Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 5.08.18

Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 5.08.18

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– MITB Qualifier: The Miz defeated Jeff Hardy @ 20:10 via pin [***¼]
– MITB Qualifier: Charlotte defeated Peyton Royce @ 12:53 via submission [**]
– Cesaro defeated Xavier Woods @ 7:08 via pin [**½]
– Mandy Rose defeated Becky Lynch @ 2:23 via pin [NR]
– MITB Qualifier: Rusev defeated Daniel Bryan @ 11:25 via pin [***]

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– Follow all of my reviews at this link.

– This is the fallout fromBacklash.

“Paige Here…”: Paige puts over Backlash as “a smashing success.” Um… No. She now talks about Styles & Nakamura, and their low blow double KO finish. We’ll hear from them later tonight. Paige now hypes MITB and tonight’s qualifying matches. She needs the best from Smackdown competing. And that starts now.

MITB Qualifier: The Miz vs. Jeff Hardy: We have a lively crowd as they lock up. Jeff hits a shoulder tackle, and Miz quickly fights back, looking to work the arm. Jeff then sends Miz to the floor and follows with a leg lariat off the steps. Back in and Jeff heads up top but Miz rolls away. Post break, and Jeff is in control, hitting arm drags. Jeff grounds things, but Miz fights back to his feet and lands some strikes. The knee and boot follows and Miz covers for 2. Miz grounds the action, and follows with a combo neck breaker, covering for 2. Miz maintains control; Jeff works back to his feet and counters the skull-crushing finale. To the floor they go and Miz crotches Jeff on the barricade. Jeff fires back and hits a clothesline off of the barricade. Back in and they trade strikes, Jeff follows with an atomic drop, leg drop to the balls and basement dropkick for 2. Miz fights off the twist of fate, they fight over a backslide but Jeff hits the twist of fate. Jeff up top and Miz rolls away. He cuts off Jeff and hits a neck breaker in the ropes as we go screen in screen. Jeff beats the count back in and Miz lays the boots to Jeff, covering for 2. Jeff gets a desperation roll up, but Miz cuts him off and looks for the finale, but Jeff gets a roll up for 2. Miz now locks on a sleeper, looking to ground Jeff again. Back to full screen, as Jeff hits a jawbreaker. They trade strikes, working to their feet, but Jeff hits a Russian leg sweep and covers for 2. Miz back to the sleeper, but Jeff escapes and hits whisper in the wind for 2. Miz counters the twist of fate, but Jeff dumps him to the floor. The plancha follows, and back in, Jeff heads up top and Miz crotches him. He follows him up and looks for a superplex; Jeff fights him off and hits a sunset bomb for 2. Miz counters the corner dropkick, they work into counters and Jeff rolls him up for 2. The corner dropkick connects by Jeff. The twist of fate connects; Jeff up top and the swanton connects for 2 as Miz cradles Jeff to steal the win! The Miz defeated Jeff Hardy @ 20:10 via pin [***¼] This was a good match to open the show, and Miz picked up a much needed win, and can also lay claim to a US Title shot later on.

– Miz joins Balor & Strowman in the men’s MITB match.

– Sheamus eats Lucky Charms, as he’s depressed because he lost to Xavier Woods last week. He and Cesaro run down New Day, and tease some tension. Cesaro will face Woods tonight. Cesaro now finds pancakes in his bag, and Sheamus does as well.

– We get a Sanity video package.

– Commentary talks about the double low blow finish to Styles vs. Nakamura from Backlash.

– Renee talks to Nakamura, who is not cleared to perform tonight. Renee says she knows he speaks English, but Nakamura says he forgot. Nakamura then says Styles is nuts, but so is he. They aren’t finished yet.

– They then discuss Carmella defeating Charlotte at Backlash. Carmella then brags about her win. She will throw a huge party in London next week.

– Tye Dillinger & Naomi talk about winning MITB.

– The IIconics make fun of Charlotte prior to the match.

MITB Qualifier: Charlotte vs. Peyton Royce: Kay is out with Royce. They lock up, and Royce retreats to the ropes. Charlotte scores with takedowns, and then chops. The fall away slam follows. Post break, and Royce has control as Charlotte is down on the floor after getting posted. Back in and Royce grounds the action. They work into some counters and Royce cuts her off, covering for 2. Royce then works her over in the ropes, and slams Charlotte to the mat before grounding things again. Charlotte fires back, hits a big boot and slams her to the mat. Charlotte follows with rights, and then chops. Royce is down and Charlotte misses the boot, but gets a cradle for 2. The belly to back suplex follows. Royce to the floor and Charlotte then wipes put Kay. Royce it a neck breaker on Charlotte, rolls her back in and Royce covers for 2. Kay cuts off Charlotte and Royce hits a spin kick for 2. Royce misses a kick, eats a big boot and Charlotte heads up top. The moonsault eats knees and Royce rolls her up for 2. Knee strike by Royce and that gets 2. Charlotte fights off the fisherman’s buster and the spear gets 2. Charlotte gets a roll up into the figure eight and Royce taps. Charlotte defeated Peyton Royce @ 12:53 via submission [**] This was an ok match, it started slow as we had some wrestling under water moments, but picked up well down the home stretch. It was, unfortunately, not very interesting.

– Charlotte joins Ember Moon in the women’s MITB match.

– Daniel Bryan is interviewed about tonight’s match with Rusev. He made Cass tap out, and is ready to go tonight.

– Shelton & Asuka comment on winning MITB.

Cesaro vs. Xavier Woods: Woods beat Sheamus last week to set this up. Sheamus, Kofi, & Big E are at ringside. Cesaro grounds things right away, slapping Woods around. Kofi &Big E toss pancakes into the crowd. Woods and Cesaro work some back and forth, Woods hits a RANA and they tease a ref bump, allowing Cesaro to take control. The gut wrench suplex follows. We go screen in screen, as Cesaro hits a flapjack to maintain control. Sheamus gets in cheap shots and takes a selfie with Woods. Cesaro locks on an abdominal stretch. Back to full screen, as Woods fights his way out, lays in chops and Cesaro follows with rights. Woods lays in a series of kicks, and hits an enziguri. The springboard kick connects for 2. Woods then hits a wheelbarrow driver, covering for 2. Cesaro then rolls him up with the ropes for 2. Woods hits a shining wizard, and heads up top. Kofi takes out Sheamus and Woods leaps into an uppercut and Cesaro wins. Cesaro defeated Xavier Woods @ 7:08 via pin [**½] This was a solid back and forth match with Cesaro getting revenge, and continuing the feud between the two teams. There was nothing wrong with it, but it felt like it was missing something.

Not all is positive for #TheNewDay tonight…#SDLive @XavierWoodsPhD pic.twitter.com/VzBkxQ9HFf

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) May 9, 2018

– Renee interviews Styles, who is also not cleared to compete tonight. He doesn’t want to fight like Nakamura, but got pulled into his game. He doesn’t care when, where, or why, because he plans to finish Nakamura.

– We get a creepy promo with action figures in various states of destruction. It’s for the Bludgeon Brothers, they are waiting for teams to come and play with them.

– Paige makes sure that Rose heads to the ring alone, and says that Deville is barred from ringside.

Becky Lynch vs. Mandy Rose: Mandy debuts her singles theme music here. Graves is about to have an aneurysm during her entrance. Lynch takes control, sending Rose to the floor. Back in and Rose slams Lynch to the buckles, and follows with a dropkick. The bicycle kick follows for 2. She then grounds the action, and they then trade strikes. Lynch fires up and looks for the arm bar, but Rose runs away, Lynch hits the XPLODER, and corner forearm. Rose then stuns Lynch off the ropes and steals the win with a sneaky roll up. Mandy Rose defeated Becky Lynch @ 2:23 via pin [NR] Rose picks up a big win as Lynch, unfortunately, continues to just be there to put others over. I don’t expect her to win all the time, but there has to be better ways to use her. The action was ok for the time given.

– Next week, New Day faces the Bar; the winning team gets one man in the men’s MITB match. Andrade Almas also debuts.

NEXT WEEK: #TheNewDay battles #TheBar on #SDLive, with the WINNING team getting to enter one member into the #MITB Ladder Match! pic.twitter.com/1qQIVZMsnX

— WWE (@WWE) May 9, 2018

ALSO NEXT WEEK: #SDLive #WomensChampion @CarmellaWWE will host a ROYAL #Mellabration in London! pic.twitter.com/U5YAFXjFXu

— WWE (@WWE) May 9, 2018

PLUS: #ElÍdolo @AndradeCienWWE, with @Zelina_VegaWWE in tow, will make his #SDLive debut across the pond NEXT WEEK! pic.twitter.com/mKVM2YLDwm

— WWE (@WWE) May 9, 2018

– English introduces Rusev.

MITB Qualifier: Rusev vs. Daniel Bryan: Bryan looks to work the arm, but Rusev runs him over with a shoulder tackle. Bryan cuts him off and stomps on the knees. Rusev fights back, hits a slam and lays the boots to Bryan. Bryan quickly dumps him, but Rusev cuts off the suicide dive and tosses Bryan over the announce table. Post break, and Rusev is in control back in the ring. Bryan picks up the pace and starts to make a comeback. The corner dropkicks follow, and then kicks from Bryan. They work up top and Bryan hits a RANA! Bryan now lays in the YES kicks, but Rusev counters only for Bryan to roll him up for 2. Rusev now connects with a head kick for 2. Rusev looks for the accolade, but Bryan counters into the YES lock. Rusev makes the ropes. Bryan fires away with kicks to the arm of Rusev, Bryan counters a German and hits a head kick. Bryan sets, but English pulls Rusev to the floor. Bryan takes them out and hits the running apron knee strike. Back in, Bryan up top and hits the missile dropkick. The running knee is countered as Rusev attacks the ribs and hits the machka kick for the win. Rusev defeated Daniel Bryan @ 11:25 via pin [***] This was a good main event match, with both men working well together. I’d really like to see a longer form PPV match from the two, because while good, it felt a bit bare bones, but filled with potential. On one hand, I am thrilled that Rusev got a big win and a spot in MITB, and the win came off as a big surprise. I didn’t think it was time for Bryan to lose yet, but they played it up well that Rusev was too much for him following the weeks of abuse that Bryan has taken.

– Post match, Bryan sits disappointed in the ring.

– Rusev joins Miz, Strowman, & Balor in the men’s MITB match.

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.2

The final score: review Average

The 411

Tonight’s episode of WWE Smackdown was a solid show, with a good opener and main event, while they continued the build they started on Raw to the MITB PPV. They also set up some stuff for next week’s show, which is always appreciated. If short on time, catch the opener and main event; the rest is skippable.