WWE Smackdown review
May 4, 2012
Taped 5/1/12 in Toledo, Ohio
Aired on Syfy
By Michael Cupach, PWTorch Contributor

[Q1]

-WWE open.

-Smackdown opening music video. Since the brand split is non-existent, how do they arbitrarily decide which wrestlers to put on the Smackdown video and the Raw video? Anyway, full pyro and Josh Mathews welcomes everyone to Smackdown and he promises that tonight there will be an update on Triple H's injury. Michael Cole says they will show what happened last Monday at the end of Raw when John Laurinaitis seemed to lose his mind!

-Lilian Garcia introduces World Champion Sheamus, and he makes his way to the ring to cut a promo. Sheamus starts off by saying that he comes out every night to do what he loves to do – fight. He says that he will fight anywhere, any time, and he intends to even fight tonight in a few minutes. Sheamus switches gears to say that last Sunday, Daniel Bryan almost ripped his shoulder out and when Bryan challenged him to a fight tonight, all Sheamus could say was “Yes!” He says it over and over, pretty much stealing Bryan’s catchphrase. That’s so bush league! He continues saying “Yes” as Bryan makes his way to the ring; it looks like their fight is going to happen right now!

1 - World Heavyweight champion SHEAMUS vs. DANIEL BRYAN – non-title match

Headlock from Sheamus to start. Bryan pushes him off and Sheamus shoulder blocks Bryan to the mat. They try the same sequence again, but this time Bryan drop-toeholds Sheamus and goes for the Yes! Lock early, but Sheamus escapes and clotheslines Bryan. Bryan is quickly back up and he goes to work on Sheamus’s injured shoulder, then puts Sheamus in a chicken wing while driving the knee into his shoulder! Sheamus struggles to fight out of the chicken wing and Bryan keeps him down with more shots to the arm, but Sheamus is more angry at that and he unloads on Bryan with some right hands. Sheamus drives his good shoulder into Bryan's midsection, then takes Bryan out with a kneelift. Bryan rolls out of the ring and Ricardo Rodriguez comes out of nowhere, trying a crossbody from the top rope, and the ref calls for the DQ!

WINNER: Sheamus by DQ in 2:30.

Post-match: Alberto Del Rio applies the Cross Arm-breaker and lets go for no reason whatsoever. Bryan rolls back in the ring and puts Sheamus in the Yes! Lock until the referee pulls him off. Sheamus rolls out of the ring as Bryan and Del Rio argue about Alberto’s interference. Sheamus is seriously selling the arm.

(Commercial)

-Replay of the ending of the previous match.

-Backstage, Sheamus is given medical attention for his injured arm

[Q2]

2 - WWE tag champions KOFI KINGSTON & R-TRUTH vs. HUNICO & CAMACHO - non-title match

Epico, Rosa, A.W., and Primo make their way to ringside as the match starts. Truth and Hunico start things off and Truth takes offense to Hunico dissing Little Jimmy. Truth armdrag slams Hunico, then tags in Kofi and they double-team Hunico. Kofi misses a dropkick and ends up getting back-body-dropped by Hunico to the outside, where Camacho cheap-shots Kingston on the outside. Hunico rolls Kofi back in the ring and follows up with a senton from the apron for a two count.

Camacho tags back in and he back-suplexes Kofi, then drops a big leg for a two count. Tag to Hunico, who smashes Kofi’s face with a boot in the corner for another two count. Booker calls that move “Two Feet to the Mush.” Clever. Kofi starts to tease his comeback, but Hunico cuts him off once, but on a second try, Kofi monkey-flips Hunico across the ring. Both men tag out, and Truth gets the Lie Detector on Camacho, but Hunico breaks it up. Kofi is back in the ring - he leg scissors Hunico out of the ring, and Truth hits a front face slam on Camacho to get the pin!

WINNERS: Kofi Kingston & R-Truth in 4:00.

-Epico, Primo, Rosa, and A.W. look on from the stage and they do not look impressed!

-Still to come: Brodus Clay vs. Jack Swagger!

(Commercial)

-Cameron and Naomi introduce Brodus Clay, who in turn introduces them. Brodus then dances his way to the ring, sans Hornswoggle. Vickie Guerrero interrupts the dancing and she introduces Jack Swagger. She says that he is the perfect man to derail the funk train!

3 - BRODUS CLAY vs. JACK SWAGGER (w/Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler)

Swagger goes for Clay's knees to start, but Clay clotheslines Swagger out of his boots in retaliation! Dolph Ziggler distracts Brodus and Swagger takes advantage by driving his shoulder to Clay's mid-section.

[Q3] Clay rolls to the outside and headbutts Dolph, who tries cheapshotting him, and Clay rolls back in the ring. Brodus suplexes Jack across the ring and tries his big splash, but Swagger rolls out of the ring and gets intentionally counted out.

WINNER: Brodus Clay by count-out in 2:00.

-Post-match, Brodus Clay pulls some kids into the ring and he dances with them in a feel-good moment. His dancers then shake their asses rather provocatively in front of the impressionable children.

-Tonight: Big Show and Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes and Kane.

(Commercial)

-At the announce table, the announcers discuss WWE's crazy week, then throw to clips of Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena at Extreme Rules, where they say it all started before going all the way to Monday night on Raw when John Laurinaitis challenged John Cena to a match at Over The Limit.

Back at the announce booth, Mathews says that John Cena has “exasperated” his injuries and they say that John Laurinaitis, who has “lost it,” has taken a personal day off.

-Backstage, Alberto Del Rio and Daniel Bryan argue about Del Rio’s interference. Eve breaks up the argument and they both claim that they should get a shot at Sheamus tonight, but Eve won’t make any decisions until she talks to the trainers.

-Damien Sandow will debut next!

(Commercial)

[Q4]

-Damien Sandow comes out “Hallelujah, Hallelujah.” Sandow has a look of disgust as he makes his way to the ring. He cuts a promo, saying that he is here to help everyone. He starts off by saying that tonight was supposed to be a great night. (The crowd keeps yelling “What?” and he thanks the crowd for their irrelevant opinion.) Sandow says that he was supposed to debut tonight, but he won’t lower himself by facing someone like Derrick Bateman. Sandow says that he won’t compete for the benefit of the crowd tonight. Sandow makes his way back to the locker room.

Bateman gets on the mic and says that he earned a match on Smackdown and he doesn’t care who it is against because he wants a match. Ryback’s music hits and Bateman looks like he crapped his pants!

4 - RYBACK vs. DERRICK BATEMAN

Bateman tries getting an early advantage, but Ryback no-sells the offense and slams Bateman across the ring. Ryback hits various power moves and then finishes Derrick off with his Samoan Drop Slam.

WINNER: Ryback in 1:00.

Mike’s Reax: Great heel heat for Damien Sandow. He carried himself well on the microphone and handled the crowd with their “What” chants. Refusing to wrestle someone he thinks isn’t on his level was a nice touch as well. For not having a match, I thought this was a very good debut!

(Commercial)

5 - BIG SHOW & RANDY ORTON vs. KANE & CODY RHODES

Orton and Rhodes start things off with a collar and elbow tie-up. Rhodes shoots Orton into the ropes and Orton shoulder-blocks Cody to the mat and catches him with a clothesline when he pops back up. Orton tosses Cody over towards Big Show, who waves to him, then Cody backpedals into a European uppercut and Orton tags in Show.

[Q5] Show squishes Cody in the corner and then bodyslams him. Tag back to Orton, who drops a knee on Rhodes’s forehead for a two count. Dropkick by Orton gets another two count. Cody gets a quick shot on Orton and breaks for his corner, where he tags Kane in. Kane and Orton trade shots, and Kane wins that one before unloading some more on Randy in the corner. Shoulders to the midsection by Kane, then he tries a charge in the corner, but Orton gets his feet up. Tag into Big Show, who spears Kane and hip tosses Cody into the ring, then tosses him to the floor. Big Show beats on Kane in the corner, then whips Kane into the ropes. Show puts his head down and Kane DDTs him as Smackdown takes a break!

(Commercial)

Kane is working over Big Show in the corner when Smackdown returns. Cody cheap-shots Show when the ref's back is turned, then Kane slows down the match even more. Both men tag out; Randy goes on a clothesline spree on Cody and finishes with a powerslam. Orton goes for the DDT with the help of the second rope, but Kane interjects himself. Orton pulls him into the ring and ends up DDT’ing Kane! Orton calls for the RKO, but Kane pushes him off and Cody pulls the rope down to send Randy to the outside. Kane tries slamming Randy’s head into the steel post, but Randy slips out and shoves Kane into the post. Kane no-sells, though, and boots Orton in the face.

Back in the ring, Kane and Rhodes do quick tags and deliver quick offense on Orton. Kane nails Orton with some haymakers in the corner, then whips Orton to the far corne, but Kane runs into a boot again. Orton puts him down with a backbreaker and both men are down. Kane stops Orton from tagging out and Kane tags in Rhodes, who puts Orton in a variation chinlock. Orton fights out and blocks a Cross Rhodes attempt and finally tags in Big Show.

[Q6] Big Show runs through Rhodes and calls for the chokeslam, but Kane breaks it up with a clothesline from the top rope. Orton RKOs Kane, Rhodes sends Orton shoulder-first into the steel post, and Rhodes tries the Beautiful Disaster on Big Show, but Show counters with a chop to the chest. He then KOs Rhodes with the WMD for the win!

WINNERS: Big Show & Randy Orton by pinfall in 14:00.

Mike’s Reax: Fairly good tag match, Rhodes and Kane looked good as a tag team; maybe this will be revisited somewhere down the road...

-Backstage, Matt Striker is outside the trainer's room waiting to hear about Sheamus. Sheamus storms out and declares that he came to fight and tonight he will fight!

(Commercial)

6 - Divas champion LAYLA vs. NATALYA – non-title match

Nattie amateur-wrestles Layla down to the mat, but Layla fights back up and Natalya fireman-carries her back down. Layla tries a waistlock, but Nattie laughs the attempt off and she rings the arm and wrenches the elbow. So, is Natalya a serious Divas wrestler this week and not the farting Diva? Abdominal stretch by Natalya. Layla escapes and tries a quick pin, but Natalya kicks out. Layla then connects with the “Layout” for the win.

WINNER: Layla by pinfall in 1:30.

-Preview of John Cena on Dream Machine.

-Backstage, Aksana is getting her make-up on and hair done for a photo shoot with Antonio Cesaro. Eve doesn’t like the way that the pictures are coming out, as she thinks that Antonio needs to be oiled up and Eve wants Teddy to oil him up. Teddy oils him up and, in my opinion, he does a stupendous job!

(Commercial)

[Q7]

-Backstage, Kaitlyn and Alicia are talking, then A.J. wants to talk to Kaitlyn. She apologizes to her for the way she acted last week. A.J. says that she has been lost. Kaitlyn said that she has felt betrayed because she tried to be her friend. Kaitlyn tells her that her pity party has got to stop, but she gets slapped again.

-Josh Mathews then throws to highlights of Raw featuring Brock Lesnar and Triple H.

-Back on Smackdown, Josh Mathews says that Triple H did suffer a broken arm and Cole says that he will require surgery. Cole says that there has been no official announcement about the status of Brock Lesnar and to watch WWE's website all weekend for an update.

-Alberto Del Rio makes his way to the announce table - he will be doing commentary for the next match. Cole shakes Del Rio’s hand and welcomes him to the announce table. Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan is next!

(Commercial)

[Q8]

7 - World Heavyweight champion SHEAMUS vs. DANIEL BRYAN – non-title match

Here we go again! Sheamus has his shoulder all wrapped up and bandaged. Bryan tries going for some surgical shots to the arm, but Sheamus is pretty protective of his arm. Bryan goes behind Sheamus and puts on a chicken wing, but Sheamus backs him into the corner to break the hold. Bryan slips back in front of Sheamus and kicks him in the shoulder, then works him over in the corner. Sheamus is on his knees and Bryan repeatedly kicks him in the shoulder.

Sheamus makes a break for the corner and tries fighting off Bryan by keeping him at a distance, but Bryan gets in close enough to deliver some shots to the arm. Wristlock by Daniel Bryan, but Sheamus out of nowhere connects with a one-armed tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Sheamus goes for the Brogue Kick, but Bryan ducks and Sheamus goes over the top rope onto the apron, where Bryan running dropkicks him to the floor. Smackdown takes a break!

(Commercial)

Flying knee off the apron from Bryan onto Sheamus, as Smackdown returns. Back in the ring, Bryan continues to target Sheamus's arm. Sheamus rolls back to the outside, where Bryan chases him and continues to work on the arm, even going as far and sending Sheamus shoulder first into the steel post. Back in the ring, Bryan connects with a flying headbutt from the top rope onto Sheamus’s shoulder. Bryan tries a pin, but comes up short. More kicks to the shoulder from Bryan and Bryan finally takes the bandages off the injured shoulder.

Bryan looks like he is having the time of his life wrestling Sheamus to the mat and driving knees into the World champ's bad shoulder. Sheamus starts to power his way to his feet and elbows his way out of the chicken wing, then turns the table on Bryan by sending him shoulder-first into the ringpost! Sheamus ties Bryan up in the ropes and clubs him in the chest 20 times, then suplexes Bryan back into the ring! Irish Curse backbreaker gets a two count on Bryan, so Sheamus starts kneeing D-Bryan in the head repeatedly.

Bryan makes a comeback by hanging Sheamus's arm on the top rope and Bryan follows that up with a missile dropkick for a two count. More kicks to the injured arm and the ref almost DQs Bryan since Sheamus is in the ropes. Big clothesline by Sheamus and he tries the Celtic Cross, but Alberto Del Rio distracts Sheamus, who then sends Bryan into Del Rio, who falls into the ring. Sheamus tosses Del Rio out of the ring and Bryan goes to the top rope for another missile dropkick, but Sheamus hits him with a Brogue Kick on the rebound for the win!

WINNER: Sheamus by pinfall in 13:30.

End Smackdown!

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