terrible one for Dolph’s career.
Dean Ambrose vs. Daniel Bryan
Bryan starts off with a flying knee that sends Ambrose into the corner, and the two go back and forth with some good brawling for a spell. Ambrose bails after Bryan begins with the kicks to the chest, and Bryan follows that up with the dive to the outside. We come back from the break with Dean back in control.
Ambrose keeps Bryan grounded with holds and clotheslines. Bryan comes back with a few punches that Ambrose cuts off with a knee and then picks up a two count after his running dropkick against the ropes. Back to the chinlock and then Bryan finds himself in the corner. Dean misses a charge and goes shoulder first into the post.
Bryan makes the comeback with his corner dropkick and hangs Ambrose in the Tree of Woe. Some kicks to the gut leads to another dropkick into the hanging Ambrose. Dean reverses another uppercut into a backslide for two. Bryan just gets pissed and kicks Ambrose. Bryan hits the dropkick from the top. A nifty suplex gets two for Ambrose. Dean has a small cut bellow his left eye that looks pretty cool. Ambrose gets dirty with a few knees but Bryan locks in the No Lock. Reigns hops in and kicks Bryan in the head following a distraction from Rollins….and then Kofi Kingston has had enough and runs down to clear the ring of The Shield to a hot crowd. The faces are game to have a match with The Shield, and Bryan leads to the crowd with “Yes!” to end the segment.
Final Thoughts: This was a hard-hitting match that had the crowd going, and showed that Ambrose and Bryan have some chemistry in the ring. Kofi Kingston running in to prevent The Shield from winning by a pinfall was a surprise to me. It was nice that they were building off of the six man tag from Monday. Hopefully, Kofi takes advantage of this new opportunity. This is something to watch with full attention.
-Mark Henry tows a tractor trailer like he’s Magnus Ver Magnusson. He slaps the truck after conquering it, because that’s what he does.
-We see that Sheamus took some awful shots from that belt on Monday. And it’s now announced that we have a strap match at Extreme Rules. It’s been a while since I’ve seen one. It just has to be better than Flair and Hogan at WCW Uncensored 2000.
-Henry attempts to drag two tractor trailers. I like that this plays into the strap match with Sheamus. Mark Henry pulls the tractor trailers and is now exhausted, but gets a good face pop. I’m waiting for Sheamus to show up and stuff Henry in a giant truck tire. This doesn’t happen. But, as for Mark Henry…THAT’S WHAT HE DOES. I look forward to Sheamus being funny and showing the audience that he’s going to tie up Mark at Extreme Rules by demonstrating his tie tying skills.
-We have a recap that catches the audience up on the latest in the John Cena and Ryback saga.
-Randy Orton is backstage being interviewed by Renee. Orton says that there will be no antidote for the amount of venom that Big Show receives at Extreme Rules. Uhh…
Big Show vs. Sweet T
This starts out with lots of good hoss and hoss clobbering, and ends when Tensai gets too hyped up and goes for a choke bomb that is reversed into the knockout punch. Clay comes in to check on Tensai and gets brutalized for his efforts. Before Show can knock out Clay, Orton springs in out of nowhere and hits the RKO to a great ovation. If Big Show is due for a vacation, I can see a punt in his future.
Final Thoughts: This was fine in that it moved along the story of Orton and Big Show and helps give them a definite direction.
-AJ and Kaitlyn GET BITCHY. AJ is angry and makes fun of Natty and Kaitlyn for being stronger than she is. Then, she walks off as Kaitlyn and Natty talk about the secret admirer. Khali shows up and shows off that his locker room disguise is Rey Mysterio. His Cody Rhodes disguise is badass, though.
Chris Jericho vs. Ryback
Ryback bullies Jericho with shoves and gets a slap to the face for his trouble. After a dropkick, Jericho is knocked down to the floor. After some punishment, he gets send back in and peppers Ryback with a couple of chops. Ryback puts Chris in the corner and hits a meaty chop of his own. We hit the chinlock. Jericho powers out and hits the springboard dropkick to drop Ryback into the aisle.
As we return from the break, Ryback has regained control and stomps Jericho against the ropes. Ryback with some boots to the stomach and then follows with an elbow drop. Jericho works his way out of a waistlock but walks into a spinebuster. Ryback soaks in the jeers before moving into yet another seated hold. Jericho once again fights back and hits the double axe handle from the top.
Ryback hits a powerslam but Jericho comes back with the Lionsault following a missed splash. Ryback reverses the codebreaker into another spinebuster, and then hits the grasping powerbomb from the mat. Ryback is getting a lot better, and it’s plain to see. Ryback stalks around and gets cocky before getting a dropkick to the knee that sets up a Walls of Jericho attempt. Ryback counters out and throws Jericho across the ring with a fall away slam.
The Meathook levels Jericho and it sets up Shell Shocked…..but Jericho rolls out and puts him in the Walls of Jericho. Ryback gets to the ropes but eats the Codebreaker. He falls out of the ring and Jericho pursues him. Ryback recovers and tosses Chris into the crowd barricade. Ryback gets DQ’d for running Jericho into the ring post, groin first. That doesn’t make much sense to me. Ryback decides to clothesline Jericho over the announce table because he rules.
Final Thoughts: The match started off slowly, and they were plenty of rest spots. However, the finish was hot and packed with action. This would have done much better with an actual finish. Still, Jericho bumped all around the ring for Ryback and made him look like a million bucks in the process. Due to them having a lot of time to work with, I would say this would be Ryback’s best singles match if it had a better finish. Bryan retains that crown.
–This was a damned good show. When Daniel Bryan and Chris Jericho have time in the ring, you’re going to be entertained and treated to a fine wrestling match. Big Show’s squash of Tensai and The Big E and Swagger non match were both inoffensive and moved their stories forward. However, Dolph’s injury is the elephant in the room on this show, and hopefully he recovers from his concussion quickly. Mark Henry looked strong and Sheamus didn’t bring his horrible character to the show. There’s almost no point in putting in DVR markers, as the entire show is solid once you get through the video packages.
DVR MARKERS
0:00 – Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel – Slightly Recommended
0:34 – Big E Langston vs. Swagger/Dolph’s concussion – Slightly Recommended
0:45 – Dean Ambrose vs. Daniel Bryan – Highly Recommended
1:35 – Chris Jericho vs. Ryback – Highly Recommended
–image provided by wikimedia
