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MAYLE’S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT
MAY 1, 2018
MONTREAL, QUEBEC
AIRED LIVE ON USA NETWORK
Announcers: Corey Graves, Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton.
Check out the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show on this episode here.
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[HOUR ONE]
-The show opened with a recap video highlighting Shane McMahon’s tumble through the announce table at Saudi Arabia. The camera panned to Paige addressing the camera. She informed that Shane McMahon will not be able to appear tonight. She also stated that as a result of A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura’s no contest in Saudi Arabia, they will now face in a no holds barred match at Backlash.
-In the ring, Miz stood for Miz TV. He welcomed everyone to Miz TV and declared Daniel Bryan is banned from Miz TV to the chagrin of fans. He then addressed Seth Rollins saying, “You have something of mine.” He continued, “This Sunday, people are going to see an A-freakin-Lister as champion!”. Finally, he continued with his show hosting duties and welcomed his guest, United States Champion, Jeff Hardy. Jeff made his ring entrance to the cheers of fans.
The announcers plugged that Jeff and Randy Orton will go one-on-one at Backlash for the first time in 10 years. Jeff sat next to Miz and Miz asked, “You think I’m a better Intercontinental Champion than Seth Rollins, right?” Jeff disagreed. He said, “If you were better than Seth freakin Rollins, you would have won at the Greatest Royal Rumble like I did.” Miz mocked Jeff’s confidence and referred him to a video from two weeks ago when Jeff took Randy Orton’s spot in a match against Shelton Benjamin. Miz said, “I wonder what Randy Orton thought of that.” He then introduced Randy Orton as the next guest, but Orton’s music hit before Miz could finish the introduction, which Miz looked offended by.
Miz stood between Orton and Hardy. He acted as an instigator between the two. Orton reassured that, “Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton are cool.” Miz seemed baffled by that. He said, “Randy Orton doesn’t play well with others! This isn’t the first time you’ve been disrespected around here!” Miz continued to point out that Hardy cost Orton a win last week, which Jeff explained he did not. It was actually one of the Singh Brothers. Orton rose up at Miz and reassured that everything is okay between he and Hardy. However, Orton told Hardy that he will take his title at Backlash. Hardy said he could try. Miz wouldn’t accept that “mutual agreement”. Shelton Benjamin interrupted saying he beat Orton last week fair and square. Orton then kicked him in the face which fumbled Shelton out of the ring as Hardy did the Whisper In The Wind on Miz. Hardy’s music hit as fans cheered both Randy and Jeff as they posed in the ring. (c.)
(1) RANDY ORTON & JEFF HARDY vs. SHELTON BENJAMIN & THE MIZ
They came back live in the middle of the match. Randy and Jeff were taking offense against Shelton Benjamin, exchanging tags regularly. Finally, Shelton was able to gain enough offense to tag in Miz. Miz slowed things down, as usual, with a headlock on Orton. Orton was able to break the hold and get the hot tag to Jeff. Jeff ran in and took out Shelton and Miz. He went for multiple quick rollups on Miz, but only for two-counts. He finally hit the Twist of Fate on a tagged-in Shelton, but as he went to the top rope for the Swanton Bomb, Miz pushed Hardy off the ropes. (c.)
Back live, Jeff sold for a while for Miz and Shelton in the ring. He finally hit a jawbreaker on Shelton, but was unable to tag in Orton from it. Miz was tagged in and ran roughshod on Jeff. He hit the running corner dropkicks like Daniel Bryan, but Hardy blocked the last one and got the hot tag for Randy. Randy took out Miz Shelton and Miz, slamming Miz on the table outside the ring. He then brought both opponents back inside the ring and hit a double apron DDT on them both. Finally, he hit the RKO on Shelton, tagged in Hardy, Jeff hit the Swanton, and they won the match.
WINNERS: Orton & Hardy in 12:00.
Immediately after the three-count, Orton hit an RKO on Hardy.
(Mayle’s Analysis: Interesting choice to open the show with a lesser angle of the show. They didn’t drag it out through the whole show, but I feel like the opening segment should usually be the most important angle going on, but they got the whole angle out of the way first, almost feeling like a pre-show.)
-Renee stood backstage to interview The Iconics and Carmella, but Carmella was not present with them. The Iconics mocked Renee for being Canadian and took the microphone from her. They shewed her away then introduced the Women’s Champion, Carmella. Carmella praised the Iconics’ accolades for defeating Becky Lynch and Asuka last week, and her own victory over Charlotte. She ended with “Carmella is money.” The Iconics said, “And the future is iconic.” They giggled in their united greatness as Carmella moonwalked.
-The announcers plugged A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura appearing tonight as Shinsuke demands an apology from Styles. (c.)
-A video aired of a post-match interview with Daniel Bryan last Friday after the Royal Rumble. He talked about lasting the longest anyone has ever lasted in the Royal Rumble.
-The announcers informed that he will not be cleared to compete tonight due to fear of an infection in his chest.
-Backstage, The Bar ran into The New Day. The New Day bought out pancakes to welcome The Bar to Smackdown. Big E rubbed oil on his chest as The Bar contemplated taking the pancakes. The Bar threw the pancakes behind them and demanded competition. Big E got furious and yelled in Shamus’ face, “You want it, you got it, sucka!” Shamus explained he wanted competition against Xavier Woods instead. Xavier quoted Mortal Kombat, “Your soul is mine!”
(Mayle’s Analysis: The New Day just knows how to make the modern fan laugh. They’re always great. If you put them in competition with The Bar and their athleticism and in-ring workmanship, the chemistry could be fantastic.)
-Another backstage segment aired with Rusev, Aiden English, and Lana. Fans cheered when Lana came in the shot. Lana said that Rusev came up short in his big match with Undertaker, and something may be holding him back. Rusev asked what that could be. Lana looked at Aiden English. English got offended and walked off.
(Mayle’s Analysis: Isn’t English the one who put Rusev over? It was at least a team effort. They must really want Rusev to be a heel.)
-Big Cass began his ring entrance. (c.)
-Cass stood in the ring as announcers expressed confusion as to why he is out there. He was not scheduled to compete. Cass said, “For those who don’t know, I am from New York City.” He explained that people from New York are not kind to people from other cities. He said they know they are better than everyone. He knows he’s better than every one of them, and he’s better than Daniel Bryan. He noted that Daniel Bryan is someone who looks like all the normal fans. He stated a WWE Superstar is someone who is 7-feet tall. “When I face Daniel Bryan, you’re not gonna get your 5-star match. You’re gonna get a 5-second match!” Angrily, he said, “Why wait until Backlash? Why don’t you come out here so I can kick your teeth down your throat right now?” Bryan’s music hit. Fans cheered.
Then, a small person came out dressed as Daniel Bryan. Cass pretended he was Bryan. He made fun of him with subtle short jokes. Finally, Cass said, “End scene!” He had the fans applaud the actor as one of their own. Then, you guessed it, he big booted him. Cass then began savagely punching him in the face, posing over him in the ring, and taunting him. Officials came out to usher Cass out of the ring. Fans booed.
(Mayle’s Analysis: This would’ve worked, I think, had the little person not been in on the joke at first. If Cass just came out and picked this guy at random and beat him up, that would set up a tremendous payoff when Daniel beats him at Backlash, because Bryan stands for the unassuming person. But, with it playing out the way it did, I don’t think there was a reason for sympathy since the guy was willingly playing along with the joke against Bryan. He’s not an innocent victim. He’s a guilty victim in this case.)
-The announcers plugged a 6-woman tag match between Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Asuka, and The Iconics and Carmella still to come as well as Nakamura and Styles confrontation. (c.)
[HOUR TWO]
-Renee stood in the ring and welcomed A.J. Styles. Styles made his entrance to cheers. Styles said, “It seems like Shinsuke Nakamura is interested in the wrong jewels after low-blow after low-blow after low-blow.” Renee asked if Styles would apologize to Shinsuke for the double count-out last Friday. Styles said he sould’ve left Shinsuke sucking sand in the Arabian desert. He said this Sunday the rules will be thrown out the window, saying, “When it’s over, you’re going to see a look of sheer torture on Shinsuke’s face curtasy of the Phenominal A.J. Styles.” He said if Shinsuke wants an apology, he can come down to the ring. Then, Samoa Joe’s music hit. Fans cheered.
As Joe stood on the stage, a small TNA chant broke out. Joe touted that he will prove that Roman Reigns is a failure this Sunday when he beats him. He went on declaring Brock Lesner is still the Universal Champion. That then brought him to declare that once he was done with Roman, and once Shinsuke and Styles had their match, he would be coming after Styles for the WWE title. Then, Shinsuke’s music hit. Joe turned around to get ready for a fight, but Nakamura came behind Styles in the ring and low-blowed him once again. He mocked A.J’s pain, slapping disrespectfully and kicking Styles in the head. Finally, he rallied for the Kinsasha once, but faked it. Then, he did it again and hit Styles with the knee. As Styles was down, Nakamura picked up his head and said something with a menacing expression. He stood over Styles’ body posing as his music played.
(Mayle’s Analysis: I like Joe waiting ominously in the shadows for after Styles finishes the feud with Nakamura. Even so, Nakamura could win the title, leading to a triple threat between the three of them for the title later on, which would be a viable match in this instance, I suppose. I would like to see Joe in a singles feud for once though. I feel like I only see him in multi-man matches, which he never wins.)
-Backstage, Becky Lynch paced back and forth in the locker room talking to Asuka. She was upset that she caused Asuka her first lost on Smackdown. Asuka told her to forget last week and focus on tonight Charlotte appeared and said she would teach Carmella a lesson in respect. Asuka said, “Avengers assemble!” and walked away excited.
-The announcers plugged Shamus vs. Xavier Woods next. (c.)
-Shamus and Cesaro waited in the ring for Xavier.
(2) SHAMUS (w/Cesaro) vs. XAVIER WOODS (w/Kofi Kingston & Big E)
The announcers noted the size difference between Shamus and Woods. Woods was able to dropkick Shamus out of the ring and then vaulted over the top rope onto Shamus. Shamus rolled back into the ring as Cesaro distracted Woods. Shamus then kneed Woods in the face, picking up offense. (c.)
Shamus continued heavy offense on Woods. Announcers noted Shamus is one of the heaviest hitters in the WWE. Woods finally came back with some kicks and knees. Woods hit a corkscrew legdrop for a near fall. Cesaro distracted Woods going for his finisher, but there was some chaos at ringside between the teams. Woods got a quick rollup for the win.
WINNER: Woods in 7:00.
-A video aired from last week of Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville talking bad about Becky Lynch as Becky overheard. Becky threatened to slap their heads off.
-In Paige’s office, Mandy and Sonya entered excited to reunite with Paige. Paige, regretfully, explained to them that she brought them here for Mandy to have a match against Becky Lynch and that there would be no special treatment to keep them together because Absolution “is dead”. (c.)
(Mayle’s Analysis: Glad to see Paige is being more of a face, playing her GM role fairly. She’s better in that strong leadership role than she is as a heel boss, I think.)
-A selfie video aired of Zelina Vega and Andrade “Cien” Almas hyping their Smackdown debut.
-The announcers plugged that Backlash is free for new WWE Network subscribers, and the main matches of the event.
-Charlotte, Becky, and Asuka made their ring entrances. (c.)
(3) CHARLOTTE & BECKY LYNCH & ASUKA vs. THE ICONICS (Peyton Royce & Billie Kay) & CARMELLA
Charlotte and Carmella started the match, but Carmella quickly tagged in Peyton before Charlotte could touch her. Charlotte tagged in Becky. Becky and Peyton traded maneuvers. Asuka was tagged in as Kay was. Kay slapped Asuka and got scared. Asuka laughed and ran wild on Kay. She tagged in Charlotte and they double-teamed Kay. Charlotte took up some offense, but she was quickly reversed by Kay. Carmella, childishly, begged to be tagged in as Charlotte was down. She was tagged in only to be overtaken by Charlotte. Charlotte threw her out of the ring and vaulted over the ropes onto the entire team. (c.)
Back live, Becky dropkicked Carmella in the ring and crawled to tag in Asuka. At the last moment, Peyton pulled Asuka off the ring apron. However, Becky was able to tag in Charlotte. Charlotte took momentous offense on Carmella, but The Iconics worked together to subdue Charlotte so Carmella had an advantage. Cory Graves kept using “Mean Girls” references.
In the middle of the match, they went split-screened and aired a promo video of Shinsuke Nakamura and A.J. Styles’ match for Backlash.
Asuka quickly tagged herself in as Charlotte was weary. Asuka ran wild once again on everyone. She hip attacked the illegal women off the apron, but Peyton rolled her up for a near fall. Charlotte came in and speared Carmella, then did a moonsault to her outside of the ring. Everyone popped. Asuka put the Asuka Lock on Peyton in the ring. Peyton tapped out.
WINNERS: Charlotte, Asuka, and Becky in 15:00.
The last shot of the show was Charlotte motioning to a defeated Carmella holding her title that the belt will soon be around her waist.
Final Thoughts: This wasn’t a bad show. I feel it was better than Raw for sure. However, I do wish they would’ve opened with an angle between these women in order to set the main narrative of the show since they were the main event. Everything else could’ve flown fluidly in between as fantastic fillers. Ultimately, it had all the pieces of a great show, but someone didn’t put the puzzle together correctly.
NOW CHECK OUT WADE KELLER’S REPORT ON THIS SHOW: KELLER’S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT 5/1: Backlash hype and Greatest Royal Rumble fallout, Miz TV with Orton, Hardy, Shelton
Check out the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show on this episode here.
Search “Wade Keller” in Apple Podcasts or Stitcher or anywhere you listen to podcasts to subscribe to the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-shows.
Three matches in two hours is just too much filler.