5-3-13 Smackdown results and thoughts

Coverage and thoughts on the May 3, 2013 episode of Smackdown

The show starts with Ryback coming to the ring. He says that Monday night he knew Cena was hurt, which is why he couldn’t team with him to face The Shield. He’s not Cena’s keeper. Cena chose to put himself in that match against The Shield. He chose to put himself at further risk. Cena was the guy who lost the match against The Shield. Afterwards Cena was hobbling around like a weak pathetic animal & in the law of the jungle the bigger, stronger & faster always eat the weak. Ryback rules. Out comes Daniel Bryan & we’re ready for the first match. This was a short decent promo.

Daniel Bryan vs. Ryback. Ryback gets the pin. This was a good back & forth match.

Backstage Renee Young interviews Ricardo Rodriguez. She asks how he feels going into his match with Zeb Coulter. Ricardo says he feels excited. Then he rambles in Spanish & then kisses Renee. Then Del Rio comes in & he tells Ricardo to get a hold of himself. Del Rio tells Renee that Ricardo gets excited. There wasn’t much to this.

Zack Ryder vs. Fandango. Fandango gets the pin. Ryder got in some offense but this was mostly a squash. That seems to be the formula for Ryder’s matches now. Then Fandango says his name. That’s gotten old.

Backstage we see Kaitlyn holding some roses & looking at a message in her phone or whatever. She comes across Natalya & Khali. Natalya asks if the roses are from the same guy that sent her the spike hat. Kaitlyn says they are. Then she reads a text message. It’s from a blocked number. She wishes the guy would reveal himself. Natalya then says that Khali has the best advice (This I gotta hear). Khali says something that I couldn’t make out and then he tells Kaitlyn that if she needs any advice to come to him (Sure, because Khali is the first person I go to for advice). Khali walks off & Natalya tells Kaitlyn that Khali gives the best advice. This was lame. It would make sense to have the admirer be Cody Rhodes since they had bit of a storyline going a little while back.

They reshow John Cena visiting “Nick the Stitch” on the Today Show and then they show Cena on the stage with the 3 Make a Wish kids from Monday. That was a great segment!

Backstage Renee Young interviews Zeb Coulter & Jack Swagger. She says that things didn’t go Zeb’s way Monday when he lost to Ricardo but tonight he has a chance to avenge that loss. Zeb asks what her name is. Then he calls her Ronda & says people have a tendency to distort facts to fit their own personal agenda. What we really missed was the real story Monday, which was an act of personal bravery on his part. On Monday Zeb was sick with 102 degree temperature. He was sweating, he had vertigo & dizziness. He had everything wrong with him but he went to work anyway because that’s what real Americans do. They get up & go to work. Some of the comments he saw on Twitter this week was that Zeb’s performance Monday was probably the most inspiring moments people have ever seen. People even called him a role model. What hurt him worse was that his victory was awarded to an illegal immigrant. A guy who snuck across the boarder & has no place in this country. Zeb then says that Ricardo is guilty of theft & Zeb could go to the cops with this if he wanted to because he has all the fans as witnesses but he won’t do that. Zeb will handle this himself. He will rectify this situation & unlike Ricardo’s so called win there will be no taint on Zeb’s win. Unlike illegal immigrants, real Americans play fair. We the People. This was more of the same “Anti foreigner” crap we’ve been hearing for awhile & it’s beyond stale!

Dolph Ziggler is on commentary for the next match & Big E & AJ are there too.

Ricardo Rodriguez vs. Zeb Coulter. Ricardo wins by DQ when Swagger comes in. Then Del Rio goes after Swagger & clotheslines him over the top rope. Then Del Rio stares down Zeb & Zeb slides out of the ring. Then Teddy Long came out & makes this a tag match, Del Rio & Ricardo vs. Swagger & Coulter.

Alberto Del Rio & Ricardo Rodriguez vs. Jack Swagger & Zeb Coulter. This ends in a no finish when Dolph & Big E come in. Big E chucks Swagger out of the ring as Dolph stomps on Del Rio. Then out comes Teddy Long again & he makes this a triple threat tag team match.

Alberto Del Rio & Ricardo Rodriguez vs. Jack Swagger & Zeb Coulter vs. World Champion Dolph Ziggler & Big E Langston. Del Rio & Ricardo win when Del Rio makes Ziggler tap. There was a lot of shenanigans here. The 3 way tag match was solid but they had Dolph cleanly tap.

Backstage we hear some noises and then The Shield show up on camera. Ambrose says doesn’t it just break your heart when your champ becomes the chump. Rollins says that it’s also heart breaking when the so called phenom isn’t so phenomenal. Then Reigns they broke Cena & Taker & they’ll break the dead man’s brother next. Ambrose says that Kane is so misguided. Kane thinks justice is taking vengeance in his family. That’s just vengeful pride. That’s just Kane’s head messing with him. Justice is what The Shield dispenses every day. Justice is putting a raging monster down. That monster is Kane. Kane is foaming at the mouth. Rollins then says that justice is in escapable. You can do all the running & hiding that you want but sooner or later it will catch up. They put down Taker & it could have been a whole lot worse. Kane will believe. Then Reigns says that Kane will believe in The Shield. They walk off & show Daniel Bryan lying on the floor from The Shield attack. This was the usual good promo from The Shield.

Time for a video package on the HHH-Brock Lesnar angle.

Backstage referees are checking on Daniel Bryan. A trainer comes in & they all ask what happened (The Shield had a camera right there & they don’t know what happened!?). Then they help Daniel up.

Randy Orton vs. Damien Sandow. Orton gets the pin. This was a decent match. Then Big Show comes out. He says that Orton has got to be the most amazing competitor in 1 on competition. Orton is amazing to watch compete. The problem with Orton is that Orton isn’t much of a team player. It’s all about Randy Orton. If Orton hadn’t had such a big Ego at WrestleMania & let Big Show get the tag they might have beaten The Shield & Orton wouldn’t have gotten knocked out. Then Sandow attacks Orton from behind & gives him a neck breaker. Big Show has a big laugh & then says that is so funny. Then Big Show tells Orton to understand him because at Extreme Rules there will be nothing funny about what Big Show does to Orton. Big Show was good with his promo.

Backstage we see Kane coming out of the trainer’s room. Then Matt Striker asks Kane for an update on Daniel Bryan. Kane is going to make The Shield pay for attacking Daniel. He will make them pay for what they did to Taker. Kane knows what he is getting into. He knows what will happen to him. Sooner or later The Shield will get him down & they will make sure that he stays down & he will take down as many of them as he can. Kane says they’re going on a little journey to a place called hell. Good promo from Kane here.

Time for a look back at Monday’s 6 man tag.

Josh Matthews is in the ring & they have an arm wrestling table set up. Josh says that Henry has challenged Sheamus to an arm wrestling contest. Mark Henry come to the ring. Then Sheamus. Henry stalls for a while & has the referee clean Sheamus’ hand. He doesn’t want Sheamus cheating. Then he hints that he’s ready but he pulls his right arm away. Then they lock up.

Sheamus vs. Mark Henry in an arm wrestling contest. Henry wins.

Then Sheamus says that Henry has the stronger right arm but he doesn’t think that Henry has the stronger left 1. Sheamus says how about 1 more try? This time left handed. Henry says that he won & Sheamus lost. Sheamus again says that Henry has the stronger right arm but he doesn’t think that Henry has the stronger left 1. Henry goes to leave the ring. Sheamus says that Henry can walk away if he is scared. Then Henry gets back in the ring. Sheamus then says that the fans in Detroit wanna see 1 more go. Then Henry gets in Sheamus’ face & says to call him scared again & see what happens. Sheamus tells Henry to prove him wrong. They go to lock up & Sheamus pulls his left arm away. Henry says that Sheamus wanted to do this. Henry already won & he doesn’t have to be out here. They lock up & get set and then Sheamus punches Henry in the head, knocks the table over and the Brogue Kicks Henry. Then Sheamus tells Henry that’s what he does Fella. This was just as meaningless as the tug of war bit from Monday. I don’t get why they’re having Mark Henry look like such a chump by falling for Sheamus’ tricks.

Time for a look back at The Shield lying out The Undertaker from last week.

Now it’s time for some still shots of the WWE European tour. We get comments from Antonio Cesaro, Justin Gabriel & Daniel Bryan.

The Shield comes out through the crowed & Reigns Daniel Bryan’s the tag title. Then Kane comes out. He fights off The Shield & throws Rollins into the barricade. Then he throws Reigns over the announce table and then he clotheslines Rollins over the barricade.

WWE Tag Team Champion Kane vs. Dean Ambrose. Ambrose gets the pin. This was a solid match. Kane had to fight off Rollins & Reigns during the match too of course. Afterwards The Shield stands outside the ring & Kane tells them to come in. They come in & Kane fights them off & The Shield regroups. Then they get back in the ring & beat down Kane. Then they go for the triple power bomb but Kane boots Reigns in the face, sending him to the floor. Then he knocks down Ambrose & Rollins and then he grabs them both by their throats but then Reigns spears Kane. Then they give him the triple power bomb. Then Ambrose takes the tag titles and gets in the ring. Ambrose & Rollins hold the tag titles as they along with Reigns stand over Kane to end the show. This was good. I like that they’re continuing to have The Shield be this unstoppable trio.

I thought this was a decent show overall. Ryback’s promo at the start was good & short & I like the Daniel-Ryback match. The backstage bit with The Shield lying out Daniel & Kane’s promo later were good too. I also the Kane-Ambrose match and the post match beat down. They’ve really been doing a good job building The Shield as this unstoppable trio. Orton-Sandow was decent, the Del Rio-Ricardo-Swagger-Coulter-Dolph-Big E stuff was a bit over the top but the 3 way tag match was solid, The Kaitlyn-Natalya-Khali backstage bit was lame & Ryder-Fandango was the usual “Ryder getting in some offense before losing” match that Ryder’s been in lately. The Sheamus-Henry arm wrestling contest was meaningless. I don’t get why they’re having Henry fall fro Sheamus’ tricks & making him look like a chump. On the whole I thought this was a decent show though.