WWE Smackdown
May 9 , 2014
We start off tonight’s episode with a recap of the United States Championship Battle Royal from Monday Night. Sheamus winning the US title could add credibility to the championship if handled properly. Ideally, the Intercontinental Championship would take the place of the former World Heavyweight Championship and the US title would be the up and coming mid card title. A la NJPW’s IC title and NEVER title.
The recap ends with The Wyatt Family defeating the Shield and Evolution using the Shield’s signature Triple Power bomb against them.
Sheamus comes out with his newly won United States Championship to kick off Smackdown. Michael Cole accuses Triple H of creating the Battle Royal match to determine the US champion out of some vendetta against the Shield.
Ambrose makes his way down to the ring by himself appearing very upset.
United States Championship Match – Sheamus vs. Dean Ambrose: Lilian Garcia does the formal title match introduction. Nobody thinks it’s just “convenient” that three Europeans hold WWE titles going into their upcoming European tour. (Sheamus – US, Barrett – IC, Paige – Divas), but I like the direction it gives Sheamus. As long as Sheamus isn’t being goofy and making worse jokes than John Cena himself, I’m happy. I like my Sheamus to be stiff, brawling, relentless, and bad ass.
It’s also good to see Ambrose wrestle on his own. The Shield should definitely stay together for 1 to 2 more years, but it wouldn’t to throw in some singles feuds for the Shield guys within that 1 to 2 years.
Ambrose and Sheamus trade the advantage early on and start brawling on the outside of the ring. Ambrose gives Sheamus a vertical suplex on the outside of the ring and Sheamus retaliates with a rolling fireman’s carry slam. These two guys are fighting sloppy and dangerous, and it looks realistic. These two could have a great feud. Ambrose slaps the Figure Four Leg lock on Sheamus trades that to Ambrose for a Cloverleaf. Both men reaching the ropes during the submissions. Sheamus gets Ambrose on the apron and rips his shirt up giving him the Beats of the Bodhran. Ambrose back in the ring gets kicked into the ropes Ambrose bounces back with a lariat, shades of Nigel McGuinness. Still an awesome move for Ambrose’s move set. Sheamus delivers a Brogue Kick out of nowhere and knocks Ambrose out of the ring. Ambrose makes it back in the ring at the referee’s 9 ½ count. Sheamus gives Ambrose a second Brogue kick for the win. *** ¾ Match could have lasted 5+ minutes longer and could have earned an even higher rating.
Cole announces three matches for tonight. Roman Reigns vs. Mark Henry, Seth Rollins vs. Batista, and John Cena teams with the Uso’s to take on the Wyatt family.
Back from commercial break Cole introduces Heyman sitting down for commentary as Cesaro prepares for tag team action.
Rob Van Dam and Big E vs. Bad News Barrett and Cesaro: If we see a Bull Hammer and a Very European Uppercut in the same match my night will be made. Easily two of the best finishers the WWE has.
Maybe Barrett and Cesaro should create a tag team called “The Real Europeans” to rival The Real Americans. Of course, then Swagger would need to add a real American. Maybe this one could actually be a real American.
This match was quick. Cesaro and Barrett worked really well together. Big E and RVD were off and cost each other the match. Cesaro hits Big E with the Neutralizer for the win. No Bull Hammer. No Very European Uppercut. **
Michael Cole runs down the Daniel Bryan vs. Kane Extreme Rules main event, and then tells us that later he will show clips of what happened on Monday was “like something out of a horror movie.”, no Michael, IT WAS LIKE A HORROR MOVIE. It might as well be called See No Evil 3: The Bearded Dragon and Total Diva’s Honeymoon from Hell.
Kofi Kingston vs. Rusev w/ Lana: Rusev has been the most recent victim of losing half his name. Lana comes out and cuts a pro-Putin promo. (try saying that five times fast!) the crowd chants USA! USA! USA!. I am expecting Hacksaw Jim Duggan to wrestle Rusev on the next “Old School Raw”.
Rusev is going downhill fast. I had high hopes for this guy and his agile-big-man offense was impressive. His feud with Truth and Consequences fell flat and Kofi isn’t helping him look any better. Lana yells at Rusev “RUSEV! CRUSH!” to further the comparisons to Briggitte Nielson in Rocky IV.
Rusev wins with the Accolade. N/A
Bray Wyatt cuts a promo about fire holding no prejudice, because anything can burn.
Layla and Fandango vs. Emma and Santino Marella: Emma flirts with Santino on the way to the ring by tripping him like a 1st grade girl bullying her crush. Emma hits Layla with her Emma Sandwich move in the corner. Emma pulls out the Pink Cobra and gets distracted by Santino and Fandango. Layla rolls Emma up for the win. ½ *
Roman Reigns vs. Mark Henry: Michael Cole instructs fans participating at home to use the hashtag “WSMvsROMAN”, and then proceeds to explain was “WSM” stands for. Either, this is the WWE continuing to assume their fans are morons (i.e. explaining how to download the WWE app), or Mark Henry hasn’t been around for a while and the WWE assumes their fans forgot that he is the “world’s strongest man”. Mark Henry beats down Roman for the majority of the early part of the match. Few things in the WWE are more entertaining than Mark Henry beating down his opponent while trash talking him. Henry was spouting off “You by yourself tonight!” and “I’m looking around and I don’t see no body!”
Roman sells like he is really hurt, which is different for him to do. It is good for Roman to be in these situations, it will help him grow as a superstar. Henry sets Roman up in “Vader Bomb” position and Roman gets up and picks Henry up off of the ropes and Samoan Drops Henry, then delivers a Spear for the win. **1/4
Henry should really be involved in a storyline of some sort. Why can’t WWE build more feuds at once? They literally have 7 hours of TV every week (Raw, Main Event, Superstars, and Smackdown). I don’t know how the WWE writing team is structured, but I would like to know. They should have some of the rookie writers write the mid card to lower card storylines. Vince and Triple H should give a pair of rookie writers 2-4 wrestlers and tell them write the best thing you can come up with for these guys. Then the WWE should let these storylines grow across all four shows, maybe be more prominently showcased on the Superstars episodes and the Main Event episodes, but let the storyline be told on multiple shows and then recap them, let fans know “Hey, if you like this feud you can watch the next chapter on tomorrow night’s episode of Main Event.” or “Hey, this is what you missed on the most recent episode of Superstars exclusive to the WWE Network, but this feud is really heating up.” It would give the writers an opportunity to show Vince what they’re capable of, it would get people to want to watch all four shows, and it would give the superstars something to sink their teeth into besides even-Steven booking crap matches that mean nothing. And it keep the WWE from doing the dumbest thing they do every week that will never make since to me and that is recap what happened on Raw on Main Event, Superstars, AND Smackdown, but not do the opposite. I would like to know how many people watch Main Event, Superstars, and/or Smackdown BUT DO NOT WATCH RAW! The majority of the time it is the other way around. People watch Raw, but not any of the other shows. Give them a reason to feel like they have to tune into Smackdown every week!
3MB (Hornswoggle, Drew McIntyre, and Heath Slater) vs. Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando) and El Torito: The Torito/Hornswoggle feud continues post-WeeLC match. It is good to see Los Matadores in a feud. Their gimmick is really awesome. They should be on TV weekly. Although not doing stupid crap like they did on Raw when they celebrated Cinco de Mayo. I tweeted that night (@LuchaNerd) that only in the WWE would you see two Puerto Ricans portray two Spaniards whilst celebrating a Mexican holiday. Every time Hornswoggle and El Torito get ready to wrestle it is treated (by everyone except JBL) as a huge deal in a tongue in cheek sort of way. It is great. Might be one of the best “comedy” feuds the WWE has had in years.
El Torito pulls off the upset (if you could call it that) victory over Heath Slater. **
We get a recap of See No Evil 3’s premiere on Monday Night Raw.
Seth Rollins vs. Batista: Most people have given Dolph Ziggler credit for being the best superstar in the locker room when it came to selling. I always felt Seth Rollins had the edge. The guy is brilliant. And he totally used that to make Batista look like a million bucks here. Seth Rollins showed an edge of being a fiery underdog that is going to make him a great main event face one day.
The Shield has put together some of the WWE’s best tag team matches of any team in history over the last year and a half, but it is refreshing to see them all in singles action.
Batista man handles Rollins, and here and there Rollins will catch Batista with an enzuigiri or a flying elbow. Rollins jumps off of the top rope to the outside, Batista steps aside and catches Rollins by the head propelling him further into the announce table head first. Rollins gets counted out giving the victory to Batista. ***
Batista takes Rollins and throws in him the ring to punish him further. Batista gives Rollins a Batista Bomb and walks up the ramp.
The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan) vs. The Uso’s (Jimmy and Jey Uso) and John Cena: John Cena makes the rare Smackdown appearance to wrestle in the main event. John Cena looks FIRED UP as he runs faster than usual down the ramp. Cena legit looks like he should have looked entering the Steel Cage at Extreme Rules. He looks pissed and ready to kick some Wyatt Family ass.
Cena stays fired up as the bell rings and beats Rowan down. Rowan tags out to Luke Harper. Cena beats Harper down with punches and a big boot. Cena tags out to Jey Uso. The Uso’s channel their inner fired up Cena and beat down Harper. Harper finally slows Jey Uso down with a big boot before tagging back out to Rowan.
Rowan and Harper trade tags as they both isolate Jey in the corner. Bray finally tags in and joins the beat down Jey fray.
During this routine, Harper shows that of the three he is still the best in the ring. Harper’s offense is vicious, realistic, and he legit looks insane. I would not want to be caught in the back woods with Luke Harper. Rowan however, I feel like I can throw a rock at him and he will fall down like the dopey Goliath he is.
Jimmy Uso finally gets the hot tag and takes down Bray much to the pleasure of the fans as they really get behind the Uso’s and Cena here. Jimmy hits Harper with a super kick and Harper just collapses like a sack of potatoes, in an awesome spot. Harper catches Jimmy with a lariat out of nowhere for the win. ***
This match could have been better. I LOVED Cena being fired up and ready to kick some butt in the match until he tagged out and cooled down. Cena was fired up a la Daniel Bryan on one of his comebacks in any of his matches. It was the way Cena needed to be in the steel cage this past Sunday, instead he was fired up about escaping the cage to prove to Bray that he could climb chain link fence before him.
This was a really good episode of Smackdown. The Shield all in singles action was different, interesting, and had really good results. They still continue to prove to me that the WWE has three future main eventers in one stable. I am exciting for each of their futures.
Follow me on Twitter @LuchaNerd and join me in live tweeting pro wrestling whenever I get a chance to watch something! Tell me what you thought of Smackdown! So long everybody!
