411’s WWE Smackdown Report 05.13.11

Welcome to a special Friday the 13th Edition of the WWE Smackdown Report!

I will be tracking the win/loss record of every Smackdown superstar throughout the year. Here are the guidelines:

– These records only reflect matches that have taken place on Smackdown or Pay-Per-View.
– Matches that end or have ended in a No Contest are not counted.
– In the case of Tag Team matches, each member of the losing team gets a Loss and each member of the winning team gets a Win.
– In the case of multi-man matches, every participant besides the winner gets a Loss.
– Some wrestlers will have a third number in their record. This number represents matches that have ended in a Draw.

After a video highlighting Christian’s World Championship win and loss, Christian’s music hits and Smackdown is underway- it’s promo time. There’s been a lot of talk about Teddy Long’s decision last week to leave it up to the WWE Universe to determine the Number One Contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. There’s been a lot of controversy around it, and the Peeps weren’t very happy. However, Christian respects the decision because it’s Long’s job to make Smackdown unpredictable. Christian wants to congratulate the new champion, Randy Orton. Orton didn’t do anything that Christian wouldn’t have done himself, and he is looking forward to his rematch at Over the Limit. Christian now knows that a 100%, he can defeat Orton…

Sheamus’ music hits and he makes his way to the ring. He is here to commend Long- he loved watching what Christian worked toward for 17 years vanish in the blink of an eye. It’s all about giving the WWE Universe what they want; what they want is Sheamus vs. Christian. Mark Henry has something to add, and he joins both men in the ring. Henry speaks for everyone when he says he enjoyed watching Christian get his dreams shattered. That said, Sheamus is not the man from Raw people want to see compete against Christian- he is just the red-headed stepchild that talks funny. The WWE Universe came to see the World’s Strongest Man vs. Sheamus. Sheamus thinks they came to see him team up with Henry in a Handicap match against Christian. This leads to a brawl, and Randy Orton makes the save for Christian. Orton and Christian dispose of the heels and stand tall.

In the back, Teddy Long is with Randy Orton and Christian. Tonight’s main event will be Mark Henry and Sheamus vs. Orton and Christian. Christian thanks Orton for the help. Orton had his own reasons for doing what he did- he wants Christian at 100% for Over the Limit so there is no question who the better man is.
Back in the ring, Chavo Guerrero introduces Sin Cara as the man “following in his footsteps.” Cara is getting comfortable with that trampoline as he absolutely nails the entrance.

Match One: Daniel Bryan (0-1) vs. Sin Cara (2-0)
Guerrero is on commentary and the blue and gold lights kick in. Lockup to start and Bryan grabs a side headlock. He transitions it to a standing wristlock but Cara armdrags out of it. They trade legsweeps with quick covers and we have a standoff. They lockup and Bryan gets a go-behind followed by a single-leg takedown. He holds Cara’s arms down for two quick one counts and gets him on his shoulders. Cara escapes with an armdrag but goes down to a drop toehold. Bryan wrenches on the arm until Cara escapes again with a twisting springboard armdrag. Cara sends Bryan to the floor with a handspring back elbow and joins him with a beautiful dive over the ropes as we go to commercial.

Back from break, Cara hits shoulderblocks in the corner but runs into a boot on the opposite side. Bryan perches himself on the top rope and throws Cara off before coming off with a missile dropkick for two. Bryan stays of offense with a series of chest kicks in the corner followed by a running dropkick. Cover gets two and Bryan stretches Cara with a Mexican surfboard into a cover for two more. Bryan gets a snapmare and works over the shoulders. Before Cara get break it, Bryan releases it and hits with kicks for two before applying a hammerlock. Cara stands on it and escapes with a snapmare. He gets a quick rollup for two but it’s right back to Bryan on offense with European uppercuts. Cara comes back with a rana that sends Bryan to the corner but gets tossed to the apron on a charge. Cara regroups and hits with a kick to the back of the head before coming off the ropes with a springboard crossbody for two! Cara tries to follow up with another handspring back elbow but Bryan catches it and almost turns it into the LeBell Lock before being tossed to the floor. Cara slides to the outside where Bryan greets him with a kick to the legs. Bryan throws him back inside and heads to the top, prompting Guerrero to leave his seat and grab Bryan’s ankles. Bryan shoves him away and climbs back up. The distraction is enough for Cara to regroup and hit Bryan with an enzuigiri on the top rope. Cara finishes it off with the Flux Capacitor for the win.
Winner: Sin Cara in 12:00
Rating: *** (Very refreshing, and a nice change of pace over your typical WWE match. Bryan kept things interesting during the slower middle portion and Cara executed everything perfectly during his comeback. Cara’s finisher- which needs a name- has become the new Shooting Star Press with the live crowd.)

Post-match, Sin Cara watches the replay of the finish on the TitanTron and shakes his head. Chavo Guerrero enters the ring and raises his hand, but Cara pulls it away and shoves him down.

Last Friday, Ezekiel Jackson defeated Big Show with help from The Corre. Zeke didn’t want the assist, and it resulted in his ejection from the group.

Country singer Trace Adkins is at ringside with his kids. Later tonight, Randy Orton/Christian vs. Sheamus/Mark Henry.

Layla is in the ring, all smiles. At Extreme Rules her friendship with Michelle McCool ended when she beat her in a “Loser Leaves WWE” match. She sounds very out of breath for some reason. During the match, Layla hurt her knee, but it was worth it because she finally got that poison out of here. Michael Cole interrupts and enters the ring. No one cares about Layla or any of the Divas. What she is describing sounds like something out of an episode of The Housewives. This crowd wants to talk about Tennessee’s own Jerry Lawler- the man who challenged Cole to a match on Raw. Jack Swagger accepted the match on behalf of Cole, but when Cole defeats Lawler at Over the Limit, Lawler will personally induct him into the Hall of Fame and give him his Hall of Fame ring. Cole will show that ring off to everyone- a ring Cole’s mother will love. Layla tells Cole to shut up and crawl back into his glass house. Cole wants Layla to get over herself. The Divas shouldn’t even be in the WWE…

We hear Kharma’s maniacal laughter and she’s here. Cole is clapping with a huge grin, thinking Layla is about to get it. Layla tries to leave, but Cole trips her. Kharma grabs Layla and hits her with the Implant Buster. Cole berates Layla, but stops dead in his tracks when Kharma shoots him a glare. He runs out of the ring and manages to get into the Cole Mine. Kharma stares for a while before leaving with a laugh.

Before our next match, Wade Barrett has something to say. He knows Kane has some reservations about coming down to the ring, especially considering Big Show is in Mexico with the rest of the Raw superstars. Kane’s fears are well-placed because after the events of last week, The Corre is stronger and more efficient than ever before.

Match Two: Wade Barrett (4-11) vs. Kane (10-7)
For once, Michael Cole and Booker T have an intelligent conversation about The Corre’s status without Zeke. The lockup and Barrett grabs a side headlock. Kane shoves him off and gets a hiptoss followed by a headlock. Barrett stands on it and powers Kane to the corner. Barrett slugs and applies a front facelock. Kane escapes and hits a snapmare followed by a low dropkick for two. barrett gets an advantage with a kick to the knee but gets whipped into the corner. Kane drops him with an uppercut and clothesline, but Barrett avoids a chokeslam by retreating to the outside as we go to commercial.

Back from break, Barrett chokes Kane in the corner with his boot. He pulls Kane into the center of the ring and tries for a vertical suplex, but Kane turns it on him. Kane slugs in the corner but gets dropped onto the turnbuckle. Barrett hammerlocks the arm and drives Kane’s shoulder into the corner. He continues the attack on the arm and covers for two before applying an armlock. He transitions into a top wristlock but Kane punches his way out of it. Barrett wrings the arm, drops Kane with a side slam for two and goes back to the armlock. He turns it into a hammerlock but Kane escapes with a Samoan Drop. Kane drops Barrett with uppercuts and splashes him in the corner with two big clotheslines before hitting a sidewalk slam. Slater hops onto the apron to distract Kane, allowing Barrett to set him up for Wasteland. Kane escapes and comes back with a big boot. He heads to the outside and takes out Slater and Gabriel and dodges a big boot from Barrett on the apron. Kane heads to the top and comes off with a flying clothesline. Crowd is all over this. He goozles Barrett but Slater and Gabriel attack Kane to cause a disqualification.
Winner: Kane via Disqualification in 9:00
Rating: **1/2 (Much better than I expected out of the two big men. Barrett varied his work on the shoulder to keep it from getting boring and Kane kept things moving with his repeated comebacks. By the way, how many DQ wins is that for Kane this month?)

Post-match, Kane tries to fend off The Corre, but the numbers game is too much. They beat on Kane and place him on Wade Barrett’s shoulders for Wasteland. He hits it, and sets Kane up for a Justin Gabriel 450 Splash, but Ezekiel Jackson makes the save. Zeke handles The Corre with ease before falling to a Barrett big boot. Zeke makes a comeback, but ends up falling to the triple-team attack by Corre. Gabriel ends it with a 450 Splash.

In the back, Sheamus and Mark Henry talk strategy. Later tonight, they team up to go against Randy Orton and Christian.

The Great Khali and Ranjin Singh come out wearing cowboy hats. They welcome us to the Music City edition of the Khali Kiss Cam. Singh says Khali is a huge country music fan, so tonight, one lucky lady will make sweet, sweet music with him. We get shots of women in the audience before settling on a rather plump middle-aged lady. Her name is Joy. Khali kisses her and Jinder Mahal makes his way to the ring. Mahal slaps Khali across the face, knocking his hat off. He shouts and does it again before walking out.

In the back, Christian is with Randy Orton. Christian will keep up his end; he hopes Orton will do the same.
The Cerebral Assassin wants you to be a star, not a bully.

Before our next match, Cody Rhodes has something to say. Judging from the smirks in the crowd, they must think this is the part of the evening where Rhodes entertains them. He will entertain the idea- more or less the fact- that he isn’t the freak; we are. That is why he is providing paper bags. They should distract us all from the absence of attractiveness here tonight. No one is exempt from the bags- not even a “Priceless” friend. He hands Ted DiBiase a paper bag but DiBiase just tosses it away.

Match Three: Cody Rhodes (5-6) vs. Ted DiBiase (0-1)
I’d like to see a Rhodes/DiBiase feud now that both are on the same show. The storyline writes itself. Lockup to start and DiBiase powers Rhodes into the corner. The ref breaks it up, allowing Rhodes to charge and grab a side headlock. DiBiase comes right back with a nice standing dropkick and a few stomps in the corner. Rhodes answers with a dropkick of his own but is quickly taken down with a quick rollup. Back up, Rhodes hits with strikes before DiBiase rolls him up again. Rhodes counters into a cover of his own for one. DiBiase charges at Rhodes in the corner, but runs into the ringpost shoulder-first. Rhodes hits with a couple of knee lifts and stretches DiBiase’s neck. He lands a few shots in the corner and mounts. DiBiase responds by dropping him across the top turnbuckle face-first. DiBiase continues with a clothesline and an inverted atomic drop. He hits a second clothesline and tries to end it with Dream Street but Rhodes backs him into the corner. Rhodes ducks a clothesline and connects with Beautiful Disaster. He ends it with the Cross Rhodes.
Winner: Cody Rhodes in 3:00
Rating: *3/4 (Strong sense of urgency in that match. Very fast-moving and they managed to fit a lot in the short amount of time. Here’s to getting more of this in the future.)

We get interior shots of Tootsies in Nashville. The Tootsies here in Miami is a strip club, so I’m guessing they aren’t related.

Backstage, Matt Striker is with The Corre. Wade Barrett says they’ve made statements every week. Justin Gabriel would like to invite Ezekiel Jackson next week to do it all over again. Barrett has one better: Barrett vs. Zeke at Over the Limit. Heath Slater thinks it should be for the Intercontinental Championship. Barrett agrees.

Match Four: Randy Orton (5-0)/Christian (6-2) vs. Sheamus (2-2)/Mark Henry (0-1)
Christian and Sheamus kick it off with a lockup and Sheamus powers Christian to the corner. He moves it back to the center of the ring and hits a knee lift before grabbing a side headlock. Christian shrugs him off but goes down to a shoulderblock. Sheamus drops a knee but misses a clothesline and gets pulled into a Christian headlock. Christian slaps Sheamus across the face a few times and comes off the middle rope with a back elbow for one. Sheamus regroups and drops Christian with a back elbow of his own. Henry tags in and hits with a big right hand. He kicks at Christian’s head and lifts him up for a press slam but Christian escapes and tags in Orton. Orton attacks with rights, and uppercut and a dropkick. He stomps the head and connects with a big knee drop for two. Henry wakes up and drops Orton with a headbutt. He meanders around and stomps before throwing Orton into the corner. Henry hits another headbutt and throws Orton to the outside. Sheamus tries to attack, but Christian scares him away as we go to break.

Back from break, Henry drops Orton with yet another headbutt. He tries for a big splash but Orton moves out of the way. Orton makes the hot tag to Christian who comes in with body blows that don’t take Henry off his feet. He heads to the middle rope and finally takes him down with a missile dropkick. Christian tries to send Henry to the corner, but Henry won’t allow it. Henry throws Christian into the corner but runs into two boots on a charge. Christian tries for a tornado DDT off the middle rope but Henry tosses him off. He follows up with a huge splash and tags in Sheamus who covers for two. Sheamus gets another two-count off a clothesline and begins to stretch the neck. Christian fights out of it but runs into a powerslam. Cover gets Sheamus two and Henry tags in. Henry throws Christian chest-first into the corner and presses the weight of his body against his chest. Sheamus continues the attack with a club to the chest behind the refs back. Henry covers for two and Sheamus tags in. He clubs Christian again and Christian answers with elbows. Sheamus gets back on offense with a shot to the back. He throws Christian into the corner but takes two boots to the face on a charge. Christian comes off the middle rope but Sheamus catches him in midair. He tries for a powerslam but Christian counters it into an inverted DDT. Christian makes the hot tag to Orton who knocks both Sheamus and Henry down. He hits a snap powerslam on Sheamus followed by a backbreaker that sends him to the apron. Orton tries for a rope-assisted DDT but Sheamus avoids it and hits the Irish Curse Backbreaker. Cover only gets two! Back up, Sheamus calls for a Brogue Kick but Orton ducks it and sends Sheamus to the outside. On his way back in, Orton grabs his head and hits the rope-assisted DDT. Orton gets in the zone and calls for an RKO but Sheamus pushes him off into the ropes. Christian makes the blind tag but Sheamus doesn’t see it. Sheamus sets Orton up for Pale Justice and Christian sneaks in from behind and hits the Killswitch as Orton takes Henry out with the RKO. Christian covers and it’s over.
Winner: Randy Orton/Christian in 14:00
Rating: **3/4 (Fun main event with Christian securing the win for his team. Sheamus did a fine job handling most of the workload on the heel side, meshing well with both opponents. Henry didn’t particularly stand out as a monster like he did upon his introduction to Smackdown, but he didn’t take the pin either. It’ll be interesting to see where they go with Sheamus and Henry from here.)

Post-match, Randy Orton and Christian celebrate the win.

(Another strong episode of Smackdown this week with a good amount of wrestling. Christian rebounded nicely after last week’s championship loss, being booked for a World Heavyweight Championship rematch against Randy Orton at Over the Limit and gaining the win for his team in the main event. Elsewhere, The Corre has finally grabbed my attention as Ezekiel Jackson’s departure has been handled very well and sets up some interesting scenarios. With Rey Mysterio gone, it remains to be seen what Cody Rhodes moves on to next, but his character continues to gain momentum and his push doesn’t seem to be over. With the large amount of heels on the show, I’m interested to see what happens with Sheamus and Mark Henry. I could see one of the two feuding with Christian after he finishes up with Orton. Check out Daniel Bryan vs. Sin Cara.)