Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 4.16.15

Introduction
As a reminder, this will not be another traditional recap, but instead it will be a mash up of the Rs, Instant Analysis and my usual Twitter ramblings I would do during the shows; completely uncensored and as the ideas flow unfiltered to the old keyboard. Remember, this is a review; and I am here to review the show. As always, I encourage discussion and even disagreement, just do so in a respectful manner. I will be doing the review for Raw and most PPVs and iPPVs going forward.

Thursday Night Smackdown 4.16.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
~ Bray Wyatt defeated R-Truth @ 1:40 via pin [NR]
~ Bad News Barrett defeated The Miz @ 0:30 via pin [NR]
~ Neville defeated Sheamus @ 10:10 via DQ [**½]
~ New Day defeated Los Matadores @ 2:35 via pin [NR]
~ Cameron defeated Natalya and Alicia Fox @ 4:40 via pin [½*]
~ Fandango defeated Adam Rose @ 1:33 via pin [NR]
~ Non-Title Match: John Cena and Daniel Bryan defeated Champions Kidd & Cesaro @ 8:00 via submission [**¾]

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John Cena Talks: Cena came out, kissed a bit of crowd ass and then explained that the Russian Chain match is the old “touch the four corners consecutively” to win. He then said he might not even make the PPV, due to his open challenge. Cesaro, Kidd and Natalya arrived; but said they weren’t there to challenge him. They came out, ran down some facts and said that everyone wishes Cena would retire so that they could see more of them. Cena laid out a challenge to one of them to step up for a title shot, but then Daniel Bryan’s music hit. And of course, we all know what happened…

I am glad Kidd and Cesaro got some time to talk in front of the crowd instead of in a backstage promo. This was not a bad opening segment, it was just the same opening segment we see on Raw and Smackdown every week. Someone comes out to talk, there is some sort of confrontation, they set up some sort of match and we move on. It’s usually never a bad opening; it’s just the same old shit every week, which makes it feel tired and quite honestly lazy.

Bray Wyatt vs. R-Truth: Poor R- Truth, this is the third or fourth time this year that he has faced Wyatt on TV. It’s like, “Hey man, what do we do with Bray this week? How about a wacky backstage promo where he says nothing really well? Nah, he’s done that the last few shows. How about a 2-minute match with R-Truth? PERFECT!” Wyatt dominated in a nothing of a match; obviously this was the right call for him to win, as they are setting him up for something important (ruining Orton’s title match in the cage no one can get into).

* We get highlights of the latest sitdown interview with Roman Reigns.

Bad News Barrett vs. The Miz: Miz claimed that Sandow got lucky on Raw when he won, and we all know he made him a star. Barrett came out and played total babyface, saying that the fans came to see him. Miz did his little deal to take off his glasses; Barrett then destroyed him with the bull hammer and won. This was a consolation prize for Barrett losing on Raw, the crowd loved it and he needed the win, but it also does Miz no favors.

* We get highlights of the Orton and Rollins stuff from Raw, setting the stipulations for their Extreme Rules match.

* Renee interviewed Sandow and Summer Rae. He discussed his victory on Raw, and Miz interrupted. They will have a match on Raw, and the winner “gets the rights to the MIZ BRAND”. If Sandow wins, does he have to keep Summer Rae, or doe she get Maryse as well?

Sheamus vs. Neville: Sheamus ran down Neville before the match, calling him a little man. Sheamus said that he doesn’t like English bastards because he’s Irish. Neville ran wild early, but Sheamus bailed to the floor and then took control. They went through the commercial, and Sheamus was dominating with his power moves. Sheamus posted himself, allowing Neville to make a comeback with kicks. Neville then countered a brogue kick and hit a second rope version of the red arrow for a near fall. He then went up top and got crotched, but was able to fight back and then sent Sheamus to the floor. Sheamus then slammed him onto the announcer’s table and that was the DQ. Sheamus tossed him into the ring and delivered knees until Ziggler made the save, but Sheamus escaped. They had a fine little match here, and I liked Sheamus getting himself DQ’d instead of winning. It showed that Neville had a chance and he had to take the cheap way out. I still worry about Neville’s booking, but at least he was competitive. Ziggler called Sheamus a bully and he said he’d stand up to him. Sheamus responded, calling Ziggler a little man and then challenged Ziggler to a “Kiss my Arse” match at Extreme Rules. Yup.

Los Matadors vs. New Day (Kofi and Big E): New Day cut a promo, but the crowd still hates them. They worked hard, and fit a ton of stuff in, but it felt way too rushed and sloppy at times. New Day won clean.

* Clips from Raw, showing Fandango’s loss and face turn. We then see Rosa Mendes backstage trying to talk with Fandango, who says that this is their end. She was sad, and the Rose Buds and Adam Rose appeared and Rose said he sees her for what she is.

Big Show Talks: He discussed his attack on Reigns that happened on Raw. He did what he did because no one can stop him. He ran down Reigns and showed footage of his attack from Raw as he talked us through what he did in typical WWE “not really a promo but I have a story for you” time. Show was shocked that Reigns was able to get up after the attack, and then made bad jokes about British people and their teeth. Show then announced that he and Reigns will face at Extreme Rules, and they will have a last man standing match. That was very boring, and the very opposite of good.

Natalya vs. Cameron vs. Alicia Fox: We get highlights of Cameron attacking Natalya and Fox after their match from last week. It was bad early as all three tried to work spots, but was better when it was just Fox and Natalya. They did a tower of doom spot, Cameron didn’t land well at all on that. They traded roll ups and cradles, Fox got sent to the floor and then some more cradle trading. Natalya went for the sharp shooter, she got it but Fox broke it up awkwardly. Natalya got the sharp shooter on her, Cameron broke it up but got sent to the floor. Fox laid out Natalya with the scissors kick, Cameron tossed her and stole the pin. That was not good. I am completely puzzled as to why they’d want to push Cameron, the only thought is that they may pair her and Naomi back up. Lets move on.

Fandango vs. Adam Rose: Rosa appeared during the match and distracted Fandango, allowing Rose to take control. Rose was happy about this, but Rosa then distracted Rose and begged for him not to hurt Fandango, leading to Fandango getting the roll up and a pin. This was a complete nothing of a match and I’d wager we’ll see more of this feud since neither man has anything to do.

* Bray Wyatt cur a promo from an undisclosed location backstage. He warned his next victim to run.

Non-Title Match: Champions Kidd & Cesaro w/Natalya vs. John Cena and Daniel Bryan: There’s a lot of talent out there, so this certainly has a chance to be good. As reported, Cena worked the bulk of the match (due to Bryan being banged up and as we all know being sent home). With that being said, Bryan did work fine during his hot tag. Kidd accidentally hit Natalya late, Cesaro caught her and Bryan scored the YES lock on Kidd as Cesaro ate the AA. This was a fine, but short main event and ended up a bit disappointing as I feel that they are capable of much more. But I would guess that it was so short due to them not wanting Bryan to have to work so much. I could have accepted the tag team champions losing here more if they hadn’t lost to one man on Raw. In theory I could by them losing to the IC and US champions (especially since it is Cena and Bryan), but when you compound the fact that they lost clean to Orton and then lost here again, they look like shit to me. And people wonder why fans have such a hard time getting invested into the tag team division.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

5.0

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Most weeks I feel as if Smackdown is not a bad show, just an average show where not much happens. In ways it felt much like that this week, but overall felt that the overall effort was a bit weaker than in previous weeks. Smackdown tends to deliver at least one quality match, but this week it seemed to lack in that department. A lot of quick matches, a bad women’s match, the whole “kiss my arse” match set up, the tag champions losing again and a boring Big Show promo all held the show down. They did some adequate set up for the Extreme Rules PPV, but overall, I felt that the show just wasn’t that good or really provided anything you had to see.