Tonight’s episode comes to us from Charlotte, NC . After the recent Wrestlemania 27, it’s the Smackdown version of WWE aftershock. The episode opens Albert Del Rio coming to ringside on his own feet, with no fancy car but the bus known as Brodus Clay in tow. Rio looks pissed off with none of his usual heelish smiles and charm. He is dressed in a white suit so clearly not ready for action yet. He grabs a microphone and states his destiny has been delayed by the opportunist Edge. His destiny was destroyed along with his beautiful Rolls Royce. I thought he had a bunch of these cars so why is he suddenly vehicle-less. Unfortunately, Michael Cole is still in the booth (literally) as it appears this guy still has something over on WWE management the way we’re force-fed this annoying douche.

In mid-sentence, Del Rio is interrupted by Edge’s music. Edge comes halfway down the ramp in a tow-truck that is harboring Del Rio’s damaged Rolls Royce. Edge compares the car to a child, and how Rio needs to love it unconditionally despite the damage, and so on. He goes on to spray paint its hood with yellow (I think he wrote “Edge”). He reiterates that even though Del Rio came close to winning by tapout, “he didn’t get the job done, and that’s why I stand here as the World’s Heavyweight Champion!”. Edge holds the belt up to a decent pop. Alberto demands a rematch but Edge tells him so many others are worthy of a title shot, so many ahead of him, like…Christian! Christian comes out of the tow truck and Edge reminds Del Rio that Christian’s already beat him twice and is way more worthy. That’s cool, I like the idea of Edge being open to giving his buddy a fair title shot. Just then, Teddy Long comes out and reminds them ‘it’s still his show’ (whatever). He says tonight we’ll settle this in a match, and tonight we’ll have Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian and the winner will face Edge at Extreme Rules in a Ladder Match. Edge looks confident if not a bit concerned and we’re on. I have to say, I’m very happy that Edge went over at WM 27. I didn’t think he would but I like how they’re giving a nice little run with this recent World Title run since last Fall (not counting that ridiculous 10-minute reign by Ziggler). He’s kind of working as the old IC Title used to be—defending it often and winning often. It’s been a good run and I hope it keeps going for a bit longer. That said, I like the idea of Christian getting his turn as well.

We go to commercial with a billing for a rematch of that 8-man concoction from WM 27—Big Show, Kane, Santino, and Kofi Kingston (instead of Vlad Kozlof) vs. The Corre. This match is 2 out of 3 falls. It’s a decent match for Smackdown if not for WM 27. They build it as The Corre demanded this match after losing at WM and then being embarrassed on Monday Night Raw…what was up with using them as cannon fodder anyway? That made no sense at all. They show them off with three titles around four of the members’ waists and it actually looks kind of impressive, but then WWE just keeps burying them any time they get a chance to gain some ground. The manic attitude being building them as unstoppable and then stifling them is baffling. I feel like I spend so much time ripping the senseless writing and poor creative strategies that go on, but I can’t help it. I have to call it out when I see it. I can only suspend belief so much.

This match starts off with Gabriel smacking around Santino. He quickly tags to Slater and Marella is stuck in the wrong side of town as he’s worked over in The Corre’s corner. Santino reverses a telegraphed punch by Slater into an over-shoulder throw and he tags out to Kane. Kane is quickly off the ropes and drills Slater with a low drop kick as Heath was playing with his hair. Show is in next and he lands a big chop and a body slam. Slater seems to be the whipping boy for The Corre and it’s clear he’s not that smooth as he blatantly scoots himself on the canvas closer to opposing corner in order to allow Kofi to land his flying body press. That looked pretty amateurish. The Corre quickly come to his rescue and pull him out of the ring to regroup as we go to break. We return with Kane laying into Barrett with right hands and uppercuts. He charges Barrett after an irish whip but eats a shoulder/elbow. Wade tags out to EZ Jackson. We have a square down between Kane and Jackson. The announcers put over how scary Jackson is, and I feel like I’ve been waiting two years for this guy to do something but he still is kind of an unknown commodity. ..other than being super-strong. Jackson lays Kane out with a clubbing clothesline after Kane was tripped up by Corre members. Kane is now the one getting worked over in the wrong corner. The Corre is quick and efficient with its tags as everyone gets a shot to lay into Kane, whether it be legally or illegally. Jackson is back in quickly after a fast cycle of tags by Corre members. Gabriel lands a missile dropkick off the top rope as Jackson holds Kane. Kane is trying to power his way out of trouble to his friendly corner. He does so by landing an inverted suplex on Gabriel. Kofi gets the hot tag and comes in with his usual flying antics—a leaping forearm and high dropkick. Kofi goes to the top and hits his flying body press on Gabriel for the 1-2-3 pinfall. FIRST FALL GOES TO KOFI, et al VIA PINFALL. Gabriel looks stunned as he realizes he cost his team the first fall and Kofi seems surprised himself. The second fall starts off with Slater and Santino. What is the deal that Santino is obligated to always start his matches off…even with Kozlov. Is he that must-see of a performer?? Slater is getting the better of Marella with chin locks and forearms, but Santino lands a hip toss and headbutt drop (two of his only moves). He starts setting up the Cobra (yawn) and suddenly Barrett lays him to waste with a big running pump kick. Barrett wastes no time is drilling Santino through the floor with his Wasteland finisher and The Corre quickly retaliates with the second fall. SECOND FALL GOES TO THE CORRE VIA PINFALL (BARRETT OVER SANTINO). Barrett resumes after a minute by lining up Santino with a running forearm and the amiable Italian is quickly back in trouble in the Corre’s corner. The ref is continuously distracted as Santino’s double-teamed or illegally assaulted. Jackson lands a vicious, hard running clothesline in the corner and Santino somehow tries to kick out as Big Show arrives simultaneously to break it up. Now it’s Gabriel wearing down Santino with a rear naked choke. Santino tries to hulk up but is side suplexed to the mat. Gabriel is pretty fluid and is much smoother than Slater in the ring. Kane tags in finally and Barrett is the victim of his fury. A side slam is good for a nearfall. Kane goes to the top rope and lands the flying lariat. Barrett is nearly pinned but Jackson breaks it up. After this, it’s pandemonium as all 8 men join the fray in a rumble inside and outside the ring. We see Jackson demolish Show with a clothesline on the floor, Slater and Kofi popping each other on the apron, Gabriel pulls Kofi off the apron so he lands face-first on the side of the ring and crumbles outside. Meanwhile, back in the ring, Kane is sizing up Barrett for a choke slam. He grabs his throat and just then the entire Corre come in the ring to attack Kane. Somehow THIS of all things is what causes a disqualification and the THIRD AND FINAL FALL GOES TO KOFI & THE FACES VIA DQ. We see Show heatbutt Gabriel and Slater, Kofi land Trouble in Paradise to Barrett, and Kane with a chokeslam on Slater. Big Show KO punches Gabriel and then Kane and Show go to double-choke slam Jackson. Santino joins in as a novelty and they deliver the symbolic blow to Jackson for a resounding victory. It won’t be on Stone Cold’s or Ariana’s list of all time greatest matches, but I’m assuming this rematch (close enough) was better than the bout on Sunday at WM 27.

Next up is Cody Rhodes to face Trent Barreta. The latter is already in the ring and this outcome is pretty much already known ahead of time…even though Trent did a surprise win over McIntyre a couple months back. I guess Barreta is a face these days, but either way, he’s getting battered early by the deranged Rhodes. Barreta lands a nice dropkick off the top rope to flash some offense, but Rhodes quickly counters with a side suplex, shortly followed by CrossRhodes for the squash victory. He lays into Trent afterwards with kicks and then some face-butts with the hard plastic match. Rey Mysterio’s music hits and he charges in for the save. He tries to rip the mask off Rhodes but Cody escapes without too much damage. It’s clear this feud is far from over and little was solved at WM 27. Of course not…Rey’s ego could never allow himself to lose the last match of a feud.

After the next break, we get a full replay of the end of this past Monday night’s Raw with Cena, The Rock, etc. You can get the full details of that over in the Raw Recap, but listen to the loud boos that underlie the crowd reaction…it’s mixed up with all the music noise and kiddy/girlie screams, but it’s booming and definitely omnipresent.

Next we get a little vignette between Christian and Edge backstage. I like these little dialogues between the old friends. Christian is questioning if Edge would really be happy to defend the title against him at Extreme Rules in a Ladder Match? Edge wishes him luck and walks off. Christian looks around and stares down endearingly at something that’s revealed to be the World Title belt. Edge comes back to bust him and they have a nervous laugh as Christian tell Edge to “keep an eye on that!”.

Next up is Divas tag action with Lay Cool vs. Beth Phoenix and Kelly Kelly. There is more build to the dissension between Layla and McCool as Layla’s knocked off the apron by her teammate and not available for a tag when McCool needs to tag out. Layla tags in and is gorilla pressed by the Glamazon and dropped on the top turnbuckle. Kelly lands a couple nice moves similar to a hurricarana, followed by a flying press off the top rope. Layla wants to tag out but Michelle feigns injury, allowing Kelly to roll up Layla and get the pinfall. More bad vibes between the two heel divas if anyone cares. McCool is basically telling Layla that she’s always doing the all the work for “you!” (pointing sharply at Layla). That’s about right…Layla looks shocked.

Next we have everyone’s least favorite dork-knob, Michael Cole front and center in the ring. He continues to put himself over and then introduces Jack Swagger. They congratulate each other and do the ‘victory lap’ with arms spread out, and then an unfamiliar music rings out through the building. Unexpectedly, Sin Cara emerges from the back and charges the ring. He enters by running and leaping over the top rope in a flip from the ringside floor, he sommersaults into a springboard off the ropes and lands a reverse elbow smash on Swagger, who flails out of the ring. Cara then connects with a nice corkscrew splash from over the top rope onto the awaiting Swagger who catches him and crashes to the floor. Cara then escapes to the back area while Swagger and Cole croak and caw about the injustice of it all. Cara gives a little Namaste bow to the crowd and vanishes to the back.

Next up is the main event #1 Contenders Match between Alberto Del Rio and Christian. Edge comes out last to join the group in the booth. Without further ado, the match starts with Del Rio applying a side headlock into a shoulder block takedown. A minute in and Del Rio has the early advantage. The banter provided by Edge is quite good, imo, as he tells Cole ‘the only thing that scares him is the idea of seeing Cole take his shirt off again’. When Cole tries to make a big deal about Edge damaging Del Rio’s car at WM 27, Edge asks Cole ‘why don’t you arrest me then?’. No pun intended, but Edge is sharp and witty so he’s able to hang quite well as a commentator—far better than Booker T or most of the announcing “talent”. Back in the ring, Christian now has the advantage with a headlock takedown into side control. He ducks a clothesline and lands some big right hands. He throws Del Rio over the top rope and lands a baseball slide low dropkick. As Alberto gathers himself, he scornfully looks at Edge, and the Champ illustrates to Del Rio, ‘it’s not about this (holding car keys and Rio’s jewelry), it’s about this (holding up World Title belt).

We return from commercial to see Del Rio roughing up Christian viciously on the outside, as he shoves Christian backwards into the steel ring steps, and then tosses him into the crowd barrier. Del Rio gets Christian back in the ring for a near fall. Rio holds Christian in a modified surfboard/camel clutch and then delivers a traditional backbreaker over his knee. Meanwhile, Edge is giving Cole grief for ‘trying to look like an athlete last Sunday night’. Del Rio continues to work over Christian on the ropes with chokes and a kick to the back of his head and side of his face. Christian is nearly out as he’s draped over the bottom rope like a boneless chicken. Suddenly, he seizes the moment to counter with a big right cross and hook to buy some time. Christian up to the top rope but Rio stops him and delivers a quick superplex. Both guys lay on the canvas down and out. Edge relates the feeling of a superplex to getting electric shocked across your whole body—a charge from your head to toes. The ref counts to 8 and Del Rio is up first. He approaches Christian but is wrapped into an inside cradle for a near fall. Christian ducks another clothesline attempt and lands big right hand. Both men land clotheslines and spill over the top rope. For some reason, the ref stops his count-out count at 8 just because the wrestlers engage (shouldn’t it not matter if they’re both still outside the ring??). Back inside the ring, Rio misses an elbow drop off the 2nd rope and Christian tries to fire up the crowd as he lands combination of punches, followed by a forearm. Christian with a dropkick off the middle rope for a very near fall (2.75-count). Cage back up to the top rope and squats at the ready position. He connects with a flying cross body for yet another 2.75 count. He sets up the Kill Switch but Del Rio counters that with armbar attempt, but Christian counters that by shoving Rio into the turnbuckles front first. Christian charges the corner but misses Alberto. Christian lands a reverse springboard off 2nd rope into a sunset flip, but Rio rolls with the momentum and avoids pinning predicament. Rio grabs Christians legs and slingshots him into the corner. These two match up very well – good match. This time Del Rio goes for armbreaker and locks it in tight! Fortunately for Christian, he’s near the ropes and gets his foot on the bottom rope. Ref breaks the count at 4. Christian to the apron and ranks the back of Del Rio’s neck over the top rope as he jumps off the apron to the ringside floor. Brodus Clay now lurks near Christian looking ready to get involved. Edge immediately sheds his headgear and delivers a spear to Clay, but appears to legit DDT himself on the hard floor, as he gets up slow and dazed. Back in the ring, amidst the chaos, Christian is going for an aerial assault off the top rope, but Del Rio seizes the opportunity and delivers his flying roundhouse headkick, which crumbles Christian to the canvas. Del Rio goes for the pin and gets the three count! Del Rio wins the match clean via pinfall and will face Edge in a Ladder Match at the next PPV. The episode fades to black with Christian and Edge looking bummed out. Meanwhile, Del Rio celebrates and taunts his opposition. We see some fans in the background cheering for Del Rio, including a sign that reads, “Viva Del Rio”.

Source: wrestlingtruth.com