This evening’s Smackdown comes to us from xx, and is the final show before Sunday’s Extreme Rules PPV. After this past week’s WWE Draft there is sure to be some anticipation for Smackdown tonight, as it has undergone a much-needed facelift and benefited from the influx of talent such as Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, Sheamus, Sin Cara (hopefully not Rey II), Tyson Kidd (great technician), and to a lesser extent William Regal, Yoshi Tatsu, and Alex Riley (thus ‘breaking up’ Riley and the Miz). And just as importantly, it has shed stale, overused wrestlers that have been holding back interest in the program, like Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, and Big Show. Other changes include a change of scenery for Alberto Del Rio and Drew McIntyre, which hopefully means more prominence and new opportunities for both. Speaking of much-needed changes, Mark Henry has been packing his bags for the one-way trip to oblivion for a couple years now, but his necessary heel turn breathes a little more life into his career and buys him some time to see what he can do on Smackdown now. On the Diva circuit, Smackdown is happy to gain Natalya but unfortunately loses Beth Phoenix. In this writer’s opinion, the individual I am most pleased to see go away is Rey Mysterio. And other than the obvious choice of Orton, the superstar I’m most excited to see more of on Smackdown is Daniel Bryan…that is, if they use him right and I have a feeling they won’t. It’s my hunch his much deserved push (yes, he had a nice U.S. Title run but he’s been stagnant for months) is being reserved for the unproven Sin Cara. So far, Cara’s matches have been uneven and highly choreagraphed…to the point they had to totally reboot his complicated finishing sequence against Primo Colon a couple weeks ago and it made for a very uneven, non-fluid ‘feel’ Tyson Kidd is a close second to Daniel Bryan in the category of performers I’m happy to hopefully see more of, but like Bryan, I have a feeling he will be underutilized and underappreciated…undeservedly so.. The one I’m least excited to have join SD is Great Khali—he’s awful and ugly in the ring. Unfortunately, SD didn’t get rid of Hornswoggle either. There were several other moves between brands by lower/mid-carders but we’ll leave the more insignificant moves alone. Let us also not even dignify the Cena trade-back debacle either. But lastly, who will get Y2J?! Will he be heel or babyface?! Time will tell…

Now that we’ve covered the new and improved Smackdown roster, it’s time to actually see it in action. The new SD opening features 3 of the 4 newbies right off the bat (Orton, Sheamus and Henry). We start off with a recap from Raw and the various events from Cena’s initial bogus drafting to Del Rio and Mysterio going to Raw, to Henry’s heel turn, and full circle back to Cena’s return to Raw.

“I hear voice in my head!” – Orton’s music rings out to a huge pop and suddenly he’s rising a bit in my list of appreciated wrestlers. I am on record for stating he’s overrated and unbelievably “over”, but I’m kinda psyched to see him come out on Smackdown. I am digging the facial hair and more rugged look too. He goes on to introduce himself ‘for those of you who don’t know me’—Really? Really?!? As he continues on to say how he’s ready for new challenges, the music of Drew McIntyre rings out. The Scotsman comes out to the rampway wearing his red Raw shirt. He sarcastically advertises Randy Orton as the new star on Smackdown. He goes into the ring to physically assault Orton but succumbs to a quick RKO per usual. Part of my issue with Orton is how his RKO is made to be so invincible and he can get laid out by 4 guys for 10 minutes, and then land just one RKO and the opposition is suddenly obliterated. McIntyre is laid out and Orton continues his promo…sort of. He’s interrupted next by some unrecognizable metal music that turns out to be Alex Riley. Riley comes to the ring in a similar fashion to Drew, but before he can even get a word out he’s promptly RKO’d and disposed of as well. I have a feeling this could be a theme. Next is the familiar music of Alberto Del Rio and he walks out with his crew in tow (Clay and Rodriguez). Del Rio observes that Orton is making a great first impression and threatens to bring the World Heavyweight Championship to Raw. Del Rio and his two henchmen enter the ring and threaten a 3 on 1 attack, but suddenly Christian runs down to back Orton. Teddy Long’s music hits and right on queue he books the tag team main event match of Del Rio and Clay vs. Orton and Christian. Holla! Christian decks Clay off the apron as the heels are leaving the ring and we go to first commercial break.

Next comes the music of another former Smackdown wrestler I thought we were done with for a while—Kofi Kingston. But before he can even get to the ring he’s blind-sided by Sheamus and given a serious beatdown before the match ever starts. The Irish Eradicator gives us a taste of his viciousness by brutalizing Kingston all around the ringside area—crowd barrier, steel ring steps, etc. He rolls Kofi into the ring and measures out his pump kick and delivers it cleanly. The match never takes place—goodbye Kofi, I trust your last memory of Smackdown will be a lasting one…if you ever wake up that is.

Next we have an advertisement of Rey Mysterio vs. Mark Henry for later tonight. This is another example of a new Smackdown competitor facing a former Smackdown competitor that wore out his welcome … at least in my living room on Friday nights. Worse yet, first we have to deal with a Michael Cole promo. I don’t even know what this dickhead is talking about but it’s good to see he has a legit shiner, presumably from his beat-down at the hands of JR on Monday. His face did a great job of breaking Jim Ross’ hand. Cole ultimately ends up introducing Jack Swagger who is set to face Sin Cara. If only Cole could have been traded to Afghanistan.

The match is set to begin and Swagger immediately takes down Sin Cara with a nice headlock/underhook takedown, and then he bullies him into the corner to deliver some big right hands. Cara’s early offense includes a couple mediocre kicks but then he comes through with a sweet move I don’t quite know what to call. Basically, he gets Swagger in a wrist lock then jumps from the middle rope of one side of the turnbuckle, to the top rope of the other side, and then jumps off in a reverse corkscrew spin as he sommersaults upon the landing and takes Swagger down with him. It was a long and pretty way to go for a relatively harmless offensive maneuver, but impressive nonetheless. However, all that science and aerial art is quickly alleviated by a stiff, powerful clothesline from the infuriated Jack Swagger. He follows with a couple elbow drops on Cara and then proceeds to do a couple pushups on the back of Sin. It’s pretty much all Swagger in the early going as he continues to toss Cara around the ring. His Swagger bomb is defended by Cara who gets his knees up. Cara then lands a reverse elbow smash out of a handspring off the ropes, followed by the Mysterio-esque head-scissors takedown. Cara misses a springboard splash and eats a big boot from Swagger. Cole hands Swagger a foreign object, but Cara delivers a creative rollup for a quick three-count. For good measure, he hits Swagger with a gorgeous flying body splash over the top rope and onto the ringside floor. There’s no denying the similarities between Cara and Mysterio, but he definitely has more of an arsenal than Rey. Moveover, my issues with Rey aren’t so much his ring work (as predictable and repeatable as they are), as much as his selfishness in constantly having to get the upperhand at the cost of younger rising stars. The sequence ends with Cole berating Swagger to ‘get his head in the game!’, which further forebodes a face turn by Swagger Sunday night.

Next up we have a tag team championship rematch of The Corre vs. Kane and Big Show. This is where the tag title have been relegated to—not even a single mention or advertisement for the match and it’s a title bout. The intrigue here is that Big Show is now on Raw and Slater decked Gabriel backstage last week after they lost the belts. I think the Corre is a better choice to win here because they’re more of a ‘traditional’ tag team, but if they do win then you have to wonder what the heck was the point of ever putting the straps on Kane-Show to begin with?? Oh yeah, I learned long ago to stop trying to figure out the logic of WWE Creative, because there usually is none. The match starts with Show and Slater, and usually this means disaster for the One Man Hairband but this time he effectively uses his speed to avoid damage and manages to chop-block Show to stall him. Gabriel also hits a nice missile dropkick from the top rope to further neutralize Big Show, followed by some martial arts kicks to his head. So far The Corre is doing a good job keeping Show down with speed and aggression. Back from commercial, Slater gets a nearfall on Big Show. It appears they have continued to use quick tags and wise tactics to keep Big Show down. Gabriel avoids a chokeslam by turning it into a DDT and then a sleeper hold. Show rises to his feet and hits a side slam on Gabriel. Show is laid out on his back and eventually gets to Kane for the hot-tag and his first entrance into the match. Kane is all over Slater and nearly pins him after a big boot. Kane smothers him with a side slam and goes to the top rope for the flying lariat. After some back and forth with all four guys in the ring, Kane and Show end up hitting double choke slams and Slater is pinned by Kane. Show-Kane retain the tag belts via pinfall victory! The Corre was impressive but didn’t have enough to get the job done.

We go backstage and see my Great Khali and his handler along with Rey Mysterio…oh, I get it—hah hah: the largest and smallest competitors together shaking hands, the dichotomy exploited by the writers is just so creative. Rey leaves and some other Indian fellow enters the screen. Khali and his ‘brother’ seem to be starstruck by this guy but I don’t know who he is or what they’re saying. My daughter is in my ear about something anyway, so I don’t hear it clearly and don’t bother rewinding.

The next match is ‘mean’ Mark Henry vs. Rey Mysterio. Good gracious, ‘just when I thought he was out, they DRAGGED him back in…’. Looks like I’ll have to put up with cliché-ridden, same-four-moves, young-talent-push-killing Rey Mysterio for at least another week. Rey comes out and gives some nice words to the crowd and thanks them for the support, as well he should. He says the journey continues this Sunday when he defeats Cody Rhodes and they celebrate together because ‘each and every one” of us will always be part of the “6..1..9”—whatever. Mark Henry comes out next to his usual music and a big grin (I like him better looking pissed off like the old days). He grabs a microphone and simply says to Rey, “it’s unfortunate that your farewell is my debut”. I think we all know the outcome here before anything even starts. A classic scenario where Rey must be victorious despite the fact Mark Henry is three times his size, just turned heel and is desperately needing some momentum, and a win could put him in a great position on the new roster, but a loss would relegate him into jobber status and hinder his position before he even is on the brand for an entire week. Mark starts off with a choke hold on Rey to further reinforce his ‘new attitude’. Rey retreats to the outside and beseeches Mark to reconsider. Rey enters the ring and Mark pounces but eats some kicks. Rey bounces off the ropes and smashes into Henry but bounces off and collapses as if he just hit a brick wall. Henry is using his size to effortlessly stifle any petty offense Rey tries to mount. [Let me just take a moment to say I hate when they wrestle in these Raw/Smackdown tee shirts. Wouldn’t a simple wristband or armband suffice? Seeing a guy like Mark Henry labor away in a size 5-XL tee shirt with sweat beading through it just kind of gives the whole image of a match an amateur look and feel]. Now we’re on the outside and Rey is tapping away at Henry with a couple of his little low dropkicks that Henry is forced to sell, even though these look completely non-painful. What does look cool and painful is what happens next: Rey is launched by Henry into the steel ring steps and the giant man charges him but crashes full speed into and then over the steel structure. It was impressive to see to see this mountain of a man lose control in a tumbling crash all in one motion. Back from commercial and Henry is dominating Rey inside the ring. Booker says Rey will be ‘totally broke up going into Extreme Rules’ as a result of this match. We all know he’s made of rubber though. After a bit more offense from Henry, he misses a squat splash and Rey then hits a seated senton for a two-count, followed by 6-1-9. As Rey goes to the top for his finishing splash, Cody Rhodes yanks him down and beats the piss out of him outside the ring and into the crowd. Rey wins it via Disqualification (or it’s a No Contest), so at least Henry keeps his mojo going. Rhodes feeds a beaten Mysterio back into the ring and Henry eagerly delivers the World’s Strongest Slam. He passes Rhodes in the aisle and looks at him laughing sinisterly as he passes by. This gives Cody the green light to go back in and he puts another of those silly paper bags on a down-and-out Rey Mysterio. Like Kofi, Rey Mysterio will remember his painful, degrading departure from Smackdown to Raw.

Next up we get a one-on-one match of Layla vs. Michell McCool. I have hated both these bimbos for so long that I can’t really tell which I want to win. Either way, the match degrades to the outside quickly and it’s a bitch brawl that results in a double countout. This rivalry is sure to be continued. Layla gets a mike and tells Michelle “I’m sick of you” (aren’t we all?). She challenges Michelle to a match at Extreme Rules and it’s accepted under the condition of a Loser Leaves Town match. Sweet!! Hopefully it’s a double DQ

The final match and main event sets the stage for Extreme Rules World Heavyweight title picture. It also gives us a chance to see Smackdown’s newest superstar, as well as its two premiere babyfaces teamed together. Christian starts against Clay and it’s back and forth for a while, until Clay decks Christian after being slapped in the face. Rio tags in and goes right to work on Christian’s arm. Christian tags in Orton, who enters with some big kicks to the chest and shoulder of Del Rio. A snap mare into a knee drop for a nearfall. Cole bothers explaining Orton’s style to us as if there really are people who watch nothing but Smackdown and have no idea who this guy is. Meanwhile, Del Rio hits his falling armbreaker and tags in Clay who hits a running shoulder block. Del Rio back in with a running drop kick to the seated Orton. Del Rio with a chin lock that oscillates into and out of a choke hold. Orton struggles for a tag but can’t quite get there. He turns the hold into a shoulder-to-back suplex and tags in Christian as Clay is also tagged in. Christian mounts some offense but can’t take Clay off his feat until a second missile dropkick from the top rope. Clay catches Christian after a top-rope body splash attempt and lands a fallaway throw slam. Clay and Del Rio take turns picking apart Christian. Alberto gets Christian in a shoulder lock to further soften him for the finishing cross armbreaker. Del Rio then charges Christian in the corner and is back body dropped high over the top rope to the outside. Del Rio gets back in and tags to Clay while Christian still tries to get to Orton but can’t quite do it. Clay with a backbreaker as he holds Chrstian over his knee and then lifts him back up for a body slam…and another second body slam. Christian rolls to the wrong corner and his hit by Del Rio with a flying elbow drop from the middle rope for a near fall. Del Rio sizes up the struggling and dazed Christian and delivers a running kick to his side. He climbs to the middle rope but is distracted by Orton, which gives Christian the opportunity to catch Del Rio on the ropes and hit a hurricarana and finally tag into Orton. The viper is feeling it as he hits a couple clotheslines to Rio and then a snap powerslam followed by the Angle slam. Del Rio is caught up in the ropes so Orgon wastes no time hitting the middle rope DDT. Orton goes for the RKO but Rio shoves him away and into Clay who trips up Randy. Clay tags in as the match reaches its climax. Clay yells and charges Orton but runs straight into the RKO (sigh) and is pinned immediately. ORTON AND CHRISTIAN WIN VIA PINFALL—ORTON PINS CLAY. The episode ends with Christian and the Apex Predator triumphant in the ring, both ready and willing to close the chapter on their latest rivalries Sunday night. Meanwhile, the World Heavyweight belt dangles above the ring as Christian points to it.

Final Results:

Sheamus and Kofi Kingston – no contest (Sheamus attacks Kingston before match starts)
Sin Cara pins Jack Swagger
Kane and Big Show defeat Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater (Kane pins Slater); retain tag titles
Mark Henry and Rey Mysterio duel to No Contest (outside interference from Cody Rhodes)
Michelle McCool and Layla draw with a double countout
Randy Orton and Christian defeat Brodus Clay and Alberto Del Rio (Orton pins Clay)

Source: wrestlingtruth.com