WWE Smackdown Lowdown 5/3/2012

WWE Smackdown, May 3rd, 2012

So here we are between Extreme Rules and Over the Limit.  These are the time periods where we settle into what the programs will be moving forward, who opponents will be and how rematches will get handled.  John Lauranaitis has declared himself John Cena's next PPV opponent, but I think we all see this as a red herring.  We start Friday night's festivities with our World Heavyweight champion.

Sheamus tells us all, a bit long-windily, that he loves to fight.  Yay stereotypes!  Sheamus proposes a question to himself - Will he fight Daniel Bryan, even though he almost ripped his arm out its socket?  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  Daniel Bryan is none too pleased about Sheamus continually using his catchphrase and comes out with a grimace on his face to remind the Irishman.

Match 1 - Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus (World Heavyweight Champion), non-title

Sheamus starts strong, mowing Bryan down with a shoulder tackle.  Bryan responds with a drop toe hold into an armbar, which Sheamus powers out of.  Bryan drops Sheamus with a single arm DDT and continues with kicks and boots in the corner.  The fact that they're continuing to show Bryan as a credible opponent to Sheamus, able to cleanly strike him down to the ground is a big step up from how someone Bryan's size normally gets portrayed by WWE.  Bryan drops Sheamus' arm over his own shoulder, then grounds him with a hammerlock and drops knees across the arm.  Bryan grabs the other arm to give Sheamus a good stretch, but Sheamus powers up to his feet.  Bryan lands elbows, a European uppercut and kicks.  Sheamus clubs Bryan in the corner.  He follows with a shoulder, a knee lift, and a clothesline over the top, leaving the champ in the ring alone.  As he turns around, he's hit by a flying crossbody block from Ricardo Rodriguez as he and Alberto del Rio storm the ring.  Alberto locks in the Cross Armbreaker, which the refs stop.  Bryan then locks the Yes!lock onto the same arm.

Winner:  Sheamus via disqualification

Bryan and del Rio argue, as ADR has cost Bryan a potential victory, which he's not too happy about.  This is a great way to transition Sheamus from his Bryan program to his Alberto del Rio one, as Bryan will be facing CM Punk at Over the Limit.  Del Rio is shown as having an aggression and a desire to do anything necessary to win the title, and now Sheamus gets to do what he loves:  Fight.

Sheamus is shown in the back with doctors tending to his arm.  Sheamus continually ignores any questions from the doctors and pounds his fist into the bed and wall.  Healthy reaction, sir.

Match 2 - Hunico and Camacho vs Kofi Kingston and R-Truth (Tag Team Champions), non-title

Primo, Epico and Rosa come out on the stage with Abraham Washington and sit on stools to watch.  Truth and Hunico start the match.  Hunico continues the trend of slapping Little Jimmy to start a match, drawing the ire of Truth. He goes ballistic, delivering a big hip toss.  Kofi tags in and delivers a flying forearm for one.  Kofi gets distracted by Camacho on the apron and Hunico sends him outside.  Camacho follows to the floor and levels Kofi with a clothesline.  Camacho rolls him in and Hunico follows with a tope.  Camacho tags in.  He clubs at Kofi and delivers a belly to back suplex.  Camacho lands a big jumping leg drop for two.  Hunico tags back in with a slingshot corner dropkick for two.  Hunico settles into a chinlock.  Kofi fights out and lands an arm drag.  Kofi dives for the tag and is stopped by Hunico; Kofi monkey flips Hunico back towards his corner and both men tag out.  Truth lands the Lie Detector on Camacho for two.  Hunico runs interference and Truth tosses Kofi overhead for a flying hurricanrana.  Camacho whiffs a clothesline and turns around into Truth's Little Jimmy for three.

Winners:  Kofi Kingston and R-Truth via pinfall

Match 3 - Brodus Clay vs Jack Swagger

Michael Cole says Booker T probably does "The Electric Dance" when he goes out.  "The Electric Dance".  Let that sink in for a moment; the man even screws up the names of popular dances.  For some reason, the producer thought it pertinent to cut away from Swagger's entrance mid-taunt.  Clay starts with a belly to belly suplex.  Swagger goes after the leg, but runs into a clothesline.  Dolph Ziggler distracts from the outside and Swagger throws his body at Clay to attack.  Brodus rolls outside and Ziggler jumps off the stairs at him, taking the same insane flopping around bump from Clay's headbutt as he has the last couple weeks.  Ziggler is going to kill himself for us, and he can't even get legitimate title shots; it's a damn shame.  Back in the ring, Clay catches Swagger and delivers a t-bone suplex.  Swagger rolls out of the ring before the big splash comes and bails.

Winner:  Brodus Clay via countout

So Swagger just runs away.  Which means this is going to continue.  Swagger and Ziggler both deserve better than this feud and here's hoping it ends soon.  Clay dances with kids in the ring again.  I hope Brodus likes this act, because without any drastic changes, he's not leaving this spot any time soon.

We get a quick recap of the current Lesnar/Cena situation the fall out from Extreme Rules.  We also get a recap of Johnny and Tensai going after Cena.

Eve, Alberto del Rio and Daniel Bryan are in the back.  Eve has apparently taken over with Johnny not present and she tries to settle things between the two number one contenders.

Match 4 - Damien Sandow vs Derrick Bateman

Damien Sandow finally makes his Smackdown debut, coming out to Hallelujah, which is pretty damn funny.  Booker T immediately takes umbrage with the smart guy, seemingly based solely on him being smart.  Sandow holds the mic like a glass of fine wine; at the very least, this guy has his character down quite well.  He proclaims that he has arrived to help the ignorant masses.  The problem is, he cannot do so wrestling a miscreant like Bateman; he cannot and will not engage him.  How does anyone benefit from Sandow defeating Bateman?  What is there to learn?  Sandow leaves.

No contest via smugness.

Bateman grabs a mic and declares that on NXT, he won the right to a match on Smackdown and demands it right now.  Ryback's music hits.  Nice knowing ya, Derrick.

Actual Match 4 - Derrick Bateman vs Ryback

Ryback faces a bevy of "Goldberg" chants.  Ryback opens with a quick onslaught and a boot to the throat.  Ryback pounds Bateman's head into the mat, then lifts him up.  Ryback lifts Bateman into a gorilla press and catches him in a backpack chinbreaker.  Ryback continues with a big lariat.  He lifts him into the delayed fisherman's samoan drop muscle buster (please give his thing a name, somebody).

Winner:  Ryback via pinfall

Sandow seems to have a great grasp on his character; the verbiage, the facials and the mannerisms are all there.  I hope this "I won't wrestle this miscreant" bit doesn't go on for too long and we get to see what he can produce as a wrestler.  That said, I did enjoy his shenanigans.

Match 5 - Kane and Cody Rhodes (Intercontinental Champion) vs Big Show and Randy Orton

This is the type of match that you really should see for yourself.  It's a bit 'typical' in that two sets of rivals are split into tag teams to fight one another, but hey, that's wrestling.  Everyone got to hit their signature spots, the action was solid, nobody screwed up.  Most importantly:  It is announced that Big Show will be getting his rematch for the Intercontinental Title at a house show during the weekend.  In other words, the Show/Rhodes program may very well be done, allowing Rhodes to move on to an opponent more his size and speed, to showcase the improvements he has made in the ring.

The match ends with Kane landing his diving lariat, but suffering an RKO; Rhodes follows this by tossing Orton into the ring post.  Rhodes tries to land the Beautiful Disaster on Big Show, but he swats him out of the air and then delivers the WMD punch for the win.

Winners:  Big Show and Randy Orton via pinfall

If this is the last time we have to see Show punch Rhodes in the face for a while, I'm quite okay with that.  I'm not quite sure who they have in mind as the next IC contender, but it can't be worse than Big Show at this point.  Perhaps a strong entrance for Antonio Cesaro?

Sheamus is shown in the back with his shoulder and arm heavily taped, but says he will fight tonight.

Match 6 - Natalya vs Layla (Divas Champion), non-title

Natalya gets the jobber entrance treatment, which is a shame, considering she has a version of one of the most iconic entrance themes WWE has ever had.  She has gotten this treatment for months now.  Natalya opens with a take down and the ladies exchange headlocks and headscissors on the mat.  Simple, straight forward, but something that the Divas rarely get to showcase in their short matches.  Back on their feet, Natalya delivers a signature discus lariat for two then settles into an abdominal stretch. Layla rolls through for a quick one count, then immediately lands the Layout neckbreaker for the win.

Winner:  Layla via pinfall

This is the type of match that reinvigorates the confidence of the fans in the Divas division.  If WWE would just take a small risk and bring AJ to the forefront (she is being focused on a bit already, anyway) and bring up someone like Paige from FCW, we could have actual matches like this on a regular basis.   The fact that they don't is what chased Gail Kim to TNA.  And then there's Kharma; enough said.  But hey, I'm sure it's more profitable to have Brodus Clay dance for five minutes a show.

In the back, we find Aksana, Antonio Cesaro and Eve prepping for a promotional photo shoot.  Eve wants oil applied to Cesaro, and wants Teddy to do it.  Long is like the new Jim Ross; he's only put on screen to emotionally abuse.  Hopefully at some point Long gets to save some face or something, but who really expects that?

Kaitlyn and Alicia Fox are in the back and AJ walks into the scene.  Fox splits and AJ apologizes to her friend for slapping the taste out of her mouth.  She's been "lost" lately.  Kaitlyn, being (in my opinion) a good friend, tells AJ to stop the pity party and get herself back on track.  She suffers the wrath of AJ's palm again, this time leveling her to the floor.  AJ's path to psychopathy continues, hopefully netting her some in-ring time at some point.

We get the Raw Rebound to HHH's arm being broken by Lesnar's Kimura.

Before the main event, the commentators let us know that there has been no update to Lesnar's status with WWE.  Sounds like the office isn't very efficient.  Alberto del Rio comes out for commentary

Match 7 - Sheamus (World Heavyweight Champion) vs Daniel Bryan, non-title (round two)

Sheamus opens aggressively , but walks into a drop toe hold into the corner.  Bryan lays in with kicks to the shoulder.  Bryan continues the kick onslaught.  Bryan ties Sheamus' arm in the ropes and as the ref breaks it up, Bryan reminds him that he's got til five (I'll always smile at this bit, and I'm thrilled to see it on WWE television).  Bryan drapes Sheamus' arm over his shoulder, as in the first match.  Bryan then runs into a titl-a-whirl backbreaker.  Sheamus whiffs a Brough Kick attempt and ends up on the apron.  Bryan gets a running start and dropkicks him off, leading to a commercial break.  Back, Bryan lands a knee off the apron.  Back in the ring, Bryan ascends the top rope and lands a diving headbutt to the shoulder for two.  Sheamus starts to take over, but Bryan hotshots him and lands a missile dropkick.  Sheamus fights back after some distraction and chicanery from del Rio and Bryan tries to fly one more time, but dives right into a Brough Kick for three.

Winner:  Sheamus via pinfall

That's about it for Smackdown.  We find out that Cody Rhodes is moving on past Big Show as a rival and contender, which is the best news of the night.  Del Rio and Sheamus are into the thick of a rivalry, freeing up Bryan to concentrate on CM Punk for the WWE Title (It's so great to be able to type that sentence).  Layla and Natalya showcase that given more than 60 seconds, the Divas can put on a competent, entertaining match.  Damien Sandow appears on TV and not via satellite, showcasing an early mastery of his on-air character.  All in all, a pretty good show.  No big complaints is enough for a good show for me at this point.  Hopefully, we continue in this direction heading toward and out of the the Over the Limit pay per view.