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