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Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 5.26.16

May 26, 2016 | Posted by Larry Csonka
Miz Retains Title Image Credit: WWE
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Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 5.26.16  

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Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 5.26.16

OFFICIAL RESULTS
MITB Qualifier: Alberto Del Rio defeated Zack Ryder @ 9:30 via submission [**¾]
US Title Match: Champion Rusev defeated Kalisto @ 8:59 via submission [***]
– Natalya defeated Dana Brooke @ 0:48 via DQ [NR]
– FaBreeze defeated The Golden Truth @ 1:31 via pin [NR]
IC Title Match: Champion The Miz defeated Cesaro @ 10:45 via pin [***½]


– We get clips from Monday’s Raw.

Michael Cole Hypes NITB: Michael Cole made a rare Smackdown appearance, hyped the MITB match and then introduced Dean Ambrose. Cole praised Ambrose for winning the Asylum match; Ambrose claims to have done it all when it comes to getting crazy, and he broke Chris Jericho in his world. Cole reminded Ambrose of the success that the MTB winners have gone on to, and when asked what he would do to get the win, Kevin Owens interrupted. Owens was upset that Cole was on Smackdown and demanded he leave the ring because he is sick of tolerating him. Owens said that he would win the match, and then Sami Zayn arrived for the revolving door promo segment. Zayn reminded us that he was the bane of all of Owens’ problems, and claimed that nether Owens or Ambrose would stop him from winning. Alberto Del Rio came out; he’s apparently still a thing. He won MITB before and ran down everyone. As Zayn tried to tell Del Rio he still had to qualify, Owens attacked Zayn. Owens would bail as Ambrose and Zayn teased hitting their finish on each other. It’s he same kind of promo they always run, thankfully it focused on MITB, which was a good play off of Raw.

MITB Qualifier: Zack Ryder vs. Alberto Del Rio: Ryder attacked right at the bell, trying to take the fight to Del Rio, but Del Rio cut him off and hit the snap suplex. Del Rio worked over Ryder, hitting the running boot, and they then brawled to the floor where Ryder hit a neck breaker, and they went to a commercial break. Post break, Del Rio worked the heat, grounding Ryder with a chinlock. Del Rio hit his double stomp during the break while they were out on the floor; Ryder, ever the polite gentleman, held himself up so Del Rio could connect. Ryder tried to make a comeback, but Del Rio avoided the missile dropkick and then hit the superkick for a near fall. Del Rio took too long to try and put Ryder away, which allowed Ryder to hit the rough Ryder for a near fall. Del Rio had enough of that shit, so he kicked the hell out of Ryder, placed him in the tree of WHOA but Ryder avoided the double stomp and hit the rough Ryder but Del Rio rolled to the floor. Ryder would roll him back into the ring, but Del Rio scored with the arm bar almost immediately and Ryder had to tap. It started a bit too slow, but picked up nicely and they gave Ryder some good hope spots, making him appear competitive.

– Alberto Del Rio, Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens have qualified for the MITB match. There is one spot left.

– We get highlights on Seth Rollins returning at Extreme Rules and then on Raw.

Enzo and Cass Talk: Enzo and Cass made their way to the ring, how you doin? They started to do their usual deal, but were interrupted by the Dudleyz. Enzo said that a couple of haters were here, and reminded Bubba that Cass beat him on Raw. Cass said that they seemed to have a problem, and that they were problem solvers and were willing to take them out of the equation. Cass offered a beat down, and the Dudleyz teased accepting the match, but then backed off and said not tonight. They said they would face them on Raw. Cass called them SAWFT to close things out. That was a solid segment, setting Enzo and Cass’ return as a team for Raw.

– Renee Young interviews Rusev and Lana. Lana said that Renee should address Rusev as the greatest US Champion of all time. Rusev planned to crush Kalisto again tonight, because Kalisto is a little mosquito and he will squash him.

– We get a video for the Miz vs. Cesaro feud.

– Lana did the ring introduction for Rusev.

US Title Match: Champion Rusev vs. Kalisto: Kalisto attacked early, using his speed and running wild with kicks. Rusev cut that off after about 30-seconds, and we went to a commercial break. Post break, Rusev was dominating as he tossed Kalisto around, and attacked the back with stomps and slams. Kalisto tried to slam Rusev, which was a bad idea as his back gave out and Rusev came crashing down on him for a near fall. Rusev talked a bunch of shit to Kalisto, who finally fired up and got a body slam on him. Kalisto made a comeback, with Rusev missing a corner charge and Kalisto rolling him up for a near fall. Kalisto started to put some offense together, and hit the spike RANA for a near fall. Kalisto too the champion to the floor, and then followed with a moonsault as Lana showed concern. Rusev countered the salida del sol, placing Kalisto into the tree of WHOA, but he missed a head butt as Kalisto sat up. Kalisto again made a comeback, but the 450 splash ate knees. Rusev hit the jumping kick to the back of the head, and Rusev got the accolade and bend Kalisto in half for the submission victory. Good match from these two, who have developed a nice chemistry, and they also made sure to stick with the work of the back that was previously established.

– Post match, Rusev looked to beat down Kalisto some more, but Titus O’Neil made the save. Wait, that can’t be right, let me check that. Ah yes, Titus O’Neil made the save. Rusev backed off when Titus challenged him as the crowd chanted for the USA.

– We get a big video package on the Charlotte and Ric Flair angle from Raw, with stars commenting on the angle.

Natalya vs. Dana Brooke: Natalya attacked right away, looking to get revenge from Brooke’s involvement at Extreme Rules. Natalya beat on her and locked in the sharp shooter, and Charlotte then interfered for the DQ. Charlotte had the advantage, but Natalya got her in the sharpshooter. Brook made the save, and they beat down Natalya. Charlotte and Brooke stood tall. Spoiler reports made it out that Natalya submitted Brooke in under a minute, which would have been horrible,. This worked just fine, Natalya was pissed off, got some revenge and fell to the numbers game. I can see her seeking out Becky Lynch for help, which would make sense considering her past issues with Charlotte and recent issues with Brooke.

– We get footage of AJ Styles dropping his association with the Club, and then losing to Kevin Owens in a MITB qualifier. Renee Young then interviewed Styles and asked him what’s next. Styles knew that this would be an uphill battle, and has earned some respect. He was this close to becoming WWE Champion, but he failed. He’s not sure what’s next, but he has to think of something.

Fabreeze (Fandango and Tyler Breeze) vs. The Golden Truth (R-Truth and Goldust): Truth and Goldust look like they are having so much fun. Truth and Breeze go back and forth to begin, Fandango tags in and while Truth tries to fight them off, he eats a Fandango dropkick. Truth quickly hits the leg lariat, but then Fandango sends Goldust to the floor. Breeze sneaks in as Goldust tries to get involved, and connects with the supermodel kick and Fandango gets the pin. Again, after months of waiting for The Golden Truth to get together, they are losing sub-two minute matches to FaBreeze. Complete filler.

– Truth and Goldust argue backstage. Goldust tries to give him a pep talk as FaBreeze walks in and laughs at them. Goldust also claimed that the WWE Universe wants and needs them. I dispute these claims.

Seth Rollins Talks: Seth Rollins made his way out, and said that he’s back. He had a great week, and wanted to come back to Smackdown to close out the week. The fans at raw were excited to see him, and he asks if the fans missed him. They got all excited, and then Rollins told them he wished he could say the same and bailed. This was just a shorter version of his Raw promo, used to solidify his heel status.

IC Title Match: Champion The Miz w/Maryse vs. Cesaro: Cesaro took control right away, slapping the shi tout of the Miz and then sending him to the floor and hitting a cannon ball. They took a break, and when we came back Miz was smartly working the shoulder of Cesaro, just like on Raw. Good work from Miz here, it was focused and had a nice aggression to it as well. Cesaro worked to fight back, but even though the left arm was the one that was hurt, he was selling the overall comeback as painful. Cesaro managed a toss up uppercut for a near fall, but Miz went back to the arm and scored with the DDT for a near fall. Miz treed to remove a turnbuckle pad, and when the ref backed him off Maryse removed it. Cesaro started to make his come back as the ref put the pad back on, they did a nice serves of reversals, but the ref was too late to count the pin for Cesaro (he had Miz for more than three). Cesaro countered a Miz roll up into the sharp shooter, but Miz was able to get the ropes for the break. Cesaro landed another uppercut, and went for the swing, but Miz escaped to the floor and teased leaving. Cesaro landed the running uppercut, and went up top and hit the high cross for a near fall. Miz removed the buckle pad as Cesaro charged for the uppercut, Cesaro crashed into the turnbuckle shoulder first and Miz hit the skull-crushing finale to retain. Really nice work from all involved here; Miz and Cesaro work well together because both work to their strengths, and it equals good times. Miz’s win doesn’t bother me, that was a good heel victory. I have no issue with cheating to win, I have an issue when we see it three times on the same show and it takes 7 times of interference to get it done. Here they set it up, they teased it and then pulled it off slickly. That’s why it worked.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.0
The final score: review Good
The 411
Good show overall tonight, they did a nice job of keeping the angles set on Raw moving forward and also delivered some good wrestling with very little filler. Like most weeks, a very easy watch.
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